The Authority of Jesus Is Questioned
Taken from Mark for Everyone
Description
Mark For Everyone
MARK 11.27–33
The Authority of Jesus Is Questioned...
...It is a busy Friday afternoon, in the middle of the city rush- hour. The traffic has built up for some time, and now there is gridlock. Nobody can move. Horns are blaring, taxi-drivers swearing. Hot and tired commuters are eager to get home for the weekend. Nobody knows what to do.
All at once, out of the shadows, steps a young man. He walks into the middle of the road, dressed in casual clothes, and begins to direct the traffic. Drivers are surprised, but they do what he indicates. The blockage unblocks itself. Traffic starts to flow again.
The young man is about to melt back into the crowd when (too late, of course) the police arrive. They have been upstaged. What they want to know from the young man is, who do you think you are? Who gave you the right to behave like this?
That’s the mood of this passage. The Temple has been going about its business for centuries, run by the chief priests and their subordinate officials. Suddenly a young man has come in and taken charge. Everybody seems to be hanging on his words...
Taken from Mark for Everyone by Tom Wright