From the responsorial psalm: “O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 11:27-33)
Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
Approaching Jesus with a question that stems from hostility, the Jewish leaders find the tables turned on them when Jesus asks them to answer a question first. In the same chapter of Mark, Jesus has just cleansed the temple area, overturning the tables of the money changers, driving out people who had turned his Father’s house into a marketplace. Their question focuses on Jesus’ authority to do this, to teach the word of God, and to perform miracles. Yet, in discussing what answer to give, they find themselves caught between accepting the truth of John’s heavenly authority and fear of the crowd, who believed that John was a prophet. Thus, they refuse to answer Jesus’ question, more concerned about self-protection and their own authority than seeking the truth through honest dialogue with Jesus. What does this say about how we live our lives today?
God, how far am I willing to go to seek out Jesus’ authority and respond to that honest realization? Help me see in the teachings of Jesus and in his redemptive work his divine identity and mission. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” the Gospel acclamation says, “giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Give me the grace to come to a genuine understanding that your Son is who he says he is and by that has authority.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.