Listening to Jesus in the Temple
What was he teaching, anyway?
Just for a moment, consider this from the perspective of the chief priests and elders. They are in charge of the integrity of the temple. They have been charged with holding its role, making sure that nothing corrosive comes from the outside, that it is what it is supposed to be.
And this guy - not a priest, not an elder - comes into a very regimented space and begins teaching.
From this perspective, their question makes sense, no?
Imagine someone entering your local elementary school, walking into an empty classroom, calling some students in from the hall, and beginning to teach them. The school principal hears about it, goes to the classroom, and asks, “Excuse me, sir, who are you and what are you doing here?”
Then again…maybe a reasonable principal might stop, think about it, assess the situation (are the students safe?), and listen for a moment to hear what the stranger is saying.
Maybe if the chief priests and elders actually listened to Jesus…? This probably wouldn’t solve it, either (in fact, we know that they did bristle at some things he said).
But perhaps we can take a lesson here today that our structures of authority best serve us when they listen for the heart of the matter and don’t just pull rank. If we’d just listen to each other, maybe we could hear the heart of one another and see just how close in humanity we all are.
Matthew 21:23-27
When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”
Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?”
They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But we can’t say ‘from humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” Then they replied, “We don’t know.”
Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
Prayer
God,
Thank you for a new day. For oxygen and colored leaves and clouds and hoodies and LL Bean slippers and hot chocolate. Thank you for my family and the food we’ll share today.
Lord, at some level, we all want to be heard. It’s one of the greatest benefits you give us in prayer like this. You are there, listening and caring. Yet we also want to be heard by our fellow humans, especially when we have something of consequence to share, whether good or bad.
Since I have these desires, I imagine others do as well. So help me, God: help me to listen to others. Give me insight to their inner core that I might respond best in love and action.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.