A reading from the gospel according to Saint Mark 11:27-33
27 They arrived once again in Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders came to him
28 and asked him, “What right have you to do these things? Who gave you this right?”
29 Jesus answered them, “I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things.
30 Tell me, where did John’s right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?”
31 They started to argue among themselves: “What shall we say? If we answer, ‘From God,’ he will say, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’
32 But if we say, ‘From human beings… ‘ ” (They were afraid of the people, because everyone was convinced that John had been a prophet.)
33 So their answer to Jesus was, “We don’t know.” Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.”
Reflection: Mark 11:27-33
While some of the people of Israel accepted the authority of Jesus as the Christ, the anointed Son of God who was sent to save the world, the religious leaders rejected Him and tried to discredit His authority. Until today, we can see the same scene being played out. Yet no matter what these oppositionists do, Jesus Christ continue to reign over the world with authority as Lord of lords and King of kings.
The question of the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders about the right or authority of Jesus has already been answered previously. Yet these Jewish religious leaders feign ignorance to hide their hypocrisy. Jesus knew their thoughts – that they were just looking for ways to trap Him and kill Him. So Jesus refused to play their game. Many times silence is just a powerful answer to a useless argument.
May the gospel reading above remind us of the purity of our thoughts and motivations. Do we truly accept Jesus and submit to His authority as Lord and king in our lives? Or are we like the biblical religious leaders who rejected Jesus and who sought ways to kill Him by our hardness of hearts?
Thanks so much for this sharing of reflections i learnt today, that Silence is most powerful tool to a useless arguments of people who have the hidden agenda against Jesus, or us just to trap us to find ways to kill our faith.