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The Narrative Thread I Followed in Mark 11:1-12:17

The Narrative Thread I Followed in Mark 11:1-12:17

Last updated on: May 21, 2016 at 7:53 am by C. R. Wiley

The Narrative Thread I Followed in Mark 11:1-12:17 2016-05-21T07:53:44-04:00 C. R. Wiley

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Last time I mentioned a “small signal” from Luke 11:11, “…it was already late.”

I might have missed that signal if it was the only one. But there are a few other signals that harmonized with it and help to make that initial signal stronger in my ear. I’ll list them here to show how the signal in my inner ear transformed into a narrative thread before my inner eye.

First, it follows the Triumphal Entry. Only the most myopic interpretation of the Triumphal Entry fails to see the irony in it. One irony is often noted: in less than a week the cries, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” will be replaced by, “Crucify him!”

But there is another irony: their final condemnation follows his. Christ has come to judge. And it is through the judgment that he saves his people. But we shouldn’t be all that surprised. Judging is one of the things kings do.

We don’t know what kings are for anymore. we equate them with Presidents or Prime Ministers. Democracies divide powers among branches of government. There’s the executive, (what I think we think of when we think of a king), the legislative, and the judicial branches. But before these were divided into branches, they were united in the person of a king. Kings gave the law, judged the people, and executed those judgments.

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, it’s judgment time.

Another signal is the curse of the fig tree. After visiting the temple briefly, the next day he sees a fig tree. He inspect it, sees no fruit, and in a stage voice everyone can hear, he says, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” (11:14) But before this, the narrator tells us, “…it was not the season for figs.”

Then why look for figs? Hold that thought. If you feel a need to rush to an interpretation, suppress it. It isn’t that Jesus was ignorant about the season for figs, and it is certainly not an aside to give us a little local color. It is another signal. But of what?

What comes next helps us. Jesus is back in the temple, this time chasing money changers around and knocking things off of shoulders and out of hands. And he pronounces judgment: “…you have made (my house) a den of robbers!” (11:18)

Now we might miss the connection to the fig tree if it were not for the fact that we’re back at the fig tree the very next morning. And the fig tree is dead! Another clue!

You’d have to be pretty blind not to see that connection. (I’m sad to say, I’ve met plenty of blind people.)

It helps to know that Israel is called both a vineyard and a fig tree elsewhere, particularly in the minor prophets. (Check out Hosea 9:10).

So Jesus came to the Temple looking for something and didn’t find it. And it isn’t a long leap to arrive at the conclusion that what has happened to the fig tree will soon happen to the temple. The way the fig tree incidents come before and after the cleansing of the temple makes this an easy thread to follow. But wait, there’s more!

Naturally the temple authorities are not too pleased with Jesus. So they question him, “By what authority are you doing these things…?” (11:28)

This is the first in a series of questions and the beginning of another thread. I won’t talk about that here. I just bring it up to note that threads usually weave in and out, up and down, and sometimes two, three, and even more threads can be present simultaneously. Sometimes something can be apart of more than one thread at the same time.

This implies, of course, that the Temple authorities are not on the same page with the crowd. Our narrator leaves no room for ambiguity here. (11:32)

But Jesus doesn’t answer them, but then again, he does. This is the set up for the parable of the tenants, (12:1-12) Here we receive a boat load of information: about the authorities, about what the prophets were doing, and about Jesus. And we see what will become of the authorities, and what will become of Jesus.

Jesus, like the prophets before him, has come for the rent. This is paid in produce, in the parable, in grapes and wine presumably. But instead of paying the rent, the tenants kill the rent collectors. And even though thick-headed most of the time when it comes to parables, the authorities get it. (12:12)

We’re also told the vineyard will be given to others. (12:11)

But what is the rent collector really looking for? Money? If that were the case then what Jesus found in the temple should have pleased him. But just in case there is any doubt left that money is not what he’s after, we have a question about taxes.

Here we have another pericope that people often fail to connect with the bigger story. Yes, it does give us plenty to think about concerning our civic duty and about how religious institutions and civil institutions should relate to each other, but those are really secondary.

If you follow the narrative thread, this is really about what God expects of his people. This is about the rent.

The question is a trap, of course. (That’s another thread, the question thread.) You have the Herodians, who owe their authority to Cesar, and the Pharisees, the party that loves laws so much they just can’t stop making them (remind you of anybody?). Jesus artfully evades the trap, and he springs the trap on them.

But is that really all there is to it? Or are we sent the message, “What Cesar is looking for and what God is looking for really are different things.”?

“Monty, I’ll take door number 2.”

This whole thread of judgment goes on for chapters and chapters, by the way, woven in with other threads.

When it comes to applying this to us, isn’t it obvious?

So there you have it, an example of how I followed a narrative thread.

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