Breaking the Word

They 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." They discussed this among themselves and said, "If we say, 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say, '(Then) why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?"– they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know." Then Jesus said to them, "Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things."  (Mk 11:27-33)

Origin of authority is to be discerned always. Authority has two origins: human or divine. The leaders are also concerned about this. They were not bothered about what he has done or his activities. They were not worried whether the activities were good and whether they (his activities) produced good to the people. 

Authority from above was considered to be good. It has to be accepted and believed. Since God would be the source of divine authority; like God the authority from above also to be believed. If the authority is from above then one does not need to fear of anything; one can go ahead to follow it.

If the authority is from below; that is if the authority of human origin then it has its weaknesses and failures. One has to be cautious about following it. It cannot be accepted in its face value. Jesus does not give an answer to the leaders because he wants them to discern it for themselves. 

He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything…

as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots…

 "Have faith in God…

Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions."  (Mk 11:11-26)

Today’s reading speaks about the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple. These two are interlinked. We go to the temple to experience faith and to have access to God through prayers. But what we find in the temple is buying and selling. There is no faith experience and there is no chance for prayer

Similarly we go to the fig tree to find figs. But what we find is that the fig tree has plenty of leaves. It is very attractive to see. It is pleasant to the eyes. The fig tree is like the temple. There is a crowd in the temple; and the temple looks very busy like the fig tree which is attractive with green leaves.  Tree is cursed because it has no fruits and the temple is cleansed because there is no faith experience.  Fig tree stands as a parable for the temple. 

Using this parable and the event, Jesus preaches about faith and prayer and forgiveness. Faith and prayer expresses the relationship between god and the people. This relationship should necessarily lead to the third element. That is forgiveness. This expresses the relationship among people.