When Truth Has Left the Building

Mark 11:12–19 – June 2nd, 2024

The Lord Be With You.

A parable or short story on our Gospel …

A group of settlers started on their long journey west. They were under pressure where they lived from the ruling class that made rules for everyone except themselves. Those that made the rules. This caused an undo hardship for all those living there so the decision was to pack up and go. After many months, and much danger, the settlers settled into an area that they could call home. It seemed that they had finally found a place of honesty and peace. Within a few generations, though, there seemed to be some that grew up and started to exhibit some of the same things the rulers did which was the reason those early settlers left. Sure enough, those that started down the path that chose themselves over their neighbors soon were in positions of influence and the same unnecessary hardships reappeared. No one outside those in power knew what to do. Fear and apathy ruled the area and the people. One day a young man appeared on the scene. He was known for his sense of humility. The people being ruled began following him. The man began to take the power from those that had acquired it. He called out those taking advantage of others to be held responsible. And they were. Soon, the land was once again at peace. The people began to be aware that what they had escaped from originally was easily duplicated so they made sure to always be active so that their future generations would not have to be subjected to the corruption that so easily rears it’s head. But do we? Have we?

Here ends the parable or short story.

This chapter and verses – the one speaking about Jesus cursing the fig tree and cleansing the temple – are usually never spoken about in churches that go by the standard bible calendar, the lectionary. The cursing of the fig tree only appears in Matthew and Luke and Mark but not in John. This passage ends before the disciples see what really happens to the fig tree but they see it when they came back out of the city. I wonder why this passage is not in the lectionary, the one that has all the passages that ecclesiastical churches are supposed to speak about. I wonder why it’s left out and then I read what Jesus does to that fig tree.

The only edible things on that tree were the bulbs that would have turned into figs later. If we read this passage with an eye to history then it really becomes clear. Jesus curses that tree in much the same way that He curses those who have turned His temple into a place where one class steals from another through the rules that they have created in order to keep themselves enriched and in power. The tree is the temple. The buds are those Jews that came out of Egypt and went into the desert to find the promise land. The eventual figs that would have come from those buds are all those people that have turned what God gave into something they could use to lord over another person. And then Jesus turns those tables over. Causes a historical and political rift in the status quo.

If we look at our own history we see those that came across from overseas in search of release from the oppression of those in power as well as an opportunity to live in peace and the freedoms granted by God. The new world is the tree, the pilgrims were the buds, the total chaos that ensued because of who was in charge are the eventual figs. If you look at our state, or the whole US, you’ll find the tree. Almost literally because the whole tree represents those who are tasked with serving others and those that are ruled. Minnesota was founded by a diverse group of people searching for land they could cultivate, forests they could cultivate, eventually minerals they could extract as well as other natural resources. But those in power became the buds. They enacted rules that only enriched themselves at the expense of those they were chosen to serve.

We see that expansion today which results in many leaving, becoming disenfranchised, finding other substitutions to what they were created to be in order to satiate what they have missed. A small area controls everyone else so much so that those in those other areas find themselves believing that nothing will ever change. People believe they can game the system so that they can rise above another or get something that didn’t belong to them. Influence others to give them the edge. I’m wondering if that was by design. It was surely happening during Jesus’ time.

It’s like the college professor that was giving a final exam to his students. He distributed the tests to the class and waited for his students to finish. When the students handed in their completed tests, one of the tests had a one-hundred-dollar fill attached with a note that explained, “One dollar for each point.” When the student got his exam back, he had a grade of forty-five with fifty-five dollars in change attached.

The same can be said of our country. Many have become separated from God because they have looked around and questioned how could a just God allow this stuff to go on that we see all the time. They go to work, if they have a job, and they wonder if what they do has any long term effect on the community or even in their own lives. They wait for the weekends to get away from all that the machine wants to run through them.

Jesus walked into that same thing 2,000 years ago. The Jews were despondent. The average Jew had given up on seeing their situation change. They eventually rebelled only to be brought back under authoritarian rule. They saw almost everything in an us versus them situation. The haves and the have nots. The religious-political order and the common folks. Jesus walked into that midst to give it hope and He does the same thing today.

But we think, today, we’ve become enlightened. That we can look back and learn from our mistakes. But, the reality is that we hear only what we want to hear and turn off any competing opinions or facts. We go to our chosen places and never venture out. We’re no different than the Jews were when Jesus entered the scene. We, too often, turn inward rather than reaching outward. We allow opinions to form our worlds rather than go deep into what we hear to see if it holds any water. We become immune to the bigger picture when that picture is made up of thousands who have lost hope that anything will change. Jesus said to give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s but He didn’t say to give him everything. I could have just spoken about what the people were like 2,000 years ago but I’m also remarking on what’s going on today.

Now, ya’ll maybe thinking, about right now, that I’ve gone over the cliff being political on a religious day from a religious pulpit. Politics should be left out of the message right? It’s offending to speak of these things when addressing what Mark or Matthew or Luke or even John are writing about. Why not just talk about how Jesus loves us and leave all this political stuff at home? Why not just leave out all the offending statements? And, if you get right down to it, even saying that God and Jesus loves you as you are is offensive now days to many, many people. It truly is political at it’s core because the truth is offensive and political because we are political from where we choose to live, to what we drive, to even what do we eat. Think about it.

But I didn’t start it, Jesus said it all through Mark, Matthew and Luke. In verse 17 Jesus, Himself, called those power brokers – robbers. The various definitions for that Greek word, “inaton or robbers”, is highwayman, bandit, revolutionary, insurrectionist. Those are all political terms. Jesus was not afraid to walk straight into the political realm with what He said. With what He did. Jesus was never above offending someone if they had veered from the truth, which they all did on a day to day basis. Jeremiah prophesied, in chapter 8, verse 13, “I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.”

Verse 14 of this Gospel reads, in part, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” and reiterates what was said 660 years before. It’s taken that long for our Savior to come to earth give us a clear view into what we allow to happen. And almost 2,700 years later, those words apply to us in our day because we are creatures who’ve never quite gotten it yet in full.

I’ve called this message “When Truth Has Left the Building” because when Jesus turned those tables over He was sending a clear message and taking a stand. He was saying, no more. No more will a handful of bureaucrats direct every living thing that God created in the first place. By turning those tables over, Jesus was saying that the temple is for the people. Directed by the people. The people built it. The people funded it. The people own it. The temple is the people’s house. Not an elite group of bureaucrats that have put up walls and boundaries and redefined what is God’s to be their own exclusively. Sound like anything today?

Isaiah 56:7 says it this way, 800 years before Jesus, “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Jesus was passing judgement against all those then, and now, who hold sway over the people they are there to serve. Jesus is saying that they will end up like the fig tree that was found to be with withered from the roots. From the very base of it’s existence. That those who are like those temple movers and shakers then and now will find themselves on the wrong side of God Himself no matter how good they sound.

Those that took the money of the people and exchanged it for temple money were the deciding power base of that time. They converted the people’s money into the accepted currency for paying the temple taxes. So, one had to pay a tax in order to worship God. And not only did they have to pay the tax but the money changers always took their cut, skimmed their cut off the top, so the people, the poor people, had to pay a tax into the system twice. All to be able to worship God. Worship God. It’d be like if we were to put up a toll booth to the entrance of the church. Very same thing.

If a person brought an animal to be sacrificed, they had to trade it in for one acceptable to those who ran the temple. The animal presented was never accepted. The people had to trade what they brought for one of the temple animals. One of the ones that those Pharisees and Sadducees had already cut a deal with the people in charge of those herds. Those in charge took a cut of that too. Doves were used for those who didn’t have enough to pay their way. Pay their way to commune with God. And Jesus’ family were in the same boat as those poor people being taken. We know this from the story of when He was twelve and they went to the Synagogue. So, am I missing something here? The truth has left the building. Does any of this sound familiar to what’s going on today?

You see, folks, I believe that you were supposed to hear about this passage. I believe that you were supposed to see what happened then so that you can be alert to what is happening now. How the pendulum has swung back. How what’s going on today is just a remake of what went on 2,000 plus years ago. Know that the fig tree was withered from it’s very roots because the tree, itself, had become corrupted. That God is truly in control and, soon enough, those that do now what those people in charge did back then will truly be shown the light and then they’ll have to come to the final understanding that it was never about them but about who they serve. They’re gonna have to do some explaining and I sure wouldn’t wanna be them or even standing next to them. Everyone has to pay the piper sooner or later. Can’t avoid it.

I believe this message is timely because of the times we’re living in and what is fixing to happen right around every corner of every day. If every person who makes the rules were actually aware that this could be their last day would they continue down the path that they’re on, taking advantage of all those they are charged with protecting, that they might just truly repent and work for the justice that will come to those oppressed but pass them on by. If we take this story to heart then maybe we can become a little more aware of what’s happening because it always spreads.

Once again, I know this message is probably not very uplifting to many. Not everything is. But the knowledge of truth is always the light that God gives us to be alert because the evil one relishes in those that don’t want to know. Our Jesus came here to give us the Good News. He came back to us from that cross just so that His words, written down and compiled together to form the Bible, would not be considered just another history book. Would not be something that people would look at with doubt because their own brokenness has determined what they want to be true. The bible will always be the truth that every living person can hold onto even when faced with what this world throws at them.

Probably one of the most egregious displays of Jesus is Him among the sheep in a timid robe sitting there with His hair combed and His pale white skin shining through. I say this because Jesus was a middle eastern Jew who walked everywhere, had people shoving Him, spitting on Him, eventually beating Him, His clothes were torn, His friends disserted Him and the world’s evil was directly on His shoulders. He was active in literally every part of the country where He went and even in those areas that Jews were not supposed to go. Even in places where righteous Jews would have never shown their faces.

And yet He went. He went to the people. He went to where they were. He gathered those that had no hope together. He cured those that no one else would even touch. He spoke to those that other Jews were forbidden to speak to. He lifted people out of their misery and told those in authority just where to get off. He told the truth. The words He used were prophetic and those prophecies were both political and offensive to almost everyone they spoke out against. And they did that a lot. He is saying the very same things to the very same people today, in our time, just as He did then, just as the prophets themselves did before Him.

Folks, when we read passages, such as this, we are to remember that we are the only theology that has someone up there rooting for us. The only one. This passage is really good news because it illustrates what we are aware of but don’t want to face. We read this and apply it, like all passages can be applied, to where we are today. What we do today. What we believe today. What we hold dear. Those truths that are self evident.

Like the people in the parable, we can fall asleep and find that history has truly repeated itself even going back 2000 years ago or we can choose to keep alert. The enemy is always waiting like the thief in the night. Like it says in 1st Peter 5, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.“ But even with all the bad there is the good. There is the light. There is mercy. There is our God. Listen to Him. Speak with Him. Walk with Him. Choose to abide in Him. Something to think about! Something to pray about?

Can we pray? …

Father, we pray for your guidance in all that we do. Help us to always be alert to what lies ahead. Help us to hold onto the promises you made through your Son so that we can look back and forward at the same time. Recognizing the need that all of your creation needs your truth regardless of whether those people hearing it want to hear it. Help us to recognize our own shortcomings so that we can walk with humility but with the uprightness of your words. We ask for your Holy Spirit to come into our lives and stay there. We thank you for the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus, for the truth He has given to us. We pray this, and more, in the name of your Son.

And all God’s people said – Amen?!

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