The Gospel for SATURDAY, June 11, 2005 (Barnabas)
Luke 20:1-8
Now it happened that one day while he was teaching the people in the Temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came up, together with the elders, and spoke to him. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘what authority have you for acting like this? Or who gives you this authority?’ In reply he said to them, ‘And I will ask you a question, just one. Tell me: John’s baptism: what was its origin, heavenly or human?’ And they debated this way among themselves, ‘If we say heavenly, he will retort, “Why did you refuse to believe him?”; and if we say human, the whole people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.’ So their reply was that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, ‘Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Question for a Question
The Rabbi, on being asked why Rabbis always asked so many questions, replied, "What's wrong with that?"
A Reflection
Those who have invested their professional lives tracking down the historical Jesus are in very loose agreement that He was probably an illiterate peasant Jewish political radical.
Which is not to say, of course, that He wasn't smarter than his opponents. In fact, being able to show his peer peasants that he could beat his well-lettered opponents -- at their own game -- could have been a strategy for Him.
In this case, however, the question-in-response was far more than a rhetorical tactic.
Jesus knew that He was forcing the religious elite to come to a painful conclusion in their own minds: if John was a prophet, and he had prophesied that one greater was to follow him, and he had then pointed to Jesus as that one, then the religious elite would have to conclude that Jesus was far more than just another rural rabble rouser.
And in doing that, Jesus convicted them in their hearts of their own unrighteousness.
When we pay attention to the questions that Jesus puts to us, we seldom find ourselves living up to His standards. All but a dedicated few of us find it "more convenient" to give a little bit of money to somebody else to do the dirty work of feeding the mentally ill humans kicked out of mental hospitals who are the hungry, and housing the smelly bums who are the homeless.
As my friend Harry pointed out to me last night, at some point in our lives, we have to come down off the fence and decide if we're with Jesus, or against him. One of those positions clearly defines the other, and we can be in only one of them.
And every day, I have to ask myself if I'm still on the fence or not; and if I decide that day that I've come down, I have to ask myself which side I landed on. With evidence as weak as we generally have for our followership, going to Jesus and listening to Him in thoughtful prayer is likely the only method we're going to successfully employ, finally to come down on His side.
The Collect
Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
4:46:52 PM 
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