Asking Questions

Note: this sermon is heavily reliant on chapter 3 of The Last Week By Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan.
The poem ' It was on a Tuesday' is from Stages on the Way from Wild Goose Worship Group

Poem:It was on the Tuesday

I was told once that you should never ask a question if you don’t know the answer. Now that isn’t true all the time, sometimes we want to find out about something, but often we only ask questions if we already know the answer.  The situation we read about today reminds me of question time in Parliament.  All sides of politics only seem to ask questions they know the answer to, and the point of the question is rarely to find out something, but to make someone look good or bad, depending on the political perspective of the person asking the question.

Reading through the week leading to the crucifixion, we have considered the political implication of riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and looked at the collaboration of religious leaders with the Roman occupiers. Today we read about Jesus in the Temple surrounds.

Jesus would not have been the only Rabbi, or teacher,  in the area surrounding the main Temple building. This area is often called the Temple court, like a courtyard.

Mark begins the Tuesday discussion with people wondering about the authority of Jesus, then there are some parables, then the part we heard this morning, which begins.

‘Some Pharisees and some members of Herod's party were sent to Jesus to trap him with questions.’

As in many religions, there were factions within Judaism at this time. The first group we read about today are the Pharisees, a group dedicated to intensification of religious practices, such as tithing and Sabbath observance and purity laws. The Herodians, or Herod’s party, are people who were supporters of Herod, the ‘royal’ family  appointed by Rome.

The authorities had noticed how popular Jesus was with the crowd. There are a number of possible reasons, and here I am speculating: Jesus spoke about religious practice in ways that were available to ordinary working people; he healed; he travelled with ordinary people by foot, as most people did; in short, he wasn’t part of the religious elite, and he was able to take them on in a debate and the religious elite often came out looking foolish.

The religious elite were concerned about the popularity of Jesus, because it could cause political problems for them and they feared a crackdown by Rome.

The Pharisees and Herodians came to trap Jesus. The question they asked is about paying taxes to Rome. They thought they knew the possible answers. Either Jesus would say yes, and be discredited with the crowd, or he would answer no, and then he could be charged with denying Roman authority, which was sedition.

The answer Jesus gives is to turn it back onto the questioners. Jesus knew this was about trying to trick him, so he played them at their own game. By asking for a denarius, a coin which displayed the Emperor’s image, the questioner is discredited by having Roman coinage, rather than Jewish coins which did not bear any image on them.

The next group to try and trap Jesus are the Sadducees, a group of wealthy, powerful families which included the high priestly families. The Sadducees only held the Torah, the first 5 books, to be sacred scripture, most Jews also included the Prophets.

The writings of Prophets emphasize God’s justice against the injustice of social systems dominated by the interest of the powerful and wealthy.

‘Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus’

The Sadducees did not believe in any form of life after death, so why ask a question about life after death? Because they care more about trapping Jesus than about the answer.

Jesus’ answer includes a reference to Exodus, one of the books the Sadducees accepted as scripture. Jesus’ answer does not give a clear answer to the question about marriage and heaven. It does seem to affirm some form of afterlife, but, and this is an important but, Jesus also says that God is God of the living and not of the dead. The Sadducees had asked about the wrong thing, they asked about life after death, when the kingdom of God is about life before death, life in this world.

‘A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question:
Which commandment is the most important of all?’

The teacher of the law or scribe was a person who could read and write, unusual in that day. Asking a Rabbi what is the most important commandment, was a common question for rabbis, though some were known for their lengthy responses. The scribe asked Jesus because he had noticed how well Jesus had answered the other questions that day.

The answer is one Christians are familiar with: love God and neighbour. But there is much in saying that. Firstly, loving God and giving to God what belongs to God is a radical statement of monotheism. Which means if God is God, then the Emperor is not! Or the dollar, or status, or winning at all costs. Loving your neighbour as yourself means not living with the divisions that are an accepted part of civilisation; rich and poor, respected and marginalised, righteous and sinners, friends and enemies, Jews and Gentiles.

The scribe responds, and adds to Jesus’ comment: ‘It is more important to obey these two commandments than to offer on the altar animals and other sacrifices to God.’

In the midst of the conflict stories of this section, we are again reminded of the difference between some, not all, of the religious leaders and Jesus. The Scribe has affirmed that loving God and neighbour is more important than what happens in the Temple.

 ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God’

The Scribe was not far from the kingdom because he knew in his heart what was important, to be in the kingdom of God means more than knowing, it means living it.

So what does this mean for us. We are not debating with Jesus, asking odd questions to try and trap him? Or are we? I wonder how often the questions we ask are the wrong questions, how often we ask about the Kingdom of God as if it is about life after death; how often we ask about the Kingdom of God as if it is confined by a set of doctrines we can parrot back at the right moment; how often we ask about the Kingdom of God not listening for any answer other than the one that fits with our own desires.

The Kingdom of God is about life: here, now, for all. Some of the Pharisees, Sadducees and other leaders tried to discredit Jesus because he was popular with the crowd. At times people will try and discredit us because we believe in God, because we live differently, because we stand up for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalised. And we stand up for the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalised not only in words, but in actions.

The reading today is from Tuesday, 3 days before the trial and crucifixion.  The conflict with the Roman and religious authorities continues, not all religious authorities,  but there is concern at the life and teaching of Jesus. Life and teaching that exposes the hollowness of power, the false divisions that have become a normal part of society, the dominance of ritual over righteous living.

The Kingdom of God is for here, for now, for everyone and every part of God’s creation. What questions do we ask to avoid living the Kingdom into being?