Notes from the Wayside: Perspective: They Did Not Know What They Were Asking

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Comments are always welcomed.

They Did Not Know What They Were Asking

Then Jesus told His disciples, "If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake will find it."

Matthew 16:24-25 (NRSV)

Would you take the place of this man?

Would you take the nails from His hands?

From "This Man" by Jeremy Camp

One day, while Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem, James and John, two of Jesus' closest disciples, made a request. They asked, "Allow one of us to sit on Your right and the other on Your left when You enter Your glory." In other words, when Jesus was crowned king, as many believed would soon happen, they wanted the two highest places of honor in His court.

Jesus told James and John that they did not know what they were asking.

Jesus asked, "Can you drink the cup I drink or receive the baptism I receive?" James and John replied that they could, and then Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and receive the baptism I receive, but to sit at My right or left hand isn't Mine to give. It belongs to those for whom it has been prepared."¹

Soon after Jesus and the Disciples arrived in Jerusalem, something happend that would put them on a collision course the people who sought Jesus' downfall. Jesus walked into the temple, threw out all sellers and moneychangers, turned over the tables, and effectively closed the temple for business that day. He said, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."²

I used to think that Jesus simply walked into the temple, saw something He didn't like, and lost His cool. I am beginning to think that maybe what Jesus did in the temple was an act of protest against the religious establishment of His time, and I'm beginning to think that maybe He had actually planned His demonstration in advance.

If you're like me, you might be tempted to say that Jesus was angry about the apparent commercialism taking place in the temple. It is important to remember that the sellers and the moneychangers had a legitimate purpose. It was the week of Passover, and the Jewish people of the day made pilgrimages from far away to make offerings to God at Jerusalem. The only way to travel such long distances and still have an animal fit to sacrifice was to purchase it near the temple. Furthermore, the moneychangers were necessary because it wouldn't be proper for the Jewish people to purchase an offering to God using the currency of their pagan oppressors.³

Jesus said that the temple had become "a den of robbers." I wonder if maybe the religious leaders of Jesus' day knew what televangelists and celebrity megachurch pastors know today, that religion is a good means to gain wealth and power for oneself. I wonder if maybe the sellers and moneychangers were capitalizing on people's worship, and I wonder if maybe the priests were getting kickbacks.

Jesus might have been angry that there was an unhealthy mingling of church and state at the time. The Roman governor had a measure of influence over temple affairs because he was able to hire and fire the priests. Furthermore, King Herod, who renovated the temple, had placed a golden eagle - a symbol of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the chief Roman deity - at one of the gates of the temple.⁴

Jesus went into the temple that day to expose the corruption of the religious establishment, and it was with this act that He signed His own death warrant. The religious leaders already knew that Jesus was a nuisance. He claimed to forgive sins; He hung out with the wrong kinds of people; and He and his followers didn't observe all the religious rules. When Jesus cleaned house in the temple that day, He went too far. The religious leaders realized that their place of power was under attack, so they stepped up their efforts to take Jesus down.

Jesus told James and John that it was not up to Him to decide who would sit at His right- and left-hand sides.

Do you know who made this decision?

It was Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.

When Jesus was crowned king, He was crowned not with gold, but with thorns. He was seated not on a throne, but on a cross, a Roman execution stake. The chalice from which He drank contained not vintage wine but heartache, suffering, and death. And the men seated at the places to His right and to His left were convicted criminals.⁵

Jesus said that the temple had become a "den of robbers." Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, in their book The Last Week, argue that a "den of robbers" is not a place where robbery happens but a place to which robbers flee after they commit their crimes. Perhaps the people who worshiped God in the temple were not serving God in their everyday lives. Instead of allowing their worship to motivate them to live lives of justice, they had replaced justice with worship. They offered sacrifices at the temple, but they were neglecting the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the crippled.⁶

As Christians, we are not called to simply go to church once a week, sing a few songs, read a few Bible passages, listen to a sermon, toss a few bucks into the collection plate, and go on about our business. As Christians we are called to do justice by serving those in need and also to fight the injustice that plagues this world. When we fight injustice, as Jesus did in the temple that day, we might be perceived as a threat by the people who benefit from injustice. We might even face suffering at the hands of those who are hellbent on maintaining their ill-gotten places of privilege in society.

Good Friday, they day we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, reminds us that doing the right thing could cost us dearly. Following Christ just might mean following Him to the cross.

Jesus said that James and John would indeed drink from the same cup He did. Within a few years, St. James would be executed.⁷ Later on, St. John would be tortured and sent into exile.⁸ The other Disciples would die as martyrs. Since then, there have been many followers of Christ who suffered and died because they took a stand against injustice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered because he fought for a dream of a world where all people were treated equally. Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison because he took a stand against racial segregation in South Africa.

So why anyone would want to follow Jesus knowing that it might lead to suffering or even death?

I have tried to come up with an answer to this question in the last couple of weeks, and I think that it all comes down to faith, hope, and love:

faith that our suffering is not the end of the story and that God will use the tribulations we face to bring new life to other people,

hope that we will all see each other once again on a day when injustice, evil, mourning, and death have finally come to an end,

and love for the people for whom we fight.

For other ponderings on Good Friday and the Crucifixion of Christ, see my previous perspectives "God, Forsaken," "The End of the Story," and "Holy Mockery."

Notes:

Mark 10:35-40 (CEB)
Mark 11:15-18 (NRSV)
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem. 2006, HarperOne. ch 2 (section: "Jesus and the Den of Robbers")
Borg and Crossan, ch 2 (sections: "The Ambiguity of the High-priesthood" and "The Ambiguity of the Temple")
See Mark 15.
Borg and Crossan, ch 2 (sections: "Jeremiah and the Temple" and "Jesus and the Den of Robbers")
Acts 12:1-2
Wikipedia: John the Apostle (section: "The Acts of John Tradition")