Out Our Way:

Mark 11:27-33

Out our way, it can be a bit “hairy” crossing streams in the spring as the ice melts. The bridge out at the Lion’s Campground in Beaver Creek Park was wiped out a few years ago and Goliath and I had to wade across the stream. It wasn’t that high, but the current was strong and we saw twigs, leaves and even entire tree branches being swept along as we crossed. It reminded me of a lesson I learned years ago while canoeing on a stream that had an equally-strong current: You can go with the flow or you can paddle against it, but what you cannot do is just sit still.

The same thing is true in matters of faith; we can “go with the flow” of the mainstream world, or we can resist it and push against it to go another way, but we can’t be neutral and just stay put.

In the text Goliath picked for today is the account of some religious fence-sitters who didn’t much care for Jesus because He rocked the religious establishment’s boat. So they sought to trap him by asking him by whose authority he said the things he said and did the things he did. Their hope was to show that Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic. What they had not counted on was the third possibility, that he might be for real, that he might be the Lord.

But Jesus saw through their little trap and turned the tables on them, saying, “I will answer your question if you will first answer mine: By whose authority did John perform baptisms in the Jordan?”       

They knew that if they said John did it on his own authority, the crowds would rise up against them, for John was considered a prophet of God. But, if they said John’s authority came from God, then they would have to explain why they had failed to believe him. Afraid to answer the question directly, they opted to sit on the fence and simply say, “We do not know.”

Now, we have a word for such theological fence-sitters: “agnostics.” The word comes from the Greek and literally means someone who is without knowledge.” Christ has little patience with such folk, warning them it is better to be cold or hot toward God than to be lukewarm.

Imagine sitting in a rowboat that is being carried over a waterfall. There are only two possibilities: You will go with the current and go over the fall, or you will row against the current and head for shore. You cannot just sit in the river and not move.

The Sadducees had tried to “play it safe” and do nothing when God sent John the Baptist into the world to prepare the way for Christ. They tried to play the “religious agnostic” game and Jesus called them on it.

He still does this today saying, “He who is not with Me is against Me.” The choice is upstream or down stream, for the river does not stand still.

——

John Bruington and Goliath hang out in Havre, Montana, and serve at First Presbyterian Church.