At the time, the disciples weren’t concerned about why Jesus was killing a tree; they were stunned that he could make a tree die. Though we are familiar with Roundup, we would be stunned, too. In response, Jesus invites the disciples to believe that their words, with God’s affirmation, do things.
Sometimes questions are speeches
They forgot that they were asking the smartest man who ever lived. They forgot that this was the rabbi who had baffled the rabbis when he was twelve. They forgot that they were setting a verbal trap for the one who was the Word.
So he posed his own question about who authorized John’s baptisms.
“Even after you saw tax collectors and prostitutes be forgiven, you didn’t repent,” Jesus says. The religious people were too religious to admit they were as wrong as the irreligious people. Passive disobedience is as bad as active disobedience. “Good Christians” who don’t follow Jesus are worse than forgiven cheaters.
When you starting thinking that the fruit you are seeing, the lives being changed, the groups of people caring for each other, the families being reconciled, the friendships being rebuilt, the addictions being healed, the smiles flitting across the faces of hurting people and then coming back to stay…when you start thinking that it happens because of your brilliance and marvelous planting…remember that you don’t own, you rent.
This blend of shorthand and broad strokes is an important alternative model to an approach that takes on verse out of context as a life verse or organization purpose.
God tells a huge story of relationship, sweeping across the whole book. Jesus is showing how his life fits into that story. It’s a good model.
300 words a day 