By what authority?

Mark 11:27-28

Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?”

By what authority…

The question of those who fear being confronted

with their own incompetence 

A question that diverts attention

from their mediocre offering

It’s easy to be perceived as a threat

Sadly, often without even trying

We cannot legislate

for another’s insecurity

What we can control, however,

is the attention we pay

to continuing to do the best we can

and refusing to be caught up

in another’s drama

Being awesome

is not a competitive sport

It is a wholesome offering of self.

By whatever authority.

 

Ambivalent yearning

 Mark 11:18-19

And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

Ambivalence: the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something

Whatever happened to ambivalence?

That ability to hold two opposing views in tension

without ditching one in favour of the other.

I yearn for those days

when ambivalence was acceptable

When it was permissible to condemn 

the invasion of a city

and still want to see those whose land it is

live peaceably with their neighbour

It seems that there is a decree abroad

that we must take sides

It is no longer possible to denounce violence

and still have sympathy for its underlying causes

especially when we have been complicit

in the sheer complexity of the divisions

that feed warmongering

and when our lifestyle is funded

by the provision of armaments 

In this Holy Week

may our faithful observance

find a way to cradle ambivalence 

that fuels love, not hate

that deplores violence wherever it is found

and that takes no prisoners

in the pursuit of peace.

(Liz Crumlish Holy Week 2024)