The Gospel for Daily office today was from Mark 11:27-12:12. In it the religious leaders ask Jesus by what authority he does these things? Or who gave him the authority to do these things? “These things” might mean his entry into Jerusalem (our Palm Sunday liturgy) or “These things” might mean his healing and teaching ministry, or maybe both his entry and his ministry.

The Status Quo religious leadership had fear of both. The people seemed to like Jesus. If one wants power on earth, chaos is your friend. If one is already holding earthly power, chaos is not your friend. Jesus was bringing chaos, divine chaos and the leaders wanted Jesus to admit it so they could brand him as crazy, disruptive, and then dismiss him, thereby destroying him and the Good News. This tends to be what we do best in our interactions with people who threaten us. We brand and dismiss, in order to destroy the person. In the end, Jesus uses the perceived destruction of himself to construct a way forward for all of God’s children.