Reflection for Saturday June 1 Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr: Mark 11:27-33

Gospel: Mark 11:27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. 

Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 

But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”– they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Who are the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders? 

They are persons of authority they are all highly valued and listened by their community. Jesus was actually no match to them in stature for He is just an ordinary Jew and a carpenter. That’s why they’ve asked Him: “By what authority are you doing these things? 

What was their motivation in asking Jesus about His authority? Of course their motivation was envy and greed for power because they were slowly being threatened by the growing popularity of Jesus.  Otherwise if they were not envious and greedy they would have not asked Jesus about His authority. This same envy and greed for power drove them to plot the killing of Jesus. 

We too are often times envious of those who succeed, those who are more popular than us. Why do we allow ourselves to be eaten up by this negative emotion called envy? Instead of feeling envious why not simply be happy for those people who succeed? – Marino J. Dasmarinas