“And no one dared to ask Him any more questions.” Mark 12:34

8 March 2024   Mark 12:28-34

You know it is time for an upgrade of your spiritual equipment when you stop asking questions.

No more questions means you think you have all the information you need. No more questions means that you no longer see the things that invalidate your perception that everything is OK. No more questions means you don’t want to have anything to do with the people who see the things that you say don’t exist. No more questions means that everyone is crazy who doesn’t see the world the way you do. No more questions means, “Won’t someone shut those people up?”

No more questions means it is time for an upgrade.

In 1831 Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical reaper, which could do the work of seven men. In 1837 John and Hiram Pitts invented the mechanical thresher, which could do in an hour what fifteen men could do in a day. These machines meant that smaller numbers of people could farm larger areas of land, and make the land profitable. During the Civil War farms in the Union produced more grain than the entire country had in the previous record year of 1858. But these machines were not adopted in the South. Southerners could have farmed more with less labor, too, but it raised the problem of what to do with their slaves. Labor-saving devices meant slaves had less to do, but slaves still needed to be fed, and clothed, and housed, and of course they wouldn’t consider freeing their superfluous labor force. So the new machines were not adopted.

The South deliberately made their whole region poorer and hungrier, and continued to do this even after the Civil War, just to keep their outdated labor force busy. They got to the point where they would not talk about it, would not ask questions about it.

We’ll fight a war instead. Kill 700,000 people instead.

Anything but an upgrade.

When you get to the point where the only questions that come up are the ones you have already answered, where the only conversations that are possible are the ones you have already had, that is usually an indication that it is time for a decision, and the decision is a hard one. The decision means stepping away from things you previously believed were true, but now there is evidence to show they are true no longer. It means stepping away from ideas your friends and family may still believe are true because they will not consider the evidence that you have seen. It means that not making a decision is making a decision to double down on things you now know are not so.

That is where many Scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the Law found themselves. They had seen the many, many healings, the many, many exorcisms. They had seen that He had power over the spiritual forces of darkness, and an understanding of Holy Scripture far deeper than theirs. He had even told some of them that they were not far from the Kingdom (Mark 12:34). Not far, but not there yet.

They had seen it all, heard it all. There were no more questions to ask, no more conversations to have, only a decision to make.

Upgrade?

We live in times that are desperately unhappy. People believe passionately things that are not so. They are taught this by universities, defended by governments. The crisis of meaning, morality, family, and purpose is real and palpable. We ask many questions that have been asked already. We have many conversations that we have had already. We may not be far from the Kingdom of God. Not far, but not there yet. Spiritual forces of darkness are out there, but they have not been exposed and defeated. Not yet.

The way forward is a decision.

Upgrade. Follow. Follow Him.