Essential Skills for Our Journey With Jesus

Reading the Bible Well: (Pt. 13) Applying Mark 11:12-25.

We don’t have to deal with the Jerusalem Temple as Jesus did. But we are also in a time of institutional decline. What if our frustration with institutional religion is similar to Jesus’ hunger in Mark 11:12-25? Could our struggle with the dysfunction of the Western church be a longing for the same kind of community Jesus desired?  

If so, Mark 11:12-25 provides us with comfort and confidence.

• Our disillusionment is not because something is wrong with us. The dissonance we are experiencing may be a sign that we are more aligned with Jesus than we imagined.

• Our disappointment with organized Christianity may not be with Christianity per se, but with the way our faith is institutionally structured. The church as we know it used to facilitate the spread of God’s promise to Abraham among Westerners. But it isn’t working like it once did.

• Mark 11 also raises the question, “What if our struggle with institutional Christianity is indicative of a sea change in the way Christianity must structure itself if it is going to bear fruit?”

If so, we face the same question the disciples faced in Mark 11. What defines Christianity if it isn’t the religious institutions we have known? Jesus’ answer in our passage challenges us to return to the core of the faith so we can make a fresh start. 

“'Have faith in God, ‘ Jesus answered.  ‘Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that our Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’”   -Mark 11:22-25 

For many of us that fresh start will begin by trusting that we can move forward in our faith journey while we struggle with the church. It means a fresh commitment to prayer. It means forgiving others who have hurt us, even those inside the church. We forgive them, not because they have apologized but because this is how we get closer to God.

If we increase our commitment to faith, prayer, and forgiveness, our disillusionment with the church can enable us to bear more fruit in our lives, relationships, and community. We will makegoodhappen.

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