GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 11:33
Ignorance Is No Excuse
I was driving on Route 3 in southern Illinois, and I approached the town of Waterloo. I had the car’s cruise control set at the speed limit, 55 mph. On the right side, I saw a school, so I tapped the brake pedal to shut off the cruise control because I was sure there was a school zone speed limit. I was at that moment that I saw the red light flashing in the rearview mirror and heard the siren. The road was narrow, and there was no place to pull over, so I stuck my arm out the window and signaled to the officer that I had seen him and would pull off at the first convenient spot. About a half mile farther on, there was an abandoned service station, and I pulled in. I lowered the window, put both hands on the steering wheel, and waited for the officer.
The young man, wearing a full complement of body armor, walked up to the car and informed me that I had exceeded the speed limit in a school zone. I told the officer that I had not seen a school zone speed limit sign, but I had slowed when I saw the school. He asked for my driver’s license, which I handed to him. Without accepting my excuse for speeding, he wrote a ticket. I was reminded of the long-standing legal doctrine that “ignorance of the law is no excuse,” which has its roots in ancient Roman law: “ignorantia legis neminem excusat,” which means “ignorance of the law excuses no one.”
On the day after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he was incensed by the foot traffic and commercialism in the temple courts where merchants had set up stalls to sell sacrificial animals, exchange common currency for coinage acceptable in the offering boxes, and hawk other religious goods. He stopped the foot traffic, overturned the money changers’ tables, and drove out the merchants. This created quite a commotion and likely cut into the income of the priests who received a commission from the merchants.
A day or so later, as Jesus was walking and teaching in the temple, a delegation of the high priests, scribes, and elders approached Jesus and demanded to know the source of his authority for such a drastic action. Jesus laid before them a proposition: “Tell me whether John’s baptism was from heaven or from men,” he said, “and I will reveal my source of authority.” The delegates debated among themselves. If they said the baptism was from heaven, Jesus would ask why they had not submitted to it; but if they said it was from men, the people would rebel, for they had seen and heard John’s teaching, and many were baptized after repenting. “And answering, they said to Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.’” (Mark 11:33)
The delegation confronting Jesus consisted of leaders and scholars who pleaded ignorance, but that did not let them off the hook. If they claimed not to know because the concept was beyond them or because they had not thoroughly investigated, it revealed laziness or willful ignorance. If they could not comprehend John’s ministry, they certainly couldn’t understand Jesus’ ministry. Jesus’ response embodied the very principle that “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” If that principle applied to the temple delegation and to my conversation with the Waterloo police officer, it would certainly not stand before the Father.
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