GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 11:18
Thirsting
I was working in a hot environment, replacing the floor in an aggregate hopper at a ready-mix concrete company one July. The large hopper held several truckloads of material. It was not easy to reach the workplace, as it required climbing and descending ladders. Other workers hoisted the steel plates that had to be welded into place. The temperature increased during the day, and inside the hopper no air stirred. I became thirsty. There was a drinking fountain in an adjoining building, but getting there would require at least a half hour of my time and that of the two other workers, and I had neglected to bring a canteen. So, I tried to shove thoughts of cool, wet water aside and continue working, but I was still thirsty.
Sometimes Mark condenses a major story into just a few words, leaving me thirsting for more. Following Jesus’ cleansing of the outer court of the temple in Jerusalem, for example, he wrote: “And the chief priests and scribes heard him, and they sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, for all the crowd was amazed by his teaching.” (Mark 11:18)
The phrase “for all the crowd was amazed at his teaching” spans an entire afternoon, and it leaves me thirsting for more details about that lesson. The evil plotting and cowardice of the priests and scribes aside, I’d like to know more about the lesson Jesus taught that amazed the crowd. Jesus’ teaching had at least two facets: what he did and what he said. What he did was to show how important it is to keep the temple—and, by extension, the heart—clean. The thesis of his lesson was: “My Father’s house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Oh well, I’ll have to push this thirst aside for now and satisfy my curiosity with what Mark does provide.
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