"Green Leaves and Sham"

Welcome to the third installment in my largely unplanned "God is not a wish-granting pushover" series which began with Real Pictures, Inaccurate Description was continued in Not a Tame Lion and now concludes (unless I think of something else I want to add) with "Green Leaves and Sham."

Jesus was a friend of sinners. He was kind, gentle and compassionate. He taught that the two greatest commandments were to love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself.

However, Jesus was not a pushover. He did not condone sinful behavior. You will never find him telling anyone to live however they think is good as long as it works for them and doesn't hurt others (on the contrary, he claimed that belief in him was the only way to forgiveness/heaven - John 3:14ff, 14:6). His harshest words (and even anger!) were directed against those who were religious but had no true relationship with God. That is, those who used religion/spirituality/keeping-a-list-of-rules for their own gain (whether it be gain of money, political power, social standing, and/or reputation).

Mark 11:12-25 records a great example of Jesus censuring (to put it mildly!) the hypocrisy of the religious establishment and at the same time using an object lesson to teach his disciples about true relationship with God. Below you'll find the "Seussian" version of that passage...this resulted from working on a seminary exegesis paper while my wife was reading "Green Eggs and Ham" to one of our daughters. I posted this once before a couple years ago, but I figured I'd trot it out again since it fits what I've been blogging about recently, this Sunday is Palm Sunday (the immediately preceding context of this passage), and it'll end my "series" on a little lighter note. So without further ado I give you Green Leaves and Sham:

Green Leaves and Sham
By Joel Mitchell
(With apologies to Dr. Seuss and Mark the evangelist)

Walking down the road next day
Hunger pangs won't go away

A fig tree's in the distance seen
It has leaves so fresh and green

Green leaves mean small buds to eat!
(edible though not real sweet)

At a distance it deceives
There are no buds; there's only leaves

I do not like this fig tree much
Green leaves a sham; no fruit or such

May no one eat from you again
Your fruitfulness is at its end


The temple is unfruitful too
Money clinks and pigeons coo

So I will throw the sellers out
The buyers too who mill about

And I will turn the tables o'er
And spill the money on the floor

And I will flip the merchants' chairs
And forbid transporting wares

"A house of prayer" the Scriptures say
A den of thieves you've made today

Priests and scribes this teaching hear
Their plan must wait; the crowd they fear


Walking down the road next day
The lying fig tree's by the way

Nevermore will it bear fruit
It is whithered from the root

Don't be so shocked; in God you trust
For him who prays faith is a must

He can say to mountains tall
Lift up and in the ocean fall

He must trust and never doubt
And what he says will come about

So when you pray you must believe
That what you ask for you'll receive

If you do this you will see
What you ask for: it will be

And when you call upon God's name
Forgive, and God will do the same.