Testing has always been a part of every person’s life: not only in the qualitative or quantitative aspects of life. Our faith is often tested by our culture ... and, I suspect, that has always been God’s plan for humanity. Today’s gospel event recounts that even Jesus was tested and also tested others. More often than not the test was about the content of his preaching, his teaching his followers about the Father’s will. He was always speaking out, always promoting the kingdom of God which was not the same as the Roman Empire. He was not afraid to teach his faith, as we might say.In just three short verses, Jesus not only plays the role of the Scribes themselves. He does it with a sense of humor. He seeks to understand how they, the Scribes, interpret how an ancestor of King David could be David’s lord. How could a relative of David, the great king, rule over David?
The crowd was delighted to see the Scribes defeated at their own game. The followers of Jesus had come to see that the kingdom of God was not at all like the kingdom of Caesar. They realized that the rejected stone would become the cornerstone. The one to be crucified as a criminal is to be our salvation.
Our defending our faith, when we are called up to do so, is not different. That is the challenge of our baptism.
