Pretty But Worthless (Mark 11:12-26)

In the 1500s there was a notable English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the new world by the name of Martin Frobisher. His goal was to find a northwest passage to Asia. He spent the majority of his time searching the St Lawrence River and the areas north. On his second voyage, he made an amazing discovery. He discovered a huge deposit of what he thought was gold ore. He loaded 200 tons of it on his three ships and sailed back to England. Where he dropped it off and promptly returned. On his second voyage he returned with even more ships and loaded 1300 tons onto the ships for his journey home. On the journey home, he believed that he had become an incredibly wealthy man. He could build a castle on acres of land and live the rest of his days in luxury and peace. However, after smelting, a startling discovery was made. Although very pretty, the ore he had so laboriously brought him was worthless. He was informed that he had shipped to England 1500 pounds of iron pyrite (or fool’s gold). No doubt you have seen this mineral before. It is gold, it is shiny, it looks like the real thing. But it is not. Gold is incredibly durable and valuable. Iron pyrite has little durability or value. It’s pretty, but it’s worthless.

Sadly, many of us are like Martin Frobisher. No, we don’t load 1500 tons of fool’s gold to ship to our homes. Instead, we load tons of spiritual fool’s gold and think that we are shipping it to heaven. We do ritualistic acts of religion and God stuff without complete dedication to God and believe that God is amazed by it. We expect that because of these ritualistic acts and God stuff that God will bless us, and that God is pleased with us. Sadly, we will discover one day that these things, like fool’s gold, are pretty but worthless. 

Two weeks ago, we looked at the narrative commonly known as the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. We were reminded that Jesus is the eternal King. But as King, Jesus demands our lives, not just our service. This is the message of the narrative from the next day. In our text this morning, Mark recounts for us the events that followed. And in them, Mark challenges us to live lives for God that are of value. We are to live lives that bear fruit. He does this by picturing for us the danger of fruitless lives.