Mark - The First Gospel

Monday, September 29, 2014

010-Power to Redeem and Recreate

The New Creation begins with Jesus.

The next section of Mark, 4:35-5:43 includes three or four miracles stories. (NICNT counts the first two as a single exorcism story, making the total count three.) These four stories are all related in that they deal with the realm of the unclean and the dead. Together they picture Jesus’ power over impurity, disease, and demons.

Calming of the Storm and Sea

The first story of this session’s passage is about the calming of a storm on the sea. The context is that the sea and storm represent the forces of chaos attempting to overtake and destroy Jesus and his family, his disciples. The demons are responsible and present in the winds of the storm. In response Jesus rebukes the wind. The language Mark uses represents that of an exorcism. The result is that a “great calm” settles on the sea.

In ancient mythology, only deities had the kind of command over nature that was displayed in this story. The disciples see and experience this, and their response is fear. They are starting to realize that Jesus is the Creator of the Genesis 1 account. Through his command over nature, Jesus demonstrates that all creation is under his command. All the damage sin has caused to the world, Jesus demonstrates that he has power to recreate. Jesus foreshadows the full realization and recreation of his future kingdom.

This story also bears some similarities and also striking differences with the Jonah account. What is important for Mark’s audience are the differences. In Jonah, God is outside the human trial, and not only that, he is portrayed as the one sending the storm to punish Jonah for his disobedience. In Mark’s storm account, God (in Jesus) is present with his people in the storm and it is not God, but demons, that are shown to be the cause of the storm. I see Mark correcting misunderstandings about God through this account.

The Demoniac and the Pigs

In the second story of this session we read the longest narrative in Mark. In a writing style known for directness and terseness, Mark expends a large amount of ink providing numerous details.

In this account we are given a picture of what evil and demons seek to do to people. With the demoniac, they have almost succeeded. From all appearances, he is no longer a human being. He cannot speak for himself and all his actions are self-harm.

Where all other people fear this man, Jesus has no fear of him. Jesus sees the kernel of humanity that is still present, and the potential that is still there. He removes the demons from oppressingthe man.

The demons are allowed to complete their work of destruction through the herd of pigs. I believe Jesus allowed this to occur because his disciples and the former demoniac needed to see that the demons returned to their source, their abode – the sea – and perished, no longer able to wield their power over them.

The townsfolk were understandably upset and afraid. They too, like the disciples, probably recognized divinity in Jesus. In their legends and myths, the presence of a deity on earth is never a good thing, and it is understandable that they wanted Jesus to leave.

Jesus does not insist on staying but commissions the former demoniac as his first apostle to the Gentiles. He has no doctrine or creed to teach, but simply a testimony of God’s mercy. This is the heart of evangelism. This is the seed of the gospel that, when planted, will bear fruit.

This is Mark’s retelling of the second creation account of Genesis 2. The demoniac is recreated and given back his dignity of a human being. He is commissioned and given a task by God to sow seeds (to garden?) of the gospel in the lands given to him to steward. Jesus demonstrates his power to recreate humans beings in God’s image. Nothing unclean or evil can stand before him.

Again I see some parallels with the Jonah account. They are not exact parallels, but both Jonah and Jesus go to minister to Gentiles in non-Hebrew lands. Both are stories of God’s mercy. I see Mark using the second part of Jonah’s story to emphasize that Jesus’ actions follow historical precedent.

Illustrations of Jesus’ Teachings

Through these stories of Jesus’ power, Mark illustrates the “seed parables” of chapter 4. The gospel’s power is found not in the words of teaching, but in the testimonies of God’s mercy shown to his people.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

009-More Seed Parables

Evangelism is about letting go of our human desire (need?)
to maintain control, especially over ministry.

This session continues and concludes Mark’s example of how Jesus taught the people that came to him. By comparing the words arranged and recorded by Mark in this section to where these appear in the other Synoptics, we get an understanding of the methods and intent of the gospel writers.

The aphorisms from which this section has been constructed are traditional in character and occur elsewhere unrelated to each other… By inserting this block of material into the discourse on parables he sheds light on his distinctive understanding of these words of Jesus.^[1]

Mark did not record a specific instance of Jesus’ teaching, but arranged together what one might have looked like to communicate Mark’s own understanding of the gospel. In other words, what is recorded may not be what Jesus originally intended his words to say, yet still remains true and faithful to the gospel intent. Truth does not depend solely on factual or historical accuracy or precision.

A Collection of Sayings

Verses 21-25 are a collection of various proverbial and parabolic sayings of Jesus placed together to make the point that hearing and heeding Jesus’ words are of vital importance. It matches the corresponding “C” section of verses 10-12.

In the earlier set Jesus told his disciples that the secret of the kingdom was being revealed to them, but was being hidden to everyone else. In this session’s “C’” section Mark tells us, through Jesus’ words, that the hiding is not forever, but for the precise reason that the kingdom will be revealed in the future. Most of the people are not yet ready to hear and see the full revelation, and so its unveiling is being done through parables.

The disciples are being given an early preview of the kingdom. Through their hearing and appropriating of the words, they will be given additional wisdom and knowledge. They will be given the opportunity to participate in the revelation of the kingdom.

Precisely because there is going to be an unveiling which unravels the enigma and reveals the mystery [of the kingdom of God], hearing with true perception is important now… If the word of proclamation is appropriated with eagerness and joy, in like measure a rich share will be received in the eschatological revelation of the Kingdom, and “even more shall be given…” What will ultimately be received in the Kingdom of God will depend upon that which a man possesses of it now. Present possession depends upon hearing, upon appropriation or rejection of the word of the Kingdom that has been scattered like seed… Only those who penetrate the mystery in the present will share in the glory which is yet to be revealed.^[2]

Parable of the Growing Seed

Mark returns to giving an example of Jesus’ public teaching with the second parable involving a seed. What is of most interest in this parable is not what is there, but what is missing: the work of the farmer between sowing and harvesting.

This is a parable that hits at the center of human desire: to do something to make something else happen. It hits at the heart of church and evangelism. It tells us that beyond sowing seed, the church cannot control anything. In fact, as the first parable shows, the church cannot even control where the seed lands. The church can do things to possibly influence the environment to encourage sprouting, growth, and harvest, but it cannot control the environment.

And that’s okay. That’s the other message of this parable (as well as all three of the seed parables). Success of the gospel is quite guaranteed apart from any effort on the part of Christians and the church. The power of the gospel is inherent in its message. When it finds receptive ears, it will sprout, grow, and bear fruit, quite apart from anything the church or Christians do or don’t do.

This theme of God's reign as gift, not achievement, is present in the parable of the seed that grows automatically. The farmer merely sows the seed. After that, all he does is “sleep and rise,” not knowing how the seed is growing, not calculating what the result will be. This certainty of success parallels the first parable in which abundance results despite the failure of many seeds to mature.^[3]

In regards to this parable and how it might apply to the modern church, the commentary Feasting on the Gospels: Mark, has some vital warnings.

We have not been commissioned to manipulate, dominate, or coerce people to join our fellowship of believers; neither is it necessary for new converts to accept a particular political perspective. Further, we must not reduce evangelistic efforts to culturally limited recruitment of members who ‘look like us…’^[4]

The kingdom of God produces its fruit by its own internal power, a power that the sower does not understand and does not control. The process is mysterious, hidden, ambiguous, and sometimes stressful and frustrating. Clergy (pastors, teachers, evangelists, missionaries) do not control how the kingdom grows…^[5]

The kingdom of God grows because of its inherent God-given nature, not because of the efforts of its custodians… This relieves the church of an immense burden. It can do nothing to hasten the coming of the kingdom… It is impossible to rush the kingdom. It will take its own time, and its advance is ordinarily imperceptible…^[6]

Parable of the Mustard Seed

This third parable of the seed is one that has been heard and interpreted frequently. It probably makes allusion to the vision of a mighty cedar of Ezekiel 17:

On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. (v.23 ESV)

It should be noted that both Luke and Matthew write of the mustard seed growing into a tree. In regards to this difference Feasting: Mark notes,

In light of that expectation [a great, conquering kingdom], Luke and Matthew appear ill at ease with Mark’s diminutive expectation. Luke forces the parable into Ezekiel’s mold and says that the mustard seed grows into a tree (13:9). Matthew, on the other hand, combines Ezekiel and Mark, and explains that “when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree” (Matt. 13:32). Mark, the most spare, and the most botanically accurate, says the seed becomes a shrub… Agnes Norfleet, in an unpublished paper on this text, notes that “by keeping it a shrub Mark is differentiating the kingdom Jesus proclaims from past prophetic dreams of glory and hope to be like the other nations.”^[7]

This parable is often interpreted to be about small beginnings of our ministries and evangelistic efforts, and how if we work hard we will someday see a good result. Or it is about how our ongoing work for God, no matter how small, will have large results. The focus is often on the smallness of the seed.

But is this parable about us? No!

Mark records an extended introduction to this third parable where Jesus wonders and ponders how the kingdom of God can be explained. Thus the parable is not about us or our work, but about the Christ and the kingdom.

The parable’s point is that the kingdom of God will never make a splash in the world, that it will never make sense in human/worldly terms, that it will always look fragile and with apparent insignificance.

This parable is concerned with the enigmatic present manifestation of the Kingdom as embodied in Jesus' person. Its appearance may be characterized by weakness and apparent insignificance—but remember the mustard seed. The day will come when the Kingdom of God will surpass in glory the mightiest kingdoms of the earth…[8]

For Jesus’ listeners that certainly expected a splashy, mighty, conquering kingdom, this parable was a severe correction that would have mystified and baffled them.

For us, particularly in a nation (United States) that has always been friendly to Christianity, that has had Christians in the social majority for much of its history, it also provides a very necessary corrective. If we are looking for growth and greatness, we are looking for the wrong thing. If we are hoping that by our efforts we can make this into a “Christian nation” (not that it ever was), our efforts are disastrously misguided. If we are hoping that by encouraging everyone in our churches to go and witness so that we can have a grand revival, this set of parables tells us it won’t happen.

The Message of the Parables

These three parables reveal the nature of God’s kingdom in this world. It will not look like anything humans expect or desire. It can only be apprehended through faith. The growth of the kingdom does not occur through any human effort, but through the inherent power within the gospel itself. The work of the church is to sow seeds of the gospel. The church is not to force or coerce growth, because it can’t (and may only harm the growth if an attempt is made).

Just as Jesus spoke in parables to provoke thought and mystery, our gospel proclamation, in both words and deed, ought to leave plenty of room for questions and mystery. We need to leave room for God to work so that the seed is allowed to sprout when it is ready, to grow on its own schedule, and to bear fruit when it is fully ready.

Churches and Christians can set aside worries and fears that they aren’t doing enough or working hard enough, because success of the gospel is assured. We can relinquish our need to control the results of ministry and evangelism. We can rest assured that even when we see no growth, or even what appears to be retreat, the gospel is still advancing and growing.

Our task is to remain faithful to Christ, to imitate his character and actions more and more, and in so doing we sow seeds that will sprout, grow, and bear fruit on God’s schedule.

[1] NICNT: Mark, 4:21-25 introductory text.

[2] NICNT: Mark, 4:24-25.

[3] Reading Mark, 4:1-5:43, discussion of B-B’.

[4] Feasting: Mark, location 4723.

[5] Feasting: Mark, location 4744.

[6] Feasting: Mark, locations 4660, 4686.

[7] Feasting: Mark, location 4879.

[8] NICNT: Mark, 4:30-32.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

008-The Main Parable

The Gospel is One Big Parable.

Up to this point in the Markan account, the audience has not seen the contents of Jesus’ teachings. In chapter 4 we are provided with a sample of Jesus’ teachings. Through these few examples Mark gives his readers a taste of the ways in which Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God.

The material of 4:1-34 is arranged chiastically as shown here:

This session concerns A, B, C, and D. As such all conclusions remain tentative.

The following is the summary of the parables of 4:1-34.

The author of Mark uses the parables and sayings of Jesus to explain why the proclamation of God's reign is meeting with resistance and to assure the audience that despite the apparent lack of progress, God's reign will eventually burst forth in amazing fruitfulness.^[1]

The parable of the sower (or seeds or soils) is frequently interpreted parenetically; i.e., as exhortation or warning to believers. Some of these interpretations include:

That we’re to cultivate and weed the soil (i.e., mission field)
That we’re to strive to be fertile soil (i.e., work hard to produce fruit)
And we’re to avoid being one of the unproductive soils (i.e., avoid the attractions of the world)

But the parable and its explanation are best understood to be descriptive.

… The allegorical interpretation is not parenetic in character… Neither seeds nor soil can change their nature, and the failure of the seeds to take root, or to flourish once they have taken root, is attributed to the influence of Satan, as we have seen. The Markan Jesus is not warning the disciples to be good soil; rather, he is warning them (and the overhearing audience) that even as the reign of God takes root and flourishes in some quarters, it will provoke opposition, persecution, and seduction from the forces of evil. It is the nature of the reign of God to provoke opposition; it cannot be otherwise.^[2]

The context in which this parable is to be read and interpreted is that of the immediate circumstances in which Christians were facing trials, persecutions, and possibly death. Perhaps some were being forced out of their homes and away from their families while some who once worshiped together were renouncing the faith they had once received with joy and eagerness. Through this parable the early Christians understood that the very same gospel that draws people to Christ can also elicit opposing responses.

There is nothing in the parables to exhort people to become better soil, to grow, or to bear fruit. Rather the only exhortation is to listen and understand the parable itself: that the gospel elicits different kinds of judgment from the people that come into contact with it, and that it is not the fault of the gospel nor the ones who sow, but rather it simply is.

The parable must also be understood in the context that the gospel is a hidden secret, a mystery, until the Passion and Resurrection. Even then, the gospel remains a mystery to those who refuse to exercise faith.

The parable of the sower is a description, not an exhortation.

[1] Reading Mark, 4:1-34.

[2] Reading Mark, 4:1-34.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

007-Misunderstood and Misinterpreted

Those in God’s family are the ones
who are open to doing his mysterious will.

Two major topics concern us in this passage:

What is the unpardonable sin?
Who is inside God’s family and what is a primary characteristic?

The two seem unrelated, yet Mark’s arrangement of rhetoric in these verses suggest that they are very much related. This is the first instance of a clearly arrange “sandwich” rhetoric. Verses 20-21 begin an episode involving Jesus and his family. Verses 22-30 interrupt the family story to interject a confrontation with the scribes. Verses 31-35 resume the family story interrupted earlier.

For the original audience of this text, this passage serves as a reminder that Jesus himself suffered rejection from his immediate family and thus it should not surprise his followers when they are too. It is an encouragement to understand that the new family composed by Jesus is not based on blood relations, but on behavior. (Wait! That sounds like salvation by works! No, behavior is the outward display of one’s heart condition. Heart and action are one unit.)

Family – Part One

Jesus returns home to Nazareth (some say Capernaum, but I think Nazareth makes the best sense here). He is outside with the crowd, teaching, healing, and exorcising (though not mentioned specifically, we can assume his activities do not change from earlier). He and his disciples are so busy none of them even stop to eat.

The family thinks Jesus has become insane with his obsession. They are ashamed of his behavior. They are afraid of what the authorities might do in response to Jesus’ direct confrontations with them. So they act to intervene. They plan to forcibly seize Jesus and make him stop.

How often do we see God working in ways that contradict our traditions and desires? Do we want “seize him” and make him do what we want? Do we ever want to control God?

Scribes

The scribes make a lengthy journey from Jerusalem to check out Jesus’ activities. The conclude he is possessed by Beelzebul and that his activities are a result of demonic power.

Mark places the statement of the scribes close to “he is insane” statement by his family to show his audience that neither group believed in Jesus; that both statements have a degree of difference but in matter of faith they are identical.

When the scribes accuse Jesus of having Beelzebul and of using that demon's power to perform exorcisms, the audience would have understood that the charge was that of practicing magic. Magicians were believed to have gained control of spirits that they could call upon to do their bidding…^[1]

Jesus’ family wanted to control Jesus. Who was really possessed?

Jesus responds to the second accusation (that he is working through demonic power) by a set of parables (argument from analogy). He points out how illogical their statements are. He concludes the series of parables with one about a thief and a strong man.

The clear implication is that Jesus is the thief who binds the strong man, Satan, in order to plunder his house. Jesus as thief! Jesus binding someone! Jesus plundering a house! I have never seen a stained-glass window featuring this as an image of Christ.^[2]

The Unpardonable Sin

Jesus responds to the first accusation (that he is possessed by Beelzebul) by discussing the sin of blasphemy that cannot be forgiven. It needs to be understood that Jesus is not introducing a new concept, but simply pointing out that the scribes’ own traditions warns about blasphemy that cannot be forgiven.

This solemn warning must be interpreted in the light of the specific situation in which it was uttered. Blasphemy is an expression of defiant hostility toward God… The scribal tradition considered blasphemy no less seriously than did Jesus. “The Holy One, blessed be he, pardons everything else, but on profanation of the Name [i.e. blasphemy] he takes vengeance immediately.” This is the danger to which the scribes exposed themselves when they attributed to the agency of Satan the redemption brought by Jesus… In this historical context, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit denotes the conscious and deliberate rejection of the saving power and grace of God released through Jesus' word and act… The failure of the scribes to recognize him as the Bearer of the Spirit and the Conqueror of Satan could be forgiven. The considered judgment that his power was demonic, however, betrayed a defiant resistance to the Holy Spirit. This severe warning was not addressed to laymen but to carefully trained legal specialists whose task was to interpret the biblical Law to the people. It was their responsibility to be aware of God's redemptive action. Their insensitivity to the Spirit through whom Jesus was qualified for his mission exposed them to grave peril. Their own tradition condemned their gross callousness as sharply as Jesus' word. The admonition concerning blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not to be divorced from this historical context and applied generally.^[3]

The unpardonable sin is one in which a person becomes so confused that good is evil and evil is good. It is the case where a person becomes so convinced of his “rightness” that nothing can convince him or her otherwise. The scribes were so convinced that their interpretations and traditions were correct that the only way they could explain away Jesus’ activities was to attribute them to Satan.

It is one thing to stick to one’s tradition. It is another to deny the possibility that God might have something new to say, even if it comes through your presumed enemy.^[4]

In what ways might we be dismissing or wrongfully attributing acts of God to something evil? Are we so steeped in our Christian and denominational “tribalism” that we only see right within ourselves and cannot come to see God at work in other “tribes” out there, even ones that don’t claim to know Christ? Can our zeal for doctrinal purity lead us on the path toward the unpardonable sin?

Those who are most rigidly convinced they are right may be in the most danger of the unpardonable sin.

Family – Part Two

The family narrative resumes. Jesus’ family have come to where he is teaching, but they cannot make their way into the crowd. They are outsiders. Jesus, too, is on the outside but he is among his family. His family relay a message to Jesus. The crowd near him notifies him that his family is calling for him outside.

Jesus asks a question of the crowd, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” and then proceeds to answer it himself.

And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." (vv.34-35, ESV)

Jesus is outside the confines of culture and tradition, but he is inside his family. All those who do God’s will are also his family. In contrast those who seek to control him or those who refuse to acknowledge the motivation and source of his activities are outside his family.

The idea of control and magic come back around and would have been understood easily by Mark’s original audience, but not necessarily so with us today:

The clinching argument against the charge of practicing magic is the claim that Jesus and his family "do the will of God." This was a common argument made by ancient miracle workers who were accused of being magicians… In the ancient world, the pious instrument of the gods distinguished herself or himself from the magician by insisting that whereas the magician forced the gods to do the magician's will, the pious miracle-worker did only the will of the gods. Thus, when the author of Mark portrays Jesus and his followers as those who "do the will of God," he is relying on commonly accepted modes of argumentation to make his point. Such a defense was a necessary component of any biography of a wonder-worker in antiquity because the person that one group claimed as a holy man would inevitably be regarded as a magician by competing groups…[5]

Jesus, the Feminist

Among the details of these last verses is often missed Jesus’ pointed rejection of patriarchal culture and religion, and instead his support for an inclusive, egalitarian community.

Out of nowhere Jesus introduced “sister” in verse 35. Not only does he add sister, but he never mentions “father” anywhere in his description of his new family, the church. What should we make of this? Is this just random familial relationships that Jesus picked blindly from a bag? Or is Mark using this specific statement to help us understand something greater and deeper in Jesus’ words? I believe it is this latter.

In a patriarchal society, to omit “father” from a description of family relationships would have been unthinkable. For Jesus to do so had to have been intentional and with a point. Jesus is saying that within his family, the only father is God himself. No one else in his family is granted the kind of authority that was taken as normal for fathers in their society. In other words, the kind of top-down, authoritarian, hierarchical authority has no place in the church.

Secondly, by including “sister” as well as leaving “mother” in the list of family members as he looked around his followers, he acknowledges the existence, value, and importance of women disciples in his family. They stand alongside the men as equal in all respects in his new family. The men are not to have special roles over the women and vice versa.

Whereas Mark’s context is a patriarchal one, through the use of “sister” and “mother” the writer declares the presence of women in the ministry of Jesus…
In declaring, “Here are my mother and my brothers” (v. 34), Jesus also does not mention “father.” First-century-CE society was rooted in a patriarchal (male-rule), patrilineal (male-descendency), patrinomial (male-naming), and patrilocal (male-placement) society. What an assault this is to concepts of family embedded in Mark’s society! Although the following quote is related to Luke’s community, it is still apropos in addressing the social hierarchy in Mark’s day just a decade earlier: “The status of a woman was tied to that of a male relative. Her identity and social belonging were situated outside of her self and her gender.” Mark’s Jesus attempts to reconfigure this gender order.
This group is not patriarchal. Mothers have a vital role to play. God is now the head of the household. This group is not male exclusively. It includes sisters who are on par with brothers in the work of Jesus.^[6]

Closing Thoughts

God’s family consists of those who are curious and open-minded, who believe confidently yet are flexible to see God working in ways and through agencies that are non-traditional and not necessarily part of the approved “tribe.” God’s family consists of those who are ready to see family members wherever they may be found.

There is only one leader, father, and “head” in God’s family. It is God himself. Everyone else is an equal member.

Jesus deliberately and forcefully chose to confront not only spiritual misunderstandings and misinterpretations, but social and cultural ones as well. In doing so he raised the value and dignity of women and other marginalized people in his society.

Are we following Jesus’ examples and doing God’s will?
Are we inside or outside?

[1] Reading Mark, 3:20-35.

[2] Feasting: Mark, location 3837.

[3] NICNT: Mark, 3:28-30. Emphasis mine.

[4] Feasting: Mark, location 3751.

[5] Reading Mark, 3:20-35.

[6] Feasting: Mark, locations 4007, 4012, 4020.

Monday, August 11, 2014

006-Mixed Reactions

Gospel proclamation is not just words. It must free the oppressed and captives. If it doesn’t it isn’t the gospel.

In this passage Mark wraps up the account of Jesus’ first ministry tour around the Galilean region. Responses to Jesus are mixed, but rare is any kind of genuine faith and repentance that is expressed. The crowds are merely curious, the disciples are confused, and the establishment is hostile.

Healing and Killing (3:1-6)

Jesus returns to a synagogue, probably in Capernaum, where the story began. The environment is decidedly hostile by this time. Jesus is given the silent treatment by all: by those who wish to snub him and by the rest who are fearful of expressing any opinions of their own in case they too, are targeted.

Jesus could have avoided all the controversy if he merely waited until after the Sabbath to heal. But the Kingdom of God does not wait. The Sabbath is a weekly invasion of the Kingdom into the world. Healing and restoration to wholeness of body, spirit, and relationships is most appropriate to take place on the Sabbath.

This story does not give any indication as to the man’s spiritual condition or his faith. Jesus’ compassion trumps all—he heals without question. There is nothing recorded of the man’s thoughts and actions afterward. Was there any kind of gratitude or repentance? The text does not say. Yet Jesus still healed.

This story is a challenge to us as modern Christians. Will we offer help to those who appear undeserving, who might merely be there to take advantage, to those who won’t express gratitude, to those who might even turn against us?

Doing good, caring for neighbor, trumps all regulations. What does that say to us today, whether we protest rules and regulations within the life of the church, or advocate for change in culture and politics? What trumps what? What priorities matter? Jesus’ fierce testimony silences the critics. Either they have decided already and do not seek debate, or they have nothing to say—or both. Either way, their silence both angers and saddens Jesus. Again, to what suffering and injustice is the church silent today?^[1]

The irony is that the guardians of spiritual tradition go to plot the destruction of Jesus on the Sabbath day.

A Tour Summary (3:7-12)

Motifs from the opening stories are condensed in these few verses: withdrawal, wilderness, sea, the crowd, healing, exorcism, confrontation.

The news about Jesus’ deeds have spread far beyond Galilee and people arrive from a very large area to hear about him and experience his manifestations. Once more there is no mention of repentance, yet Jesus continues to heal, exorcise, and restore people. Jesus asks for nothing in return.

Jesus demonstrates what genuine compassion does.

Jesus’ compassion is not merely a feeling of pity; his compassion focuses on wholeness and justice on behalf of those in need. Real compassion entails actually getting to know people, understanding their needs and concerns, and sharing resources even at personal cost. Compassion may also mean shared suffering.^[2]

Jesus demonstrates what the Kingdom of God looks like. The Kingdom is not primarily about a place, but about shared relationships in an environment of mutual acceptance.

Healing carried great weight in a society that viewed illness as punishment from heaven. The healings set off a chain reaction as word spread among the villagers of Galilee. Remember that healing touched more than the individual; it restored the family and kinship relations.^[3]

Selection of The Twelve (3:13-19)

I see this as kind of a closing of the first unit and an introduction to the next. Jesus opened his ministry by announcing the arrival of the kingdom, calling people to repent and believe the gospel, and by calling some disciples to follow him. In this passage Jesus selects twelve to further the discipleship process: to observe Jesus in action and to imitate him in proclamation and exorcism. In the following chapters we are given snapshots of more of Jesus words and deeds.

It is important to understand that Jesus desired every disciple that is named here, including Judas Iscariot who would later betray him. But in a sense, all the disciples betrayed Jesus to one degree or another.

In whatever way Christians may theologize about Judas, then and now—predestined pawn, kingdom-hastening agent, mistaken militant, would-be powerbroker—even the earliest apostolic community included the presence and the reality of the demonic, a timely reminder for those who would attribute some mythic purity to the first-century church.^[4]

Summary

Disciples of Jesus are to first learn what the gospel is. And they are sent out to proclaim and live it. The gospel is that the kingdom of God has arrived. It can only be entered through repentance, that is, by choosing to turn one’s steps toward drawing nearer to Jesus and to follow him. The kingdom of God is good news because it is a community in which all are accepted, where oppression and addictions finally end, where relationships are restored, and where wholeness is found.

But this kingdom is not yet fully here. We live in an in-between time where we experience some of what the kingdom promises but the evils of the world still affect the church.

Christ has great expectations of us and has no intention of lessening them. We disciples often fail to meet them, but that is no reason for despair, because all things are possible for God.^[5]

[1] Feasting: Mark, location 3082.

[2] Feasting: Mark, location 3340.

[3] Feasting: Mark, location 3404.

[4] Feasting: Mark, location 3506.

[5] Feasting: Mark, location 3654.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Back from break

I’ve been away for a few weeks, which explains why it’s been quiet here. A new post on the next section from Mark should be up after this coming Saturday. In the meantime, if you’re interested, here is the sermon I preached at the Lutheran church today. It was on the Loaves and Fishes, something that we will be getting to in a few chapters during our travel through Mark.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

005-When Beliefs Impede Truth

For humankind, holiness is found in learning to become fully human. Jesus’ incarnation is our example of becoming fully human, fully holy.

The stories Mark includes in the passage that we discussed today asks the question, what is genuine holiness? The scribes and Pharisees had one response to the question. Jesus demonstrated something quite different from the understanding of the former. What we see is Jesus restoring people to full humanity and full equality. We see an allusion to the Creation account to recover the true meaning of holiness.

When we read the gospel accounts we most often identify with the disciples and followers of Jesus, because as Christians, we are. We do mention and talk about how we shouldn’t become like the Pharisees of old, but we view them mostly as ancient-day equivalents of groups today that oppose Christians. This is unfortunate because modern Christianity, especially American Christianity, bears far more parallels with the Pharisees than we’d like to think.

When Jesus walked the earth and when the gospels were written down, Christianity was an oppressed and marginalized religion. Its adherents were, at least at times, considered criminals. Even in the best of times they were looked upon with suspicion for their rejection of Empire.

However, American Christianity is not oppressed or marginalized, no matter what some groups might say about “being persecuted.” It is in the position of power and privilege, and it is a dominant force in public discourse. In the gospel stories, Christians must put themselves in the shoes of Jesus’ opponents and honestly ask ourselves how we might be like them in treating the marginalized and oppressed. We must ask ourselves how we are drawing boundaries on who is in and out, and how we might be “enforcing” the boundaries. We have to ask ourselves how our versions of Christianity might be painting “outsiders” as less-than-fully-human by our words, attitudes, and deeds.

Call of Levi

Jesus calls a tax-farmer, a tax-collector, to follow him. Tax-collectors were considered traitors to the Jewish nation, a collaborator with the enemy. They were seen as even less than lepers – there were provisions for lepers to attend synagogue, but tax collectors were excluded completely. If Levi was collecting fish taxes from the fishermen, what did Simon, Andrew, James, and John think when Jesus gave the invitation?

Levi is a collaborator. A true freedom-fighter would have nothing to do with such a weasel, except perhaps to murder him as an enemy of the revolution.^[1]

As with earlier accounts, there is no mention of confession of sins and wrongdoing; there is no mention of repentance.^[2] Levi simply follows. Jesus does not require a confession or declaration of repentance before he allows a person to follow and be a disciple. The person’s actions declare far more than mere words from mouths. Levi certainly turns away from his past, but his past is not the focus. There is no dwelling on past sins, on remorse, or even restitution. The focus is on following Jesus. This continues Mark’s vision of repentance.

The Feast

The story abruptly transitions to a banquet setting. According to Luke, this feast was hosted by Levi in his home. But Mark leaves the setting ambiguous and the language used lends greater weight to the feast being hosted by Jesus in his home.^[3]

Middle Eastern banquets are not strictly private affairs. To show the generosity and graciousness of the host, all in town are tacitly invited and allowed to attend.[4] Thus Mark shows that Jesus invites everyone to his “Messianic banquet.” The scandal is not so much in who is invited but who shares the seats of honor with Jesus around the banquet table.

Jesus allows the tax-collectors and “sinners”^[5] to share the table with him. He eats from the same plates and drinks from the same cup as they! Jesus associates with the unclean! A “holy person” is deliberately choosing to associate with the “unholy.”

To go and sit down at that table and to enter into fellowship with this group would violate their idea of “holiness.” For them, Bible and tradition drew clear boundaries around who and what was “pure” and “ritually clean.” Holiness was performed out of love and respect for God, using proscribed sets of rituals that were carefully passed down through tradition. The “righteous” remembered the grace that God extended to them. In return, they performed the rituals and abided by the major divine laws for conduct and behavior.^[6]

… The complaint is that Jesus sets a bad example as a holy man by welcoming known sinners into his circle. In the minds of these critics, Jesus should have disassociated himself publicly from such sinners and should have summoned them to repentance and study of the religious law as a precondition for any social acceptance. These critics were desirous of upholding a religious standard and of chastening and perhaps reforming transgressors.^[7]

The scribes and Pharisees were sincere in their beliefs and in their reasons for adhering strictly to their doctrines. We must not assume evil of them.^[8] They genuinely wanted what was good for their nation and for their people. They sincerely believed that if all would just follow their interpretation of scripture, the Messiah would arrive and all would be better in the world. They weren’t creating boundaries between righteous and unrighteous, clean and unclean because they were malicious, but because they wanted to motivate “sinners” to repentance. In other words, the motivations behind the scribes and Pharisees bear some considerable parallels with modern Christianity.

The big issue the scribes and Pharisees had with Jesus is that he allowed table fellowship without first requiring visible “repentance” from the “sinners.” Jesus was saying, “Come to me, share a meal, and repentance will naturally follow.” Jesus didn’t draw boundaries. All are invited. But he allows people who are uncomfortable with the kind of people he associated to draw themselves out of his circle. In other words, people bring judgment upon themselves. People decide for themselves whether they are in or out.

Those who want to be insiders in Jesus' group must envision themselves reclining next to people whose politics and behavior they find disgusting, and eating out of the same dish with them…^[9]

Weddings and Fasting Don’t Mix

The banquet motif continues with this next incident where Jesus is asked why his disciples don’t fast. In response Jesus tells his questioners that it is inappropriate and rude to the host to fast during a wedding feast.

The traditions of the Pharisees designated Mondays and Thursdays each week as days to fast. They did this to express remorse for the past sins of the nation, for repentance for current sins, to express piety, and to look forward to the coming of the Messiah. Disciples of John the Baptist fasted for probably these same reasons. The Baptist had proclaimed the nearness of the Kingdom and thus it would have made perfect sense to express piety in anticipation of the coming.

The puzzlement of those who questioned Jesus on this issue was caused by the fact that Jesus proclaimed the near arrival of the kingdom of God, the day of salvation, but was not showing what his critics regarded as proper preparation by mourning over its delay.^[10]

For the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist, repentance and holiness were symbolized through self-denial. Once again Mark shows that both of these concepts were demonstrated quite differently in the actions of Jesus. Two vastly different visions of holiness are on display. Through two parables – the garment-patch and the wine-wineskins – Jesus conveys the message that holiness according to the law is obsolete. The new has come. The old must pass away, or it must adapt.

Lord of the Sabbath

The third story involves the holiness of the Sabbath. The Pharisees question Jesus about actions of his disciples. This is more than a mere academic question. They believed that perfect adherence of the Sabbath by all Jews would usher in the Messianic Age.^[11] For a teacher of the Law to condone or sanction breaking of the Law is unthinkable and defeats its very purpose. In their minds, Jesus is acting against the nation!

In response Jesus alludes to a story of David when he “breaks” the Law regarding scared food. This Davidic incident takes place while he is running from Saul, the anointed king of God. In doing so Jesus identifies himself as the leader of fugitives. Jesus defends the actions of his disciples. Note that the disciples did not ask Jesus first or get his permission before “harvesting.” Rather they do so, and in response to accusations, Jesus defends them.

Jesus casts his lot with the oppressed and the marginalized. The Sabbath commandment in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 is given to remind the Hebrews that all humankind was created equal and deserve a time to rest. On the Sabbath people are commanded to relate to one another as equals. It doesn’t matter that outside of the Sabbath one is master and another slave, male and female, citizen and non-citizen, parent and child – on the Sabbath power, privilege, hierarchies, and authorities must be subordinated to equality (c.f., Galatians 3:28).

The Sabbath is a reminder that all humankind was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and that it was very good (Genesis 1:31). When God declares the seventh day holy (Genesis 2:3), I believe it includes all of creation. The day by itself would be meaningless without all that came before and all that it represents. Thus I believe the seventh day represents completeness, perfection, Shalom, and holiness.

Humankind is holy at the end of Creation Week. It is at the Fall that humans become less than human. With the Incarnation, Jesus comes to reverse the Fall and restore humanity to its fullness. Humanity does not become holy by trying to become more like God. Humanity becomes holy by learning to become fully human as was originally intended in Creation. By becoming fully human, the image of God is restored. By becoming fully human, we become the image of God.

It isn’t wrong to want to bear the image of God, but I think for far too long Christianity has taught the wrong means. It has taught holiness that bears much resemblance to the kind of holiness espoused by the Pharisees of old. I believe what we need is to embrace the kind of holiness Jesus demonstrated: that of becoming fully human as God originally intended for us. And part of the gospel is to help those around us become more fully human. If we do not, we risk missing Jesus just as the Pharisees missed him. We can be so sincere in holding onto beliefs we are convinced are right that we miss Truth.

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath because he chose to fully embrace humanity and taught his followers to do the same.

To side with Jesus will mean for the audience of the Gospel the loss of any claim to righteousness, the loss of the prerogative of avoiding unpleasant people, and the loss of absolute certainty about biblical interpretation.^[12]

[1] Reading Mark: 2:13-14.

[2] Feasting: Mark, location 2665.

[3] NICNT: Mark, 2:17.

[4] Bailey, Kenneth E. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, p. 246, footnote 15.

[5] NICNT: Mark, 2:15-16. “The term is technical in this context for a class of people who were regarded by the Pharisees as inferior because they showed no interest in the scribal tradition.”

[6] Feasting: Mark, location 2676.

[7] UBC: Mark, 2:13-17.

[8] UBC: Mark, 2:16 note.

[9] Reading Mark: 2:15-17.

[10] UBC: Mark, 2:18-22.

[11] UBC: Mark, 2:23-28.

[12] Reading Mark: 2:18-22.

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