January 24, 2021 Mark 4:35-5:43

              The passage we read from Mark is a wonderful collection of miracle stories.  They show the full extent of Jesus’ powers.  In the stilling of the storm we see that Jesus has power over the forces of nature.  In the casting out of the demons in the Gerasene man we see Jesus has power over chaos and evil spirits.  In the healing of the woman with hemorrhages he shows his power to cure medical problems doctors can’t fix.  And in the raising of dead little girl Jesus shows power over death.

            In each case he does it to provide people with health and safety. 

-At least a few of the disciples were fishermen.  They knew a bad storm when they saw one, and if even they were scared, they were in one.  Jesus provides them with safety. 

-The demon possessed man lived as a wild outcast away from civilization.  He was chained and restrained to keep him under control.  Jesus gives him a right mind and fullness of life. 

-Similarly, the hemorrhaging woman would have been considered perpetually ritually unclean and unable to participate in many religious and social activities. 

-And what parent isn’t devastated at the serious illness and death of one of their children?

            As the front of our worship bulletins for today suggests, this is all fine and good for them.  They get to have their lives miraculously fixed by Jesus.  But what about us?  Are our problems somehow less?  Are we second rate that we do not get such treatment?  Is our pain somehow less real?

Does the person suffering from chronic heart problems have less faith that her condition is not healed the way the bleeding woman was?

What about the parent who loses a son or daughter to cancer, or the boy or girl killed in an automobile accident?  Why not being raised from the dead for them?

Is the person struggling to overcome an addiction to drugs really all that different from the Gerasene Demoniac?  Maybe he or she isn’t tethered with chains, but the feeling of being out of control is the same.  Lives are ruined.  Families are destroyed. 

And what about the chaos of the person who suffers at the hands of an abusive parent?  I think of the kids who live in households of complete chaos at the hands of addicted or grossly incompetent or insane adults.  Why when he or she prays for God to help does that help not come?  Are we not taught to pray for our enemies and do good things for them?  Why doesn’t God respond to such sincere and righteous prayers?  Is such a person’s suffering all that different from the disciples being tossed around in a boat in a storm-tossed sea?

These are all good questions.  They are fair questions to ask.  I’ve said any times that it’s okay to get mad at God for the unfairness of it all.  A look at the passage from Mark shows us that not everyone who had a miraculous healing was a faithful person.  While Jesus praises the faith of the bleeding woman, he criticizes the disciples for their lack of fait; but both get a miracle.  The Gerasene Demoniac doesn’t even ask to be cured.  He’s not a local.  He’s even of a different religion.  Still though, Jesus approached him without even having an invitation.  Jesus sets his life to rights.

The passage we read from Mark does not give us answers, but Mark’s gospel does respond to our questions, even if it isn’t the answers we want to hear.

Here’s the thing.  We need Jesus to be powerful.  We need to know he has power over nature, and over evil, and over medical problems, and over death itself.  How could we ever trust God with our lives if we weren’t sure God was fully powerful? 

We need Jesus, and we need to know he is powerful; but we do not need his miraculous powers in our own lives. 

Any number of times we see in Mark’s gospel that Jesus tells people not to tell about the miracles he has performed.  Sometimes, like with the Gerasene Demoniac, he does tell him to spread the word.  You’ll remember me saying before that it’s impossible to say for certainty why this is so.  The general rule is that he tells outsiders and non-Jews to spread the word; but Jewish insiders to keep it quiet.  That’s strange, but without it being a privilege or racist meaning, it fits with the idea that his ministry is first and foremost to Jews.  Jewish faith is the foundation upon which God’s revelation in Jesus is built.  It is necessary to understand Jesus.  In a sense they are the ones equipped to really get it.  They have to get it, get it right – and not get it wrong.  Getting it wrong would be to see Jesus as first and foremost as a miracle worker, not the crucified one.

In a couple weeks we’ll explore the dimensions of Jesus’ identity more, but for now let’s just say that Jesus wants the center of our identity with him to be, not one which is based on getting supernatural solutions to problems, but instead based on Jesus’ self-emptying love.  Your salvation came through Jesus’ death, not his miraculous powers. 

We need to know Jesus is powerful so we can trust in his promises.  Then when we truly trust in his promises they become a force that shapes our lives. 

You are what you believe.  That’s what shapes your life and forms your identity.  In Christian faith you bring God’s promises to life.  That is how God wants his work to be done.  That is how he wants his kingdom to come into reality in this life.  It is as strong as we make it. 

Why doesn’t God fix problems beyond our control for us?  It is not because God doesn’t care.  It is because he holds us in his power no matter what.  From there, we are empowered to embody God’s love.  That’s how God wants it to be real in the world.  He wants his love to be alive because we make it alive.  It can be a tough challenge, but it honors us and gives us a meaningful place in God’s work. 

 

January 17, 2021 Parables Mark 4:1-34

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “white privilege” thrown around a lot over the last several months.  After listening carefully I’ve learned that the term has different meanings for different people.  For me, the way you define it determines the extent to which I agree or disagree with it.  One thing I have become aware of though, is that I do easily assume there will be a certain safety and stability to life.  The truth is not everyone can make such an assumption.  Perhaps this pandemic makes us all aware of how stable our lives usually are – or how stable we think they should be.  Life in instability is frustrating and exhausting.

Perhaps though that helps us understand our gospel reading for today.  Mark 4:1-34 is a collection of Jesus’ parables.  Or perhaps we’d be better to call them “riddles” for the Greek can be translated either way.

Jesus makes a very challenging statement.  Loosely quoting from Isaiah 6 he says, “To you has been given the secret to the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in riddles; in order that, ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

What?!?  Is Jesus deliberately teaching in a way that excludes people?  Is God damning people and then hardening their hearts so that he has all the more reason to do it?  No, of course not!  So what is going on here?

In the same way we want our lives to be settled and stable – and unconsciously think we deserve to have them be that way – so too do we tend to want our faith to be settled and stable.  And, unconsciously think we deserve to have it be that way!  We like to know what we know.  We want faith to fit inside reasonable mental and emotional categories.

Not so!

At least not as Mark’s gospel portrays it!

Whenever you read Mark’s gospel it may be helpful to remember that you are dealing with something that is not entirely tame and controlled.  Theologian Karoline Lewis says of Mark’s gospel that it is not housebroken.  The gospel is not housebroken because God is not housebroken.

Indeed, let’s look at what is going on in this very moment.  I am here at church.  There are only a couple other people in the sanctuary with me.  And all of you are at home.  For years we have been taught that the church is not the building.  And yet, do we not consider the building to be a more holy place than our homes?  Does it not feel more fitting to worship in a special set-aside place for worship with its own unique architecture and instruments and furniture? 

These days remind us that God, and worshipping God, is not only possible outside of church, but that it can be full and completely valid in our own homes.  You can worship in your pajamas with a cup of coffee in your hand!

We make a mistake when we want to confine God to buildings, or rituals, or tried and true stable things. 

A few weeks ago we read the beginning of Mark’s gospel.  We heard that at Jesus’ baptism the sky was ripped apart and the Holy Spirit descended into Jesus.  That Spirit then drove Jesus into the wilderness.  There’s nothing tame or controlled about all of that.  Theologians like to point out from this beginning of Mark’s gospel that God is no longer contained where we humans think God is supposed to be contained.  Instead God is going to be anywhere and everywhere, and in a full and complete way.  Healthy places, unhealthy places,

good places, bad places,

clean places, unclean places,

safe places, dangerous places,

living places and dead places.

            God will not be contained!

Mark’s gospel is a gospel of chaos.

I don’t know if I totally agree with Karoline Lewis’ description of God as not being housebroken.  I remember the first dog my family ever got.  She wasn’t housebroken and we put vinyl tablecloths over all the carpets.  She made messes everywhere.  Only after a few weeks when she began to show some control did we begin to pick them up.  I do not want to give us the idea that God is going to come into our homes and pee all over everything.  (Then again, God is God!)

No, perhaps God is a bit more like my current dog Jack.  Jack is a Jack Russel Terrier/Beagle mix; and definitely some other forms of crazy thrown in too.  He’s tamed down a lot as he’s aged, but he was completely out of control when we first got him.  Actually, he was deceptive.  When we first looked at him at Happy Tales in Canandaigua he was as sweet and controlled; energetic and a little naughty but okay.  His naughtiness was trying to steal a treat from the worker’s jacket when she knelt down.  On the whole he was well controlled.  The staff said he was energetic but he was remarkably controlled with us.  So we got him and brought him home.

Upon entering the house immediately ran into the living room, leapt up onto the back of the loveseat from the floor in a single bound, and with another single bound propelled himself from the back of the loveseat all the way into the dining room, landing solidly on top of the dinner table.  He continued to jump and bounce all over everything like a ball banging around in a pinball machine.  I wondered what we had gotten into!  But it was too late to take him back.

I think when we contemplate our faith we tend to imagine God as something like a basset hound, or maybe better a well behaved Labrador.  You know how they are: controlled, gentle, predictable, loving, and loyal.  Yet we make a mistake to so domesticate God! 

 Keep that in mind and let’s look at just one of the parables in the gospel - the parable of the sower.  It’s detailed and it’s familiar to us.  We can connect to it too.  Even if you’ve never scattered seed in a field or even grass seed in your lawn, you can get the picture.  You also get the absurdity – the untamedness - of it.

If you’re seeding a new lawn you would not scatter the seed so crazily that it flies out onto the street or the sidewalk.  That’s pure waste.  And if there is a series weed problem somewhere, or too many rocks, or whatever the case may be, you’re probably not going to waste seed on those areas.  Maybe you landscape it rather than seeding it.  Or maybe you dig out the rocks or put in another layer of soil overtop them.  Whatever the case, even though grass seed isn’t overly expensive, you still don’t waste it.

But the sower in the parable does.  The seed is God’s love and he scatters it wildly – on places no smart person would waste a valuable commodity.  I’ve never seen a person mow the grass in the street outside their house.  A bit of grass may grow in a crack in the pavement, but not a lawn.

Jesus wants all his hearers to know that God sows indiscriminately.  God’s goodness is for those who think they deserve it, and for those who people would say don’t deserve it.  God’s goodness goes where it is likely to do some good, and it also goes where it will probably do no good at all.  The key is that it goes there, everywhere, because you never know.

God is not to be domesticated into church buildings or rituals or controlled intellectual ideas. 

There is a certain amount of insanity to faith!

In Mark’s gospel Jesus uses parables with the crowds but only reveals the true meaning to the insiders, his closest followers.  The outsiders don’t get the full meaning.  They don’t understand.  That may not seem fair to us.  But remember this, we are treated like the insiders.  We get to hear the full meaning.

I think there is a subtle but important lesson there.   

The life of faith - the calling of faith - does not fit within our society’s normal domesticated idea of pure and proper upright Christian faith.  Our society likes to keep God in the box of churches and do-gooder service projects.  But God is not so limited.  Faith breaks into anything and everything.  To someone outside the life of faith your actions and decisions may make little sense.  Your life may be a parable or a riddle of sorts.  However, to any other person of faith your acts of discipleship will make perfect sense.

Do not try to domesticate God.  God will not be so domesticated.

Do not try to domesticate Mark’s gospel.  Mark’s gospel will not be so domesticated.

And do not think a life of faith is easy and domesticated.  It is full of surprises and new things!

January 10, 2021 1st Sunday After Epiphany Mark 2-3

            People have been joking about how bad 2020 was and looking forward to seeing it in hindsight.  Yet 2021 seems to be trending for the worse!  Last week we had unprecedented actions in our nation’s capitol.  The idea of the capitol building itself being basically attacked is something we don’t even dream of.  I suppose if it had happened at the hands of terrorists we could understand.  We know and can accept from September 11, 2001 that terrorists might be able to devise clever schemes that could take us unawares.  However, our own citizens taking violent action against the building itself to stop the certification of a legal election is not something we are ready for.  And then to have our president, if not outright calling for it, fail to urge against it, is not something we can imagine in the land of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  While we know our nation isn’t perfect, we do tend to have a sense that we are an example to the world of democracy and peaceful transfers of power. 

        This year is also starting off with coronavirus cases growing and while vaccines are coming we are far from out of the woods.

Racial tensions are not dropping and issues there aren’t really making progress either.

Mixed through it all is a nation deeply divided by what is true and what is not; or perhaps I should say by having truth be politicized. 

Perhaps we find ourselves starting 2021 wishing we were back in 2020!

I’m not going to say there is a direct connection between current events and the dynamics at work in the two chapters we read from Mark’s gospel, but I think we can relate to the unsettledness that is being caused by Jesus’ ministry. 

We make a mistake if our minds portray Jesus as a do-gooder from the rural northern outskirts of Jewish society who just happened to run afoul of the cruel and greedy leadership.  No, Jesus actually was a serious threat to the fabric of society.  And more than just a threat to the fabric of society, he was a threat to people’s notions of truth and authority. 

We see it in the very beginning of our gospel passage from today but it actually began very early in chapter 1; the movement beginning before Jesus was even on the stage.

            John the Baptist, whom we met in 1:4, was proclaiming the message a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  On the surface it seems an innocent enough thing for us 21^st Century American Christians.  But we are mistaken.  In many ways our relationship with God is too easy to fully understand Mark’s gospel.  We believe that we can receive forgiveness from God simply for asking for it.  We start every worship service doing just that!  And it is indeed true.  But, that is not how everyone always thought.

            Go back to the Jews early in the 1^st Century.  Forgiveness was not available just for the asking.  Forgiveness occurred by offering sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem.  You had to travel to Jerusalem, have an animal to sacrifice, and work through the systems and rituals established by the religious leadership.

            Think about it, if you were a Jew living in Egypt or Greece or even Rome, how are you going to go to Jerusalem once a year to offer a sacrifice.  Let’s say you need to offer a sheep or a goat or a cow.  Are you really going to travel all the distance with an animal in tow?  Remember, only healthy animals make valid sacrifices.  You can’t take a sick, or lame, or emaciated animal that is otherwise worthless and use it for sacrifice!

            It makes no sense to travel with a large animal.  You’re not only going to have to transport the animal you’ll have to somehow make provisions for all its food too.  What you would do is sell one of your livestock, pocket the money, and then when you travel to Jerusalem you buy an animal that is suitable for sacrifice.

            In Jesus’ day there were thousands of people descending upon Jerusalem, especially at Passover, in order to offer sacrifices.  As a Jew you were also not allowed to use Roman money in the temple complex.  It had the graven image of the emperor on it, and an inscription proclaiming the emperor to be a god.  So, once you got to the temple you had to exchange your idolatrous money for appropriate money.  I always bring to mind when my kids were little and we’d go to Chuck-E-Cheese.  You’d exchange your American money for game tokens.

            We’ll explore this in more detail when we get closer to the end of the gospel, but when Jesus goes into the temple at Passover he sees a vast infrastructure at work where people from far away can exchange money and buy animals appropriate for sacrifice.  It was all the necessary “infrastructure” for forgiveness of sins – or for being in right relationship with God.  A lot of people had a lot invested in that infrastructure. 

I do not at all want to suggest parallels between Jesus and the people who stormed the capitol building last week, but when Jesus enters the temple complex and overturns the tables of the money changers and causes a scene he is attacking the religious capitol building of sorts.  In the eyes of devout Jews he is undermining the central place, not of democracy, but of relationship with God.

It is in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke – but especially Mark – that Jesus’ actions in the temple are what get him killed.  The police authorities track him down and execute him for threatening the center of faith.  We’ll explore that more when we get to that part in Mark’s gospel, but keep that in mind as we look at our chapters for today.  

            The first scene we encountered in Chapter 2 is the well- known and vivid story of the paralytic being lowered down to Jesus through the roof of the house because the crowd was too big to reach him.  That paralytic guy had good friends!  Let’s not let our imaginations get too vivid though and miss the central point.  When Jesus sees the guy being lowered down what is the first thing he says?  Does he say, “Stand up, take up your mat, and walk”?  No!  He says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

            I imagine myself being the paralyzed guy laying there and thinking, “Well that’s an awfully nice sentiment from you Jesus but a fat lot of good those words are going to do me!”  And what do the scribes say?  (And remember what I explained earlier about what it takes for forgiveness.) “Why does this fellow speak in this way?  It is blasphemy!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

            Realize that in their eyes Jesus is claiming authority for himself that he does not have.  And if forgiveness can come from just his proclamation then the entire fabric of society  collapses. 

            Jesus perceives all this and replies, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk?’  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go home.”  And you know the rest of the story.

            I’m not going to through the rest of those two chapters scene by scene, but if you can remember from when we read them, over and over again Jesus gets in trouble with the religious leaders.  It is over forgiveness, and who he socializes with, and what his disciples do, and religious rituals, and sabbath observance.  Over and over again Jesus’ ministry threatens the religious systems, established patterns, and faith expectations that people think are rock solid.

            Jesus was not just a do-gooder that whipped up a rag tag following.  Jesus was a real threat to the fabric of society.  As we near the end of Chapter 3 we see that things are getting out of hand.  Jesus returns to Capernaum, which is his home during his years of ministry.  We learn that the crowds come together again so that they -meaning Jesus and the disciples- could not even eat.  Jesus’ family hears of it and they are afraid he has gone out of his mind.  Leaders from Jerusalem also come out and say he has a demon.  Remember in those days almost all sicknesses, including mental illnesses, were considered to be the work of demons; or a sign of demon possession.

            It is a complex scene but Jesus replies in a way that shows he is quite sane.  He points out the illogic of those who are claiming that he must be casting out demons by the ruler of demons.  He says, “How can Satan cast our Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”

            I think we should take one aside before reaching some conclusions about Chapters 2 and 3.  That aside is this issue of an unforgivable sin.  Some people get very worried when they hear Jesus say, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin…”  Much ink has been spilled over this issue, but in a very simple sense it is simply a practical reality.  If you fall off a cruise ship and someone throws you a life ring and you reject it you will probably drown.  It is what you need for salvation.  Similarly, if you reject the working of the Spirit, if you refuse it, you are rejecting forgiveness.  You are rejecting God’s goodness.  You are rejecting God’s love.  It is repeated way of being, an attitude of rejection towards God.  It is not a potentially one-time mistake.  I wouldn’t lose sleep over that Bible verse!

            Let’s pull out two things as we sum up chapters 2 and 3.  First, Jesus teaches that forgiveness and right relationship with God is not something that needs to be mediated through religious experts or systems.  It is something that is open to all.  It is a direct connection between yourself and God.  If you want to feel loved and cared and held by God then just reach out in prayer.  You can do it anytime and anywhere.

            Second let’s realize that if everyone does have that ability to connect with God – our hope and our salvation – then we also are living in a way that threatens the fabric of our culture.  You’ve heard me say this so many times you’re probably sick of it.  I’m not talking about something I find so offensive as storming the capitol building, but perhaps something even bigger. 

I think a lot of our economy runs on people trying to receive fulfillment apart from being in relationship with God.  The economy is based largely on a rat race of status and physical appearances (whether it be your house or your car or your clothes or your body) and brains and wealth and all that stuff.  Our lives are so wrapped up in that which does not build relationship with God; our creator, our savior, and our total lover. 

A life sincerely built on a relationship with God undermines the fabric of our society.  It is not a violent insurrection.  But it is still a threat.

Perhaps as we see so many things in our lives that we used to take for granted we can return to the truth and stability of God’s love for us.  Nothing can ever take you away from God or shake God’s love for you.  That is true freedom!

            Enjoy being free!  But know that such freedom can also be a threat to many.  Ultimately though God’s goodness and forgiveness will carry you all the way.

January 6, 2021 Epiphany Matthew 1:18-2:12

            An epiphany is having a sudden realization or revelation.  It is the appearance or revelation of a divine being.  As Christians we use it to refer to the arrival of the Wise Men when they visit Jesus.  Christian tradition says that was twelve days after his birth.  Setting Christ’s birth on December 25 then puts Epiphany on January 6.

The birth story of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel is below.  It is the core text of Epiphany.  Whenever I read it I find it ironic that the Wise Men (who were pagan astrologers) recognized the birth of the one who would be king of the Jews, while the Jewish religious leadership (the insiders and experts) completely missed it.  But more about that later.  Here is Matthew 1:18-2:12:

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 

²³“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 

⁶‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 

⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”

⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.  (New Revised Standard Version)

 

If we had continued into the next verses we’d find the story taking a very nasty turn.  King Herod discovers he has been tricked by the Wise Men.  He is infuriated and orders the killing of all the children in and around Bethlehem two years of age and younger.  That’s a very dark part of the Christmas story that we almost always ignore.

You may have heard me say many times that the way we understand the Christmas story is highly distorted.  We take bits and pieces from Matthew’s gospel, and bits and pieces from Luke’s gospel, and we turn it into a sweet baby story.  (We also ignore a lot of the things in the stories too.)  We sing gentle songs like Silent Night and imagine a quaint and clean farm scene.  But not so!  (Did you notice in Matthew’s story that Jesus is in a house and not a stable?!?  In fact, there’s no stable in Luke’s gospel either!  NOWHERE does the Bible say Jesus was born in a stable, but many people are absolutely convinced it’s a central part of the story!)

I said before that it was ironic that the Jewish religious leaders missed the signs the foreigners picked up on.  And yet, are we any better?  (And I don’t mean just our ignorance of what the Bible actually says about Jesus’ birth.)  On this Epiphany day let’s have a revelation of some truths – both in the Christmas story and in our own faith understanding as 21^st Century American Christians.

Let’s have a quick exam.  How many wise men were there?  Did you answer 3?  Why did you answer that?  Was that fact in the Bible text we just read?  The truth is the Bible doesn’t say.  Church tradition invented the idea of three wise men because of the three gifts.

And what’s the deal with these three gifts?  Gold makes sense.  It is a gift for a king.  But why the other two?  To understand the story we need to remember their symbolic significance. 

Jesus is: king, priest, and sacrifice. 

Gold for a king. 

Frankincense – an incense used in religious rituals – is a gift for a priest. 

And myrrh – a sap-like resin used for embalming – is a gift for someone who will die.  (Definitely an unnerving thing to give the parents of a newborn!)

            Let’s take our understanding to a deeper layer.  If you read the Christmas story from Matthew (the same goes for Luke) and you ignore the societal/political realities of the time you are missing the richer dynamics of the story.

            In Jesus’ day Rome was not the only global superpower.  Immediately to its east was the equally vast Parthian Empire.  For over a century the Parthians were the biggest power in the world.  Their military was arguably superior to Rome’s.  However, Parthia was declining.  Though its might reached to the borders of Israel, its power center lay hundreds of miles away (modern day Iraq).  While the Parthian’s would have loved to snatch Israeli territory from Rome it was just too much of a stretch. 

Controlling Israel was also a stretch for Rome.  It was eastern extreme of the empire.  Rome, however, couldn’t afford to lose it.  Losing it to the Parthians meant losing a land route around the Mediterranean to Africa. 

Rome found it advantageous to prop up the power of the Herod family.  The Herod’s made dubious claims to leadership in and around Israel; yet they were effective.

So put the pieces together: tension between Rome and Parthia over Israeli territory and “King Herod” trying to keep hold of an illegitimate claim to power. 

To us the arrival of the Wise Men is just a nice story.  To Herod, who knew who buttered his bread, these “Wise Men” were really astrologers from rival Parthia bearing gifts to the up-and-coming Jewish leader.  In Herod’s eyes it was an attempt by Parthia to snatch Jewish loyalty away from Rome.  It was an act of international subversion.  Herod acted like the tyrant he was.  He cheated, he lied, and he killed to eliminate the threat.

Jesus’ entry into the world as a baby, meek as it may sound to us, is portrayed by Matthew as a potential threat to the world order.  And indeed, while it would take centuries, the followers of Jesus would establish a world order that would outlast both Rome and Parthia!

            Speaking of a Christian world order takes us to an epiphany for today. 

            The Jewish leaders missed the signs of the birth of the Savior.  While we may not exactly consider ourselves to be religious experts, how much do we really know about our own faith?  My suspicion is that most American Christians today do not realize how much of their understanding of Christianity is downright wrong.

            The Adult Sunday school class had been using a video series featuring theologian Luke Timothy Johnson.  Johnson pointed out in the very first episode that most Americans who consider themselves to be Christians are woefully ignorant of even the most basic tenants of their faith.  The Men’s Breakfast has been using the course Christianity in America by 1517.org.  There historian Daniel van Voorhis shows that the faith underpinnings many Christians think America was founded upon are simply not true.  I highly encourage you to go to 1517.org and sign up for the free course.  The link is: 

https://1517-academy.thinkific.com/courses/christianity-in-america

            Don’t worry.  If you’ve been listening to my preaching and teaching for awhile you shouldn’t find anything in courses like these shocking.  But they are challenging. 

I bring it up to point to one thing I find very troubling thing with Christianity in our nation today.  What many people think is authentic Christianity is in truth 19^th Century Americanism.  That does not necessarily mean that it is bad.  It is just very far from a complete picture of Christian faith.  Don’t make the same mistake as the Jewish religious leaders in Matthew’s gospel.  They thought they knew their faith but were completely missing what God was actually doing.  That is the exact opposite of an epiphany!

            Never put a box around God.  If you do you’ve really just put a box around yourself. 

I hope that today may be an epiphany for you. 

God is always acting in new and surprising ways. 

-May your eyes be open to it. 

God’s forgiveness is inexhaustible. 

-May your heart be made whole by it.

God’s peace can calm any chaos.

-May that be a source of hope for your life.

God’s love is broader and deeper than we can ever grasp.

-May you be swept away in its current.

God does not invest in shallow happiness, but in deep value.

            -May you always live in the full knowledge of how valuable you are to God!

January 3, 2021 2nd Sunday of Christmas Mark 1

            Mark’s gospel is a quirky gospel.  We’ll be exploring that throughout our time reading it.  Many of the quirks carry significant meaning.  In 1:1, right off the bat, Mark give us (the readers) inside information about Jesus that no other human character is going to get – at least not for a long time.  1:1 says, “Beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Son of God – or this special relationship with God - is very important through the gospel.  But what does that mean?

            Mark’s gospel starts off with a blast of activity.  Instead of birth stories like Matthew and Luke Jesus shows up fully grown.  John the Baptist starts the narrative but is almost immediately pushed to the side.  Jesus picks up where John lets off.  He calls his first disciples and immediately gets to work with teachings and healings. 

Notice what happens in the very first miracle Jesus performs.  It is an exorcism and the demon possessing the man says clearly, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  That may not be the same as “Son of God” but it isn’t far from it.  The demons know something about Jesus that others don’t. 

            Jesus goes on to tell the demon to be silent, which is a common thing in exorcism stories of that day.  But then moving more scenes forward, Jesus tells the first leper he cleanses not to tell anyone about it.  Of course, the man does not listen and tells everyone.  That’s a normal response to a miraculous restoration to fullness of life.  Of course the guy is happy!  Of course he tells everyone!

            But Jesus’ response to tell no one makes little sense.  If I was Jesus’ agent I’d be looking to spread the word as much as possible – use those miraculous powers to gather a huge following, continue to reassure them with more miracles, and then change the world!  It all seems so logical.

            But Jesus says not to tell.  Biblical scholars call that the “Messianic Secret”.  We can imagine an immediate benefit.  Jesus is already being hounded by the crowds for healings.  He’s tired.  He needs a break.  I wouldn’t want the life of a famous person where everyone you go someone is taking your picture or wanting your autograph.  I mean, it sounds fun on the surface, but I think it’s got to be really frustrating and exhausting.

            I think there is something more to it too.  We’re going to see as the gospel goes on that Jesus does not want to be known as a great healer or miracle worker.  He does not want to be known as a great preacher or teacher.  He does not want to be known as someone who can best the greatest debaters of the age.  None of those things are his mission.  His mission is to be the Son of God.  And when does he fulfill that mission?  We know he fulfills it when the first and only human character to call him the Son of God recognizes him as such.

            The one and only one time a human character in Mark’s gospel recognizes his true identity is the Roman centurion who is watching over the crucifixion.  When he sees Jesus breathe his last he says, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

            So let’s look at it this way – and this is a particularly good thing for us to note as 21^st century people who tend to be scientific skeptics.  While the Bible is full of miracle stories about Jesus, is there any miraculous power shown in the crucifixion – the core event?  Nope.  None.  If the miracle stories of Jesus were taken out of the Bible, or if somehow all of them were proven to be fabrications, you have not done anything to diminish Jesus’ true identity.

            There is no miracle at the core of the story.

 

            Each of the four gospels portrays Jesus in a slightly different way.  The gospels contradict each other quite often too.  In early Christianity there was a movement to harmonize the four gospels and create one consistent and unified story.  Such a document was even written.  But it was rejected by the early church leaders in favor of keeping the four contradictory gospels.  And so, we benefit from four perspectives on the life, ministry and death of Jesus.

            Of the four gospels Mark’s gospel portrays Jesus as the most human – the most emotional – the most prone to weakness.  In John’s gospel for example Jesus appears to stride across the earth immune from the real sufferings a person might face.  In Mark’s gospel, Jesus gets angry, he gets exhausted, he faces limits, and so forth.  In what we read today we see a pattern that emerges.  In verses 35-39 we see Jesus takes a break and goes off by himself.  We’ll see a pattern where Jesus does some great work or teaching and then retreats to rejuvenate. 

            Mark gives us a very relatable, deeply human understanding of Jesus.  Mark helps us to know that God knows what it is to feel things.  There is a deeply significant example of that in the verses we read today, although it is very easy to overlook it, especially if we read it in English.

 

            When Jesus cleanses the leper the scene begins with the leper coming to him and saying, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”  Jesus then stretches out his hand and touches him and says, “I do choose.  Be made clean!”  Read in our translation it seems like just a nice thing that Jesus chooses to do.  But a bit more literal translation of Greek would be, “If you will it, you can make me clean.”  And Jesus replies, “I do will it.  Be made clean!”

            The switch from the word “choose” to the word “will” may trigger something in you.

            Mark’s gospel is curious in many ways.  One of them is that the closer you get to the end of the gospel the more you feel like you are returning to the beginning.  Mark even starts to repeat the exact same words.  We’ll explore that more some other day – probably around Easter.  But for now, let’s just notice the word “will” shows up exactly twice here and it also appears exactly twice in 14:36.  There Jesus is praying in Gethsemane just before his arrest and crucifixion.  You may remember that story well.  Jesus asks his disciples to pray with him.  They fall asleep but he keeps praying.  And what is his prayer?  Again, notice the double use of the word will.

            “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I will, but what you will.”  (14:36)

            Notice the parallels.  The leper comes to Jesus and says if you will it you can make me clean.  In other words, you can heal me.  You can make me whole.  You can restore me to fullness of life.  And Jesus replies I do will it.  And Jesus restores him to fulness of life.

            But what about the Gethsemane prayer?  Jesus, a fit healthy man, in the prime of his life, is pleading to not have his body destroyed and his life ended.  He even reminds the Father, for you ALL THINGS ARE possible.  Remove this cup from me.  Yet not what I will but what you will.

            Jesus lets it in the will of the Father.  Now we’ll talk about that in more detail when we get to chapter 14, but for today just notice the deep humanity of Jesus.  Jesus sees suffering and he acts to heal it.  But he also knows what it is to be terrified of what is coming.  He knows what it is to plead desperately for a different course in the story.

            Our Lord Jesus is not some savior who is impossible to please, or someone who does not know what it is to suffer.  Jesus is deeply acquainted with making desperate prayers, feeling out of control, feeling unheard or unimportant, and feeling horrendous pain.

            Mark’s gospel wants us to be able to fully relate to Jesus.  God did not spare himself anything of the human experience.  And as I said earlier, ironically it is in the human experience of death that the human characters of the story finally realize his full identity – Son of God.

            Let me conclude with these thoughts from commentator Pheme Perkins about this passage:

“The titles for Jesus are so familiar that it is difficult to hear ‘Christ’ or even ‘Son of God’ as though for the first time.  How can modern men and women recapture the eager expectation that God will redeem humanity from the cosmic and human powers of suffering, evil, and injustice…  [Some] hear ‘Son of God’ and immediately isolate Jesus from the real world of human experience.  Mark’s Jesus is not so isolated; he exhibits a range of human emotions.  Although he possesses divine power, Jesus cannot overcome the hostility of his enemies or the fearful misunderstanding of his own disciples.  We must learn to hear in ‘Son of God’ praise for the faithful human suffering that Jesus exhibits.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 8, Pg. 529-30)

            So, as we journey through Mark’s gospel we journey with our Lord; a Lord who knows very well what it is to be us.  It is a wonderful blessing to be able to so deeply relate to our God!