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!