Last week when I was talking about liking to have a plan for how I want to get things done in a week, I mentioned that the tractor that we use for the church garden had some unexpected problems. However, since the week was well scheduled I was able to find time to make the needed repairs. What I did not mention is how extensive the work on the tractor was. Those of you who went up into the church shed over the winter know that the tractor was split in two. The back half was one place. The front half, with the engine and front wheels, was disconnected and pulled a few feet forward. There were big things wrong. I think anyone who has done any major repair work on a piece of equipment knows the anxiety of getting it all back together again. No, I don’t mean forgetting how it goes back together. And I don’t mean having a pile of parts leftover that you don’t know where they go. For any good mechanic takes lots of photos and has ways of keeping track of parts. I mean that even when you’ve documented everything and done everything carefully, there is still so much that has been done that you just hope you’ve done it all right. I held my breath when I test started the tractor. If I’d done anything wrong it wouldn’t work. And had all the work I had done actually solved the problem.
As it turned out, the main problem was fixed. A couple other issues came up though. That’s what made things messy. But even so… even with everything working and tested, there is still anxiety of it all being done well. For a while you operate a machine with tentativeness just to be sure.
I often wonder about surgeons who do much more delicate work than me fixing a tractor. If I mess up I’m frustrated and have to take things apart again. If a surgical team messes up the stakes are a lot higher! I don’t think I could handle the pressure.
There are many things in life where repairs and solutions are complicated. In fact, most things are that way. You rarely get to snap your fingers and have a problem go away permanently.
The gospel reading where it seems to take Jesus two tries to heal the blind man may take us by surprise. We’re used to Jesus just fixing everything completely and immediately. Jesus just shows up. He says a few words or makes a few gestures, and the problem is gone. In some cases he doesn’t even show up. There is the centurion’s servant and the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter where he heals at a distance. Jesus’ supernatural power is immediate and overwhelming. But we are blessed that Mark includes this story in his gospel. I suspect it made the other gospel writers nervous. In their gospels Jesus does indeed immediately fix everything perfectly. Mark alone gives us a few of these, let’s call them “messy” miracle stories. You may remember the scene Mark includes where Jesus is not able to perform miracles. When Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth the people do not accept him. In Mark 6:5 we’re told, “And he could do no deed of power there…” We’re not used to that. Why couldn’t Jesus do a deed of power there? Were his abilities limited by the attitude of the audience? We’re not told. To be truly fair, I only read half the sentence. The full sentence is, “And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” But it does tell us that Jesus’ powers are not automatic and overwhelming.
I said we are blessed that Mark has included this story. Here is why. Scholars who focus on Mark’s gospel point out where this story is placed in the gospel. It is always important to remember that the gospels in the Bible are not so much history texts as they are theological treatises set in a historical story. When reading the gospels, theology, or a word about God, always comes first. History is its servant. And so the gospels are crafted to teach us about God and ourselves.
We read the scene just prior to Jesus taking two steps to cure the blind man. It sets it up. Just prior to that Jesus had had his second great healing miracle. The Pharisees had come to him and demanded a sign from him. But he said no sign would be given to this generation. So then Jesus when Jesus talks about the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod in what we read today we realize he is critiquing something about them. There is something they are missing. It is as if they are blind to what Jesus is doing, even as it is happening right before them.
So they are blind.
Then we have the healing of the blind man. It is detailed and fairly graphic. We’re told Jesus takes the blind man by the hand and leads him out of the village of Bethsaida. Then he puts saliva on his eyes and lays his hands on him.
This is far more touch and detail than we usually get. So when Jesus asks, “Can you see anything?” It seems like an odd question. We’re so used to Jesus just immediately curing everything that we expect the man to say, “Wow, everything is suddenly crystal clear!” But that is not what happens. The man says, “I can see people, but they look like trees walking.” Presumably this man had been able to see at some point earlier in his life if he knew what trees looked like! But obviously he is not cured. Of what value is such a healing? Not much!
Jesus lays his eyes on the man a second time. Then, and don’t overlook this detail, he looked intently. (The man looked intently, not Jesus.) Then he could see everything clearly. It was both Jesus repeated attention, plus the man’s intent looking that produced the clarity of the sight.
So, we have a story suggesting the figurative blindness of the Pharisees. Then we have the story of the blind man being cured with two steps. Then immediately following what we read in our gospel is the scene where Jesus asks the disciples who do people say that he is. You may remember that well. The disciples reply, “John the Baptist; and others Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He then asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter replies, “You are the Messiah.”
Good going Peter! He’s showing some sight; or perhaps some insight.
Then Jesus tells them that he will undergo great suffering and be rejected by the religious experts, and be killed. But Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. This is almost as if Peter thinks Jesus is demon possessed and Peter is going to do an exorcism. But it is Jesus who replies with the language of exorcism, “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
So, Peter’s sight into who Jesus is, is only partial. It’s going to take seeing the crucifixion for Peter to have full sight into who Jesus is.
What does all this mean for our lives of faith? It means that when we pray we can’t expect problems to be immediately and permanently solved. It means that when we read the Bible we don’t read it only once, come to a full understanding, and never have to read that part again. Faith is an ongoing journey. It takes the work of Jesus (or the Holy Spirit) to inspire the faith, and then our intentness for it to be ongoing.
Later in this service we’ll be baptizing Emma. It would be great if after we pour water on her head and anoint her with oil that she would feel a major shift in her life of faith. It would be great if every moment afterward were a time of perfect clarity. It would be great if every physical ailment she has, or ever will have, would be magically and permanently solved. But that is not the case. If baptism is a touch from God it is only the beginning of a lifetime, and intent, journey to sight. Emma does not head off on her own for faith. Just like the blind man in the gospel, he could see clearly when there was both his intent looking and Jesus’ touch. It took both.
The next scene where Peter appears to be insightful and then is all too quickly falling short is where Peter is trying to see all by himself.
For Emma to live the fullness of life of her Christian faith it will be both Jesus’ ongoing touch plus her intentness. Faith may be a miracle. But it does not happen by accident.
In order for us to live the fullness of life promised by Jesus we need his touch, his ongoing touch. His presence. And we have it. With our intentions in alignment miraculous things do happen!
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
May 19, 2024 Pentecost Acts 2:1-21
I assume you’re like me in that you like to have control over your life, and you want a good deal of orderliness to your life. I don’t mean being a neat freak or a control freak. I mean that things are predictable and you feel like you can manage things. You’re responsible, conscientious. You want to live within your means. You want to honor your time commitments.
I know I’m behind the times with this, but I like to write everything down in an old-fashioned pocket calendar. The church denomination used to give every pastor one of these for free every year. Apparently they wanted pastors to stay organized too! But times change and these calendars aren’t free anymore. In fact they’re going to stop making them next year. I’ll have to find something else.
I also begin every week by sitting down at my desk on a Monday morning and making a to-do list. It helps me get a feel for what all is ahead and how I have to manage my time. Last week was crazy. There was all the usual weekly stuff, plus the funeral I have to do this afternoon, plus all the work needed to prepare the church garden for planting tomorrow. By making a list at the beginning of the week I could manage time and get everything done that I had to do.
Of course things happen that ruin our plans. Life is not entirely predictable. Last week something failed on the tractor that I could not have anticipated. That had me rethinking things. But with the to-do list leading a time management plan, I could work around the unexpected too.
Yes, I like to have a sense of control over my life. So when we read things like the Pentecost story from Acts 2 that we had as our first Bible reading it makes us uneasy. God’s Spirit is not predictable. It cannot be contained, controlled, or predicted. If tongues of fire, the sounds of wind, and understanding different languages just happens without warning, you have no idea what to do! That doesn’t have a place on a weekly to-do list!
I suspect we have mixed feelings about that story. Part of us is anxious. What will God do next? What if God calls me to do something totally crazy, or something that upends the well-organized life that I have created for myself? What if God calls me to do something that hurts or is risky? God can do anything after all. So part of us is anxious.
But I think another part of us deeply wants something like that to happen to us. We would use it as proof of God’s existence, and it would give us a clear direction for what we are to do. It would show us that faith is God’s work and not up to us. It would be an energy boost for our lives, especially our lives of faith, which can so often seem draining rather than inspiring.
So, I think we both want something dramatic and fear something dramatic!
Regardless of how we feel, it is worth noting that events like the one described in Acts are rare; if they ever happen at all. Sometime we should read through Acts in Sunday worship. Perhaps we’ll do that next summer. (This summer we’re focusing on Old Testament poetry readings like Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and others.) When you read through Acts you discover that much of what the apostles are described as doing is quite ordinary. They are also not immune from hardship. St. Paul describes miraculous things. But he mostly describes ordinary struggles with no miraculous help whatsoever. Overall, Christianity has not grown through miracles and great events. Christianity has grown through very ordinary means. It’s just ordinary people doing ordinary things, but doing them with their minds on God.
For that we should turn to our gospel reading. There we have Jesus talking to his disciples during the Last Supper. What he says is hard to follow. Jesus says, “…if I go, I will send the [Holy Spirit] to you.” So far so good. We understand what he’s saying and we understand how that fits into the theme of Pentecost. But then Jesus continues, “And when [the Spirit] comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
Those words leave us puzzled. Hopefully I can explain them briefly.
There are three concepts there: sin, righteousness, and judgment. Each of those words is used in multiple ways in the Bible. Sin is used to mean one thing one place, and it may mean something different another place. The same goes for righteousness and judgment.
Whenever I hear the word sin I think of it as if it were a moral category. Like, killing is a sin. Stealing is a sin. Lying is a sin. These are bad acts we shouldn’t do. Indeed, most places the Bible’s authors use sin that way. But John’s gospel does something different. For John, sin is more of a theological category. For John, sin is to not believe in Jesus. Or, it is to not believe that in Jesus God has revealed God’s true nature to us. For John, if you believe that Jesus is God’s true nature then it will automatically lead you away from doing destructive things.
Righteousness in John’s gospel is also used in way different from what we are used to. Righteousness does not refer to the righteousness of people. Righteousness refers to God. It means that God can absolutely always be counted on to do the right thing. God does not make mistakes. God does not do careless things. And God’s actions, difficult as they can be do understand somethings, do not result in unavoidable collateral damage. Righteousness means God total reliability.
Finally judgment. The word is again used differently from what we’re used to. I invite you sometime to sit down with your Bible and read the account of Jesus’ trial in John’s gospel. It is in chapters 18 and 19. As you’re reading it keep asking yourself who’s on trial? On one hand it appears that it is Jesus who is on trial. After all, he’s been handed over by one of his disciples, and arrested. He’s questioned and he’ll ultimately be executed. So it seems like Jesus is being judged. On the other hand, there’s an ironic twist to every scene where Jesus is the one who is the judge, and the whole world is on trial. Even though the world (filled with greed and fear, and acting in ignorance and darkness) seems to win, it is actually God who wins. The ways of the world are condemned.
So when Jesus says in verse 11 that the Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong… “about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned,” he’s actually talking about his judgment of the world in his crucifixion.
John’s gospel reverses and upends many of the ways we usually think. That’s a big part of what makes it so hard to understand. But it’s also worth getting a grasp of it. John’s gospel is playful and ironic all the way through.
John’s gospel is also serious. It sees the world in a way that is helpful for us here on Pentecost, and helpful for us as we like to have life be orderly in the midst of the chaos that can be life.
John’s view of the world fits well for today. It talks about sin, righteousness and judgment. As for sin, John’s gospel recognizes that people would rather hear so-called truths that are convenient for them, rather than real truths that are healthy for them.
As for righteousness, people would rather live with their own self-made morals because they can make themselves righteous by their own power, rather than recognizing God’s righteousness, which is not in their power but tells them their true value rests in who God made them to be.
As for judgment, people would rather think they can keep everything under control, rather than realizing real control comes through connecting with God.
I started by saying we want control in our lives. And I talked about the way the dramatic coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost may seem to be out of control. But we do realize that true control of life comes through faith in God.
Indeed, whether it is dramatic or subtle, the Holy Spirit is working in us to remind us that God is solid and dependable. We are therefore too, regardless if the world is in control or not.
And our faith sends us into the world which has lost its way, in its own darkness and chaos. We witness the solidness that comes from God to it. If history is any indication, many will reject the goodness God has to offer. But also many will recognize the truth. And that truth also sets them free.
I know I’m behind the times with this, but I like to write everything down in an old-fashioned pocket calendar. The church denomination used to give every pastor one of these for free every year. Apparently they wanted pastors to stay organized too! But times change and these calendars aren’t free anymore. In fact they’re going to stop making them next year. I’ll have to find something else.
I also begin every week by sitting down at my desk on a Monday morning and making a to-do list. It helps me get a feel for what all is ahead and how I have to manage my time. Last week was crazy. There was all the usual weekly stuff, plus the funeral I have to do this afternoon, plus all the work needed to prepare the church garden for planting tomorrow. By making a list at the beginning of the week I could manage time and get everything done that I had to do.
Of course things happen that ruin our plans. Life is not entirely predictable. Last week something failed on the tractor that I could not have anticipated. That had me rethinking things. But with the to-do list leading a time management plan, I could work around the unexpected too.
Yes, I like to have a sense of control over my life. So when we read things like the Pentecost story from Acts 2 that we had as our first Bible reading it makes us uneasy. God’s Spirit is not predictable. It cannot be contained, controlled, or predicted. If tongues of fire, the sounds of wind, and understanding different languages just happens without warning, you have no idea what to do! That doesn’t have a place on a weekly to-do list!
I suspect we have mixed feelings about that story. Part of us is anxious. What will God do next? What if God calls me to do something totally crazy, or something that upends the well-organized life that I have created for myself? What if God calls me to do something that hurts or is risky? God can do anything after all. So part of us is anxious.
But I think another part of us deeply wants something like that to happen to us. We would use it as proof of God’s existence, and it would give us a clear direction for what we are to do. It would show us that faith is God’s work and not up to us. It would be an energy boost for our lives, especially our lives of faith, which can so often seem draining rather than inspiring.
So, I think we both want something dramatic and fear something dramatic!
Regardless of how we feel, it is worth noting that events like the one described in Acts are rare; if they ever happen at all. Sometime we should read through Acts in Sunday worship. Perhaps we’ll do that next summer. (This summer we’re focusing on Old Testament poetry readings like Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and others.) When you read through Acts you discover that much of what the apostles are described as doing is quite ordinary. They are also not immune from hardship. St. Paul describes miraculous things. But he mostly describes ordinary struggles with no miraculous help whatsoever. Overall, Christianity has not grown through miracles and great events. Christianity has grown through very ordinary means. It’s just ordinary people doing ordinary things, but doing them with their minds on God.
For that we should turn to our gospel reading. There we have Jesus talking to his disciples during the Last Supper. What he says is hard to follow. Jesus says, “…if I go, I will send the [Holy Spirit] to you.” So far so good. We understand what he’s saying and we understand how that fits into the theme of Pentecost. But then Jesus continues, “And when [the Spirit] comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
Those words leave us puzzled. Hopefully I can explain them briefly.
There are three concepts there: sin, righteousness, and judgment. Each of those words is used in multiple ways in the Bible. Sin is used to mean one thing one place, and it may mean something different another place. The same goes for righteousness and judgment.
Whenever I hear the word sin I think of it as if it were a moral category. Like, killing is a sin. Stealing is a sin. Lying is a sin. These are bad acts we shouldn’t do. Indeed, most places the Bible’s authors use sin that way. But John’s gospel does something different. For John, sin is more of a theological category. For John, sin is to not believe in Jesus. Or, it is to not believe that in Jesus God has revealed God’s true nature to us. For John, if you believe that Jesus is God’s true nature then it will automatically lead you away from doing destructive things.
Righteousness in John’s gospel is also used in way different from what we are used to. Righteousness does not refer to the righteousness of people. Righteousness refers to God. It means that God can absolutely always be counted on to do the right thing. God does not make mistakes. God does not do careless things. And God’s actions, difficult as they can be do understand somethings, do not result in unavoidable collateral damage. Righteousness means God total reliability.
Finally judgment. The word is again used differently from what we’re used to. I invite you sometime to sit down with your Bible and read the account of Jesus’ trial in John’s gospel. It is in chapters 18 and 19. As you’re reading it keep asking yourself who’s on trial? On one hand it appears that it is Jesus who is on trial. After all, he’s been handed over by one of his disciples, and arrested. He’s questioned and he’ll ultimately be executed. So it seems like Jesus is being judged. On the other hand, there’s an ironic twist to every scene where Jesus is the one who is the judge, and the whole world is on trial. Even though the world (filled with greed and fear, and acting in ignorance and darkness) seems to win, it is actually God who wins. The ways of the world are condemned.
So when Jesus says in verse 11 that the Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong… “about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned,” he’s actually talking about his judgment of the world in his crucifixion.
John’s gospel reverses and upends many of the ways we usually think. That’s a big part of what makes it so hard to understand. But it’s also worth getting a grasp of it. John’s gospel is playful and ironic all the way through.
John’s gospel is also serious. It sees the world in a way that is helpful for us here on Pentecost, and helpful for us as we like to have life be orderly in the midst of the chaos that can be life.
John’s view of the world fits well for today. It talks about sin, righteousness and judgment. As for sin, John’s gospel recognizes that people would rather hear so-called truths that are convenient for them, rather than real truths that are healthy for them.
As for righteousness, people would rather live with their own self-made morals because they can make themselves righteous by their own power, rather than recognizing God’s righteousness, which is not in their power but tells them their true value rests in who God made them to be.
As for judgment, people would rather think they can keep everything under control, rather than realizing real control comes through connecting with God.
I started by saying we want control in our lives. And I talked about the way the dramatic coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost may seem to be out of control. But we do realize that true control of life comes through faith in God.
Indeed, whether it is dramatic or subtle, the Holy Spirit is working in us to remind us that God is solid and dependable. We are therefore too, regardless if the world is in control or not.
And our faith sends us into the world which has lost its way, in its own darkness and chaos. We witness the solidness that comes from God to it. If history is any indication, many will reject the goodness God has to offer. But also many will recognize the truth. And that truth also sets them free.
Monday, May 13, 2024
May 12, 2024 7th Sunday of Easter Mark 8:1-13
It’s Mother’s Day. When I read in our gospel that the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked for a sign from heaven from him right after he fed a multitude with a few loaves and fish I can’t help but think of all of those mothers who have worked hard to put a healthy meal on the table for their family day after day and the response they too often get for it is: “Bleh, I don’t want to eat that!” A million bitter retorts come to mind!
While it’s a stretch to make a connection between an unappreciated mother and Jesus feeding a multitude, I think they both get at a part of human nature. People are never satisfied; especially if they don’t know what goes on behind the scenes.
The feeding miracle we read is usually called the “Feeding of the 4000”. It is the second of the great feeding miracles in Mark’s gospel. Both Mark’s gospel and Matthew’s gospel include two great feeding miracles. Luke and John only include the more famous Feeding of the 5000. Historians and biblical scholars usually suggest that there was only one great feeding miracle by Jesus and that Matthew and Mark have included it twice; and with a slightly different viewpoint from each other. There is good biblical precedent for this. Biblical authors will tell two versions of the same account, with each telling having a different meaning. In the case of the feeding miracles Matthew and Mark present the Feeding of the 5000 happening with a Jewish audience and the Feeding of the 4000 happening with a non-Jewish audience. This then shows God’s equal abundance. If you can remember worship from two weeks ago we had the story of the Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus begging for help for her daughter. Jesus said it wasn’t fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. She replied that even the dogs ate the crumbs that fell from the children’s table. Well, if this feeding miracle is the crumbs, then they also create quite an abundance!
That may indeed be Mark’s main intent in including this story shortly after the Syrophoenician woman story. That’s my interpretation. But it also sets up something else. Shortly after the Feeding of the 5000 there was conflict with the Pharisees. Now it’s happening again. We the readers are supposed to find it ironic and laugh at it. But to be fair to the Pharisees and to what Mark writes, in neither case are any of the Pharisee sect described as being present at the miracles. Indeed, Mark does not tell us that Jesus is angry with them. He
just says that Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
It makes sense to demand proof of something. But in the case of the Pharisees it seems like they endlessly want more proof. While it is easy to criticize them for that, there is also something of ourselves in that.
I don’t know what it is within us humans, but we always want more. Give us something that we want. It satisfies us for a while and then we want something more, something new, or better. At this point all of us live with luxuries and conveniences that the world’s wealthiest of 150 years ago did not have, and could not even imagine. Refrigeration, air conditioning, central heat, electricity everywhere, phones, cell phones, airplanes, rocket ships, satellite communication; and of course my favorite… indoor plumbing; hot and cold running water.
We have: pain medications, anesthesia, sterile rooms for surgery, and so much more.
Think back 150 years ago. That would be 1874. Imagine trying to describe a car to someone in 1874. If you’re lucky they’d have heard of the steam driven horseless carriage, which was first invented in 1803. But they’d ask how you’d get anywhere with it? After all, they were heavy and unruly.
Well, you’d reply that you’d build roads.
Build roads with what? Corduroy roads made by laying down logs in swampy areas?
No. Concrete and asphalt. They’d have heard of concrete used in masonry but asphalt hasn’t been invented yet.
Where would you build these roads?
Anywhere, everywhere. Wherever you want.
But what about mountains? Your “car” wouldn’t be able to take people across those.
You’d reply that we’d move mountains or cut tunnels through them.
And where would you get all the coal and wood to fuel these cars?
You’d reply that you’d create a fuel that hasn’t been invented yet. It would be liquid and you’d build pipelines and stations all over the place so people could get some everywhere.
But they’d ask why you’d do this? For certainly only the richest of the rich could afford such a contraption.
No, you’d say you’d make them cheaply – by the millions and everyone would have their own.
Everyone?!? You’d let everyone have such a thing?
Of course. You’d explain there’d be a test of course, to show proficiency, but that wasn’t hard to pass. And then everyone from young to old, weak or strong, smart or not could operate a car.
How fast would it go? Surely 15 mph would be a breakneck speed!
You’d reply that you’d build roads so that everyone could drive one of these cars safely and easily at 70 mph.
And they’d think you were nuts. Completely nuts!
Oh how comfortable and convenient things are for us! And are we satisfied? Do we walk around feeling a glow of the comforts and conveniences of our lives every day? Do we wake up on a windy wet blustery day and think, “Oh how blessed I am to have a home where I am insulated from all that makes me uncomfortable! I couldn’t ask for a gentler, easier, better, more luxurious life than this!”
I doubt we feel that way!
We may not be like the Pharisees always asking Jesus for a sign. But we are like them in always wanting more.
Maybe Jesus had just one major feeding miracle. Maybe he had two. Maybe as Matthew and Mark report that there was one feeding miracle for Jews and one for non-Jews. But it wouldn’t have mattered if Jesus had feeding miracles all the time and every day. We’d want more.
The human condition seems to never be satisfied. We always want more. We think we deserve more – as if we think we work too hard and are not paid enough even as we enjoy lives of ease and luxury beyond what our forebears knew or could even imagine.
Jesus’ deep sigh in his spirit fits for all generations. If we always want more we’ll never be satisfied with what we have. Unfortunately we rarely feel grateful or joyful for our lives.
What is the cure? It’s not a once and done thing. This is not a medicine you can take and have the problem go away. The need for more is a chronic condition.
Like someone addicted to a substance the first thing is to recognize that we have a problem. Life is not about an abundance of possessions. I suspect that’s why so many people are unhappy and wandering aimlessly in our world today. They have so much that gives them nothing.
So, we name before God our problem. Perhaps we should do that every day, or multiple times a day.
Then we set our minds on things that will satisfy us. You can be almost certain that the things which satisfy will not be things you can buy. Nor will they be things that you can come by easily.
Have you ever had one of those all-in-one skillet meals that you can buy? It’s a bag of frozen stuff and you just dump it in a skillet and turn on the heat. With minimal stirring you have a complete meal several minutes later. They may taste good after a long hard day and you appreciate the convenience of the meal. But they are not good as a steady diet. Good food, real food, satisfying food, takes work. Even if you roll your eyes at what your mother puts on the table after she spent quite a bit of time cooking, and making all sorts of dishes dirty, and using all sorts of cooking skills, there will likely be more overall satisfaction and health for you.
God is not stingy with us. God gives us an abundance. Our lives are better for it. Let us recognize these good things so that we can be satisfied and content, rather than being endlessly hollow because of our misguided feeling that we always need more.
While it’s a stretch to make a connection between an unappreciated mother and Jesus feeding a multitude, I think they both get at a part of human nature. People are never satisfied; especially if they don’t know what goes on behind the scenes.
The feeding miracle we read is usually called the “Feeding of the 4000”. It is the second of the great feeding miracles in Mark’s gospel. Both Mark’s gospel and Matthew’s gospel include two great feeding miracles. Luke and John only include the more famous Feeding of the 5000. Historians and biblical scholars usually suggest that there was only one great feeding miracle by Jesus and that Matthew and Mark have included it twice; and with a slightly different viewpoint from each other. There is good biblical precedent for this. Biblical authors will tell two versions of the same account, with each telling having a different meaning. In the case of the feeding miracles Matthew and Mark present the Feeding of the 5000 happening with a Jewish audience and the Feeding of the 4000 happening with a non-Jewish audience. This then shows God’s equal abundance. If you can remember worship from two weeks ago we had the story of the Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus begging for help for her daughter. Jesus said it wasn’t fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. She replied that even the dogs ate the crumbs that fell from the children’s table. Well, if this feeding miracle is the crumbs, then they also create quite an abundance!
That may indeed be Mark’s main intent in including this story shortly after the Syrophoenician woman story. That’s my interpretation. But it also sets up something else. Shortly after the Feeding of the 5000 there was conflict with the Pharisees. Now it’s happening again. We the readers are supposed to find it ironic and laugh at it. But to be fair to the Pharisees and to what Mark writes, in neither case are any of the Pharisee sect described as being present at the miracles. Indeed, Mark does not tell us that Jesus is angry with them. He
just says that Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
It makes sense to demand proof of something. But in the case of the Pharisees it seems like they endlessly want more proof. While it is easy to criticize them for that, there is also something of ourselves in that.
I don’t know what it is within us humans, but we always want more. Give us something that we want. It satisfies us for a while and then we want something more, something new, or better. At this point all of us live with luxuries and conveniences that the world’s wealthiest of 150 years ago did not have, and could not even imagine. Refrigeration, air conditioning, central heat, electricity everywhere, phones, cell phones, airplanes, rocket ships, satellite communication; and of course my favorite… indoor plumbing; hot and cold running water.
We have: pain medications, anesthesia, sterile rooms for surgery, and so much more.
Think back 150 years ago. That would be 1874. Imagine trying to describe a car to someone in 1874. If you’re lucky they’d have heard of the steam driven horseless carriage, which was first invented in 1803. But they’d ask how you’d get anywhere with it? After all, they were heavy and unruly.
Well, you’d reply that you’d build roads.
Build roads with what? Corduroy roads made by laying down logs in swampy areas?
No. Concrete and asphalt. They’d have heard of concrete used in masonry but asphalt hasn’t been invented yet.
Where would you build these roads?
Anywhere, everywhere. Wherever you want.
But what about mountains? Your “car” wouldn’t be able to take people across those.
You’d reply that we’d move mountains or cut tunnels through them.
And where would you get all the coal and wood to fuel these cars?
You’d reply that you’d create a fuel that hasn’t been invented yet. It would be liquid and you’d build pipelines and stations all over the place so people could get some everywhere.
But they’d ask why you’d do this? For certainly only the richest of the rich could afford such a contraption.
No, you’d say you’d make them cheaply – by the millions and everyone would have their own.
Everyone?!? You’d let everyone have such a thing?
Of course. You’d explain there’d be a test of course, to show proficiency, but that wasn’t hard to pass. And then everyone from young to old, weak or strong, smart or not could operate a car.
How fast would it go? Surely 15 mph would be a breakneck speed!
You’d reply that you’d build roads so that everyone could drive one of these cars safely and easily at 70 mph.
And they’d think you were nuts. Completely nuts!
Oh how comfortable and convenient things are for us! And are we satisfied? Do we walk around feeling a glow of the comforts and conveniences of our lives every day? Do we wake up on a windy wet blustery day and think, “Oh how blessed I am to have a home where I am insulated from all that makes me uncomfortable! I couldn’t ask for a gentler, easier, better, more luxurious life than this!”
I doubt we feel that way!
We may not be like the Pharisees always asking Jesus for a sign. But we are like them in always wanting more.
Maybe Jesus had just one major feeding miracle. Maybe he had two. Maybe as Matthew and Mark report that there was one feeding miracle for Jews and one for non-Jews. But it wouldn’t have mattered if Jesus had feeding miracles all the time and every day. We’d want more.
The human condition seems to never be satisfied. We always want more. We think we deserve more – as if we think we work too hard and are not paid enough even as we enjoy lives of ease and luxury beyond what our forebears knew or could even imagine.
Jesus’ deep sigh in his spirit fits for all generations. If we always want more we’ll never be satisfied with what we have. Unfortunately we rarely feel grateful or joyful for our lives.
What is the cure? It’s not a once and done thing. This is not a medicine you can take and have the problem go away. The need for more is a chronic condition.
Like someone addicted to a substance the first thing is to recognize that we have a problem. Life is not about an abundance of possessions. I suspect that’s why so many people are unhappy and wandering aimlessly in our world today. They have so much that gives them nothing.
So, we name before God our problem. Perhaps we should do that every day, or multiple times a day.
Then we set our minds on things that will satisfy us. You can be almost certain that the things which satisfy will not be things you can buy. Nor will they be things that you can come by easily.
Have you ever had one of those all-in-one skillet meals that you can buy? It’s a bag of frozen stuff and you just dump it in a skillet and turn on the heat. With minimal stirring you have a complete meal several minutes later. They may taste good after a long hard day and you appreciate the convenience of the meal. But they are not good as a steady diet. Good food, real food, satisfying food, takes work. Even if you roll your eyes at what your mother puts on the table after she spent quite a bit of time cooking, and making all sorts of dishes dirty, and using all sorts of cooking skills, there will likely be more overall satisfaction and health for you.
God is not stingy with us. God gives us an abundance. Our lives are better for it. Let us recognize these good things so that we can be satisfied and content, rather than being endlessly hollow because of our misguided feeling that we always need more.
Monday, May 6, 2024
May 5, 2024 6th Sunday of Easter Mark 7:31-37
You know well that most people in our nation today consider themselves to be “spiritual but not religious.” Exactly what that means is hard to define. But it is generally someone who believes in God but believes that organized religions are human made organizations at best, and oppressive at worst. They see no reason why they cannot have a full spiritual life within themselves. They don’t want to be bothered by what they would consider to be the artificial demands of religion.
I understand the appeal of being spiritual but not religious. It fits well into our increasingly individualistic culture. Despite how appealing the idea is (you feel like no one is dictating obsolete or oppressive doctrines to you) it has problems. It is not very strong nor is it an emotionally safe place to be. In fact, it is only as strong as they are emotionally strong at any given moment. But, it is what people have chosen for themselves. As long as they are able to go through life as individuals they will stick to it. There is no point trying to tell them how unstable and unhelpful their spirituality is. However, our gospel reading for today points to that instability and unhelpfulness. And it can help us to meaningfully engage them.
First though, we must acknowledge that religions do have their flaws. As Christians we can see that clearly in our own scriptures as the very disciples of Jesus struggled to understand and do what is right. They were prone to failure constantly. And the writings of St. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles both show that Christianity ran into problems right off the bat. Other religions certainly have their own problems; but I am not knowledgeable enough to address them meaningfully. So, our own recognition of our potential for religions mistakes and failures gives us constant humility in what we do.
The healing of this man who is deaf and has a speech impediment is remarkably detailed, and yet the details are puzzling. We’ll get to the details of Jesus spitting and touching the man in a minute. Before that let’s look at the details of the journey. Mark tells us that Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. The Decapolis was a federation of ten small cities of Greek culture to the east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Tyre is about 30 miles northwest of the Decapolis. So far so good. Jesus would go from Tyre southeast towards the Decapolis. Except Mark says he went by way of Sidon… which is north of Tyre! It would be like saying someone traveled from Victor to Canandaigua, and they decided to go by way of Pittsford! Huh? That makes no sense! Pittsford is exactly the wrong way!
Clearly the gospel writer Mark does not know his local geography! And yet, he gives us all these details of Jesus’ travels. Who really cares actually; other than the details are wrong?
Yet, again, the whole scene has details; not just the travel plans. It is as if the usual pace of Mark’s gospel has been slowed down. Mark’s is usually sparce on details. He rushes from scene to scene at lighting pace such that you barely get to think about what just happened before he is on to something else. Consider what we read last week in worship, which is the scene immediately preceding what we read today. There a Syrophoenician woman begged Jesus to heal her daughter. Mark records just three sentences said between them. Then Jesus heals the daughter. He never even gets close to her, and the scene is over.
This week’s reading has the details that a man was brought to Jesus. We’re told he can’t hear and has a speech impediment. The people beg Jesus to lay his hand on this man. Again, lots of details. Who, where, what. And interestingly, does Jesus lay his hand on him? Certainly that would be enough to do it! Remember that last week we read of Jesus healing a girl without ever even going near her! But how about this week’s story? Again, lots of details. Jesus took the man aside, away from the crowd. Jesus puts his fingers into his ears. Then he spits and touches his tongue. Jesus says, “Be opened.” Details, details, details. They are perhaps a bit gross, but we can imagine this scene vividly.
Why would Jesus do it this way? Mark records a number of miracles of Jesus. It was not only in what we read last week that Jesus performs a miracle at a distance. Yet many of the miracles include touch. Jesus touches corpses and lays his hands on lepers. This week Jesus puts his fingers in a mans ears and puts spit on his tongue. In a few weeks we’ll read about a miracle where Jesus puts spit on a man’s eyes and touches him. These are all physical touches and connections.
These touches and connections show that God is not afraid of actual touch with unclean or disgusting things. And they show that God is not interested in performing miracles in sterile environments using holy means. Through Jesus God really is in the dirt and mess of life. And of course the touch of Jesus on ears invites us to understand hearing as coming through the touch of Jesus. Spit on a man’s tongue invites us to understand speech as coming through the life and breath of God. This deaf and mute man is cured and now hears through the touch of Jesus’ fingers, and speaks clearly through the touch of Jesus’ own spit.
A spiritual but not religious person sees God as distant, and as holy, and as “Other”. Christianity teaches us God’s literal presence, and the power of real contact.
In the religious landscape in the world today Christianity is the only religion that is based on the idea of God coming to live as a human for a lifetime. However, the idea of a god becoming human was hardly unusual in the 1st century. Kings and rulers were sometimes called gods, or the son of god. Greek mythology is full of tales of the gods taking on human form for a while. They usually do so for their entertainment or to hurt or reward certain people. Yet among all those Christianity still stood out because Jesus was said to be God coming to live a lifetime; and not to play games with people, or to punish them, or to make demands of them, but to see them, touch them, care for them, and love them.
Though Jesus is not literally walking among us the way he did then the sense of the incarnation remains central to our faith. Lutherans and Catholics especially recognize the real presence of Jesus in communion. Jesus said: take eat, take drink. This is my body. This is my blood.
While many Protestant churches will say the bread and wine are symbols of Jesus’ presence, we stick closer to his literal words. You can’t get too pressed on the physics of it all because you get nonsense. But you can understand God’s continuing presence in insisting that we experience God in ways that we can see and touch and taste. You are what you eat, and the elements of communion become the elements of our bodies.
I do not want to condemn those who call themselves spiritual but not religious. But theirs is a belief system that simply has no substance. And it is ultimately very lonely, because they are choosing to experience God in their own ways. What do they do in those inevitable times when God seems distant, or never seems to say anything at all? What do they do when they don’t know what to do? Where are their spiritual spaces? What are their authorities that can question them, help them grow, and give them a sense of purpose and place? They simply have none of those things; although they think they have.
God loves you enough to touch you. God loves you enough to come to you in a way you can eat. God loves you enough to work through imperfect and flawed people around you so that together they are the body of Christ to you. And God loves you enough to work through you, imperfect and flawed as you are, so that you are the body of Christ to others.
Yes, Christianity as a religion has its flaws. There are plenty of them! I doubt we’ll ever be perfect. But we are called to embody God’s grace in this world as our world cries out for a purpose and a place and meaning to it all. I don’t suggest you go out this afternoon and start putting your fingers in people’s ears or spitting and touching their tongues. But truly being in touch with people is a big part of your faith. We are religious. We have scriptures and sacraments and worship services and ministries and studies which all are God’s gifts to us so that we can be in touch with God always.
I understand the appeal of being spiritual but not religious. It fits well into our increasingly individualistic culture. Despite how appealing the idea is (you feel like no one is dictating obsolete or oppressive doctrines to you) it has problems. It is not very strong nor is it an emotionally safe place to be. In fact, it is only as strong as they are emotionally strong at any given moment. But, it is what people have chosen for themselves. As long as they are able to go through life as individuals they will stick to it. There is no point trying to tell them how unstable and unhelpful their spirituality is. However, our gospel reading for today points to that instability and unhelpfulness. And it can help us to meaningfully engage them.
First though, we must acknowledge that religions do have their flaws. As Christians we can see that clearly in our own scriptures as the very disciples of Jesus struggled to understand and do what is right. They were prone to failure constantly. And the writings of St. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles both show that Christianity ran into problems right off the bat. Other religions certainly have their own problems; but I am not knowledgeable enough to address them meaningfully. So, our own recognition of our potential for religions mistakes and failures gives us constant humility in what we do.
The healing of this man who is deaf and has a speech impediment is remarkably detailed, and yet the details are puzzling. We’ll get to the details of Jesus spitting and touching the man in a minute. Before that let’s look at the details of the journey. Mark tells us that Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. The Decapolis was a federation of ten small cities of Greek culture to the east and southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Tyre is about 30 miles northwest of the Decapolis. So far so good. Jesus would go from Tyre southeast towards the Decapolis. Except Mark says he went by way of Sidon… which is north of Tyre! It would be like saying someone traveled from Victor to Canandaigua, and they decided to go by way of Pittsford! Huh? That makes no sense! Pittsford is exactly the wrong way!
Clearly the gospel writer Mark does not know his local geography! And yet, he gives us all these details of Jesus’ travels. Who really cares actually; other than the details are wrong?
Yet, again, the whole scene has details; not just the travel plans. It is as if the usual pace of Mark’s gospel has been slowed down. Mark’s is usually sparce on details. He rushes from scene to scene at lighting pace such that you barely get to think about what just happened before he is on to something else. Consider what we read last week in worship, which is the scene immediately preceding what we read today. There a Syrophoenician woman begged Jesus to heal her daughter. Mark records just three sentences said between them. Then Jesus heals the daughter. He never even gets close to her, and the scene is over.
This week’s reading has the details that a man was brought to Jesus. We’re told he can’t hear and has a speech impediment. The people beg Jesus to lay his hand on this man. Again, lots of details. Who, where, what. And interestingly, does Jesus lay his hand on him? Certainly that would be enough to do it! Remember that last week we read of Jesus healing a girl without ever even going near her! But how about this week’s story? Again, lots of details. Jesus took the man aside, away from the crowd. Jesus puts his fingers into his ears. Then he spits and touches his tongue. Jesus says, “Be opened.” Details, details, details. They are perhaps a bit gross, but we can imagine this scene vividly.
Why would Jesus do it this way? Mark records a number of miracles of Jesus. It was not only in what we read last week that Jesus performs a miracle at a distance. Yet many of the miracles include touch. Jesus touches corpses and lays his hands on lepers. This week Jesus puts his fingers in a mans ears and puts spit on his tongue. In a few weeks we’ll read about a miracle where Jesus puts spit on a man’s eyes and touches him. These are all physical touches and connections.
These touches and connections show that God is not afraid of actual touch with unclean or disgusting things. And they show that God is not interested in performing miracles in sterile environments using holy means. Through Jesus God really is in the dirt and mess of life. And of course the touch of Jesus on ears invites us to understand hearing as coming through the touch of Jesus. Spit on a man’s tongue invites us to understand speech as coming through the life and breath of God. This deaf and mute man is cured and now hears through the touch of Jesus’ fingers, and speaks clearly through the touch of Jesus’ own spit.
A spiritual but not religious person sees God as distant, and as holy, and as “Other”. Christianity teaches us God’s literal presence, and the power of real contact.
In the religious landscape in the world today Christianity is the only religion that is based on the idea of God coming to live as a human for a lifetime. However, the idea of a god becoming human was hardly unusual in the 1st century. Kings and rulers were sometimes called gods, or the son of god. Greek mythology is full of tales of the gods taking on human form for a while. They usually do so for their entertainment or to hurt or reward certain people. Yet among all those Christianity still stood out because Jesus was said to be God coming to live a lifetime; and not to play games with people, or to punish them, or to make demands of them, but to see them, touch them, care for them, and love them.
Though Jesus is not literally walking among us the way he did then the sense of the incarnation remains central to our faith. Lutherans and Catholics especially recognize the real presence of Jesus in communion. Jesus said: take eat, take drink. This is my body. This is my blood.
While many Protestant churches will say the bread and wine are symbols of Jesus’ presence, we stick closer to his literal words. You can’t get too pressed on the physics of it all because you get nonsense. But you can understand God’s continuing presence in insisting that we experience God in ways that we can see and touch and taste. You are what you eat, and the elements of communion become the elements of our bodies.
I do not want to condemn those who call themselves spiritual but not religious. But theirs is a belief system that simply has no substance. And it is ultimately very lonely, because they are choosing to experience God in their own ways. What do they do in those inevitable times when God seems distant, or never seems to say anything at all? What do they do when they don’t know what to do? Where are their spiritual spaces? What are their authorities that can question them, help them grow, and give them a sense of purpose and place? They simply have none of those things; although they think they have.
God loves you enough to touch you. God loves you enough to come to you in a way you can eat. God loves you enough to work through imperfect and flawed people around you so that together they are the body of Christ to you. And God loves you enough to work through you, imperfect and flawed as you are, so that you are the body of Christ to others.
Yes, Christianity as a religion has its flaws. There are plenty of them! I doubt we’ll ever be perfect. But we are called to embody God’s grace in this world as our world cries out for a purpose and a place and meaning to it all. I don’t suggest you go out this afternoon and start putting your fingers in people’s ears or spitting and touching their tongues. But truly being in touch with people is a big part of your faith. We are religious. We have scriptures and sacraments and worship services and ministries and studies which all are God’s gifts to us so that we can be in touch with God always.
Monday, April 29, 2024
April 28, 2024 5th Sunday of Easter Mark 7:24-30
Our gospel reading today is one of those Bible passages where scholars have spilled untold gallons of ink trying to make sense of it. No matter how you look at it there is no way to get a clear and concise meaning from it, or even multiple meanings layered together.
And it is so unsettling! Does Jesus really refuse to cure this woman’s daughter? Does he really call her a dog? (Or perhaps some other word we’re not supposed to use in the polite family friendly setting of a sermon?) Is this a sign of Jesus’ humanity that he is so tired that his compassion is down? Or, does this woman really best Jesus in an argument? She, a woman; a non-Jewish woman; a non-Jewish uneducated woman… does she really outthink Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, in an argument while the brilliant religions leaders perpetually fail to do so?
I think that last question puts us on a path that does help us understand what is going on.
Before we turn to that, I want to say what this text clearly is not. I have heard this text interpreted to say it is about sexism and racism, and that Jesus’ systemic sexist and racist attitudes are challenged and broken by this strong uppity foreign woman. But interpretations like that are pure nonsense. They are imposing current day arguments and categories onto ancient texts, and then interpreting those texts to give you a meaning you can use to support your own pre-conceived conclusions. That’s bad biblical interpretation and bad logic.
Let’s be clear. The author of this gospel has no reason to include a text that would make Jesus look anything other than good. He had plenty of material to choose from. He didn’t have to include this. He did include it because he wants to teach us either something about Jesus or something about ourselves. This text was probably problematic right from the beginning. A different version of the same story is included in Matthew’s gospel. There Matthew tweaks it a bit and uses it as a story to teach about the strength of faith. Luke’s gospel, which like Matthew’s gospel, uses Mark as the foundation to tell the story of Jesus, leaves this story out completely.
No, Mark chose to put this story in the gospel for a reason. We may never know exactly, but I think we can make some pretty logical guesses. And I think those logical guesses teach us something.
Last week in worship we read the passage just before this one. You may remember that some Pharisees and some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. So far so good. There is nothing problematic about them wanting to see what Jesus is up to. But they noticed that some of Jesus’ disciples were not observing traditional Jewish cleanliness rituals before meals. They question Jesus about this. Let’s remember that these scribes from Jerusalem aren’t just locals with petty grievances. These are the top people.
Scribes were not the same thing as lawyers. They may have been similar but weren’t the same. Lawyers dealt with the law. Scribes may deal with the law, or deal with scripture, or deal with economics, or hold government offices, or the like. These scribes from Jerusalem were not just local guys who dealt with wills and deed transfers. These guys were like high end corporate executives. They knew the law frontwards and backwards. They knew both the letter of the law and the intent of the law. They knew the nuances of the law. They knew precedents. They are the top in their field. So when they challenge Jesus they are posing quite a challenge indeed!
Let’s not turn them into sour faced disagreeable legalists either. They are people who care about their faith and genuinely want to live out what God wants.
If you can remember last week you’ll remember that Jesus does not throw out the religious laws at all. He roots the religious laws in God’s constructive purposes. From there he challenges their beliefs. In that way he takes down a number of barriers: barriers about food, barriers about religious rituals, barriers about intentions, and barriers about righteousness. That same theme continues on in what we read today.
It must be said that this Syrophoenician woman is bold! Or perhaps she’s desperate. Make sure you picture the scene correctly. Jesus has left Jewish territory and is in the region of Tyre. He has gone into a house and he doesn’t want the public to know where he is. Presumably he wants to rest from the constant demands of the crowds. Anyway, Jesus is not out walking in the countryside. He’s in private. She disregards this. She barges in anyway. Can you imagine having an important guest in your house… say, a famous person who just wants to come and have a quiet peaceful time? You do not want the local news stations, or tabloid reporters, or the paparazzi barging in. But that is just what this woman does.
She does deserve credit that she bows down at Jesus’ feet. So she does show him honor and respect. She’s not so bold as to come in and be confrontational and demanding. But she is still bold.
She implores Jesus for help. He refuses. This is not intended to be a test of her faith. This is about Jesus staying true to his purpose. His purpose is not to run all over the countryside fixing people’s problems. Sure, this woman’s daughter is suffering. But hundreds, if not thousands, of women had suffering daughters. Was Jesus to just hop from place to place healing them all? No. That’s not his purpose. He points that out to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Ouch. That hurts. But I don’t think it was intended to. Look at all aspects of early Christianity. Jesus was a Jew. He focused on Jews. Jewish scripture and faith was then and is now the foundation of what Jesus was doing. By far the biggest portion of the writings we Christians consider to be scriptures are not our own, but are Jewish. Judaism is the core. Jesus knew the connections to the core needed to be firmly established before things moved outward. Jesus is not at all against women or foreigners, or against helping people. But if he is going to accomplish in his ministry what he needs to accomplish he needs to stay focused. This woman was breaking that focus.
He gives her very valid logic using an easy-to-understand image. The children are to be fed first. But unlike Jesus’ highly educated opponents, the Jerusalem scribes, who we met previously, she fully accepts the strength of Jesus’ argument. Then she counters with her own. “Yes, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
She has not outwitted Jesus. She has not out argued him. She has simply countered Jesus’ sound logic with a different line of sound logic. Jesus acknowledges that. He has no logical reason to deny her request. So, he grants it despite it not being his focus.
If we look at this scene in the context Mark puts it, in the scene we had last week the barriers of food and tradition have been broken. Here barriers of race, education, and status are broken too. This woman stands at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the educated elite who challenged Jesus previously.
What does the whole collection of scenes mean? It means to us, who read it centuries later, that in the faith of Jesus there aren’t stratifications. Intelligence, educational level, gender, race, etc. don’t ultimately matter. That may not be news to anyone who grew up in Christian faith. But it was a radical idea then. No one gets to say they have an inside track into God’s favor, nor an inside track on doing God’s will. In eternal life no one gets a superior seat, or an inferior seat.
That also means that no one gets a pass on responsibility. You can’t say, “Someone smarter or more holy or with a better personality should do the work of faith. I don’t have to do it.” Not so. You do what you can, whatever you can. It is everyone’s privilege and everyone’s responsibility.
Let us, like the Syrophoenician woman, be bold in our faith, but also respectful. For despite her boldness of entering the house, she also made her request of Jesus by kneeling before him. And may God give us energy and creativity in all that we do in his name.
And it is so unsettling! Does Jesus really refuse to cure this woman’s daughter? Does he really call her a dog? (Or perhaps some other word we’re not supposed to use in the polite family friendly setting of a sermon?) Is this a sign of Jesus’ humanity that he is so tired that his compassion is down? Or, does this woman really best Jesus in an argument? She, a woman; a non-Jewish woman; a non-Jewish uneducated woman… does she really outthink Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, in an argument while the brilliant religions leaders perpetually fail to do so?
I think that last question puts us on a path that does help us understand what is going on.
Before we turn to that, I want to say what this text clearly is not. I have heard this text interpreted to say it is about sexism and racism, and that Jesus’ systemic sexist and racist attitudes are challenged and broken by this strong uppity foreign woman. But interpretations like that are pure nonsense. They are imposing current day arguments and categories onto ancient texts, and then interpreting those texts to give you a meaning you can use to support your own pre-conceived conclusions. That’s bad biblical interpretation and bad logic.
Let’s be clear. The author of this gospel has no reason to include a text that would make Jesus look anything other than good. He had plenty of material to choose from. He didn’t have to include this. He did include it because he wants to teach us either something about Jesus or something about ourselves. This text was probably problematic right from the beginning. A different version of the same story is included in Matthew’s gospel. There Matthew tweaks it a bit and uses it as a story to teach about the strength of faith. Luke’s gospel, which like Matthew’s gospel, uses Mark as the foundation to tell the story of Jesus, leaves this story out completely.
No, Mark chose to put this story in the gospel for a reason. We may never know exactly, but I think we can make some pretty logical guesses. And I think those logical guesses teach us something.
Last week in worship we read the passage just before this one. You may remember that some Pharisees and some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. So far so good. There is nothing problematic about them wanting to see what Jesus is up to. But they noticed that some of Jesus’ disciples were not observing traditional Jewish cleanliness rituals before meals. They question Jesus about this. Let’s remember that these scribes from Jerusalem aren’t just locals with petty grievances. These are the top people.
Scribes were not the same thing as lawyers. They may have been similar but weren’t the same. Lawyers dealt with the law. Scribes may deal with the law, or deal with scripture, or deal with economics, or hold government offices, or the like. These scribes from Jerusalem were not just local guys who dealt with wills and deed transfers. These guys were like high end corporate executives. They knew the law frontwards and backwards. They knew both the letter of the law and the intent of the law. They knew the nuances of the law. They knew precedents. They are the top in their field. So when they challenge Jesus they are posing quite a challenge indeed!
Let’s not turn them into sour faced disagreeable legalists either. They are people who care about their faith and genuinely want to live out what God wants.
If you can remember last week you’ll remember that Jesus does not throw out the religious laws at all. He roots the religious laws in God’s constructive purposes. From there he challenges their beliefs. In that way he takes down a number of barriers: barriers about food, barriers about religious rituals, barriers about intentions, and barriers about righteousness. That same theme continues on in what we read today.
It must be said that this Syrophoenician woman is bold! Or perhaps she’s desperate. Make sure you picture the scene correctly. Jesus has left Jewish territory and is in the region of Tyre. He has gone into a house and he doesn’t want the public to know where he is. Presumably he wants to rest from the constant demands of the crowds. Anyway, Jesus is not out walking in the countryside. He’s in private. She disregards this. She barges in anyway. Can you imagine having an important guest in your house… say, a famous person who just wants to come and have a quiet peaceful time? You do not want the local news stations, or tabloid reporters, or the paparazzi barging in. But that is just what this woman does.
She does deserve credit that she bows down at Jesus’ feet. So she does show him honor and respect. She’s not so bold as to come in and be confrontational and demanding. But she is still bold.
She implores Jesus for help. He refuses. This is not intended to be a test of her faith. This is about Jesus staying true to his purpose. His purpose is not to run all over the countryside fixing people’s problems. Sure, this woman’s daughter is suffering. But hundreds, if not thousands, of women had suffering daughters. Was Jesus to just hop from place to place healing them all? No. That’s not his purpose. He points that out to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Ouch. That hurts. But I don’t think it was intended to. Look at all aspects of early Christianity. Jesus was a Jew. He focused on Jews. Jewish scripture and faith was then and is now the foundation of what Jesus was doing. By far the biggest portion of the writings we Christians consider to be scriptures are not our own, but are Jewish. Judaism is the core. Jesus knew the connections to the core needed to be firmly established before things moved outward. Jesus is not at all against women or foreigners, or against helping people. But if he is going to accomplish in his ministry what he needs to accomplish he needs to stay focused. This woman was breaking that focus.
He gives her very valid logic using an easy-to-understand image. The children are to be fed first. But unlike Jesus’ highly educated opponents, the Jerusalem scribes, who we met previously, she fully accepts the strength of Jesus’ argument. Then she counters with her own. “Yes, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
She has not outwitted Jesus. She has not out argued him. She has simply countered Jesus’ sound logic with a different line of sound logic. Jesus acknowledges that. He has no logical reason to deny her request. So, he grants it despite it not being his focus.
If we look at this scene in the context Mark puts it, in the scene we had last week the barriers of food and tradition have been broken. Here barriers of race, education, and status are broken too. This woman stands at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the educated elite who challenged Jesus previously.
What does the whole collection of scenes mean? It means to us, who read it centuries later, that in the faith of Jesus there aren’t stratifications. Intelligence, educational level, gender, race, etc. don’t ultimately matter. That may not be news to anyone who grew up in Christian faith. But it was a radical idea then. No one gets to say they have an inside track into God’s favor, nor an inside track on doing God’s will. In eternal life no one gets a superior seat, or an inferior seat.
That also means that no one gets a pass on responsibility. You can’t say, “Someone smarter or more holy or with a better personality should do the work of faith. I don’t have to do it.” Not so. You do what you can, whatever you can. It is everyone’s privilege and everyone’s responsibility.
Let us, like the Syrophoenician woman, be bold in our faith, but also respectful. For despite her boldness of entering the house, she also made her request of Jesus by kneeling before him. And may God give us energy and creativity in all that we do in his name.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
April 21, 2024 4th Sunday of Easter Mark 7:1-23
Jesus’ remarks in our gospel reading that, “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come,” reminds me of the story the head chaplain at the University of Tennessee Medical Center told while I was working as a chaplain there. He said that one day he was working from his home office. He had two daughters and the younger of the two came to his office and asked, “Can I have a bowl of ice cream?” This was an unusual request but he decided there was no harm in it, so he said yes.
Some time later when he stepped out of the office he found his two daughters in the living room watching TV. The youngest, who had asked for a bowl of ice cream did not have any. But the older, who did not ask, was sitting there eating ice cream. He said to her, “What are you doing? I never said you could have ice cream!”
“No, you didn’t,” was her calm reply.
“So why do I see you here eating ice cream?”
“Well, I knew you’d never say yes if I asked to have ice cream. But I knew you’d say yes to her. So I had her ask for me. And she did. And you said yes. But you never said she couldn’t give the ice cream to me.”
I don’t know what his daughters do in adulthood, but there’s the making of a good lawyer there! He could have punished both his daughters for their deceptive shenanigans, but he decided they had outmaneuvered him fair and square. He also knew to be on his guard in the future, for both parents and children know how to play that game!
And that’s just it. From the time we are little we learn how to,…perhaps not be outright deceptive, but to be strategic. You know how to get what you need, and what you want. You learn how to do quick calculations in your head about how you will act. Quite likely there’s at least one person in your life that you consider to be a friend, but he or she says things that you disagree with, or even find offensive. You decide not to confront them because you’d rather have the friendship than have it be broken.
Hopefully there’s nothing in our hearts that rises to the level of evil intentions that Jesus talks about: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and folly. Although some of those things may seem less destructive than others. I certainly don’t put folly and murder on the same moral level. Yet, they do both speak to a depravity of the heart that is destructive. And certainly each and every one of us is caught by at least one thing on that list.
We’ll come back to that in a few minutes. Before that we want to look more at the specifics of what Jesus is being challenged over.
Our gospel reading starts with Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathering around Jesus and noticing his disciples are eating with defiled hands. We should note that the fact that scribes have come from Jerusalem shows that the ministry Jesus is doing is becoming known in high places. He’s had disagreements with religious leaders before this but they were on a more local level. As we enter Mark 7 we realize the ministry of Jesus has been expanding greatly. It started in Capernaum. Then it spread throughout the region of Galilee. Then it continued on into some non-Jewish areas. Last week we read the end of chapter six where we learned, “And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” (6:56)
So Jesus has come to the attention of the religious bigwigs. They’ve sent out some scribes to see what is going on. They challenge Jesus about food and purity laws. Although note that they do not say Jesus is breaking any of the codes. It is that he is not teaching his disciples to follow them. That difference is subtle, but significant. All of the gospels note that Jesus himself obeyed the Jewish religious laws. However he did not impose them on his followers.
That teaches us that the laws themselves are not bad. Jesus doesn’t reject them. Not at all. But he does question the reason why people follow them; or more specifically the way following the religious laws was used judgmentally and to cause divisions.
Judaism was not united in its following of the religious laws. Other historical accounts of the times show there were variations among Jews. Many practiced different things. When the religious leaders challenge Jesus about them they are trying to put he and his disciples into a category. Perhaps think about it like the hot button issues of today. People talk about pro-life or pro-choice. We have divisions about race, and gender, and capital punishment, and policies about poverty, and policies about wealth, and policies about guns, and policies about immigration, and policies about how to handle Israel, and Palestinians, and Ukraine, and Sudan, and Afghanistan… and I could make this list go on and on.
Any of these things are used to create labels for people, and then to either see them as being like oneself, or being an opponent. Few, if any, discussions that I’m a part of with all of this stuff are actually constructive.
Where does Jesus land in the debate over food and food purity laws? Jesus refuses to be categorized. He refuses to let other people define issues in a way that he then has to take sides. Jesus does here what he always does. He roots things in God’s original intentions, not in technicalities of the law. For just like one girl asking on behalf of her sister for a bowl of ice cream, and not being explicitly told by her father that the ice cream cannot be given to her sister, so too will people find loopholes that allow them to do what their heart desires.
Before the scribes and Pharisees Jesus refuses to be defined. And then he goes on the offensive. The debate about things being an offering to God, or “Corban,” appears to have been another hot issue of the time. Though the exact nature of this is no longer clear, it appears it had something to do with making a vow attached to goods, which meant they could be no longer use for any purpose other than the temple.
This is an oversimplification, but maybe think of it this way. Let’s say we have a major campaign to pay off the mortgage of the church. You make a sizable pledge of money to the effort. But then something happens with a family member’s finances and they are in need. You can’t afford to both help them and maintain your financial pledge to the church, so what should you do? Which is more important, help of family or support of church? Under what circumstances could you break your pledge to the church? What would God think of you for it?
It seems that in Jesus’ day things were leaning pretty severely on the side of keeping your pledge to the temple. Your family would just have to suffer. There were few if any ways of backing out.
But Jesus roots the argument back into the old law given through Moses about honoring family members. That is a connection of the heart, and not a connection based upon technicalities. So we conclude with a return to idea of a depravity of the heart.
I don’t think it’s possible for any of us to ever have absolutely pure motives on anything we do. There’s always going to be some hope or desire connected to what we do that will benefit us, even if it is a very selfless seeming act. But Jesus is not trying to beat us up for those technicalities. We want to look at the bigger picture of our hearts.
Are we driven by greed and desires? Is who we present ourselves as in public basically true to who we are on the inside? Do embellish things, or leave things out, in our conversations and in our dealings such that we look artificially good and other people unfairly bad? Do we do things to make our lives easier for ourselves when we really need to shoulder greater responsibility for our actions? Would we rather point the finger at other people rather than work harder ourselves?
Jesus invites us to have our lives rooted, not in human dynamics of definitions and justice, but in God’s saving and enduring love. That puts our hearts in the purest place. It removes us from all the distinctions and judgments humans create. And it frees us to most fully be our true selves.
Some time later when he stepped out of the office he found his two daughters in the living room watching TV. The youngest, who had asked for a bowl of ice cream did not have any. But the older, who did not ask, was sitting there eating ice cream. He said to her, “What are you doing? I never said you could have ice cream!”
“No, you didn’t,” was her calm reply.
“So why do I see you here eating ice cream?”
“Well, I knew you’d never say yes if I asked to have ice cream. But I knew you’d say yes to her. So I had her ask for me. And she did. And you said yes. But you never said she couldn’t give the ice cream to me.”
I don’t know what his daughters do in adulthood, but there’s the making of a good lawyer there! He could have punished both his daughters for their deceptive shenanigans, but he decided they had outmaneuvered him fair and square. He also knew to be on his guard in the future, for both parents and children know how to play that game!
And that’s just it. From the time we are little we learn how to,…perhaps not be outright deceptive, but to be strategic. You know how to get what you need, and what you want. You learn how to do quick calculations in your head about how you will act. Quite likely there’s at least one person in your life that you consider to be a friend, but he or she says things that you disagree with, or even find offensive. You decide not to confront them because you’d rather have the friendship than have it be broken.
Hopefully there’s nothing in our hearts that rises to the level of evil intentions that Jesus talks about: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and folly. Although some of those things may seem less destructive than others. I certainly don’t put folly and murder on the same moral level. Yet, they do both speak to a depravity of the heart that is destructive. And certainly each and every one of us is caught by at least one thing on that list.
We’ll come back to that in a few minutes. Before that we want to look more at the specifics of what Jesus is being challenged over.
Our gospel reading starts with Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathering around Jesus and noticing his disciples are eating with defiled hands. We should note that the fact that scribes have come from Jerusalem shows that the ministry Jesus is doing is becoming known in high places. He’s had disagreements with religious leaders before this but they were on a more local level. As we enter Mark 7 we realize the ministry of Jesus has been expanding greatly. It started in Capernaum. Then it spread throughout the region of Galilee. Then it continued on into some non-Jewish areas. Last week we read the end of chapter six where we learned, “And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” (6:56)
So Jesus has come to the attention of the religious bigwigs. They’ve sent out some scribes to see what is going on. They challenge Jesus about food and purity laws. Although note that they do not say Jesus is breaking any of the codes. It is that he is not teaching his disciples to follow them. That difference is subtle, but significant. All of the gospels note that Jesus himself obeyed the Jewish religious laws. However he did not impose them on his followers.
That teaches us that the laws themselves are not bad. Jesus doesn’t reject them. Not at all. But he does question the reason why people follow them; or more specifically the way following the religious laws was used judgmentally and to cause divisions.
Judaism was not united in its following of the religious laws. Other historical accounts of the times show there were variations among Jews. Many practiced different things. When the religious leaders challenge Jesus about them they are trying to put he and his disciples into a category. Perhaps think about it like the hot button issues of today. People talk about pro-life or pro-choice. We have divisions about race, and gender, and capital punishment, and policies about poverty, and policies about wealth, and policies about guns, and policies about immigration, and policies about how to handle Israel, and Palestinians, and Ukraine, and Sudan, and Afghanistan… and I could make this list go on and on.
Any of these things are used to create labels for people, and then to either see them as being like oneself, or being an opponent. Few, if any, discussions that I’m a part of with all of this stuff are actually constructive.
Where does Jesus land in the debate over food and food purity laws? Jesus refuses to be categorized. He refuses to let other people define issues in a way that he then has to take sides. Jesus does here what he always does. He roots things in God’s original intentions, not in technicalities of the law. For just like one girl asking on behalf of her sister for a bowl of ice cream, and not being explicitly told by her father that the ice cream cannot be given to her sister, so too will people find loopholes that allow them to do what their heart desires.
Before the scribes and Pharisees Jesus refuses to be defined. And then he goes on the offensive. The debate about things being an offering to God, or “Corban,” appears to have been another hot issue of the time. Though the exact nature of this is no longer clear, it appears it had something to do with making a vow attached to goods, which meant they could be no longer use for any purpose other than the temple.
This is an oversimplification, but maybe think of it this way. Let’s say we have a major campaign to pay off the mortgage of the church. You make a sizable pledge of money to the effort. But then something happens with a family member’s finances and they are in need. You can’t afford to both help them and maintain your financial pledge to the church, so what should you do? Which is more important, help of family or support of church? Under what circumstances could you break your pledge to the church? What would God think of you for it?
It seems that in Jesus’ day things were leaning pretty severely on the side of keeping your pledge to the temple. Your family would just have to suffer. There were few if any ways of backing out.
But Jesus roots the argument back into the old law given through Moses about honoring family members. That is a connection of the heart, and not a connection based upon technicalities. So we conclude with a return to idea of a depravity of the heart.
I don’t think it’s possible for any of us to ever have absolutely pure motives on anything we do. There’s always going to be some hope or desire connected to what we do that will benefit us, even if it is a very selfless seeming act. But Jesus is not trying to beat us up for those technicalities. We want to look at the bigger picture of our hearts.
Are we driven by greed and desires? Is who we present ourselves as in public basically true to who we are on the inside? Do embellish things, or leave things out, in our conversations and in our dealings such that we look artificially good and other people unfairly bad? Do we do things to make our lives easier for ourselves when we really need to shoulder greater responsibility for our actions? Would we rather point the finger at other people rather than work harder ourselves?
Jesus invites us to have our lives rooted, not in human dynamics of definitions and justice, but in God’s saving and enduring love. That puts our hearts in the purest place. It removes us from all the distinctions and judgments humans create. And it frees us to most fully be our true selves.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
April 14, 2024 3rd Sunday of Easter Mark 6:45-56
I hope the gospel reading bothered you at least somewhat, or perhaps quite a bit! Our gospel reading picks up right after the Feeding of the 5000 miracle. We can understand that Jesus is very tired after that event. Even if you were a full time caterer with all sorts of equipment and professional staff you’d still feel wiped out after feeding thousands of people. Jesus, with only the disciples to help him and no cooking staff at all, is certainly wiped out. He wants to be alone to pray and rejuvenate. So he sends his disciples away while he stays behind.
Actually, he doesn’t just send the disciples away. He doesn’t say, “Go, do what you want for a bit. I need some time to be alone and to pray.” No, he gives them specific instructions. The gospel tells us that after the feeding Jesus immediately made his disciples get into the board and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida. The crowd is still there and only after sending off the disciples does Jesus dismiss the crowd. The disciples, then, are following Jesus’ specific instructions.
You think, or at least you’d hope, that if you were following God’s clear and specific instructions you’d get some help in the task ahead. Maybe you’ll accept that the task will be difficult and dangerous, but you expect God’s help. But the disciples set off in what appears to be calm water. It seems as if only later does the wind pick up and the disciples are straining to get across.
At this point we’re through six chapters of Mark’s gospel. Mark has told us, the readers, that Jesus has power over nature. Mark has also told us that Jesus can discern what is in the minds of other people. In other words, we know that Jesus is all knowing and all powerful.
With that in mind, shouldn’t the disciples have an easy time across the lake? Jesus hasn’t sent them out to do anything dangerous. And they aren’t doing anything particularly remarkable. They are just to row a routine trip across familiar waters.
But they face an adverse wind. We aren’t told that this is a particularly dangerous situation. You may remember from chapter 4 that Jesus is asleep in the boat with the disciples when a windstorm arises and the boat is being swamped. No, this time it’s just an adverse wind. The disciples can handle it. It's just hard. We feel a bit of compassion from Jesus when Mark tells us in verse 48, “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning.”
Ah, good. Jesus sees their distress. Jesus is going to come and help.
That’s the way we want God to work. That’s the way we think God does work. Those who are doing God’s will will receive help in time of need. We’ll overlook that Jesus didn’t calm the wind, and we’ll overlook that Jesus sent them out there in the first place.
But then what does Jesus do? Verse 48 continues, “[Jesus] came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them.”
What!?! Jesus is going to just pass by them? Aren’t these guys doing exactly what Jesus has instructed them to do? Aren’t they fighting against the wind on his orders? …when he himself could have calmed the wind and made this routine crossing easier. Shouldn’t Jesus at least acknowledge their difficulties? Is Jesus really going to leave them alone to battle this on their own?
If I’m going to do God’s will, whether it be difficult and exciting, or dull and routine, I certainly don’t want God to just ignore me when I’m in distress!
Yes, there’s plenty about this text to bother us.
Let’s look at it more deeply as Mark intends.
First, once before Jesus has sent the disciples away when he went off by himself to pray. When he came back from that time in prayer he made a major shift in his ministry. He went from ministry in Capernaum to going on a preaching tour in Galilee. This time Jesus also makes a major shift in his ministry. The Feeding of the 5000 was much more than just showing he could fill the bellies of lots of people without much food to start with. The Feeding of the 5000 is Jesus revealing himself as the great shepherd of the sheep. Prior to that miracle Mark says they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then Jesus teaches them; and ultimately feeds them. In the Feeding of the 5000 story Mark includes the details that Jesus has them all sit down in orderly fashion on the green grass. All of this is shepherding care. It is God’s care for the masses. As readers of Mark, we see the role of Jesus expanding. He is teacher, healer, provider, shepherd, and more.
So then why the abrupt shift to sending the disciples into harm’s way and ignoring them in their distress? Because it is a way of revealing more about Jesus.
We need to turn to Job 9, which we had as our scripture poetry. In 9:8 we read, “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea.” In 9:11 we read, “Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him…” And we didn’t read it, but also in Job 38:16 we find God challenging Job with the words, “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” It goes on, “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know all this.”
In Job God shows that God is beyond what a human can ever understand, or ever hope to control. Mark probably has more in mind too. In our first reading from Exodus Moses says to God, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And God said, “I will make my goodness pass before you.”
So, in this simple statement that Jesus intended to pass by them Mark is showing us a lot of things. He is touching on God being beyond what we can comprehend or control. He is touching on God’s goodness passing before them, just like Moses and the Israelites. And a sentence later we have this reinforced when Jesus says to the disciples, “Take heart, it is I.” Or more literally, “Take heart. I Am.”
We remember that God’s name in the Old Testament is “I Am.” So, what may have caused fear in the disciples and felt like neglect was really and ongoing and deeper revelation of who Jesus was in their midst. They were struggling. God was with them. God was not using supernatural means to protect them from harm, but God was in their midst through it.
So let’s look at the whole picture before us. You probably know well that I cringe whenever people say, “God has a plan for my life.” I get it. I understand the desire for your life to have a specific and unique purpose. And I understand the desire to feel God’s protection around you; especially as so much of life can feel out of your control. But that line of thinking runs into problems all too often. Why does one person get help and another doesn’t? Why do good things happen to bad people while bad things happen to good people? There is too much in life that is fundamentally unfair if you take that approach.
The “God has a purpose for me” approach is behind where I started today’s sermon when I talked about Jesus sending the disciples into difficulties and then walking by them in the midst of those difficulties. It feels unfair. It’s not the sort of things we want from God.
But this Bible passage encourages us to have a different approach. God has a plan, yes. God has a grand plan for the whole of the universe. And you get to have a part in it; an important part. So don’t feel left out or diminished. But God’s grand plan may not include you have an easy time of it.
The disciples were sent out onto that lake. Jesus knew they would struggle. He knew the wind would be against them. He knew his presence would frighten them. But all of it was a means by which God’s glory could be revealed. Jesus did not walk on water in order to show off. His ego didn’t need that. Jesus walked on water to show the disciples, and through them show the world, his saving power, his love, and his ongoing presence.
When something is unfair, puzzling, or perplexing, go ahead and let God know it. It’s fine to get upset with God. But don’t ruminate on it trying to make it make sense. As we find in the book of Job, much of what God does is beyond our ability to comprehend. We trust God anyway, not so that we understand, but because we know God is truly up to something good for the whole of the world.
Actually, he doesn’t just send the disciples away. He doesn’t say, “Go, do what you want for a bit. I need some time to be alone and to pray.” No, he gives them specific instructions. The gospel tells us that after the feeding Jesus immediately made his disciples get into the board and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida. The crowd is still there and only after sending off the disciples does Jesus dismiss the crowd. The disciples, then, are following Jesus’ specific instructions.
You think, or at least you’d hope, that if you were following God’s clear and specific instructions you’d get some help in the task ahead. Maybe you’ll accept that the task will be difficult and dangerous, but you expect God’s help. But the disciples set off in what appears to be calm water. It seems as if only later does the wind pick up and the disciples are straining to get across.
At this point we’re through six chapters of Mark’s gospel. Mark has told us, the readers, that Jesus has power over nature. Mark has also told us that Jesus can discern what is in the minds of other people. In other words, we know that Jesus is all knowing and all powerful.
With that in mind, shouldn’t the disciples have an easy time across the lake? Jesus hasn’t sent them out to do anything dangerous. And they aren’t doing anything particularly remarkable. They are just to row a routine trip across familiar waters.
But they face an adverse wind. We aren’t told that this is a particularly dangerous situation. You may remember from chapter 4 that Jesus is asleep in the boat with the disciples when a windstorm arises and the boat is being swamped. No, this time it’s just an adverse wind. The disciples can handle it. It's just hard. We feel a bit of compassion from Jesus when Mark tells us in verse 48, “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning.”
Ah, good. Jesus sees their distress. Jesus is going to come and help.
That’s the way we want God to work. That’s the way we think God does work. Those who are doing God’s will will receive help in time of need. We’ll overlook that Jesus didn’t calm the wind, and we’ll overlook that Jesus sent them out there in the first place.
But then what does Jesus do? Verse 48 continues, “[Jesus] came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them.”
What!?! Jesus is going to just pass by them? Aren’t these guys doing exactly what Jesus has instructed them to do? Aren’t they fighting against the wind on his orders? …when he himself could have calmed the wind and made this routine crossing easier. Shouldn’t Jesus at least acknowledge their difficulties? Is Jesus really going to leave them alone to battle this on their own?
If I’m going to do God’s will, whether it be difficult and exciting, or dull and routine, I certainly don’t want God to just ignore me when I’m in distress!
Yes, there’s plenty about this text to bother us.
Let’s look at it more deeply as Mark intends.
First, once before Jesus has sent the disciples away when he went off by himself to pray. When he came back from that time in prayer he made a major shift in his ministry. He went from ministry in Capernaum to going on a preaching tour in Galilee. This time Jesus also makes a major shift in his ministry. The Feeding of the 5000 was much more than just showing he could fill the bellies of lots of people without much food to start with. The Feeding of the 5000 is Jesus revealing himself as the great shepherd of the sheep. Prior to that miracle Mark says they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then Jesus teaches them; and ultimately feeds them. In the Feeding of the 5000 story Mark includes the details that Jesus has them all sit down in orderly fashion on the green grass. All of this is shepherding care. It is God’s care for the masses. As readers of Mark, we see the role of Jesus expanding. He is teacher, healer, provider, shepherd, and more.
So then why the abrupt shift to sending the disciples into harm’s way and ignoring them in their distress? Because it is a way of revealing more about Jesus.
We need to turn to Job 9, which we had as our scripture poetry. In 9:8 we read, “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea.” In 9:11 we read, “Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him…” And we didn’t read it, but also in Job 38:16 we find God challenging Job with the words, “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” It goes on, “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know all this.”
In Job God shows that God is beyond what a human can ever understand, or ever hope to control. Mark probably has more in mind too. In our first reading from Exodus Moses says to God, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And God said, “I will make my goodness pass before you.”
So, in this simple statement that Jesus intended to pass by them Mark is showing us a lot of things. He is touching on God being beyond what we can comprehend or control. He is touching on God’s goodness passing before them, just like Moses and the Israelites. And a sentence later we have this reinforced when Jesus says to the disciples, “Take heart, it is I.” Or more literally, “Take heart. I Am.”
We remember that God’s name in the Old Testament is “I Am.” So, what may have caused fear in the disciples and felt like neglect was really and ongoing and deeper revelation of who Jesus was in their midst. They were struggling. God was with them. God was not using supernatural means to protect them from harm, but God was in their midst through it.
So let’s look at the whole picture before us. You probably know well that I cringe whenever people say, “God has a plan for my life.” I get it. I understand the desire for your life to have a specific and unique purpose. And I understand the desire to feel God’s protection around you; especially as so much of life can feel out of your control. But that line of thinking runs into problems all too often. Why does one person get help and another doesn’t? Why do good things happen to bad people while bad things happen to good people? There is too much in life that is fundamentally unfair if you take that approach.
The “God has a purpose for me” approach is behind where I started today’s sermon when I talked about Jesus sending the disciples into difficulties and then walking by them in the midst of those difficulties. It feels unfair. It’s not the sort of things we want from God.
But this Bible passage encourages us to have a different approach. God has a plan, yes. God has a grand plan for the whole of the universe. And you get to have a part in it; an important part. So don’t feel left out or diminished. But God’s grand plan may not include you have an easy time of it.
The disciples were sent out onto that lake. Jesus knew they would struggle. He knew the wind would be against them. He knew his presence would frighten them. But all of it was a means by which God’s glory could be revealed. Jesus did not walk on water in order to show off. His ego didn’t need that. Jesus walked on water to show the disciples, and through them show the world, his saving power, his love, and his ongoing presence.
When something is unfair, puzzling, or perplexing, go ahead and let God know it. It’s fine to get upset with God. But don’t ruminate on it trying to make it make sense. As we find in the book of Job, much of what God does is beyond our ability to comprehend. We trust God anyway, not so that we understand, but because we know God is truly up to something good for the whole of the world.
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