Thoughts going in, Sunday March 1st, Lent 2

Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? 37 Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? 38 If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

            The immediate context of this passage is one of those "thrill of victory, agony of defeat" times for the Apostle Peter. Jesus had asked the group what people were saying about him; who do they say I am, he asked. And then he asked the even more pertinent question, who do YOU say I am? And in vs 29, answering for the entire group, Peter said, thou art the Christ. A++++++++++++++. Peter gets it. Jesus is the Messiah (Christos in the Greek). He is the long-awaited deliverer in a long tradition of deliverers: Moses; David; Hezekiah; Josiah; Zerrubabel; Judas Maccabeus. Like each of these, the Christos will face enormously difficult odds. Rome and her client armies constitute the most powerful military force in the world. However, Egypt was the most powerful military force in the world when Moses encountered them, and the Seleucids greatly out-manned and out-gunned the Maccabees in their day. Every pious Jew knew that God plus an army of just one was invincible.

            So...the time has come. The Christos is here. There's work to do: strategizing; recruiting; spreading the message that soon God's man will be leading the revolt against the hated Roman overlords. But what a glorious time it will be; and soon, very soon now, Israel will be restored as its own kingdom under God. To some degree, **some if not ALL of these thoughts had to be swirling through the heads of the Apostles after vss 29-30.

            And then Jesus does something very strange--breaks the mood, you might say. Vs 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. This doesn't sound right. This is not according to plan. Where's the strategizing? Where's the scouting out of fortresses? Where's the stock-piling of weaponry? Sounds like Jesus is just having a bad day. Sounds like maybe he's having second thoughts about this, OR about the commitment of his core group. Best thing to do is buck him up. Let him know we're in this with him and we'll fight to the death. Vs 32 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

            And now the 'agony of defeat' moment for Peter. Jesus calls him a word never used on any of the other disciples: vs 33 "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." Unfortunately at this precise moment, Peter had picked up the baton from Satan and was now running with it--tempting Jesus to do precisely what Satan had tempted him in the wilderness: BE OUR MESSIAH, but be the Messiah on OUR TERMS. Be the Messiah we want; Be the Messiah we've said we need.

Herein we find a major theme of the Gospels. Jesus the Messiah has come to free his people from the yoke of oppression; to liberate them from their enemy; to inaugurate a secure future for them under God. The only thing is, the enemies aligned against Jesus are not the Roman legions and their client armies. They are sin, death and the Devil. Jesus has come to do battle against those enemies; to defeat those enemies. And nothing, not even the good intentions of his closest followers will deter him from that mission.

            The second Sunday of Lent offers us a chance to put ourselves in Peter's shoes. We have no shortage of 'enemies' that we'd like our own personal Christos to vanquish: economic uncertainty; family struggles; our 'vision' for America; our view of the role of Christianity in the public square; an unwelcome medical diagnosis; the list is endless. This week the challenge is to receive Jesus as Christos/Messiah on his terms, take up our cross, and get in line behind him.

cheers,

tm

Thoughts going in, Sunday February 22nd, Lent 1

Mark 1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

Every year, regardless of the lectionary cycle, the first Sunday of Lent has us in the wilderness with Jesus facing Satan. This being Lectionary Year B, the year of Mark, we listen to his version:

Mark's version of the wilderness temptation account is interesting both for what it says and for what it doesn't say. To begin with, Mark wants us to see the dual activity of the Spirit. On the one hand, the Spirit falls out of heaven and onto Jesus at his baptism. This is the Spirit of anointing; of power; of 'Messiahship.' The anointing of the Spirit is accompanied by the heavenly voice which completely affirms Jesus in what he's doing.

And then... it might seem.... that the Spirit does something strange, the Spirit "throws" or "casts" Jesus out into the wilderness. Normally I use the TNIV translation, but its... At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness doesn't do justice to the Greek. The NRSV's And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness is a much closer rendering. In the Greek the word is "ekballo"--which literally means to "drive out" or "cast out." Jesus was thrown out into the wilderness by the Spirit, the way John Wayne throws the little boy into the pond in "Hondo." And in Mark's gospel, this leads to more questions than answers. Why? How long did he have to stay? Did he have any choice in this? We're not told. We're not even told of the very interesting dialog that occurs between Satan and Jesus (these details are in Matthew and Luke).

In typical Markan 'abbreviated' fashion, Mark distills the whole temptation of Jesus 'saga' down to two verses: 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. For us as Bible student/disciples, this can be a lot of fun, as it gives us a chance to really put some words under the microscope. I've already talked about "ekballo," as in the Spirit's driving Jesus into the wilderness. And then there's 'wilderness.' The idea here is barren, uninhabitable. In Genesis when we read that God created Adam, he placed him in the Garden of Eden. But now God's own son is driven to the polar opposite... the barren, uninhabitable wilderness. There he was tempted by Satan. To be 'tempted,' at its most basic, means to be 'tried'... or 'tested.' It's a neutral word that depends on context to give it either a positive or negative spin. The presence of a 'satan'... gives just such a context. A satan, strictly speaking, is an adversary; someone who is decidedly not in your camp or on your side. Hence, "Satan" became a name for the chief fallen angel... as there is no greater adversary. When I think of being 'tested by a satan,' I can't help but think of that scene from An Officer and a Gentleman where Louis Gossett Jr. is TRYING HIS HARDEST to get Richard Gere to fail.

And he was with the wild beasts. Instead of God presenting animals to the man to see what he would call them (Gen 2:19), now the animals are present as a ferocious, wild, dangerous threat... (another sign of sin and The Fall). However, instead of Cherubim threatening him with a flaming sword, angels ministered (diakonia) to him.

The image Mark presents us with in this account is, to my mind, very vivid. It's as though Jesus has been thrown out into a Garden of Eden in reverse....or, if you will, the Sin-Ruined Garden of Eden. It's the 'paradise' that sin created. And Jesus, GOD'S PERFECT MAN, goes back there to do battle with Satan with the difference being that this time Satan loses.

So what's the point? There's an obviously Lenten focus where we talk about contending against the powers of evil just as Jesus did--though of course we want to be sure not to give the misperception that we only bother doing this during the season of Lent (as if the rest of the year we are free to cave-in). But there's more. Mark in his typical succinct manner is presenting the whole of the life of faith. It begins with Baptism; and while baptism is EVERYTHING...it rescues from death and the devil; it is our adoption as children of God; it bestows everlasting life... it is also true to say that it is our baptism that enlists us in the great spiritual war of the ages. And, just as in the life of Christ, we find ourselves often engaged in this battle at some level. In the Markan narrative, it seems pretty linear: Baptism-->wilderness-->mission, although in real life, any christian can attest to the fact that the line between wilderness and mission is often blurred--and real life is anything but linear.

A good Lenten lesson here is always to come back to our Baptism. Even if the work of the mission or the foray into the wilderness has taken its toll, we are STILL BAPTIZED. No one can take that away from us. May we learn to treasure this gift of gifts and thank God daily for claiming us as his own.

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday February 15th, Transfiguration Sunday

Mark 9:2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

This Sunday is "Transfiguration Sunday." It's a "theme" day. It breaks the mood and breaks the narrative that we had been studying. All at once we jump from Mark chapter 1 to Mark chapter 9. Not that there isn't a good reason for this. We're on the verge of Lent. It would be difficult to go from the 'mood/themes' of the Sundays after Epiphany to such a sudden and drastic change as the 'mood/themes' of the Sundays of Lent. And so it is very common to have what I call "bridge Sundays" on the calendar--and this is one of those. On this bridge day we step away from where we've been, without fully stepping in to where we're going--and all for the sake of examining some independent themes.

This is one of those times when it's very difficult to find much NEW to preach about. It's like Christmas or Easter. Once you've heard the story of the transfiguration a couple of times, and heard a sermon or two on the topic, it's pretty difficult to expect any vastly new insights. About the best a preacher can do is to try to key in on the differences between the accounts (and there are some), but even this isn't enough to break the usual emphasis. And the usual emphasis goes something like this: Jesus, and Peter, James and John had this shared, wonderful, mountaintop experience. It was nice...but they couldn't stay there. They had to get back down off that mountain and go back to where the work was waiting--in Jesus' case, the hard work of pressing onward toward the cross. And so, that's how we too should view our mountain top experiences. They're nice when they happen, but we can't stay there. There's work to be done in the kingdom down off that mountain. And so we must resist the urge of Peter to build "booths" that will enable us to stay longer, and get back down there to work.

Well, what can I say? I'm in broad general agreement with that line of thought. Mountain top experiences ARE NICE....but we're called to do more, etc. etc.

There's another slightly different way to look at this, though, and that's from the perspective of the 9 disciples who never got the mountain top experience in the 1st place. Seems a bit unfair. But it also seems a bit typical. It seems very much like where I live my life... very much like where the average Christian lives his or her life. After all, when was the last time you received a heavenly vision of the glorified Jesus? To me, the question of faith isn't so much what to do with Mark's rendering of the Transfiguration narrative, or what to do with the 'experience' that Jesus, Peter, James and John received, but rather what to do with the lack of experience of the other nine, because that's where I'm at.

All of which brings me to the various shades of 'Victorious Life' theology that creep into mainstream Christianity. Original Victorious Life theology owes its heritage to John Wesley's (the founder of Methodism) idea of total sanctification. This was the idea that a person could become so close to God that the struggle with sin was essentially in the past; one could live a spiritually perfect life. Wesley held this out as an attainable ideal for all Christians. Without offering comment on Wesley's original idea, the real downside is that this idea has morphed into the material world. Many Christians live their lives in a bubble of make-believe that says, bad things won't or can't happen to me now that I'm a believer. The ultimate perversion of this idea is the 'Prosperity Gospel,' which not only says bad things won't or can't happen to you, but adds that God "wants you to be wealthy."

The point I'm trying to make here is that if Mark chapter 9 teaches us anything it's that not only was the mountain top experience not experienced by the majority of the disciples, it also constituted a tiny blip on the radar even of Jesus himself. It was not the defining facet of his life of faith.

If and when they happen, we can receive mountaintop experiences as a wonderful gift from the gracious hand of God, but true meaning in the life of faith has to be found down off the mountain, or we will never last on the road of Discipleship.

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday February 8th, Epiphany +5

Mark 1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went into Simon and Andrew's house with James and John. 30 Simon's mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. 31 So He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to minister to them. 32 When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all those who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 The whole town was assembled at the door, 34 and He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him. 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there. 36 Simon and his companions went searching for Him. 37 They found Him and said, "Everyone's looking for You!" 38 And He said to them, "Let's go on to the neighboring villages so that I may preach there too. This is why I have come." 39 So He went into all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Well, as usual, I find a LOT going on in this small chunk of Mark's Gospel. It would be true to say it's all about Jesus, but the question is HOW and in WHAT WAY is this all about Jesus? Let's break it down:

vs 29: Following the worship/prayers/official expressions of faith, Jesus enters the home of his disciples. This little nugget is not lost on evangelical commentators. They rightly note that true worship of Jesus is not a matter of a once-a-week nod his way at an official worship service. Just the opposite. As we see in this passage, true worship and true discipleship is about integrating Jesus into all aspects of our life--taking him into our homes, as it were.

vss 30-31: This is a "take it to the Lord in prayer" moment. Prior to this point in Mark's gospel, Jesus had healed no one.... he had only just performed the exorcism at the synagogue. In the big picture, Mark the evangelist is systematically presenting Jesus as LORD over all: the demonic forces, illness, and later ceremonial uncleanness, nature, etc. etc., but verse 30 is very interesting. Without necessarily knowing that Jesus could or would be able to do anything about the woman's illness, they tell him about her at once. This is prayer in action.

I also cannot help but note two very interesting words in the Greek. The first is where Jesus "raised her up." The word in the Greek (egeiro) is the same that will be used for HIS RESURRECTION. In that sense, the healing of Simon's mother is an anticipation marker. The first time through, anyone unfamiliar with the story wouldn't catch it--but they would the second time. Hearing of her being "raised up" would immediately remind us of Jesus, and the fact that he not only conquered sickness in his earthly ministry, but was raised up victorious over death (the ultimate human illness) itself. But there's also another point to ponder. The believer's encounter with Jesus as Savior is ALWAYS a raising up. The big theological word often employed is "regeneration," a bringing back to life; infusing with new life, etc. In that sense, the 'raising up' of this woman is symbolic of the believer's conversion. S/he passes from spiritual death to spiritual life; s/he is 'raised up.' And this spiritual passing from death to life, this spiritual 'raising up' of course also anticipates the final resurrection (as per the creed: we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come).

The second interesting word in the same verse is where she began “to minister to them.” The word in the Greek (diakoneo) is where we get our word “deacon” from. I've taken the liberty of altering the TNIV text to serve them, changing it to read to minister to them, as that is a more faithful rendering of the Church's concept of diakonia. Here, then, Mark uses this story of the healing of Simon’s mother to paint an interesting picture: The life of faith begins with an encounter with Jesus who raises us up, and then continues on with a life of service/diakonia to him/on his behalf. In this way Mark is presenting Simon’s mother as a ‘model’ of the Christian life.

Vss 29-35: On the other hand, we also see the Christian life modeled by Jesus himself (after all, giving us the ‘example’ is one of Christ’s main concerns). He takes part in public worship at the synagogue; following that we see that his faith/faith-life impacts his treatment of others (both in terms of Simon’s mother and the crowds). This brings to mind the optional collect of the day for this Sunday where we pray: “make us agents of your healing and wholeness”). Are we divine? Can we cure? Obviously not, but the creedo of the Stephen Ministry is helpful here: God is the only “cure-giver,” yet we by virtue of our baptism are all called in one way or another to be “care-givers.” And then, of course, later we find the Lord in prayer. PUBLIC WORSHIP; CARING MINISTRY; DEVOTIONAL PRAYER….. this is the life of faith.

Vss 36-39 Lastly, this passage has a very interesting ending. The disciples go out into the middle of nowhere to find Jesus; they tell him that today’s crowd is already lined up waiting for him to return—even though it is evidently still very early in the morning. Given the flow of the story, one would expect Jesus to go back with them to Simon’s house and get on with the day’s healing(s). Yet he doesn’t. He moves on to the next place because PREACHING/PROCLAMATION is his primary mission….not being the local healer.

Cheers,

TM