Dr. Howell's eSeries

Back to top
eJesus in Mark – tell me the stories…

eJesus in Mark – tell me the stories…

In these early weeks of 2012, we will look very closely, and slowly, at the earliest Gospel account of the life of Jesus. Mark, the shortest, most crisp, edgy and lifelike of the four Gospels, tells an inviting, urgent, and demanding story of the life of Jesus – in which we may discover our own life story, or at least the story we might dream of having.

Mark was the first Gospel written, put onto parchment perhaps around the year 65, about a generation after the death of Jesus in 30. “When we enter the story of Mark, we enter a world of conflict and suspense, a world of surprising reversals and strange ironies, a world of riddles and hidden meanings, a world of subversive actions and political intrigues” (David Rhoads).

If you’re interested in some background, check out my YouTubes on Jesus: Fact or Fiction… or Both?, and How Many Gospels are There? (only 6 minutes each!). More importantly, make a commitment now to read Mark with me. We will do no more than 6 verses in a day, and many days we’ll only look at 1, or 2 – and I promise to keep my comments from dragging on too long! It is a good thing to think about Jesus together, and to read his first biography and imagine ourselves in his story!

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark – in the beginning

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1)

Mark chapter 1 verse 1 is a beautiful echo of Genesis chapter 1 verse 1: “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.” When Mark speaks of the “beginning” of the Gospel, he doesn’t just mean the first few days of it all. Jesus’ arrival marks a new beginning, a new creation, a whole new world. And the word arché, “beginning,” profoundly implies deep origins, the hidden meaning and purpose of things. Jesus isn’t just another great man who showed up; rather, the very infinite design of God is now manifest, and unfolding.

And what is begun is not the life of Jesus, as if Mark is a biography of the man. It is “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the start of something that isn’t exhausted by his solo life; he begins something that continues, takes on its own life, in the Christian movement, in the Church – and in us!

In Genesis, when God created, the earth was “without form and void,” and the Hebrew means something like “It was chaos – a total mess.” When Jesus came, the world was a chaotic wreck, not at all what God had in mind. People were sick, politicians were haughty, nations were at war, the poor were crushed, and there was little love, and less hope. Jesus’ very name, yeshu’a, means “Lord, help!” The world cried for help, and Jesus became that very help we’d been seeking all along, and in all the wrong places.

Jesus was his name while he walked around on earth; only later was he dubbed “Christ,” the Messiah – God’s anointed leader. Rabbi Ezring and I will share (on Jan. 17) about the meaning of this… For now, hearing Mark’s tantalizing hint of big things to come, we are filled with anticipation, eager to see what Jesus is beginning – and how we are then part of what he started.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - prepare ye the way of the Lord

As it is written in Isaiah, 'Behold, I send my messenger before you... the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord!' John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. There went out to him all the country of Judea to be baptized by him in the river Jordan. John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle, and ate locusts and wild honey. He preached, 'After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit' (Mark 1:2-8).

When the gospel of Jesus begins, the first character on stage isn't Jesus, but John. Starting out in Ein Kerem, just west of Jerusalem, John preached, and baptized in a cave James Tabor of UNC Charlotte excavated; then he moved into the wilderness, by the Jordan river - and only then does Jesus show up.

Mark quite clearly tells us that in order to get to Jesus, some preparation is required - and that getting ready is called "repentance." To repent isn't so much to harbor dark feelings of guilt. To repent is to realize your genuinely desperate need for Jesus. To repent is to make a 180° turn, or to change your mind about things. To repent is to "prepare him room" (as we sing at Christmas) - to take a bulldozer to our cramped, frenetic lives and make some space for Jesus. Repentance is availability - an attentive readiness to say Yes, to go, to do something, or just to be still and do more listening to Jesus.

John Wesley taught us Methodists that repentance is the porch, faith is the door, and holiness is the house itself. Today we step up onto the porch, and hear John's plea for us to repent, to prepare, to get ready to open the door and go in to a new life. Before we get there, we need to take off our shoes, and get ourselves spruced up a bit so we'll be presentable when Jesus welcomes us home. We shake off the old life and repent - which is to acknowledge our awful dilemma: we are mortal and can't keep on living forever, and we are broken people, unable to fix ourselves, certainly in rebellion against God but also just plain shallow and pointless no matter how craftily we construct a life on our own.

Perhaps you've made New Year's resolutions; or perhaps you've grown too cynical to bother. Don't resolve this year to do better. Just repent, grieve your old life, and let things go so there can be room for Jesus to come do some new thing, to take us into his house.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - beloved Son

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, 'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased' (Mark 1:9-11).

What is Baptism? What's the use of water in life? We use water to wash when we are dirty; water quenches our thirst; water causes things to grow; water can be simply beautiful. When someone is baptized, we think of such things: a cleansing, forgiveness; a new kind of life; being filled with God's grace, and beginning a life of learning, serving and growing closer to God.

Baptism isn't a cute little rite of passage; it is the power of the Holy Spirit declaring you to be God's child, and empowering you for holiness and service. Were you baptized at some point? If so, live into the reality of it.

Jesus was baptized. Denominations might argue over how much water is required, or how precisely to do a Baptism. We know that first in the cave, and then later in the Jordan, John didn't "dunk" anybody, but poured or sprinkled water from a pottery vessel. The trickier question always is Why was Jesus baptized? Clearly, Jesus always wants a full share in our life, total solidarity with us - including the humbling mercy in Baptism. If Baptism is somehow about forgiveness, can we see the great wisdom in Karl Barth's thought? "Jesus wasn't being theatrical. He really was baptized for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus did not let our sins remains ours; as our brother he took our sins on himself. No one came to the Jordan as laden and afflicted as He."

In Mark 1:11 we also get an intriguing glimpse into the life of the Trinity. People can't make mathematical sense of the one God as three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible doesn't theorize about a doctrine of the Trinity - but the Bible does tell this story, where Jesus is standing in the water; but he is far from alone. The Spirit descends on him "like a dove," and then there is a voice from God the Father in heaven. So Jesus, the Spirit-dove, and the Father-speaking are the loving community that is God revealed to us. And we are invited into their common life and love, to be the "fourth" (if you will) - to complete the circle of love and life.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - Jesus came to Galilee

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15)

We might expect Mark to say "After John was arrested, Jesus hid." He had good reason to suspect he too would be hounded by the paranoid, violent Herod. But instead, the fearless Jesus came into an open, populated area in clear sight of Herod's palace, no more than a 15 minute rowboat ride away!

And what did Jesus preach? Not patriotism ("God bless Herod!"), and not prosperity ("God's about to grow the economy"). Rather, his preaching was all about God, and the fulfillment of time, not the rushing by of time, but time's fulfillment, real reason time itself exists. For there is a hidden but truer kingdom "at hand," all around us even though the only kingdom we think we can see is Herod's. God's kingdom is dawning; Herod is a fake, a temporary usurper.

Jesus forces his listeners to make a choice: will we vest ourselves in the visible, political, economic kingdom that is as obvious as the nose on your face - Herod's? or in the mystical, not so obvious but far more wonderful kingdom of what God is doing? Dare we be so subversive as to refuse to buy into the world's ways and instead risk everything to follow Jesus?

Jesus urges people around Galilee - and us! - to repent, to turn around, to change our minds, and to believe in the gospel. What is this "belief"? I recently finished reading a terrific, provocative book by Wendy Farley, who points out that our usual ways of knowing things, and of loving, aren't so useful when it comes to God. We don't know more than we know, we can't see clearly, there's no measuring or proof - and you can't exactly hug God or buy Godiva chocolates to show love. So she speaks of faith as "our capacity to dwell in the breach between our ignorance and our desire. Faith should not be confused with believing things that cannot be proven or assenting to authoritative teachings. Faith is our capacity to desire beyond the ordinary habits of our minds."

I think Jesus would say "Amen." Jesus didn't come so we would believe unbelievable things, or think unprovable thoughts, or knuckle under blindly to authority. Jesus came to heighten our desire for God, for something beyond all we can know or do; Jesus talked and acted so we would not be satisfied, so we would reach, yearn, not settle for what is but reach for what is not, or is not yet. It is the kingdom of Jesus, a joke to Herod, but God's last laugh, the promise of eternal delight. Don't you desire this? Repent, and believe.

James
james@mpumc.org  

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - fishers of men

And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.  (Mark 1:16-18)

It is intriguing to realize that, at the outset of Jesus ministry, it's all men - especially given that over the centuries the women have outstripped the men in devotion and service. The reasons for the comparative slowness of men to connect in matters of faith must be many; but one might be the failure of Christianity to engage men in the workplace (and now, in our altered society, to engage women there as well) - and not just in the place of work, but with men and women as professional people.

Jesus doesn't wait for laborers to come to a holy place. He invades the "office" - theirs being their fishing boats, where they worked hard day and night to earn a decent living. How lovely that archaeologists found a boat in the Sea of Galilee dating to the time of Jesus! - a boat Jesus and his first followers would have seen and perhaps stepped into a few times. Along the shores of Galilee, Jesus walked to Capernaum, Bethsaida, and other villages where men worked at fishing, and did in fact become fishers of others.
When Jesus shows up in the workplace, nothing is ever the same. It is hard to tell: when Jesus says to people who fish for a living "I will make you fishers of men," is he saying he wants to use their skills, their professional selves, for the pursuit of his purposes? or is it that he wants something very different from them, a whole new, unfamiliar life and activity?

What matters is that Jesus doesn't simply show up at their work, bless them, and promise to come back in a couple of weeks. They do something, they move, and everything shifts for them. I love the old Pasolini film in which Jesus is always on the move, the disciples catching their breath, trying to keep up; I imagine Jesus strolling rapidly down the street from office to office, summoning new disciples to be his people there, on the move for him where they are, fishing for others (in ways that are respectful and appropriate, of course...).

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - they left their nets

And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.
(Mark 1:16-20 part 2)

Mark 1:18 isn't a verse people memorize, but its 9 words reveal a spiritual depth that might just explain what we've been missing. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. Yes, they followed Jesus - and we talk about that a lot. But notice when they did so: immediately! Mark uses this word constantly: Jesus did what he did immediately; and the people he encountered responded immediately. You and I tend to procrastinate, or we wait for a more convenient time; we think One day I will get serious about faith and serving, but have you seen my calendar this week?? Or maybe we dawdle, thinking we have to figure everything out first, or researching to find just the right opportunity to be more religious. But in Mark, in Jesus' impulsive, impatient realm, you go now, you don't have much figured out, in fact you won't have things figured out until you are already on the move; it's not about just the right opportunity, because whatever Jesus asks right now is the right one, because He is the right one.

And how crucial is this? They left their nets. First century fishing nets would have been quite large, unwieldy, heavy; only the muscular could deploy them, and as a fisherman you'd better hang on to them before the current would draw them away. Their hands were full, and full of good things - but to follow Jesus they had to put them down. Don't we miss Jesus because we keep hanging on to our "nets"? or to whatever it is we are hanging on to, whether it's our security or our prior commitments, our preferences or something addictive, our lifestyle or simply what has become habitual, whatever we like or sense we're stuck with?

We harbor a fantasy that we can have Jesus and our "nets" too. But if you want to get close to Jesus, if you want to follow, you have to put something else down, something you like or feel you can't do without. If you don't drop your "nets," you frankly don't have time or energy or focus for Jesus. It's all about availability: are you available to God? or to do something for the people of God? Could verse 18 come to describe you in the very near future? And she left her nets and followed Jesus? And he did too?

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - they left their father

And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him. (Mark 1:19-20)

I hope you read and thought quite a lot (and prayed!) about yesterday's email on And immediately they left their nets and followed him. The "they" were Simon and Andrew. Today we hear how Jesus went a little farther, still in the workplace, and has the same encounter with James and John. They also left their nets immediately and followed Jesus. It's like a contagion: if a few people get serious about the life of faith, it's so compelling others want in on the excitement. Churches don't need clever evangelistic strategies; we need people who have immediately left their nets and followed, for their friends and neighbors will notice the joy and won't dilly dally either until they are traipsing off after Jesus too.

But how about James and John! They left not only their nets but also their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants. Hired servants? This 'Zebedee and Sons' fishing business must have been quite prosperous! They must have been tempted to gaze at Jesus, admire his efforts, and pledge to mail in a big donation. But they leave the boat, the one where they had done so well they had provided jobs for those in need, and risk becoming the very people they had previously deigned to help.

And they left their father Zebedee. Family dysfunction and division are painful to bear, and we think God ought to do something about it. We've all heard the promise that God will be the glue to hold a family together. But James and John left their father - and the Jesus they followed said scary things later on, like "Whoever loves his father more than me isn't worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37), and "He who does not hate his father, mother, wife, children and siblings cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).

These harsh words require some explaining... but briefly let's realize that if someone follows Jesus there quite often will be conflict in the family: priorities shift, availability to God might replace availability to pursue other goals. St. Francis of Assisi was called to follow and be like Jesus, and his upwardly mobile father Pietro was puzzled, then enraged - and perhaps you have experienced a little bit of this somewhere within your extended family.

Jesus knew how family can be a substitute for the true God, and how even the things we delight in doing with family can become one more way we evade God's claim on us. To follow Jesus may put family bonds in some peril - and if a family would be holy, or faithful, a whole new set of questions are raised: instead of Are our children happy? we ask How might our children learn to be faithful? or instead of What fun things will we do this weekend or on vacation? we ask What might we do to help us become holy or wise?

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - he entered the synagogue

And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:21-22)

I love the quirky irony in what Jesus did in Capernaum: immediately on the Sabbath! Immediately is the urgency of right now - but then the Sabbath is the non-urgent day of waiting, being still. Actually, for us Sabbath is virtually meaningless; God's idea from Genesis 1 onwards, that there should be a day of rest, a holy day reserved for God, hangs by a mere thread these days. We work all the time, or when we don't we play hard, catch up on chores or shopping, we never just sit, we're always reachable on our smart phones, and hence never reachable by God! - and the idea of a whole day for God?

For Jesus, there was an immediacy to the Sabbath. It was urgent for him, and thus it is urgent for us, to get in sync with the way God made the world, and us: to take one day out of seven for rest, for worship - or do we think we know better than God? "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10), and "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:5) aren't something we might consider maybe some day; Jesus wants us to be Sabbath people now, immediately. Jesus rushes about, swift in activity, doing God's will - and then on the Sabbath he also does God's will, being still, prayerful, going to the sanctuary.

In the stillness of worship on the Sabbath, Jesus taught - and they were astonished, for he taught them as one who had authority. At some awful moment, the axis of our intellectual world shifted, and instead of being listeners who rely on the authority of wise teachers, we decided we'd be the boss ourselves - and so now we think "I am the arbiter of truth, I decide for myself, right and wrong is in me, the way I think is my private right." But Jesus had authority, he's the one to listen to even if he crowds my pet biases, even if he seems out of step with my conventional wisdom.

But why listen to Jesus? He had authority, and it wasn't that what he said was more brilliant than what anybody else said, or that his words were more pleasing or memorable. He was the one who healed, and who was born of a virgin, who touched the untouchables and loved crazy and obnoxious people, who told off the self-righteous and was himself in intimate relationship with God; nobody understood it just yet, but Jesus was on his way to give up his life, not just as a heroic martyr, but as a holy sacrifice, and then to be raised up by God to give us all hope and the compelling reason we really ought to listen to him, and follow him.

To hear him, and to understand his tender, powerful, wonderful authority, we have to be still, to be Sabbath people - and now, really soon, not some day...

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - unclean spirit

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. (Mark 1:23-26)

Immediately - again! Mark uses "immediately" 42 times, while Luke (which is longer) uses it only 7 times, and John (which is much longer) uses it only 4. Mark is the earliest Gospel, capturing more of the raw original - so in the first tellings of Jesus' life there was a lot of "immediately" (before Christians began slowing things down - and now we're at a snail's pace?).

In today's reading, it isn't Jesus who's in a hurry, but evil. The reason Jesus is so urgent may be that he knows evil doesn't sleep late or procrastinate. Today, right now, there truly is an aggressive kind of badness in the world that must be matched by an urgency of faith, prayer and holiness.

How intriguing: the crowds can't quite figure out who Jesus is or what's going on, but the evil spirits understand quite clearly that Good has come to town, and that they are threatened. We can't know how to diagnose what's wrong with this man "with an unclean spirit," but we have probably seen the manifestations: depression, or alcoholism, or dysfunction, or bristling anger - all kinds of maladies that kidnap a person and turn him or her into someone else.

Joel Marcus, the great commentator on Mark, wryly suggests that the evil spirit would have been smarter to lie low, to hide, to remain quiet - but could not. Evil, in recognizing the goodness and power of Jesus, is also attracted to him, a kind of "fatal attraction," if you will. Jesus heals, which is a positive - but the healing implies a negative, a defeat of evil; I have an 8 minute YouTube on Jesus and healing you might watch and think about at this point.

What is important is that we see once more the greatness and the mission of Jesus, to reveal who he really is, and to bring about the ultimate defeat of evil. Christianity has never shied away from thinking about evil and dealing with it directly; even our greatest church buildings have featured gargoyles, grotesque creatures at the entrances, part of the very fabric of our faith, dealt with, not allowed inside, yet always lurking about, making our total dependence upon the life of faith more than just a nice add-on, but genuine combat between good and evil, with your life and soul at stake...

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - amazement, and questions

 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (Mark 1:27-28)

This short report of how the crowd responded to Jesus tells us a lot about him, and perhaps stands as an invitation to us. Those with no Bible, who'd never heard of Jesus before, were (1) amazed, and (2) full of questions. I wonder if we, who can't remember a moment when we hadn't at least heard about Jesus, and who have Bibles (even if left unread) might be amazed once more, and at the same time grasp the importance of questions - and how much Jesus loves questions.

Jesus has spoken, he has healed miraculously, he has stayed calm under pressure, he has reached out to untouchable people. Not surprisingly, they were all amazed. They were not bored, Jesus wasn't somebody they would shelve until a convenient time; to be amazed is to be surprised, impressed, even mystified. Jesus was not expected, and he doesn't fit our conventional modes of being today either; some of what Jesus did baffled onlookers, and he is beyond what we can explain or contain today.

Perhaps that is why Mark adds, right after saying they were all amazed, this: ...so that they questioned among themselves. Amazement leads to questions ("...so that"!). We might think people who dig Jesus or praise him have no questions at all; but Mark stitches amazement and questioning together. Jesus didn't explain everything. He didn't scold them for asking hard questions; he welcomed and even incited their questions - and if questions are welcome, then Jesus must leave us some room to reflect, to figure things out for ourselves; there's no 'one right answer,' and in the give and take of question and answer, not with him but among ourselves, we will grow, stretch, get closer to God, even in our confusion or befuddlement, in our errors and in the times we say Aha!

Churches, like us Methodists, nervously ask how we might reach new people, and stop losing people. The best strategy, and the only hope, must be when the people who are interested in Jesus, those who say they are Christian, let themselves be amazed, blown away, puzzled and impressed, moved and full of sighs - and then leave lots of time for questions, our own and those of others who aren't yet amazed.
The only way I know to be amazed is to do what we are doing: to reimagine what Jesus actually did, and to feel our way into the story, taking time to be astounded, which for us crusty, modern skeptical cynics takes some time, and a willingness to be stunned, or even enchanted like a child.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - a church home

And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them (Mark 1:29-31)

The picture in this email is an artist's reconstruction of what the houses of Capernaum would have looked like during the time of Jesus. Most of the houses have been excavated - including one that we are sure was Simon's, since Christians kept visiting that house and turned it into a shrine within decades of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Earlier in Mark 1 we noticed the way Jesus invaded the workplace; now we see Jesus showing up at home. Jesus didn't have somebody blow a horn to get people out of their homes to come to a holy place where he would do his thing; he went into homes, healed, taught and blessed there - and so today perhaps the most important question is whether we can notice and live into the presence of Jesus where we live, in our mundane routines of eating, sleeping, cleaning, cooking, and playing.

That house of Simon's that archaeologists dug up? A few centuries later, Christians built an octagonal church on top of it. I like this: the foundation of the Church was a home. We speak of a "Church home," and it should be, not merely in the sense of a place where we are welcomed and fine comfort, but a hint, a foretaste, of our eternal home, which isn't the house we live in today, but that eternal home in the heavens with God.

Simon Peter lives with his mother-in-law - and the humor is tempting... She has a fever, something we probably could treat with antibiotics today; but in the first centuries, many fevers were a prelude to eventual death. Jesus cures here - and I am awestruck and delighted by her response: and she served them.

Perfect: if we have been visited by Jesus, or helped by Jesus, or healed in body or soul, even from something as simple as a fever (and why do I say "If we have been..." since we all have been!), the only possible reply would be for us to serve Jesus and his friends. We serve, not to accumulate volunteer hours or to feel good about ourselves or even to change the world, but because God is real, even in our homes, and has gifted us with untold blessings - even all we take for granted, like having a 98.6° temperature, or having a roof over our heads.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark – he healed many

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him (Mark 1:32-34)

I worry I will bore people with the way I repeat myself, but a constant reminder that is borne out by this reading is that the Bible isn’t like a novel you read and then you’ve read it; you read again, and again, and like some large, dark mine with buried diamonds, new treasures keep revealing themselves the more often you visit, the more deeply you probe – and the more slowly and carefully you explore.

I have never, until the writing of this email, noticed two key words in this short passage – and they may be accidental, but I doubt it. They brought to him all who were sick… and he healed many who were sick… Notice the difference? They brought all who were sick, but he healed many – but not all.

You might want to watch my YouTube where I talk about Jesus’ miracles, and why we see so few genuine miracles now, and yet why miracles might happen anyhow… It is of historical interest that in Jesus’ day there were other healers, Hanina ben Dosa and Honi the Circledrawer being the most famous. Jürgen Moltmann spoke of the way the miracles of Jesus aren’t God’s final word on anything, but exist for an even higher purpose, as “the fore-tokens of the all-comprehensive salvation, and the glory of God. They point to the bodily character of salvation and to the God who loves earthly life. . . There is a difference between salvation and healing: Healing vanquishes illness and creates health. Yet it does not vanquish the power of death. But salvation in its full and completed form is the annihilation of the power of death and the raising of men and women to eternal life. In this wider sense of salvation. . . people are healed not through Jesus' miracles, but through Jesus' wounds; that is, they are gathered into the indestructible love of God.”

A few years ago, a friend of mine spent a week at Lourdes, the shrine in France where the virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, just 14 years old, in 1858. Thousands of gallons of water flow there each day, and thousands claim to have been cured in its streams. When my friend returned, I asked her, “Did you see any miracles?” She said, “Oh yes, every day.” “Every day? Tell me!” She explained: “Every day at Lourdes, no matter who you are, or where you are from, or what’s wrong with you, you are welcomed, and loved.”

Jesus inaugurated a realm of love, of deeper healing, of salvation – which is the annihilation not only of what troubles us but of death itself.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - a lonely place

And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him pursued him, and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mark 1:35-39)

I'm not a morning person; I actually write these emails late at night. So I feel a bit alienated from Jesus when I read that in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went... to pray. John Wesley, godfather of Methodism, prayed for a couple of hours beginning at 5am... as have many saints through history.

What is important isn't the hour as much as the habit, or the need, to spend time with God. Jesus had to have a packed to-do list each day! But over and over, the Gospels report that Jesus went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. You have to be alone, you have to go someplace special, segregated from the busy-ness of life.

And this loneliness isn't loneliness at all: Jesus was far from alone, when he seemed to be alone. He was with God, the true fellowship that matters, that actually is the only fellowship that cures our sense of aloneness. What Jesus enjoyed with God might better be called "solitude," a being alone that isn't lonely, a being alone with God that is the fulfillment of our cravings to be with others.

I love it that the disciples pursued him - and said "Everyone is searching for you." Good thing Jesus didn't have a smart phone! They would have known how to find him! although I suspect Jesus was one who would know how to shut the thing off, realizing that being reachable all the time inevitably implies that we are never ever reachable by God. The secret of life isn't in being found, but in not being findable for a time, and thus being findable by God, who is quite clearly waiting for us to be disconnected enough, alone enough, available enough, to have an encounter with the Lord who made time itself.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
Giving Up Anxiety for Lent

Friends -

In my sermon on Sunday (only 11 minutes long! -- you can watch or listen to via computer) I mentioned a friend of mine who had written about giving up anxiety for Lent. Her article, in Christian Century, isn't linkable online, but I could send a copy to anybody who'd like one. More importantly, the prayers she offered that we might use when anxiety rises, prayers to use to replace the anxiety we're giving up, are these (which we plan to print on little cards and have available to you!):

O God of peace, who taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved:
by the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence,
where we may be still and know that you are God.

or

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me;
Be pleased O God to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me.

Thanks. Think of trying this. I hope you are tracking my emails on Mark - as this is meaning a lot to me, and to those I know who are following along.

We also have some wonderful groups forming that might be of help to you in your life. Beginning the week of February 26 and continuing through April 1, small gatherings will explore what Paul called "the fruit of the Spirit," using Phil Kenneson's terrific book (one of my favorites!), Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Groups will meet at various times during the week - so to register or learn more go to http://mpumc.org/church-life/group-details.cfm/min_id/119 - or find the registration form in the back of the Renewing Our Minds booklet around the church - or email smallgroups@mpumc.org.
As always, click "reply" at any time to ask me a question, share thoughts you might have, or ask for prayer.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - he came to him

 And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will; be clean." (Mark 1:40-41)

Here is yet another instance of discovering something new in Scripture even after a lifetime of careful reading. Jesus encounters a leper. While everyone else reacted with consternation, Jesus is moved with pity. He touches the untouchable, a classic sign of the astonishing grace of God, shattering all boundaries.
But the key words I'm noticing now come earlier in the verse: and a leper came to him. Lepers didn't go to anybody! In fact, they were prevented from approaching anyone, and to do so was punishable. Even if someone accidentally came upon a leper, the leper was required - by the Bible! - to turn away quickly and shout "unclean, unclean" as a warning (Leviticus 13:45). The law - in the Bible! - mandated that the leper "live alone outside the camp" (Leviticus 13:46).

So the simple fact that this leper came to Jesus tells us all we need to know about Jesus. The leper felt safe, sensed he would not be thrashed, or blamed, or shunned; whatever he had heard about Jesus told him he would be welcomed and loved. Talk about radical hospitality! Jesus was the very hospitality of God on earth.

If even this leper came to him, then how do we think about ourselves as the Church, as the hands and feet and eyes of Christ now on earth? Who won't come to us - and why? Growing numbers of people won't come to us - and we can blame them or ignore them, shun them or judge them - but if there is a reason they will not come, there is some burden on us to figure out how to be a safe place, a welcoming place, whether it's about how somebody looks, or their questions or lack of belief or lifestyle, or their unfamiliarity with our ways, or even the way they leap far too quickly to pass judgment on us. I'd imagine many lepers were ugly toward those who were afraid of them, and predisposed to expect shabby treatment.

Years ago, I learned from Bishop Dick Wills that it is wise for churches constantly to pray, "Lord, send us the people nobody else wants." God might just answer - and we might just be transformed into the people who want those nobody else wants. St. Francis, who like Jesus touched lepers and tried to heal them, "liked everybody, but especially those everybody else disliked him for liking" (G.K. Chesterton).
But this leper came to him. I am moved once more by the love of Jesus, and wonder how to be that love in today's world.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark – pity? or anger?

And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. (Mark 1:40-42)

Wow: Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. Jesus could have healed without touching, and did so many times. By touching, is Jesus being deliberately provocative, to make a point to the pious who shrank back from touching? Is he determined that this untouchable, and untouched person feel loved? Imagine no one ever touching you for years – and then having someone with immense compassion reach out, take your hand, embrace, even hug you? John Wesley taught us that “it is better to deliver aid than to send it,” since touch, proximity, the eye to eye, hand to hand relationship heals more powerfully than charity we might mail in.

I worry over Mark’s report that Jesus was moved with pity. Pity implies superiority: the strong or healthy peer down at the one to be pitied and – with a hint of condescension, or perhaps relief that I’m not where that poor guys is, “pity” is felt? Jesus isn’t about that kind of “pity,” but seeks genuine compassion, a relationship of mutual care and love, true community.

Interestingly, in the oldest manuscripts we have of the New Testament, most do say Jesus was moved with pity (or compassion) – but a few have a bizarre alternative: Jesus was not “moved with pity,” but was “incensed, angry, enraged.” What? Rewind a little: Jesus sees a leper coming, and bystanders panicked and ran. Jesus saw the leper’s courage, and the disdain others had for him – and he was enraged. But why? Was it the perpetual mistreatment of lepers that mortified him? or was it the brutal life of suffering the poor leper had undergone?

Was Jesus perhaps even angry with something he knew was in Scripture? Leviticus 13, which set in stone procedures to ostracize lepers, was designed by pre-scientific people to try to contain infections they did not understand, and not have the whole population decimated (as happened with the so-called “Black Death” in the Middle Ages). But perhaps from Jesus’ perspective, love and hospitality trump in over security, even over the sensible kinds of steps rational people should take. Perhaps Jesus knew more than they did about what was really dangerous and what wasn’t (for we now know many ancient forms of leprosy were not infectious or deadly).

Jesus (and we have to love him all the more for it) did not gaze down and pity this wretched soul. He saw the leper, all he’d suffered, how he was maligned, even recalling a huge problem in Scripture itself, and he simply got angry. Love does that at times, doesn’t it? St. Augustine taught us that “Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger at the way things are, and courage to see to it they don’t remain the way they are.”

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark – say nothing to anyone?

And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people." But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:43-45)

The “New Atheism” is this expansive movement, fueled by the writings of Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Bart Ehrman, and even novels and movies like The DaVinci Code, that don’t tolerate Christianity, but criticize and mock the faith. A plank on their platform is that Jesus was just a guy, and only much later did Christians (or the emperor, various culprits are suggested) make up a view of Jesus that exaggerated his identity.

Today’s reading from Mark, which was probably written down 30 years after Jesus’ death, and relied on eyewitnesses, tells a very different, surprising story that counters and debunks the trend the New Atheists rely upon. Jesus does something amazing, unheard of, miraculous, self-evidently divine. And what “spin” does Jesus insist upon? “Say nothing to anyone.” Over and over, Jesus hushes those who want to rush out and shout in the public square how un-normal, how wonderful Jesus is. This is the polar opposite of some PR gimmick to stoke the fire and make stuff up; there’s plenty to tell and Jesus tries to keep it quiet.

Why be secretive? We can’t interview Jesus and ask – but my hunches are that Jesus knew people would miss the point, or might try to capitalize on his power for their own purposes. And after all, Jesus’ real miracle wouldn’t be revealed until his death; he came, not to dazzle the crowds, dash off a few miracles, and become famous, but to suffer and die and be raised.

What is even more ironic, or even funny, is that the leper who has just been cured is blatantly disobedient to Jesus! Jesus says Say nothing – but the guy rushes right out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news. He totally disregarded Jesus’ direct command – so what do we make of the fact that it seems great good resulted from his defiance?

I chuckle, or fall into a funk, when I think about how good we are at obeying Jesus on this one: Say nothing. Right! – no danger, we never utter a word! What Jesus could use in our day would be a little more holy disobedience, the kind of inability to shut up that this leper had. Churches try to devise slick evangelism programs – but what the world needs would be a band of grateful women and men who just can’t keep their mouths shut. In such a world, the New Atheists wouldn’t be able to sell so many books, and converts would flow to Jesus instead of to the New Atheism.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - he was at home

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. (Mark 2:1)

I'm not sure why, but the more I read Scripture, and the older I get, the more I am moved by little things - like this touching, seemingly inconsequential detail: he was at home. We think of Jesus striding across the stage of history, doing grand things, uttering riveting speeches, standing courageously in the courts of King Herod, hanging on a cross.

But Jesus was fully human, a real flesh and bones person like you and me. He needed to eat. He needed to rest, and to sleep. He would have had his share of chores, to gather some wood or take out the trash. Jesus didn't own a home himself, but like the majority of people in ancient times, he lived with extended family and friends in someone's home, and that was his home, with those who loved and welcomed him, who knew him best. In Capernaum, Jesus was at home.

The Gospel of John explores this as the full meaning of Jesus' existence. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14) - the term "dwelt" meaning "tented," or "made his home" among us. We think of Jesus' spectacular, heavenly doings - but the greatest gift was quite simply that Jesus made his home among us. He was at home.

And yet we know Jesus wasn't permanently at home in that house in Capernaum. Abraham Lincoln, feeling the ache of the war, the difficulty of his tasks, and the darkness he battled in his own soul, once said "The White House has 26 rooms, and I don't feel at home in any of them." Jesus was at home - but he made his home here to show us that our true home is not here.

Paul understood this well: "Our citizenship is in heaven... We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:20) - and "We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is what Jesus, who made his home among us, promised: "In my Father's house are many rooms... I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2).

But before our minds go there, let us stay here, and simply contemplate the wonder of the most simple, mundane miracle of all: Jesus was at home.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - their faith

And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." (Mark 2:2-5).

In our imaginations it is not hard to envision this moment, one of my favorite episodes in all of Scripture. Jesus is "at home" - not his home (since he didn't own anything and always crashed at somebody else's house) but Peter's home in Capernaum, and a crowd has jammed the little dwelling. I'd guess the day started with Jesus simply talking and engaging in some Q&A with three or four, but somebody left, saying "You've got to hear this" through the warren of pathways through the town. Men and women are spilling out the door, leaning through windows, straining to hear.

Four (actually five) get there after the swarm - understandably, since they had gone to fetch a friend who couldn't walk. Why someone couldn't walk in the ancient world could be due to countless factors; for this man, medicine was inaccessible, or had availed nothing.

You think with each bearing 1/4th the weight of a man hoisted on a pallet, with a trail of folks already drifting away since they couldn't get close, they might just give up and take him back home. But they are persistent, and clever. Climbing up on the roof (and hoisting him up there!), they removed the roof above him; the Greek actually means "dug through." Walls were made of stone, but roofs were thatched, with sticks, long branches, and dirt packed in. Imagine the effect below! Clumps of dirt plopping on people's heads, consternation that the house was being ruined.

Jesus never panics about such things, though; I'm sure he calmed the others. The four lowered the man until he lay right in front of Jesus, who heals him. But why? Verse 5 puzzlingly but clearly says When Jesus saw their faith. Not the faith of the one to be healed, but their faith, the faith of the four who'd dragged him there.

We think faith is personal and private, but this is wrong - thankfully. We believe together; without the faith of others we are crippled in soul. And there are times when it is the faith of those around us, or the faith of the Church, that carries us when we cannot believe ourselves. I know I found Jesus because three or four people were persistent in inviting me, nagging me, praying for me.

This is spirituality, and this is the life of the Church: not me having warm fuzzy feelings about God or my own inner life, but being part of something that goes, carries others, doesn't mind messing up a building, knowing we're in this together, it's not a solo act, and it's all about us together finding our way to Jesus. Lent is coming, and perhaps in worship, in serving, in conversation, and even via these emails, we might get brought to Jesus for forgiveness, and we might clutch the corner of somebody's palate and get them into the presence of Jesus - but only if we are determined, dogged, not to be denied.

James
james@mpumc.org

Back to top
eJesus in Mark - who can forgive

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" (Mark 2:6-12)

We may suspect that while the scribes were enraged that Jesus would arrogate to himself divine authority, their real issue was that forgiveness was just being handed out so freely - for there are some sins and some sinners our crusty hearts just can't allow for. What's intriguing is that they didn't say anything out loud: with some sort of x-ray like, penetrating vision, Jesus saw resentment, rancor, the judgmental spirit in the souls of these religious folk - and we may rightly conclude that Jesus can still see the secret moods and attitudes that clamor around inside our heads - and he not only sees, but cares, and wishes to correct, or heal.

Why did Jesus heal? As I covered in a YouTube a while back, Jesus didn't seem to heal just so somebody could feel better; he always attached a lesson to make a bigger point. In this case: did Jesus heal to help us believe forgiveness is possible? Let's think on Jesus' curious question: Which is easier? - to forgive? or heal miraculously? Could it be that for us forgiveness is so hard, and so rare, that a medical miracle seems more likely?

The scribes asked, Who can forgive sins but God alone? The answer is, Well, we can. But we feel we have some sacred right to stay mad; or we water down forgiveness into some bland Oh it doesn't matter - but we discover it does matter, and we clutch old hurts close to our chests and get eaten alive by the poison. We need God's forgiveness, and we need to forgive, and to be forgiven - and not just to pretend forgive, but to deal with whatever, and walk the arduous road toward reconciliation.

Forgiveness might seem as impossibly hard as a miraculous healing. You and I do not have the resources we need to forgive, so we look up and plead for the surprising power of God to work the unlikely in us. It's fascinating: Jesus takes up the authority to forgive - not that he knew the right incantation, or the number of God's direct hotline. Jesus was forgiveness, and is forgiveness. Jesus was merciful to all kinds of people, which is what got him into trouble with the authorities; then he forgave those hostile to him, even those who had just hammered iron nails into his wrists and ankles; he forgave wicked strangers he'd just met; he forgave really religious people for their bloated spirituality; he forgave those closest to him, perhaps realizing how hard that would be for us to do.

And he forgave not only these who saw him then, but stretched out his crucified arms to embrace all space and time, and even you and me. But that's later in the story. For now, we are at the eve of Lent, that beautiful, hopeful season in which we pull off the masks and admit how dull our faith has become, and how foolishly we have bolted away from God - and how our relationships are fractured. Who can forgive? God can, and then we can, and we will. So in this season, we repent, and plead for that even greater miracle: the healing of our hearts.

James
james@mpumc.org