My Peace I Leave With You My Peace I Give Unto You...

What happens when our personal “structures” are reduced to rubble? For many of us who live here on the coasts of New Jersey and New York, Mark 13:1-8 has become a reality. Hurricane Sandy has enabled us to witness an apocalyptic time: the collapse of what we had; what we valued; what we took for granted.  Can we say “everything will be all right” without it sounding like an ingratiating platitude? Embedded in the rubble can we hear what God is trying to say to us? How do we trust in the Holy Spirit when we are too cold to listen, too frightened to hear?  What can we learn from the despair in the faces of our brothers and sisters? Perhaps Jesus is telling us in Mark to Pull together in these hard times. This is how you get through. I’ll be with you too, and I will show you the way. Things will get difficult, but stick together and remember what is important in life – to love one another

In the words of John Powell:

 There have been quite a few times when I have felt the winds of God’s grace in the sails of my small boat. Sometimes these graces have moved me in pleasant and sunlit directions. At other times the requested acts of love were born in the darkness of struggle and suffering. There have been spring times and there have been long cold winters of struggle for survival. God has come to me at times with the purest kindness, at times with the most affirming encouragement, and at other times with bold frightening challenges. I think that all of us have to watch and pray, to be ready to say “yes” when God’s language is concrete and his request is specific-“yes” in the sunlit springtimes and “yes’ in the darkness of winter nights. (John Powell, S.J., The Christian Vision, The Truth That Sets Us Free, p147)

 

We are free...free to risk, to love, to live, to dream..to struggle ...to fail

What would you do if failure didn't matter? What would you endeavor, dare, or try? What mission would you attempt, what venture would you risk; what great deed would you undertake?

Would you, like Bartimaeus in our Gospel (Mark:46-52), shout out for healing even though the people around you try to shush you into silence? I wonder, could it be that Bartimaeus was so used to failure and disappointment that he saw no reason not to try one more time?

Would your cry be for healing? Would it be for justice, or peace, or equality, or any of the things that the world calls idealistic? Or maybe you would volunteer at a food pantry, or help out with Family Promise, or visit an elder who most have forgotten, or reach out to someone who is overwhelmed by grief... even though you don't know what to say?

So often, these things – whether great or small – seem either so hopelessly impossible or so ridiculously insignificant that we just don't even try. Yet the promise of the Gospel is that we are free ... free to risk, to dare, to love, to live, to work, to dream, and yes, free to fail, because we have God's promise that there is no small gesture and there is no impossible deed, and that the God who raised Jesus from the dead will also bring all things – even our failed efforts – to a good end.

So, if you're going to risk anything that matters, "not failing is not an option." Risk entails failure. Change entails failure. Creativity and innovation and experimentation all entail failure. And if we forget that, we will either never try anything that matters or end up sorely disappointed.
(Adapted from David Lose , Working Preacher, Luther Seminary)

There's no such thing as a dumb question...really???

 Throughout our lives, most of us have been told by our teachers that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Well, in Mark 10:35-45 James and John blow the lid off that myth. They really did ask a really dumb question at an even more inopportune time. Jesus just finished telling the twelve for the third time, that his fate was all about suffering, death, and resurrection. Yet, immediately following they ask if they can sit on his right and left side "in your glory."

Talk about not getting it! What do you suppose the Zebedee brothers had in mind? They want a piece of the “messianic action,” on either side of Jesus’ throne. James and John think they know what it mean to follow Jesus but they still don’t get it.   

Jesus is, as he tells James and John after their bold request, a servant messiah, and to follow a servant messiah one must become a servant: "whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:44-45).

In fairness to James and John, answering the call to "servant-hood" does not come easy. We are so much like then in many ways, aren't we? We would much prefer to be known as a great "anything" but servant. Yet, when by His grace, we are called to give of ourselves to serve the least of our brethren, we know that we are in God's presence.

 

If I Were a Rich Man...Really?

Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.

In Mark 10:17-31, how could such a command be an expression of Jesus’ “love” for the man or anyone? No matter how we try to soften his words, their penetrating truth can send us away like the rich man, “shocked” and “grieving.”

We know that one of the ancient keys to knowing whether or not you were “blessed” and that God was on your side was success…especially financial success. Perhaps the rich man’s problem is not that he is rich but that he has put his faith in the wealth he has or craves?

Robert Capon suggests that religions are our human attempts to get God on our side and to do something for us. Some religions stress saying the proper words, reciting the correct creed, or proper confessions of faith. Some religions stress worshiping the right (or rite) way. Some religions stress doing or living the right way. Whether it is "creed, cult, or conduct," or all three, religions are our human attempts to get God on our side and to get God to do what we desire. Perhaps this type of "religious" mindset is behind the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life.”

In our text, the answer to "how hard?" is "It's impossible." Whenever we make it "possible" to do with enough work or sacrifice, we miss the radical nature of Jesus' comments: "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." (Crossmarks, Brian P. Stoffregen)

Don't push these children away...

 

 

Once again in Mark 10:2-16, the Pharisees ask Jesus about divorce "to test" him and once again they misunderstand or misuse the scripture to justify their agenda. They hope their question will expose Jesus as dangerous to families, in light of his scandalous comments in prior encounters.

Jesus turns the conversation with the Pharisees away from the legal foundation for divorce to God's design for marriage. That is, he dismisses the law which permits a man to divorce his wife if he "finds something objectionable about her," (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) and cites Genesis 1:27; 2:24, that describes marriage as a unifying bond between two people. Of course, the Pharisees neglect to mention a key piece of Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which requires a husband to give the certificate of divorce to his ex-wife. Such a document might provide a divorced woman with a defense against rumor and slander. For a majority of women in that culture, survival depended upon being a member of a household. A woman, perhaps with children, without a husband and without a means of explaining why she was unmarried, could be exposed to great risk. (Commentary by Matt Skinner)

 

In our day and time and certainly in industrialized cultures, marriage is less about economics and more about people seeking mutual fulfillment. And while divorce still often leads people (especially women) into financial hardship, divorced women today do not always find themselves doomed to the same state that their ancient counterparts did. However, these points do not render this passage irrelevant; rather, they cast light on how Jesus' teaching might protect women (and men) from those who would use divorce to punish, imperil and victimize the "other."

Once again Jesus is unequivocal in citing the “power” of the child as he reminds us that they are often the innocent victims of the hurt and brokenness that come, even when a divorce appears to be the best among all available options.

In Jesus Name We...

 

 

 

 

Go figure? In  Mark 9:38-50, the apostles are all bent out of shape because someone outside of their “elite” group dares to do their job and has been caught casting out demons. Ironically, none of the twelve were able to exorcise an unclean spirit from a boy earlier in Mark. Now, they want to forbid someone who is doing the same thing, but successfully.

Jesus’ response is unequivocal: Cut out all your elitist nonsense and get over yourselves; he was acting in my name.  

What does acting in my name mean? Jesus tries to teach us that acting in the Name of Jesus is not merely a knee jerk response to a liturgical prayer.

It's living a life under the reign of God in Jesus, as Jesus.

Jesus was also unequivocal when he tells us that anything that gets in the way of living in His name, should be eliminated. So should stumbling blocks disguised as precious body parts, be severed? Again, the violence of Jesus' hyperbole here is palpable and unequivocal. It serves to remind us that preventing another from being “of Christ” and acting in his name is far worse than self-mutilation.

 

We ask:

What stumbling do we put in the way of others?

What does it mean to be “of Christ?”

What criteria should we use to determine if someone is "of Christ" or not?

What about active church membership?

What if, rather than "active church membership," we call it "being a part of the body of Christ"?

Can one be "of Christ" and not be an integral part of the "body of Christ?

 

Whoever welcomes me...welcomes the One who sent me

 

In Mark9:30-37 the disciples continue to be confused with Jesus’ message partly because their burning question was not “How can I live my life as Jesus?”, but rather, “How can I be seen as the greatest?”

Their self-centered thoughts were barriers to their understanding of what Jesus was telling them. In addition, their “arrogance,” reminiscent of Adam and Eve, breached the lines of communication with Jesus and their relationship with Him. They were unsuccessful in their attempt to heal the child because they were more intent on impressing the crowd; competing with each other and vying for Jesus approval rather than serving as instruments of God’s Peace.

In citing the child, Jesus is telling us that we have to welcome those “non-persons” who occupy the lowest rung of society’s ladder: "whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Once again Jesus is challenging us to reverse long-standing, ingrained, human habits and to set aside our common human understanding of how to win fame and glory, and instead learn from Jesus, God's way.

When is it God's Will?

 

Do I really want to follow the will of God? Am I deluded first by wanting to make my own plans and then by insisting that God support and realize them? Or, do I seek to find my place in God’s plans, in God’s “master plan” for me?  

Most theologians believe that the Holy Spirit works not only in our conscious thoughts but also in our subconscious. Many times the Holy Spirit does not share with our conscious minds the reasons and motives for a given inclination, but moves us anyway, by forces we cannot recognize or name, to fulfill his highest purposes and to attain our own ultimate destinies. We achieve peace when we harmonize ourselves with this movement of the Spirit.

The head may be left with a thousand questions, but the heart’s intuition will sense that “This is right” and will know a peace of its own.

(The Christian Vision, The Truth that Sets Us Free; p 149, John Powell, SJ.)

Satan??? What did I say that was so wrong?

Suppose this was the first time you were reading Mark’s words in his Gospel 8:27-38 Mark 8:27-38. You might wonder if these people really knew each other or if they had an identity crisis. On the one hand Jesus asks "Who do people say that I am?" On the other, his close “friends” who are all over the lot, respond "John the Baptist,” and others, “Elijah,” and still others, “one of the prophets." Now, this is after they have seen him feed thousands; cure the sick; raise the dead, and cast out demons. This is also after he’s provided enough clues as to who he really is.

Then, after Peter, comes up with the right answer, so we think, and proclaims “You are the Messiah.” Jesus turns to his disciples and rebukes Peter…and calls him, “Satan” and tells him that he is setting is mind on human things, not divine things.   

Now here’s a loaded question, which of the two is confused? I did say it was a loaded question but, in fairness to Peter why did he get it wrong or does even get partial credit?

Caught With His Compassion Down

Thank God for this tenacious lowly “theologian” who comes to us in the form of a mother seeking help for her daughter in Mark 7:24-37. Her “theology” doesn't originate in books and study; it's an expression of painfully experienced need and fierce motherly love.

Jesus commends the woman's reasoning but says nothing about faith -- strange, perhaps, in light of other passages in Mark that connect faith to receiving blessings. For some interpreters, this makes the mother mostly a model of determination or verbal dexterity rather than faith.

But doesn’t her determination make us understand what "faith" really means? Notice her persistent efforts: (refusing to go away until she gets what she came for), her hopeful insight (refusing to believe even a tiny speck of grace isn't out of reach and knowing just a scrap can make the difference for her), and -- in the end -- her trusting acceptance (her willingness to take Jesus at his word and journey home alone to confirm her daughter's healing).

Who says things like desperation and tenacity aren't the same thing as faith, when that desperation and tenacity are brought to Jesus? In Mark, "faith" is hardly about getting Jesus' name or titles right, or articulating proper doctrine. It's about clinging to Jesus and expecting him to heal, to restore, to save. It's about demanding he do what he says he came to do. It’s about KNOWING.

Look for this woman in the back row of church this Sunday. Maybe she's the one whose reputation discourages her from getting involved or the one who slips out during the last hymn to avoid having to mix with the churchy "insiders." But she keeps coming back, fiercely convinced that if anything we say week-in and week-out is true, then it's got to be true for her, too. (adapted from Commentary on Gospel by Matt Skinner)