October 25, 2024

A Challenge to Tradition

Mark 2:1-12

I find this story to be one of the most fascinating ones in the Gospels.  The actions of the four friends are amazing, as they allow nothing to deter them.

We come here in contact with a long-held belief in the ancient Israelite world, that being that illness or disability of some kind was the result of God punishing the person for their sins, or for the sins of their parents.  Jesus begins his interactions with the man by saying, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  The question for me is whether this means that Jesus agreed with the belief about the connection between sins and illness or disability, and God’s part in it.  I would say that I do not accept that belief, and so my view of Jesus may be affected by that.  But, it seems to me, from other references to this in the Gospels, that Jesus was not affirming the belief, and yet he was responding to the way in which the belief was held by the people.  He starts there, and is of course immediately questioned because, they say, only God can forgive sins.  For those of us who read this now, we might see the irony that Jesus is perhaps telling them here that he is indeed God among them.  But Jesus goes further, asking which is easier, to proclaim the forgiveness of sins or to enable the man to walk.  It seems obviously easier to pronounce forgiveness, but Jesus wants them to know that he has the power and authority to do both, and so he tells the man to pick up his mat and go home, which of course the man does.

So, what are your thoughts about:

            What goes on between the paralyzed man and Jesus?

            What goes on among the four men who bring him and the crowd of

                     onlookers?

            What happens in the exchange between Jesus and the Scribes?

What happens here tells us a great deal about Jesus and faith, and invites us to examine our own beliefs as well.

October 18, 2024

Jesus choosing to heal…

Mark 1:40-45

In this portion we read of the healing of a leper by Jesus.  We don’t talk too much about leprosy today, but if it is something of a mystery to you, I encourage you to read a novel entitled, Moloka’i, by Alan Brennert.  Although it is fiction, the author thoroughly researched things before crafting his story, and so there is an authenticity about it.  But, being fiction, we are invited into the lives of those affected by leprosy in a way that might not happen through historical accounts.

As the leper comes to Jesus – this is an interesting way for Mark to put it, because lepers were outcasts from their communities, they were people who were considered untouchable through fearing of having the leprosy transmitted to others, and so we have to imagine how it is that the leper comes to Jesus, and how close he got to Jesus – and kneels down, he tells Jesus that he can heal the man if he chooses to do so.  There are two things to especially note here – first, the man’s faith, faith that Jesus can do it, and second, that he realizes Jesus has a choice here.  Maybe he mentions that choice because he knows full well that others have chosen to keep their distance from him.  And, Jesus makes the choice that the leper hopes for, and the man is healed.

Curiously, Jesus tells the man to tell no one about this, but to simply go to the priest and proclaim the healing through the prescribed rituals.  It is actually a characteristic of Mark that Jesus time and again is heard telling people to go and not tell others about what has transpired.  Part of the reason for this may be that Jesus wanted others to discover him and his message, rather than just showing up because he had performed healings.  The other reason appears though as we conclude this passage.  The man, despite Jesus’s instructions, goes and tells everyone what has happened to him.  And the consequence of this is that Jesus is suddenly so popular that he couldn’t go about easily in the towns, but has to retreat to the countryside.  Nonetheless, even there, the people come to him.

October 11, 2024

Going forth to be with the people…

Mark 1:21-39

As we begin this week, we find Jesus and the disciples going to Capernaum.  This city, at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, was to become one of Jesus’ home bases.  Being a faithful Jew, as were his disciples, Jesus goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he has an opportunity to teach there.  Mark notes that he taught “as one having authority, and not as the scribes,” the traditional teachers of the law of Moses.  We quickly see though that his authority extends to the spiritual realm as well, where he commands the spirits. 

Then we have this fascinating account of the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law.  Evidently Simon was married, although we know nothing more about that than what Mark says here.  This healing happens on the Sabbath, for all of the others who are sick in the city come that evening, at sundown, when the Sabbath would have ended, and Jesus heals them all.  It must have been a lengthy evening.

We then get our first insight into Jesus’ prayer life.  When the disciples locate him, and they all prepare to move on to other towns, Jesus speaks about the purpose for his life.  What would you characterize as that purpose?

How do you look at your purpose in life?  For we all have one.

October 4, 2024

The Beginning of the story of Jesus…

We continue exploring the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark.

What do you notice as John is arrested and Jesus begins preaching?

            With whom do we usually associate a message of repentance? 

                    Yes, John.

            But here Jesus urges people to repent, and to believe in the good news.

            For you, what does that phrase, “good news,” mean?

And then we have the calling of the first disciples.  Do you think this was the first time that they met Jesus, or had they heard him speak before and God had prepared their hearts for Jesus’ call to them?

            How did you feel called to follow Jesus?

We will continue our journey next week…