St. Luke Church-Wide Lenten Bible StudyThe Gospel of Mark~~The Question of Faith

Lent, the time of preparation before we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, begins Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2012. Our goal in St. Luke’s 2012 Lenten Bible study will be to draw close to Jesus as he is portrayed in the Gospel of Mark. This Jesus is challenging and active, and he calls us to respond actively to his challenges! Just a few chapters from the gospel will comprise the focus of our study for each week and will be supplemented by essays and poetry, other Scripture, and even some fictional prose. These supplements will be found in boxes within each week’s chapter. Another supplement will be what is probably for most people the most familiar book of theology we read: the United Methodist Hymnal. The hymns that are paired with certain passages are believers’ responses to that text which, in turn, encourage certain responses from us. The information about the text on which the hymn is based can be found at the bottom of the page in your United Methodist Hymnal.

You are encouraged to participate in the Church-Wide Bible Study in these ways: Participate in the February 12 seminar with Dr. Carl Holladay: “The Message and Meaning of

Jesus Christ.” 10:00 a.m., combined Sunday School in the Ministry Center. 10:55 a.m., preaching in the sanctuary.

Attend worship regularly. The Rev. Robert Beckum will preach from Mark’s gospel each week. Participate in a small group study. Whether it’s an in-home Bible study or a group or Sunday

School Class Study at the church, strengthen your understanding of Mark’s gospel through group study.

Read, study, and pray individually. The St. Luke Prayer Calendar will cover the whole of Lent and will follow the same breakdown of chapters. Spend time doing an in-depth study to hear what God says! Listen for the quickening of the Spirit as you pray.

Respond in Service. There will be many ways for you to respond to God’s call on your life in new and creative ways. Reach out in service to others as you grow closer to Jesus during this Lenten season.

During this Lenten season, pay very special attention the questions in the gospel of Mark, both those asked of Jesus and those asked by Jesus. They reveal much about the mindset of the people—both in Jesus’ time and today—and much about Jesus’ keen insight into the true nature of the problems we all face.

If you are studying with a group, make a note of the names of the other people in your group on the following page and keep them in your prayer throughout Lent. There is a space at the end of each lesson to add specific concerns or celebrations from the church or from your group. If you wish to make a request of the Prayer Ministry, please call 706-327-4078 and leave a message, or go to the St. Luke website, www.stlukeum.com and go to the Prayer Ministry page under the Ministries and People tab. Please respect the confidentiality of your group and share only requests which you have permission to share.

Plan to make regular worship part of your Lenten observance. As Rev. Beckum preaches on these passages and as we all study together, anticipate a great stirring of God’s Spirit within our congregation!

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Who Is This Jesus?Bob Hydrick

Each of the four gospel writers tries to answer this question in their accounts of the gospel (“good news”). All four present Jesus as the Son of God, the perfect Revealer of God’s identity, nature and character and the Redeemer of the world. However, each one tells his story in a slightly different way, giving us a more complete understanding of who this Jesus is, of his redemptive mission, of the many ways he reveals God the Father and what it all means to us.

Matthew presents Jesus as the King, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. Luke presents Jesus as everyone’s Redeemer: Jew and Gentile, male and female, the ups and ins, the downs and outs, and everybody in between, including the clean and the unclean. John is the Spiritual gospel. John has the gift of being able to see beyond the immediate meaning of the words and deeds of Jesus to their eternal and spiritual meaning. John wants us to understand that Jesus is not simply God’s Son; he is God AS Son. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Mark presents Jesus as the Servant of God. The theme verse of the gospel account is 10:45: Jesus is speaking, “45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The action in Mark’s account of the gospel focuses on this aspect of Jesus earthly ministry – how he was obedient to the Father and lovingly met the needs of people, climaxing in his death on the cross, which met the most important need of all mankind. Mark devotes 37 percent of his account to the crucifixion, the largest percentage of all the gospel writers.

Many believe that John Mark, a cousin of Barnabas and co-worker of Paul, wrote Mark. The early church apparently met in Mark’s home in Jerusalem and Mark evidently met many of the original disciples personally, particularly Peter. These scholars believe that Mark came to faith in Jesus through the influence of Peter. Late in Peter’s life, their paths crossed again in Rome. Mark had been asked to come to Rome by Paul and arrived to find Peter already there. Apparently the two men spent a good deal of time together with Mark listening as Peter gave his testimony about Jesus and preached the gospel to the Romans.

It was most likely based on this experience that the Gospel according to Mark was written. Led by the Spirit, Mark recorded Peter’s eyewitness account of the life and ministry of Jesus. The most prominent title Mark uses for Jesus in his gospel account is Son of God. In fact, the account begins with it in 1:1: The beginning of the account of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark is emphasizing Jesus’ Messiahship and his unique relationship with the Father.

Mark’s account of the gospel also moves along at a rapid pace. His focus is more on what Jesus did and less on what Jesus said. In fact, one of the words that characterizes Mark’s gospel account is the Greek word that means, “at once, without delay, immediately or quickly.” It is used 47 times beginning in 1:12. Mark used the word to appeal to his original readers, the Romans, an active people who admired accomplishment.

The danger in a brief study like this is that we can get caught up in the rapid pace of the action and overlook the important and meaningful messages that Mark has packed into his concise account of the Good News of God in Christ Jesus. The goal of our study is to balance the excitement the quick pace

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creates with the need to carefully consider the meaning of each incident Mark records and see how it helps us answer two questions, “Who Is This Jesus,” and what does that answer mean to me?

WEEK 1 (FEBRUARY 19-25) MARK 1-2 WHO CAN FORGIVE SIN BUT GOD ALONE?Area of Service: Pray for our Confirmation Class. Their names and addresses are appended at the end of this study. Take the time to write each of them a personal note expressing your prayers for them as they go through the confirmation process.

A gathering of studentsIf you are doing this Lenten Bible study in a small group, you are experiencing something very like what Jesus experienced when he taught in the synagogue. Jewish law teaches that there must be a minyan, or gathering of ten believing adults (ten men, according to Orthodox traditions) in order to have a prayer service. Recall that Paul found a place in Philippi down by the river, where he supposed there was a place of prayer (Acts 16.12-15). He was looking for a minyan, or gathering of believers, where he could teach and preach. Until the temple fell (70 AD), the primary place for observing high holy days was still the temple in Jerusalem, although believers gathered formally in synagogues to pray and study.

The word “synagogue” comes from Greek words meaning “to gather” or “a gathering place.” They were places where people came to heard God’s word expounded upon. Following Jewish tradition, they were relatively plain places; focus was to be on God’s spoken and taught word. In Jesus’ day, only the adult men would come throughout the week to discuss (argue) points of the law or to bring their sons to be taught.

The development of synagogues throughout the Mediterranean was a direct result of the persecution of the Jews. Every time Jews were persecuted in one area, they would scatter to other areas, developing “gathering places” there for study and prayer. It was to these gathering places that the apostles went first to teach and preach. In a very real sense, God took something evil (persecution) and used it for his glory (see Romans 8.28) as the seeds which were planted by the Jews blossomed into house churches all over the Mediterranean. The synagogue, perhaps like your Bible study group, was a place of learning and prayer and, occasionally, heated discussion! May God bless us as we share in this tradition which goes back to before the time of Jesus, a tradition in which Jesus himself participated—and still does through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Mark 1.1-20: Fasten Your Seatbelt! Reading the gospel of Mark is like getting onto a ride at the fairgrounds when it is in full swing; you had better step lively to keep up! The word translated as “immediately” in our Bibles is used some 40+ times in Mark’s gospel. Readers are plunged into a story that is already moving: The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

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Mark 1.9-11 When Jesus Came to Jordan Words: Fred Pratt Green, 1973 UM Hymnal p. 252When Jesus came to Jordan to be baptized by John,he did not come for pardon, but as the Sinless One.He came to share repentance with all who mourn their sins,to speak the vital sentence with which good news begins.

He came to share temptation, our utmost woe and loss,for us and our salvation to die upon the cross.So when the Dove descended on him, the Son of Man,the hidden years had ended, the age of grace began.

Come, Holy Spirit, aid us to keep the vows we make;this very day invade us, and ev'ry bondage break.Come, give our lives direction, the gift we covet most:to share the resurrection that leads to Pentecost.

The Evangelist uses an intriguing literary device to introduce Jesus: he points at him from three different directions: From the Old Testament prophet

Isaiah From a current preacher (John the

Baptist) By observation of Jesus’ inaugural

moments as messiahThe reader sees that the Evangelist believes that Jesus fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy, that Jesus is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, (1.8), and that Jesus has been empowered by God to do this work (1.9-12). We are offered evidence that Jesus is the messiah of God (messiah is Hebrew for “anointed one”) but because of the particular kind of writer the Evangelist is, we must draw our own conclusions. This is very different from the way the Jesus of John’s Gospel is presented to the reader. There, Jesus introduces himself and offers his own credentials: I am…the bread of life, the good shepherd, the vine, etc. Even when Jesus is baptized by John, the appearance of God’s Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is not recorded as appearing to everyone, but only to Jesus: 10And 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. A heavenly voice is heard—by Jesus only? Also by the crowd?-- “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 

It is at this point, when Jesus is on a spiritual “high”, that he is driven by the Spirit (!) into the wilderness outside Jerusalem, where he was with the wild animals and tempted by Satan (1.13). It might be a good thing for us to remember—that Jesus was tempted, not when he was weak, but when he was strongest spiritually. We should never assume that, just because we are faithful in our Bible study or church attendance, that we can escape temptation.

Mark 1.21-2.12 Healing and BeliefWe are barely into the gospel before we are introduced to a subject that continues to plague pastors, theologians and—sooner or later—almost every believer: What is the connection between miraculous healing and belief? Here in the first chapter we see several examples of healing:

The healing of the man with the unclean spirit (1.23-27) The healing of Simon’s

mother-in-law (1.30-32) The healing of the leper

(1.40-45) The healing of the

paralytic (2.1-12)

The only one of these who is known to have personal faith in Jesus is the

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Mark 1.41 He Touched MeWords: Bill Gaither, 1963 UM Hymnal 367Shackled by a heavy burden, 'neath a load of guilt and shame,Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same.Refrain: He touched me, O he touched me, And O the joy that floods my soul!Something happened, and now I know, He touched me and made me whole.

Since I met this blessed savior, since he cleansed and made me whole,I will never cease to praise him; I'll shout it while eternity rolls. Refrain

TemptationC. S. Lewis makes his point on temptation eloquently in The Screwtape Letters. The demon Wormwood inquires of his mentor Screwtape whether he has lost his targeted soul—the “patient”—just because the man has joined a church: “One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread but through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks around him he sees just that selection of his neighbors whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbors. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to Our Father below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.” (Screwtape’s Second Letter to Wormwood).

Mark 1.21-28 With AuthorityRev. Robert Beckum reminds us that all great teachers do three things:1. They have a love for and thorough knowledge of their

subject matter. Jesus, the master teacher, is also the master of and authority on the Kingdom of Heaven—and he didn’t just know about it, he lived in that Kingdom reality.

2. They have a love for and a relationship with their students. The student is transformed not just by the information he or she receives, but by the relationship with the teacher.

3. They have expectations of the students. Jesus expects the Kingdom to provoke a response in his disciples. Good teachers know how to instill in their students a vision for how the world might be different if their teaching is enacted.

~~Robert BeckumSermon notes from January 29, 2011

Within the HouseLuella Krieger, the Biblical teacher and actress who visited St. Luke on February 8, 2012, notes in telling this story that the people in the house surely got annoyed with all the mud and leaves falling on their heads, but “it didn’t seem to bother Jesus to be interrupted.” From her lips to God’s ears, let this be true for us as well!Her ministry’s website ishttp://www.visitorsfromthepast.org/

leper; Simon’s mother-in-law and the paralytic have family or friends who believe but there is no indication that they do or do not believe. We don’t know about the man who had the unclean spirit; we do know the spirit itself recognized—and feared—Jesus. So to say that miraculous healing follows belief is not entirely sufficient. There is something else going on.

Clearly Jesus cares very much about the suffering of those around him. The word used to describe Jesus’ reaction in 1.41 is translated “pity”, but it literally means “moved in his bowels.” Splanchnizoma is the Greek word for that gut-wrenching feeling of compassion you

have when you see the suffering of another. Jesus wasn’t just a little sorry for the man; he felt ripped in half by the pain of this leper.

It is curious that, when Jesus heals the leper, he commands him to say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (1.44) Many have wondered why Jesus gave this command. Was he practicing reverse psychology? Doubtful. Jesus is pretty well-known for playing it straight. Was he trying to keep his ministry secret because of fear of the authorities? Possible, but Jesus is not famous for being afraid. Bill Mallard, professor emeritus at Candler School of Theology, has pointed out that everyone has to discover Mark’s Jesus for him or herself. Furthermore, Mark’s Jesus never violates the spirit of the law of Moses (although he will be accused of such!—more on that shortly.). The result of the healed leper’s broadcasting of Jesus’ fame is that Jesus can no longer move freely around the towns, but rather had to stick to the countryside (1.45).

The average life span for a man was around 40 (no surprise that “40” often stands for “a long time” or “a generation” or “a big number” in the Bible!)—women would live much shorter lives due to the perils of child-bearing. Most children would not see their second birthday. Palestine in Jesus’ day was what we would think of as a “Third-World country.” Because the suffering was so very great, Jesus became notorious rather that believed in, famous rather than understood.

After a period of time in the country, Jesus returns “home” (was this Jesus’ home? The Evangelist is not clear) to Capernaum. We see the immediate problem of fame:  So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door (2.2). The friends of the paralyzed man believe Jesus can heal him, and they resort to extraordinary measures: making an opening in the rushes on the roof, they lower the man’s pallet down to where Jesus is. Jesus is moved, not by the faith of the paralytic, but by the faith of his friends, and says to the man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (2.5)

What happens next is critical for our understanding of who Jesus is: 6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7“Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who forgives sins but God alone?” 8At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing

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these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic— 11“I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” 

What are the questions that are asked in the previous passage? 1. _________________________________________________________________________

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How does that compare with your own experience: is it easier to heal than to forgive? Put another way, compare the number of times you’ve experienced physical or mental healing with the number of times you’ve experienced forgiveness. What is Jesus trying to teach the Pharisees? ______________________

Mark 2.13-17 Who were the Pharisees?Most of the time when we read the New Testament, the Pharisees get the role of the “bad guys”. Certainly they sometimes ask Jesus questions that would seem to indicate a lack of faith or a spirit of antagonism. Yet Jesus also numbered Pharisees among his disciples, or followers. So who are these guys?

Recall that the gospels were written well after the life of Jesus. Most scholars agree that Mark was the first gospel written. As we read it, its brevity and rapid pace tend to support that theory. The other two gospels which share the “same view” (syn + optic), Matthew and Luke, share a common reference point with Mark, though they both expand on things Mark gives short shrift. There is no birth story in Mark, and the story of the Resurrection is almost painfully brief.

The date scholars give for the composition of the Synoptic Gospels is sometime after the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. The fallout of the cataclysm which accompanied Rome’s complete subjugation of Israel suffuses the Synoptics (see Mark 13, for example). After the destruction of the Temple, tension between Christians and Jews increased. Rome lumped the religions together, persecuting

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the Christians as well as the Jews. Judaism itself fractured, with the once-dominant Herodians, Jews who had accepted the civilizing influence of Greco-Roman culture (Hellenism) falling out of power and the lay movement which stressed personal righteousness, Pharisaism, rising in influence. The Sadducees, who had been allied with the Temple hierarchy, disappeared almost overnight.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees are often lumped together, but they are very different. The Pharisees were not the powerful Temple leaders—they were the lay leaders of Judaism—what we would call “the pillars of the church.” The Pharisees maintained a belief in life after death, as did many or perhaps most of the Jews of Jesus’ day. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection (that’s why the Sadducees were sad, you see).

The Pharisees sometimes oppose Jesus, but we can be grateful for their existence because they ask the needful questions. They ask the questions that we might ask and that we certainly want to know the answer to! Some Pharisees certainly worked with the Sadducees to bring about the arrest and death of Jesus. They are not, however, the bad guys any more than “the Jews” are the bad guys in whole of the New Testament. Jesus and all of his disciples were Jews, of course. And the Pharisees, with their focus on personal righteousness, are not so very different from the highest ideals of all the Christian revivalists who encourage us to “get right with God”. When we point fingers at them, we should check to see if we are also guilty of any of their misdeeds!

This tendency to look down on the Pharisees may surface in the story of the call of Levi the tax collector, 2.13-17. Mark notes that many tax collectors and sinners followed Jesus, arousing the ire of the Pharisees, who sought to live by all 613 of the mitzvot or Jewish laws (a list of these can be found at www.jewfaq.org/613.htm). We would do well to try to abide, for a brief period, by most of these laws, especially those which address personal holiness, one’s attitude toward God and others, one’s role within community, and the justice system. The Pharisees believed, however, that they could achieve complete personal righteousness through their own behavior, so they asked Jesus’ disciples a very good question: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (2.16) Because they were blind to their own self-righteousness, they failed to see the irony of Jesus’ response: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (2.17)

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What will they have to do to draw close to God? _______________________________________

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What does Jesus’ response say to us? How must we respond to him? ______________________

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Mark 2.18-22 John’s Disciples and the EssenesThe Pharisees were joined in their very strict observance of Torah by another group: John’s disciples (see 2.18). John the Baptist was a huge figure in the religious life of first century Palestine. He still had disciples a generation after his own death; Paul writes of the great preacher Apollos, who knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18.25, see 18.20-19.2 for context). In fact, there are still disciples of John the Baptist today, the Mandaeans, though they are very few in number. We associate the word “disciple”

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with Jesus, but the followers of John the Baptist play a big role in defining what this new movement is all about—and what it is not all about. Judging only from “air time”, or the amount of text in the Gospels devoted to him, we can tell that John the Baptist was important both in the early Church and to Jesus.

John the Baptist seemed to follow the tenets of the third great movement in Judaism at the time of Christ: the Essenes. Often identified with the founders of the Dead Sea community Q’umran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found), the Essenes believed in living an ultra-righteous life away from the temptations of “the world.” Ascetic, visionary and celibate, they did not survive the destruction of the temple, although their spiritual influence continued to be felt in the New Testament.

Mark 2.23-28 New Life/New Law?When reading the Scripture, it’s always important for us to pay attention to context. Here, Jesus is clearly talking to the Pharisees, which offers us the perfect excuse to ignore what he’s saying. After all, we are the “new” wineskins, right? It is true that the Pharisees seemed to lack the quality of self-examination, after all, they fail to see that, when Jesus says he came to call not the righteous but sinners (2.17), he meant he came to call them as well!

If we fall into the trap of thinking Jesus’ admonitions are directed at someone else, we have become the Pharisees. Once we seek the imprimatur of righteousness on our behavior, we have already become the shrunken cloth, the old wineskin, the stultified faith. Righteousness is not about justifying what we already think or believe; righteousness is about God’s reordering of our actions and thoughts and beliefs. We want to be very careful when we say, “I believe this because it’s in the Bible.” Most of the time, what that really means is “I believe this, and I’ve found a verse to support it in the Bible.” That is being an old wineskin. Jesus explodes this kind of thinking and acting in the next passage.

23One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

We have to give the Pharisees some credit: at least they take the sabbath seriously! Modern conservative or orthodox Jewish communities construct Eruvim (עירוב), symbolic doorways (usually poles with wire strung between them) to define a large area in which it is permissible to carry items usually forbidden on the Sabbath. An Eruv has defined the border past which an observant Jew may not walk for generations; engraved stone markers have been found all over Israel which date to the period of Roman occupation.

Perhaps Jesus and his disciples are cutting through the grainfield in order to avoid taking more than the 2,000 steps which are allowed on the sabbath and bounded by eruvim. They are hungry, and they snack on some heads of grain as they walk. This qualifies as work, which is forbidden on the sabbath. Spying on other people is apparently not forbidden, for the Pharisees see them eating and are outraged. It is at least a mark of their spiritual maturity that they take their outrage straight to the one with whom they are angry rather than complaining about it to someone else!

Jesus engages them in a classic rabbinic argument: each side marshals scripture to support his or her beliefs (Note to the reader: it is not wise to engage the Son of God in such a debate. He will win. Every single time.) Jesus’ conclusion may be unexpected: he comes down on a less rigorous interpretation of the

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purpose of the sabbath. Torah places the institution of sabbath observance at the beginning of creation: 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation (Genesis 1.2-3). The sabbath is a time to draw close to God, to experience God’s nurture and love, to step away from the daily labors which would whittle away at our spirits.

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What do you make a practice of avoiding on your sabbath?_______________________________

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How would you like to change your observance of the sabbath to better glorify God? __________

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PRAYER FOCUS: pray for those in your own life and in the life of the church who are coming to know Christ. Ask God to lead you in responding to these people in the best way. Pray for these people by name:________________________________________________________________________________

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PRAYER: Make me your messenger, Lord. Let my words and thoughts and actions prepare the way for your message to be heard. Let me be guided by grace, moved by mercy, and led in love so that I may be a fit disciple. Pour out your Spirit on St. Luke church as we begin this holy season of Lent. Bless our

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pastor, the Rev. Robert Beckum, in his leadership of us, that he may deliver and we may hear your Word for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.WEEK 2 ( FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 3) LESSON WRITTEN BY BOB

HYDRICKMARK 3-4 “WHO THEN IS THIS, THAT EVEN THE WIND AND THE SEA OBEY HIM?”Area of Service: Operation Appreciation, St. Luke’s ministry to soldiers in Basic Training at Ft. Benning, meets on the 4th Saturday of every month (excepting November and December). We are looking for a “few good Sunday School classes” to assist in this wonderful ministry. To get your class involved, contact Doug Harvey at rosecroix@knology.net.

Mark 3.1-6 Purposefully Resisting the ServantResponse to Jesus is the theme of Chapter 3: some resist, some assist. The issue here is the same as in 2.23-28, healing on the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath holy is the fourth commandment. In applying the commandment to daily life, the Scribes and Pharisees had created a long list of activities that were either permitted or prohibited on the Sabbath. Interestingly, the fourth commandment is the only one of the ten that Jesus does not reaffirm verbally during his earthly ministry, although he affirms the Sabbath by his customary presence in the Synagogue.

The overall point here is the same as 2.23-28, as God’s Son, the Servant, is Lord of the Sabbath. Them in 3:2 refers back to the Pharisees in 2.24. Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking, they are looking for a reason to accuse [him], so he challenges them: “4Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. Jesus looked around at them in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.

Jesus’ anger is always righteous indignation. He is indignant that the Pharisees’ man-made rules are more important to them than God’s greater commandment: love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12.31). The religious leaders are putting their traditions ahead of God’s commandment to do good to their neighbor by healing his shriveled hand, which very well may have kept him for making a living.

6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Here is the real reason they are looking for a reason to accuse Jesus: power. Their place in the Roman ruling hierarchy depended on their power to keep the people in line. Jesus is threatening to undermine that power.

What does this mean to me? How does the fact that God’s Son is the Lord of the Sabbath apply to my life? What traditions or habits in my life are causing me to act contrary to God’s purpose? ___

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Am I afraid of change because it would threaten my power to control my own life? ____________

What area of my life am I willing to let Jesus be Lord of? ________________________________

3.7-12 Unwittingly Resisting the Servant This summary paragraph signals the end of the “Early Galilean Ministry.” Notice verse 11: Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” They are acknowledging his lordship over their lives because they recognized who he is. Do you suppose this

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suggests that the crowds were following him for some reason other than that they recognized that he was the Son of God? Could it have been out of their own self-interest, to see what Jesus would do for them? Jesus knew what was in the minds of the people in the crowd. Is Mark drawing an ironical contrast between the evil spirits who recognized Him as the Son of God and the crowds who didn’t? Why else would Jesus give the evil spirits strict orders not to tell who he was?

What does this mean to me? Am I following Jesus because I want him to be the Lord of my life, or because of what I hope he will do for me? _____________________________________________

How am I like the “crowds” in my following of Jesus? ___________________________________

How am I different from the crowds who followed Jesus? ________________________________

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3.13-19 Assisting the ServantThis is beginning of the “Later Galilean Ministry.” Several months have passed since the events in verse 12. Remember that the gospels are not biographies, a chronological recounting of Jesus’ life. They are tracts written to encourage people to receive Jesus as their Savior by grace through faith.

Jesus’ ministry has proceeded to the point that he is ready to empower his disciples to help in carrying out his ministry, which is the meaning of the two words, appointed and apostles in verse 14. He is in effect commissioning them to be his representatives, endowing them with the authority and the power to preach and drive out demons in his name.

There are two applications here. One is that all believers have a place in Jesus’ ministry to reconcile the world to God. It may something big, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be something routine like being a good Christian parent, grandparent, friend, neighbor or coworker. The second application is a corollary to the first and is found in the familiar statement: “God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” When God calls us to a ministry of any kind, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he will qualify us for that ministry just as Jesus does here for these early disciples. But keep in mind that whatever that calling is, it is not our ministry; it is a ministry in Jesus’ Name. We are to be his hands, his feet, his eyes, his ears, his tongue. Whatever we do, it is to be done in his Name and for his glory, not ours. Just as Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of our lives, he is also Lord of God’s work of redemption and reconciliation.

What does this mean to me? Have I been called to ministry in Jesus’ name? ________ _________

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What part of me is resisting God’s call to do something I find unpleasant? What would I just rather not do?____________________________________________________________________

Here are some tasks that need doing in St. Luke. Is God calling you to do any of these? Sunday School Teacher Communion Steward Usher Prayer Room volunteer Hospital visitor Meals-on-Wheels “wheels” Food Pantry Volunteer Acolyte helper Children’s Choir helper Food Pantry volunteer Samaritan Fund volunteer Teach a Bible Study

Carry Cancer patients to treatment Assist in Youth Mission activities Phone volunteer at Church Help with First Saturday Development assistance for December First Saturday Play piano for a Sunday School class Bereavement committee member Work with College Ministry Participate in Music Ministry (vocal/instrumental) Go into the United Methodist Ministry Participate in a mission trip Other: ____________________________________

If you think God is calling you into one of these areas, please talk with one of the pastors or staff.

3.20-27 Disparaging the ServantThere is an old legal maxim: “If you have the facts in the case, argue the facts. If you don’t, try to discredit the other side’s witnesses.” That is what is going on here; his family and the teachers of the law do not understand Jesus’ miraculous powers; so they try to discredit him. The family says, “He is out of his mind.” The teachers of the law say, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” Jesus responds with a metaphor that demonstrates the ridiculousness of their accusation: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

3.28-30 The Unforgivable Sin This section begins with I tell you the truth, which tells us it is a very important statement. Books have been written and countless sermons have been preached on these verses, so to try and explain them in a few words is a fool’s errand. But here goes anyway! Remember the basic teaching about dealing with sin in 1 John 1.9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Genuine confession is always accompanied by sincere repentance. In Mark, Jesus is apparently saying that to attribute the work of the Spirit to Satan is blasphemy of the highest order. Remember he knows what is the hearts of these teachers of the law. He knows that their hearts of are hardened against him, and that they are not going to repent and seek forgiveness for this blasphemy. So they are compounding their sin of resisting the work and will of God by attributing the Spirit’s work to Satan. The motivation for their attempt to disparage Jesus is pretty clear. He is a growing threat to their authority over the people, which is the source of their position and power under the Romans.

3.31-35 The Servant’s Own Family ResistsThe motivation for the actions of Jesus’ family is unclear. It could be out of love. The text says that he and his disciples were not even able to eat (3.20). Maybe they think it is for his own good. Or they may be genuinely concerned for Jesus’ safety; the opposition to him is growing stronger. Or they could have been motivated by fear for their own well-being; the authorities might take out their vengeance on them.

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Prevenient GracePrevenient Grace is a concept John Wesley

used to define the grace that “goes before” (Latin pre venir) our conversion or justification. It was the way that Wesley explained how it could be that God loves everyone, yet not all love God. 

It is "...the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God's will, and our 'first slight transient conviction' of having sinned against God. God's grace also awakens in us an earnest longing for deliverance from sin and death and moves us toward repentance and faith" (UM Book of Discipline, 2004).

Wesley understood grace as God’s active presence in our lives. This presence is not dependent on human actions or human response. It is a gift—a gift that is always available, but that can be refused.

God’s grace stirs up within us a desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God’s invitation to be in relationship with God. God’s grace enables us to discern differences between good and evil and makes it possible for us to choose good….

God takes the initiative in relating to humanity. We do not have to beg and plead for God’s love and grace. God actively seeks us! (www.umc.org)

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Or it may have been the old cliché, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” They knew him so well that they were having a hard time believing that he was who he said he was; he really was out of his mind.

What does this mean to me? Are these motivations present in my life? Do I fear that living openly as a follower of Jesus is too high a cost to pay because of the comforts I may have

to give up or the ridicule or retribution it may bring on myself or my family?____________________________

Am I just too familiar with Jesus? Do I regard him too much as my friend and not enough as my God? Have I heard about him all my life in Sunday School and church—to the extent that I really think I know all there is to know about him? But am I so familiar with it that I don’t even think about it any more? Mark asks us these questions to lead us to the central question in our study, “Who is this Jesus and what should he mean to me?” ___________________________________

How did the first disciples learn more about Jesus? They lived with him everyday. We can’t live with him physically as they did, but we can live with him spiritually every day through regular, planned Bible study and prayer. What part of my day am I willing to set aside to just be with Jesus, to study the Word and pray?________________________________________________________

In number of minutes, how does this compare with other activities: watching television, working out, eating lunch with a friend? _____________________________________________________

Chapter 3 records the responses to Jesus’ ministry and miracles in Chapters 1 and 2, the evidence that Jesus is who Mark says He is in 1:1, “The Son of God.” Some resist, even disparage. Others assist and the work of the kingdom moves forward. What does it all mean to me? How I am responding to all of the evidence I have that Jesus is the Son of God? Am I resisting him purposefully because I want to be Lord of my own life? Am I resisting him unwittingly because I am too familiar with him? Or am I ready to assist him – to be commissioned to ministry and do my part in the fulfillment of God’s plan to reconcile the world to himself through Jesus Christ?

The various responses chronicled in Chapter 3 set the stage for the Parables and the storm narrative in Chapter 4. Jesus is preparing his disciples for the resistance they will face, which is going to get worse. The first thing they need to understand is the reason why they will face this growing resistance: not everybody is going to accept the Good News. God does call everybody to come to faith in Jesus. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3.9). But here is the paradox: God calls all, but not all respond. Only those who receive the Good News of God in Christ Jesus and, who by grace

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through faith believe in the efficacy of his finished work of Salvation are justified, made right with God. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (John 1.12).

4.1-20 The Parable of the Sower, Jesus’ ExplanationThe Parable of the Sower appears in all three synoptic gospels, indicating that it is an important parable. Remember, a parable is not an allegory. In an allegory, each character or object represents something or someone in a one-to-one correspondence. A parable is a story drawn from everyday life that has a single spiritual meaning. Parables can be taught in an allegorical fashion, attaching meanings to specific elements in the parable, but the parable itself still has a single spiritual meaning. The meaning of the Parable of the Sower is that whether a person receives Christ as his or her personal Savior and Lord is dependent on the condition of that person’s heart.

The seed is the Word of God, specifically the Gospel. People with hard hearts are the path. They will not receive the Word. People with divided hearts are the rocky soil. Like those who were following Jesus unwittingly in 3:7-12, they have been exposed to the Word but their heart is divided and the good news cannot take root. The seed among the thorns are people with conflicted hearts. The Word takes root but cannot survive because their preoccupation with the cares of the world chokes it out. This could have been the case with Jesus’ family. Their concern for his health or his safety or their own personal safety kept them from seeing that he is the Word. The good soil are people with hearts that are open to the Word. Like the disciples, they receive it and believe in it and it takes root in their hearts.

What does this mean to me? When is the last time I had a spiritual EKG? What is the condition of my heart? Have I received and believed? Am I a born-again believer or just a church member?

4.21-25 When the Seed Takes Root: The Lamp on a StandJesus says when the seed takes root in the good soil, it begins to grow, transforming itself from a seed into a plant capable of bearing fruit. It is the same with the good heart in which the Word takes root. That person’s life is transformed from one characterized by darkness, living according to the world’s values, to a life that lives according to the Kingdom’s values, growing in Christlikeness every day.

4.26-31 How it happens: The Parable of the Growing SeedThe seed in the good soil sprouts and grows because of what is inside the seed. The Christlike life sprouts and grows because of what is inside the believer, the all-sufficient grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Under the leadership of the Spirit, the person will grow toward spiritual maturity becoming more useful to the One who planted the seed. The harvest of the Christian life is the influence the believer has on others, a powerful witness that encourages the work of the Spirit in the lives of others.

4.30-33 Why It Happens: The Parable of the Mustard Seed

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Mark 4.26-29 Come, Ye Thankful People, ComeWords: Henry Alford, 1844 UM Hymnal number 694

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto his praise to yield;Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take his harvest home;From his field shall in that day all offenses purge away,Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;But the fruitful ears to store in his garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home;Gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;Come, with all thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

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Because it is part of God’s plan to reconcile the world to himself through Jesus Christ. Even the smallest bit of faith can grow into a life that plays its part in God’s plan. As hymn writer Ernest W. Shurtleff puts it: “For not with swords loud clashing or roll of stirring drum, but with deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes ” (“Lead On, O King Eternal, #580, UM Hymnal).

What does this mean to me? Is the seed growing in my life in such a way that I am playing my part in God’s plan? If I were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough

evidence to convict me? ____________________________________________________________________

4.33-34 A SummaryIn Chapters 1, 2 and 3, Mark presents Jesus as God’s Son exercising God’s power as his Servant in meeting the physical needs of people with miraculous healing. In chapter 4, he presents Jesus as God’s Son exercising God’s power as his Servant in meeting the spiritual needs of people with the wisdom of God. In these closing verses, he presents Jesus as God’s Son exercising God’s presence as his Servant overcoming the disciples’ fear. The storm is real, but is also a metaphor for the most extreme opposition that they will face. Jesus is telling them, “Even when things are at their worst and all hope seems gone, remember that I love you and will be there with you and bring you through it.”

4.35-39 The Disciples’ “Mid-term:” Jesus Calms the Storm Often when this incident is taught, the focus is either on how it is convincing evidence that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, or on the disciples’ puzzling lack of understanding of that fact based their experience with him. But the key idea here may well be the disciples’ question to him in v. 38, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

It has been said that the most frequent command in the Bible is, “Do not be afraid.” Throughout the Old and New Testaments you will find case after case of God reassuring his people that, because of his unfailing love for them, he will be with them in all times, good and bad. Jesus’ calming of the storm is a demonstration that, as God’s Son, he doesn’t just possess the power and wisdom of God, he is the very presence of God with them. Jesus demonstrates in his person God’s most defining characteristic: his unfailing love toward his people. We all used to sing Anna Bartlett Warner’s little song, “Jesus loves me this I know, ‘cause the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong ” (UM Hymnal #191). That is the message for all believers in this story. We are delivered through the tough times not because we deserve to be delivered, but because of God’s great love for us, expressed to us in Jesus. Warren Wiersbe says, “Our faith in his word is tested in the storms of life. If the disciples had really trusted his word, they would not have panicked and accused him of not caring. You can trust his word for it will never fail.”

What does all of this mean to me? It brings us back to the central question of our study. We see it on the lips of the disciples in 4.41: Who is this Jesus? It is the most important question we have to answer in life and it must be answered. What is my answer?

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Mark 4.35-41 Jesus, Savior, Pilot MeWords: Edward Hopper, 1871 UM Hymnal page 509Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life’s tempestuous sea;Unknown waves before me roll, hiding rock and treacherous shoal.Chart and compass come from thee; Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

As a mother stills her child, thou canst hush the ocean wild;Boisterous waves obey thy will, when thou sayest to them, “Be still!”Wondrous Sovereign of the sea, Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

When at last I near the shore, and the fearful breakers roar’Twixt me and the peaceful rest, then, while leaning on thy breast,May I hear thee say to me, “Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

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_____________________________________________________________________________________PRAYER: Holy Lord God, how I love you. How I long to serve you in a way that pleases you. Yet there is a part of me which resists your call on my life. I open my heart to you, Lord. Enter in and make it your home. Open all the rooms full of resentments and hard-heartedness and clean them out. Wash the windows of prejudice and hurt feelings so that the clear light of your grace comes in. Open the doors of

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my life to strangers and those who are so very different. You never called me to be comfortable, but to serve. Help me, Lord Jesus, for I do want to serve you fully. Amen.WEEK 3 (MARCH 4-10) MARK 5-6 WHAT SHOULD I ASK FOR?Area of Service: Valley Interfaith Promise provides long-term housing for homeless families as they establish roots and find jobs. To find out more about VIP and how you can support this ministry, contact Kay Denes (kaybiker61@bellsouth.net) or Doris Reid (doris@brgmcpa.com).

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EVECharlie Cox

A woman I will call Eve sat in my office wearing a short-sleeve, flower print dress. It was the first dress she had worn in a long time, and the first thing she had worn in years that was not orange. Earlier that day Eve had been released from a prison in the hills of north Georgia. Now she was sitting across the desk from me, alternately smiling and crying, as we talked about the legal problem that was the reason for her visit. Scars crisscrossed her bare arms, a testament to the internal and external torment she had endured both in and out of prison. She was a cutter. I talked with her about her legal problems, and she talked with me about being a cutter. I wondered if she wore the dress because that was all she had, or if she wore it because it had short sleeves, and I would be confronted with her scars.

As we talked, I remembered a story in the Bible about a man who was a cutter. I found him in Mark 5. "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones" (Mark 5:5). "My name is Legion," he told Jesus, "for we are many" (Mark 5:9). I told Eve the story of Legion and how Jesus healed him. At the end of the day, I felt good that I had been able to pull from my memory a story from the Bible that seemed to so clearly fit the circumstances of her life. I hoped it helped her.

Over the next few months I handled Eve's legal matter, and my contact with her ceased. We never spoke of Legion or her cutting after that first day in my office. I do not know where Eve is now, whether she remains a cutter, or whether she is in or out of prison.

On occasion, like now, I think about Eve, and I wonder what she thought of the story of Legion. Did she think the story of Jesus healing the tormented man, the cutter, was a story for her, or did she think the story of Legion might have been about me.

Jesus healed Legion by casting the demons into a large herd of pigs feeding on a nearby hillside. The herd in turn rushed down a steep bank into a lake and was drowned. The people tending the pigs ran and told others what had happened. The people came to see what had happened, and what they found was Jesus, two thousand drowned pigs, and "the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid" (Mark 5:15). The people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. And he did. As Jesus was getting into the boat to go to the other side of the lake, the man begged to go with Jesus. Jesus did not let him. Instead, Jesus told the man to return to his family and tell them what the Lord had done for him and how the Lord had mercy on him. The man returned and told the people in the area what Jesus had done for him, "and all the people were amazed" (Mark 5:20).

Perhaps when Eve heard the story she saw me as one of the people who was comfortable with her, or with Legion, being in the tombs or cells of the hills of Georgia or the Gerasenes, cutting and crying out in torment. Perhaps Eve saw me as one of the people who became afraid, even angry, when the manifestation of Christ's miraculous, healing and liberating power effected a change in someone else's life at the expense of my material well-being. Perhaps Eve saw the ultimate irony of the story that even though the people sent Jesus away, the transforming power of his love and mercy remained and was spread through the region by the man we know as Legion. God used the broken and despised to speak to those who saw themselves as favored and whole - the story of the cross.

As I write this a few days after Christmas, I look out of the window of the cabin and see Rabun Bald. On a nearby hillside, but not so near that it disturbs my view, is the prison known to most of us as Alto State Prison. . . .

5.1-19 Demon PossessionOn the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, just under the Golan Heights, is a windswept hillside that is held by tradition to be the area which was inhabited by the Gerasene demoniac. It is desolate and rocky, entirely devoid of charm. How could anyone prefer to live there rather than in a town, among friends and family?

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Frank Collins might be able to tell us. You may remember driving past Mr. Collins on the 13th Street bridge, huddled amidst a mound of garbage bags, often wearing his heavy coat event in the hottest weather. Allison Kennedy told of his quiet victory over mental illness in a moving article in the Ledger-Enquirer. “When asked how long he'd been on the streets, Collins thought it'd been two or three months. Passersby knew better. It was years. ‘It wasn't difficult, except the winters,’ he said” (June 13, 2011).

When the gospel of Mark speaks of demons, is it talking about mental illness? Perhaps. In the Bible, demon possession is not the same as sinning, except in the sense that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3.23). Certainly neither the demon-possessed nor those who suffer mental illness have caused their condition. Neither do they have the capacity in themselves to cure the condition. Most cope the best they can. Mr. Collins coped by isolating himself from the problems of the world—and the people of the world. His illness or possession was terrible to behold, and it had thoroughly isolated him from community, and they seemed happier without him. We are familiar with that tactic of dealing with mental illness: pretend it’s not there, don’t share your “dirty laundry” in public, and certainly don’t talk about it in church! But the sin in Mark’s story is not committed by the demoniac, but by the swineherds and townspeople, who, when they saw the man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. …17Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. 

Ignoring mental illness and mental disability is sinful. Sometimes it is deadly. All of us have missed opportunities to reach out to someone who is suffering from depression, compulsive or eating disorders, or drug or alcohol addiction. Of course, those people can always seek assistance through St. Luke’s Congregational Assistance Program (CAP) at the Pastoral Institute. Is Jesus calling us to do more?

5.20-43 The Interrupted Healing Immediately, we see that not all of the Jewish leaders opposed Jesus. Jairus, one of the leaders of the synagogue, goes to the extent of falling at Jesus’ feet and repeatedly begging him to heal his precious daughter. Several things are notable. Firstly, Jairus’ concern for his daughter is unusual. Daughters were not considered to be the blessings sons were, as indicated in Psalm 137: “3Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth.” In earlier Semitic cultures, daughters were often put out to die on the trash heap, although Judaism abhorred this practice. Today, we can still see evidence in some cultures that daughters have less value than sons. Because of gender-determining tests and selective abortions, birth rates for girls in China and India have plummeted, even while the governments there officially ban the practice. Even in the United States, we count on sons to “carry on the family name.”

But Jairus was an unusual man. He treasured his daughter and placed her well-being above his own name and stature in the synagogue. Jesus knew who Jairus was and what he was risking to come to Jesus. That makes the healing of the woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. According to Leviticus 12.1-8 and 15.19-30, this condition meant that she was ritually unclean and therefore unable to participate in the religious life of her community.

There could not be a more dramatic interruption: two individuals, both with terrible needs but at different ends of the social and religious hierarchy, lay claim to Jesus’ healing power. Jesus himself does not make a distinction between them; he gives each of them attention at the time their need arises. The woman is perhaps a little superstitious: she thinks that if she can but touch his clothes, [she] will be made well. This is not the way Jesus usually operates, in fact, he has done everything conceivable to avoid this kind of attitude toward himself. But as soon as he realizes that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’” The disciples, as they often do, offer

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the quick (and erroneous) solution: there are lots of folks around you; it could have been anyone; what are you talking about, Lord? Jesus assumes that it was a touch with intention and no accident. The woman shows remarkable courage and comes forward in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Here, the connection between healing and belief is made explicit by Jesus. We are tempted to draw from this woman’s experience the easiest lesson: she had faith sufficient for her healing. If I have sufficient faith, I (or the person for whom I am praying) can be healed, too. But that application is dashed by the story of Jairus, which this healing has interrupted. 35While [Jesus] was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” Did Jairus have less faith than this unnamed woman? Perhaps, but that does not seem to be the point of this story. Jesus treats each case with individual love, attention, and respect. The woman, though “unclean”, was worthy of his attention. Jairus’ daughter, though dead, is equally worthy. Jesus tells Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe.” Fear what? Why would he be afraid? Death was a very familiar face in Jairus’ and Jesus’ world. What do you think Jesus is telling Jairus? _______________________________________

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Jesus took the girl’s parents and those attending them and allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. These men seem to have been his most trusted disciples, with him on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9.2-8) and in the Garden of Gethsemane (14.32-42). Their presence in the room of the little girl tells us that this is such an important event that only the top lieutenants among Jesus’ disciples are allowed to be present—perhaps because what was about to happen could so easily be misconstrued (as on the Mount of Transfiguration) or go wrong (as in the Garden). “Sleep” is a common New Testament metaphor for death, so whether the child was in a coma, from which Jesus restored her, or literally dead is not the issue. Mark clearly means for us to understand that she is being raised from the dead, as Elijah raised the widow’s son in I Kings 17.17-24.

We have no further word on Jairus’ reaction. Instead, we are treated to a terrible caricature of people’s response to tragedy. Perhaps the people outside the little girl’s room were hired mourners, at any rate, their response—skeptical laughter—is horribly inappropriate. If they lived today, they would have had out their smart-phones to post a video of the event on YouTube. Their kindred are the ones who slow down to gawk at the site of a highway crash. And Jesus speaks clearly to them—and to us—after the little girl is raised when he brushes aside their amazement and orders them to feed the little girl. Luella Krieger offers a vivid image, imagining the parents hugging her and crying until Jesus finally interrupts with a practical response: 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

In our own time, we have thousands of little boys and girls in Somalia whose emaciated forms hover near death. Jesus doesn’t want us to gasp at their tiny limbs and swollen bellies; he wants us to do something. When we hear the sirens go by the church on Sunday mornings, Jesus doesn’t want us to frown in irritation that the anthem or sermon has been interrupted, he wants us to do something. And when we see the homeless man on the bridge or the homeless family in their car, Jesus wants us to do something.

6.1-6 Tensions riseDespite Jesus’ orders that no one should know of the miracles, word gets out. He teaches in the synagogue in Nazareth, his hometown, and people are astonished at his wisdom. They also resent it just a little bit, because they know his family: 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of

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James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” A Jewish friend, remarking on the well-known aphorism that “where there are three Jews there are five opinions” said that you know Nazareth was a really small town if they could all agree to dislike Jesus.

We can’t be too hard on the Nazarenes; we, too, judge people by their past actions. It’s so much easier than re-forming opinions! Think back among the people with whom you went to high school or college. There may be among them prominent physicians or politicians or pastors—the same people who were noted for behavior which was in school singularly undignified. We expect other people to give us second (and third, and in this writer’s case, fifth and sixth) chances; should not we also give others a second chance? Who among your friends or acquaintances needs a second chance from you? Whom do you need to forgive?____________________________________________________________________________

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6.14-33 Herod and John the BaptistAmong the names which appear with regularity in the gospels are those of John the Baptizer and Herod Antipas, one of the four son of Herod the Great (who ruled over Palestine at the time of Jesus’ birth according to Matthew 2). The family drama of the Herodian line is ridiculously complicated and full of incest, fratricide, and various intrigues (6.17-19). One of these plots results in the death of John the Baptizer (6.21-24). What is interesting is that, as hard as the Herods sought power and as fiercely as they scrabbled to preserve their influence, their hold over the minds and hearts of the people was tenuous even in their own time and did not last past their last breath on this earth. Try as they could, they could not change the path of God’s grace. That is not to say, however, that their actions did not have an influence.

John’s death devastates Jesus and we already know (see week 1) of the lasting influence of John the Baptist. Jesus and his disciples went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. It is not that Jesus could not pray with or in the presence of others; we already know he does not hesitate to do that. But Jesus demonstrates over and over in the gospel of Mark his awareness of the nourishing power of prayer. John Wesley, whom we Methodists regard as our founder, rose at 4:00 a.m. because he said that he had so much to do that he had to pray in order to accomplish it.

6.34-56 The Wrong Questions and the Right QuestionsTwo remarkable miracles are in this section: the feeding of the multitude and Jesus’ walking on water. The disciples appear in a singularly unflattering light in both. We should be grateful for this, because their ineptitude promises us that we, too, are just as qualified to be followers of Jesus! As Mr. Hydrick pointed out earlier, our calling is not based on our qualities, but on Jesus’ qualification of us.

Speaking to a similar passage in Matthew (14.22-33), the Rev. Frank Cooper (Christ the King Episcopal, Santa Rosa Beach, FLA) said, “‘How did he do it?’ is the wrong question. ‘Who are you?’ is the right question. Once you’ve answered the second, the first doesn’t matter.” Once we know who Jesus is, once we have claimed him and allowed him to claim us, there really is no limit to what he can accomplish in and through us. In the presence of Jesus’ greatness and power, we, like the disciples, may be afraid. Jesus’ response is “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

It does not matter how Jesus accomplished these miracles. In fact, the arc of the Biblical narrative does not address questions of how but rather questions of why. And the why is the same why that motivated friends at the House of Mercy to reach out to Frank Collins: because of the great love of God for his creatures.

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PRAYER FOCUS: Pray for the needs of this church, this community, and the world, and how we should be responding to them. If you have questions, talk with one of your pastors. __________________________

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_____________________________________________________________________________________PRAYER: Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, so that I may see your face in the least likely and least likable. I may get discouraged by the immensity of suffering; lift me up and make me strong to serve you. I may get sidetracked by desires which are not your will; turn me around and set me on a right path. Help me to see you more clearly, follow you more nearly, and love you more dearly, day by day. Amen.

Walking on Water

Christopher Moore’s best-seller Lamb purports to be the biography of Jesus by his childhood friend Levi, known as Biff. Although Moore does not profess Christianity, his starting point for this book was to “take seriously” the gospels and their pictures of Jesus. Profane in places, it is also profound in its understanding of Jesus’ humanity and compassion. Recommended for mature readers! Here, Jesus, called Joshua in the book, has sent his disciples across the Sea of Galilee, telling them he’ll join them. The narrator is Biff.

We assumed that he would be swimming or rowing out in one of the small boats, but when he finally came down to the shore the multitude was still following him, and he just kept walking, right across the surface of the water to the boat. The crowd stopped at the shore and cheered. Even we were astounded by this new miracle, and we sat in the boat with our mouths hanging open as Joshua approached.

“What?” he said. “What? What? What?”

“Master, you’re walking on the water,” said Peter.

“I just ate,” Joshua said. “You can’t go into the water for an hour after you eat. You could get a cramp. What, none of you guys have mothers?”

“It’s a miracle,” shouted Peter.

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“It’s no big deal,” Joshua said, dismissing the miracle with a wave of a hand. “It’s easy. Really, Peter, you should try it.”

Peter stood up in the boat tentatively.

“Really, try it.”

Peter started to take off his tunic.

“Keep that on,” said Joshua. “And your sandals too.”

“But Lord, this is a new tunic.”

“Then keep it dry, Peter. Come to me. Step upon the water.”

Peter put one foot over the side and into the water.

“Trust your faith, Peter,” I yelled. “If you doubt you won’t be able to do it.”

Then Peter stepped with both feet onto the surface of the water, and for a split second he stood there. And we were all amazed. “Hey, I’m—” Then he sank like a stone. He came up sputtering. We were all doubled over giggling, and even Joshua had sunk up to his ankles, he was laughing so hard.“I can’t believe you fell for that,” said Joshua. He ran across the water and helped us pull Peter into the boat. “Peter, you’re as dumb as a box of rocks. But what amazing faith you have. I’m going to build my church on this box of rocks.”

“You would have Peter build your church?” asked Philip. “Because he tried to walk on the water.”

“Would you have tried it?” asked Joshua.

“Of course not,” said Philip. “I can’t swim.”

“Then who has the greater faith?” Joshua climbed into the boat and shook the water off of his sandals, then tousled Peter’s wet hair. “Someone will have to carry on the church when I’m gone, and I’m going to be gone soon. In the spring we’ll go to Jerusalem for the Passover, and there I will be judged by the scribes and the priests, and there I will be tortured and put to death. But three days from the day of my death, I shall rise, and be with you again.”

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore, Harper Perennial (paperback), 2002; pages 390-391. Reprinted with permission from the author.

WEEK 4 (MARCH 11-17) MARK 7-8 BUT WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?Area of Service: Hospitality at St. Luke is critical—ushers and greeters are the first people visitors see when they arrive on our doorsteps, and following up with visitors by inviting them to your Sunday School class or other small group is essential for helping people become involved in the family of God. If you would like to become involved in our Ministry of Discipleship, contact the Rev. Brett Maddocks at bmaddocks@stlukeum.com or 706-327-4343.

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Who Is Jesus?The Rev. Brett Maddocks

I sometimes wonder if the disciples ever asked Jesus, “Are we there yet?” They traveled to many towns covering countless miles along paths that were difficult to say the least. Midway through chapter eight, the disciples come to a pivotal point on their journey. They are in Bethsaida where they encounter a blind man who begged Jesus to touch him in order that he may be healed. Jesus does so and very enigmatically, the man can see but his vision is not clear. The disciples look like walking trees. Once more, Jesus touches the man and his vision clears. Was the first touch not adequate? Did Jesus not do enough the first time that required him to finish the job of the miracle? Is the Gospel writer telling us something profound in this interesting story?

Afterward, Jesus and the disciple begin the long trek to Caesarea Philippi. By car, on modern roads, the trip takes an hour or two, so one can only wonder how long the walk would be. Again, did the disciples ever get impatient and ask, “Are we there yet?” Along the journey, Jesus decides to have a conversation. “Who do people say I am?” The disciples report that people think he is a prophet from Israel’s past or he may even be John the Baptist. Jesus pushes back, “Who do you say I am?” Peter proclaims, “You are the Messiah.”

Notice the parallel in the stories of the blind man and Peter’s confession. New Testament scholar and historian, N. T. Wright notes about these two stories, “The blind man sees people, but they look like trees walking about; the crowds see Jesus, but they think he’s just a prophet… Then, as it were with a second touch, Jesus faces the disciples themselves with the question. Now at last their eyes are opened.”i

The conversation about Jesus’ identity did not end that day on the road to Caesarea Philippi. The question still lingers today. “Who do people say I am?” There are many thoughts and beliefs about who Jesus is. Some say Jesus was prophet, a good moral teacher, an influential character, a revolutionary and so on. And, to be sure all these are correct. However, they are not the complete picture of who Jesus is. The complete portrait includes his divinity, which makes it possible for us to affirm, “Jesus is Lord.”

“Jesus is Lord” was probably one of the earliest confessions of the Church. We see this statement in Romans 10 where Paul states, “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”ii This confession of Christ is an agreement with who Jesus truly is—the Son of God. Christ was fully human. He was able to see our relationships, see our pain, speak to us, and teach us how we should live. However, as was revealed by the resurrection, Christ was more than a man. He was also fully divine. As the second person of the Trinity, Christ provided for humanity what humanity could not provide for itself—redemption. “Jesus is Lord” means that Jesus Christ is indeed divine and has brought redemption to all of creation through his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. So, what does Jesus’ lordship mean for us today? It may be helpful to think of Jesus’ lordship in four spheres of our existence. The first sphere is personal. Jesus Christ is Lord of the individual person. This means that through the death and resurrection of Christ, redemption is made available to individuals. It also means that individuals, if they are capable, must acknowledge the redemptive work of Christ if they want to experience personally the redemption that God offers. The book of Acts exemplifies the personal sphere of Christ’s Lordship in the story of the jailer who saw Paul and Silas miraculously freed from jail. After asking Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, they replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”iii Here we see that Paul and Silas believed that Jesus’ redemptive act was able to save the individual jailer (and his family). The jailer only had to believe, trust, and confess

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this reality himself. Understanding the personal sphere of Christ’s lordship should give us concern for the salvation of every person.

The second sphere is communal. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Church. As Lord of the Church, Christ unifies individual, redeemed people into one body. Paul writes in Ephesians, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”iv Paul understands Christians not just as individuals who confess the reality of Christ, but as members of a “body” who are unified under one Lord, one redeemer, one God. As Paul writes, “…[W]e will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”v The communal sphere of Christ’s Lordship gives us concern for unity within the Body of Christ. Christians are held together by their common agreement of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We may disagree with other Christians about predestination, infant baptism, sacramental theology, among other things, but in our differences, we are one because Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ’s communal lordship should move us, as followers of Jesus, towards being more ecumenical and less confrontational.

The third sphere is societal. This means that Christ is Lord over every society, culture, government, and nation. Even if he is not recognized as such, Christ is still sovereign over all peoples. As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus is divine—he is God in unity of nature and will with God the Father and God the Spirit. As I stated earlier, Christ’s Lordship does not depend upon groups of people or nations believing or not believing that Jesus is Lord. His Lordship is only dependent upon himself as the second person of the Triune and holy God. Philippians exemplifies this when Paul writes that, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”vi According to Paul, Jesus’ Lordship is a fact that will be realized by people in every nation, tribe, tongue, and group when Christ returns. This societal sphere of Christ’s lordship should give us concern for our society and even the world.

The last sphere of Christ’s lordship is the Cosmic. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; He is the Lord over all creation. This means that Christ is not only Lord of humanity—individual, communal, or societal—he is also the Lord of everything because in him everything was created.vii The redemptive work of Christ was not just for humanity. His redemptive work was cosmic in scope. “For God was pleased to have his fullness dwell in him, and through him reconcile to himself all things, where things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”viii The cosmic sphere of Christ’s lordship should give us concern for the environment. The environment is not something that God has no use for so we can do whatever we want with it. Creation is God’s handiwork and he called it good.

In dealing with Jesus’ identity and the claims that Jesus was just a great moral teacher, C. S. Lewis wrote, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising (sic) nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”ix Who do you say Jesus is? No other question may be as important to get right.i Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) p. 107ii Romans 10:9, Italics mineiii Acts 16:31; See Acts 16:16-40 for the full story.iv Ephesians 4:4-5v Ephesians 4:15-16; See John 17vi Philippians 2:10-11vii See Colossians 1:15-20

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viiiColossians 1:19-20; See Romans 8:18-21ix C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. (New York: Macmillan) 55-56

7.1-23 What is Kosher?Kosher is one of those Hebraicisms like “Amen” and “Hallelujah” that have become so familiar to us that we don’t think about their origins. We know that kosher has to do with Judaism’s dietary laws because

we can buy kosher food products in our grocery stores. Making a food item kosher has supposed health benefits that make it attractive even for non-Jews. Oreos, for example, were not kosher until 1997, while the Hydrox sandwich cookie was approved for Jewish consumption (author’s note: the relative efficacy of consuming an entire package of Oreos as an over-the-counter anti-depressant was not changed by the switch from lard to vegetable shortening).

Often our translations of the Bible render the word kosher (kashrut in Hebrew) as “clean” and its Hebrew opposite, trefah as “unclean.” More properly, these words should be translated as “permitted” and “not allowed.” Ham, contrary to the widely-circulated photo above, is never going to be kosher. Judaism does not have an opinion as to whether ham is “clean”; it’s quite simply not permitted under Jewish law. The commandment to wash hands that Jesus and his disciples ignore in 7.2 is encouraged in restaurants and public places all over Israel and anywhere there are large populations of observant Jews. The emphasis here is on public; even if you have washed your hands in the restroom, you still want to complete the visible ritual of running water over your hands before eating or praying.

The Evangelist is clearly writing for a non-Jewish audience, for he feels it necessary to explain something that all the Jews would already know: For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles. Since the transmission of bacteria was unknown in the time of Jesus, this curious practice of the Jews was worthy of note to a non-Jewish readership!

The religious authorities are concerned that this famous teacher from Galilee and his disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands. In week 1, we talked about the desire of the Pharisees to achieve righteousness through their observance of God’s law, Torah, as well as the fact that Jesus had followers who were Pharisees. The failure of these religious authorities is not because they are trying to right, but because they are trying to look like they are doing right:

‘This people honors me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me;7in vain do they worship me,teaching human precepts as doctrines.’8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.

Jesus’ indictment of them is alarming in its familiarity! These Pharisees are not the only ones who honor God with their lips, but not with their lives. Thinking first of the secular world, where do you see a

dissonance between what people say and what they do? ________________________________

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A little closer to home, where do you see the Church failing to do what it says, to “practice what it preaches? ______________________________________________________________________

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Finally, how are you falling short of the faith you profess? How have you honored God with your lips, but denied him in your heart? Where are you adhering to human tradition over God’s commandments?_________________________________________________________________

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By the time of the writing of the gospel of Mark, the separation between Judaism and Christianity had become well-defined. The issue of permitted and impermissible foods, critical for the Jews and the first Christians (who had been Jews), was a moot point for later Christians, most of whom were pagan converts. Mark’s gospel gives another perspective on what the disciple Peter will have to deal with a little later on (Acts 10), the issue of whether or not eating something can make someone ritually defiled. When we separate Jesus’ words from the issue of “clean and unclean” foods, their truth rings across the centuries: 20And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. 

7.24-37 Signs and Wonders The gospel of Mark is not the literary gem that the gospel of Luke is, nor does it approach the theological profundity of John. It is very plain and forthright. Right after talking about what is and is not permitted, we see an example of what is and is not permitted. Jesus has gone to the largely Gentile coastal area of Tyre only to find that his notoriety has preceded him. A woman who was was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin, comes to Jesus asking him to heal her little daughter, who had an unclean spirit. Jesus’ response seems, to our Southern sensitivities, at best rude. At worst, it’s not very “Christ-like.”

One of the marvels of our Bible is that the rough edges are largely intact. We do not see a document that has been cleaned up for publication, with all the loose ends snipped away and all the questions answered. Sometimes, the document is puzzling. That makes it the more trustworthy. Any prosecutor will tell you that, if all the witnesses agree to the last detail, they’ve agreed on a story beforehand. Such is not the case with our Bible. The witnesses agree in the essentials but not in the details. Some questions are unanswered. And sometimes, as in the story of the Syrophoenician woman, things just don’t make sense.

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We do know several things about this Jesus. Firstly, Jesus is the kind of person whom outsiders feel they can approach—lepers, Gentiles, sinners, tax collectors—all these folks behave as if they somehow have the right to approach this man. Secondly, Jesus does not “shut people down” if they argue with him. Arguing about points of the law is a wonderful Jewish tradition. You may remember Tevye singing in Fiddler on the Roof (Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick): “If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack to sit in the synagogue and pray. And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall. And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all.” The interchange between Jesus and this Gentile (non-Jewish) woman is a rabbinic argument illustrating the point Jesus has made in the preceding section: that which defiles comes from the inside, not from the outside. A woman outside the covenant demonstrates that the covenant extends to her. Thirdly, Jesus is interested in seeing

people be made whole, no matter who they are, and he is quite willing to become “unclean” himself to that end. He touches the deaf man (7.32-37) in his ears and on his tongue, and speaks to him in Aramaic, commanding that his impediment be released.

8.1-10 The Second Feeding of the MultitudeThe Rev. Frank Cooper has pointed out that when you share bread, you share what is in the hands and in the hearts of the other person. He says that we not only are what we eat, we are also who we eat with. According to the Rev. Cooper, the first miracle here is that of trust: the people even ate bread from “God knows where.” How did they know it was kosher? It could have been anywhere! The second miracle is that of humility: although the disciples failed in hospitality, yet Jesus gives them a role in the care of his kingdom. These are the same disciples in whose steps we follow and from whom we must learn the twin lessons of trust and humility. Trust precludes checking to see if someone is “trust-worthy.” We’ll get burned, and burned badly, if we trust people. We have to trust anyway if we are to be disciples. Humility precludes checking to see if the other person is worthy of our respect! We’ll be embarrassed, and

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3. Jesus’ self-chosen references and behaviors

2. The awareness of Jesus’ hearers of OT prophecy

1. Awareness of the gospel writers of OT prophecy

Jesus’ actions are fulfilling what the prophets declared to be the actions of messiah. That this was occurring was not necessarily evident at the time. Messianic behavior in the Synoptic gospels can be understood in three layers. 1. The most common, outermost layer is the thorough-going awareness that the gospel writers have of Old

Testament prophecy. They make the connection for the reader between OT prophecy and the ways that Jesus fulfills this prophecy. An example of this first layer is Mark’s opening reference to the prophet Isaiah (1.2-3).

2. The middle, less common layer is the awareness of Jesus’ hearers of OT prophecy. The people who heard Jesus preach could see how Jesus was fulfilling these. An example of this second layer can be seen in the healing of the man who was deaf and mute, which fulfills Isaiah 35.5-6.

3. The innermost layer is Jesus’ self-chosen references and behaviors—how Jesus chose to make his own behavior conform to the Old Testament prophecies. This will be seen in his careful plans to enter the city of Jerusalem on “Palm Sunday”, fulfilling Zechariah 9.9.

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embarrassed often, if we try to be humble. We do not deserve the trust and respect Jesus offers us—and no one else does, either. But that will not stop him, and it should not stop us.

Where do I find a barrier to trust in my relationships with other parts of the body of Christ—the Church? Who do I have a hard time trusting? __________________________________________

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What does it mean for me to be truly humble? What are my “conditions” that must be met before I serve someone? _________________________________________________________________

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8.11-21 What is a “Sign”, Anyway?The peculiar thing about signs in the New Testament is that they are insufficient, in and of themselves, for faith. It seems that, with all the miracles Jesus performed, that the entire nation, indeed, the entire world should have been converted. Such has not been the case. Perhaps we would have reacted differently, but that seems unlikely. What seems to make the difference in the stories about signs and miracles is not the character of the supernatural events, but the character of the people who witnessed them. Referring back to Bob Hydrick’s insight in Week 2, we want to be “the good soil, …people with hearts that are open to the Word. Like the disciples, [we want to] receive it and believe in it [so that] it takes root in [our] hearts” (p. 12). The issue then, is not the miracle itself, but what we do with it.

The Rev. Charles Cox tells the story of his former barber in Albany regaled his captive audience with the story of how he went over the dam in the Flint River in his fishing boat. The barber survived, he said, because “The Lord was with me!” After the haircut was finished, my father arose and said, “It’s true that the Lord was with you when you went over the dam. But he would have been with you if you had died, too.” Of course, then he had to find a new barber.

Jesus’ frustration with the Pharisees shows that, like the barber in Albany, they are not getting it: “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” He is likewise frustrated with the disciples, who seem not to grasp the deeper meaning of his teaching. We can be both amused and comforted by the disciples’ simplicity and superficiality. We might feel superior to them in our grasp of Kingdom teaching on some days; other days, we are so very grateful that Jesus did not choose brilliant philosophers and religious leaders as his disciples. The apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians, “25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength….  27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” (I Corinthians 1.22-29)

8.22-37 The Confrontation at Caesarea PhilippiThe question of comprehension comes to a head at Caesarea Philippi, a Roman town in the neighborhood of the great pagan shrine at Dan. Jesus has been teaching and healing at Bethsaida, a town whose location is believed to be in this area. Jesus is still in Galilee, but is about to begin his journey to Jerusalem.

In healing the blind man of Bethsaida (8.22-26), Jesus again makes use of saliva (compare 7.33 and John 9.6), which was believed then to have healing powers. After all, animals lick their wounds clean, so why wouldn’t that work on people? Although science has taught us that saliva (animal or human) is not really anti-bacterial, we nevertheless still see some evidence that people this contact is beneficial: “Let Mommy

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kiss it and make it better.” And most children know what it feels like for their mothers to try to rub away some dirt on their faces with a thumb or finger which the mother has licked!

In all three synoptic gospels, the confrontation at Caesarea Philippi is a hinge point in the story of Jesus. It occupies a central place in each gospel (compare Matthew 16.13-20 and Luke 9.18-22). The sequence of events makes a tumultuous transition between the Galileean ministry of Jesus and the events in Jerusalem:1. Peter’s confession of faith: Matthew 16.13-16, Mark 8.27-29, Luke 9.18-202. Jesus’ predicts his suffering, death, & resurrection: Matthew 16.21, Mark 30-31, Luke 9.21-223. Peter’s rebuke of Jesus: Matthew 16.22, Mark 8.32 (Luke omits this)4. Jesus’ cursing of Peter: Matthew 16.23, Mark 8.33 (Luke omits this)

Why do you think Peter argues with Jesus? ___________________________________________

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Some possibilities: Peter didn’t want Jesus to suffer Peter though he could make everything better by not talking about it Peter was afraid of the consequences for Jesus’ movement Peter was afraid of personal consequencesJesus’ response is that Peter is setting his mind “not on divine things but on human things.” One sympathizes.

Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?” must be answered by all his followers before we can carry his good news to others—before we can be apostles of the gospel. When the answer involves suffering and rejection—for him and for us—it is very hard for us to keep our minds focused—to set our minds on divine things.

Those who wish to save their lives must lose them (8.34 ff.). Jesus commands his followers to take up their cross and follow him. In context, this is not a metaphorical request. 34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

PRAYER FOCUS: How is St. Luke reaching out to the community? What are we doing to lift up the name of Jesus? Where are our weaknesses? What can we do better? How is God calling you to answer these needs? _______________________________________________________________________________

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PRAYER: I want to be able to be strong and clear about who you are, Lord Jesus, in all that I speak and think and do. Help me be a good witness of your great love and mercy. Amen.

WEEK 5 (MARCH 18-24) MARK 9-10 I BELIEVE; HELP MY UNBELIEF!

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Area of Service: Bishop James R. King will lead a district-wide worship service on March 25 at St. Luke at 4:00 p.m. in the Ministry Center. Contact Maggie Roberson at 706-327-4343 or maggie@stlukeum.com to volunteer to greet our visitors. Plan to be a part of this wonderful celebration!

9.1-13 The Present and Coming Kingdom of GodOf all the gospels, Jesus is most reticent about claiming messianic power and authority in Mark’s gospel. We cannot know the Evangelist’s reasoning; we do know that the result is that the “burden of proof” is shifted to the reader. Jesus’ teaching that some will not taste death (9.1 ff.) points to the clear eschatological expectation in the Evangelist’s gospel. Eschatology is a study of the “end times,” as in the end of time as we understand it. This is something that has been very much in the news over this past year and into 2012. The secular world struggles with how this belief affects the lives of Christian believers, and many Christians struggle with it as well.

Jesus’ phrase would seem to indicate that he believed that God would bring time to a close very soon. However, it’s hard to know what “soon” is for God, since God exists outside of time, in the realm of the infinite. Better to think of the end of time as being “near” than “soon”, and to balance this statement with the Evangelist’s recording of Jesus’ own caveat in 13.32: But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” The capitalizations of son and father are by the translator and are not original to the Greek.

Theologians teach that God’s Kingdom both is and is to come. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. Compare to marriage: on one’s wedding day, one is as married as one can ever be. Nevertheless, we would not say that a newlywed has a full understanding of what it means to be married. In the same way, we can be a part of God’s Kingdom here on earth and grow into it all our lives, without ever exhausting what it means to be a part of God’s Kingdom.

The curtain of mystery that shrouds Mark’s Jesus for most of the gospel is swept aside as Jesus and his three most trusted disciples ascend a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud

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Mark 9.2-8 “O Wondrous Sight! O Vision Fair”Words: Sarum Breviary, 1495 UM Hymnal 258

O wondrous sight! O vision fair of glory that the church shall share, which Christ upon the mountain shows, where brighter than the sun he glows!

From age to age the tale declares how with the three disciples there where Moses and Elijah meet, the Lord holds converse high and sweet.

The law and prophets there have place, two chosen witnesses of grace; the Father's voice from out the cloud proclaims his only Son aloud.

With shining face and bright array, Christ deigns to manifest that day what glory shall be theirs above who joy in God with perfect love.

And faithful hearts are raised on high by this great vision's mystery; for which in joyful strains we raise the voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.

(from the United Methodist Website: www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2310047/

ConversionThis process of salvation involves a change in us that we call conversion. Conversion is a turning around, leaving one orientation for another. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. But in any case, it’s a new beginning. Following Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, “You must be born anew” (John 3:7 RSV), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ, or regeneration.Following Paul and Luther, John Wesley called this process justification. Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as “just” in God’s eyes through religious and moral practices. It’s a time when God’s “justifying grace” is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we’re justified by God’s grace through faith.Justification is also a time of repentance—turning away from behaviors rooted in sin and toward actions that express God’s love. In this conversion we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation through the Holy Spirit “bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

Excerpt from The United Methodist Member's Handbook, p. 78-79.Sanctifying GraceSalvation is not a static, one-time event in our lives. It is the ongoing experience of God’s gracious presence transforming us into whom God intends us to be. John Wesley described this dimension of God’s grace as sanctification, or holiness. (Excerpt from Teachers as Spiritual Leaders and Theologians. Used by permission.)Through God’s sanctifying grace, we grow and mature in our ability to live as Jesus lived. As we pray, study the Scriptures, fast, worship, and share in fellowship with other Christians, we deepen our knowledge of and love for God. As we respond with compassion to human need and work for justice in our communities, we strengthen our capacity to love neighbor. Our inner thoughts and motives, as well as our outer actions and behavior, are aligned with God’s will and testify to our union with God.

(Excerpt from Teachers as Spiritual Leaders and Theologians.Used by permission.)

We’re to press on, with God’s help, in the path of sanctification toward perfection. By perfection, Wesley did not mean that we would not make mistakes or have weaknesses. Rather, he understood it to be a continual process of being made perfect in our love of God and each other and of removing our desire to sin. (Adapted from Who Are We? : Doctrine, Ministry, and the Mission of The United Methodist Church, Revised: Leader's Guide by Kenneth L. Carder, Cokesbury, p. 46.)

overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

Moses and Elijah (foretold in Malachi 4.5-6 to return before messiah) appear and endorse Jesus, a voice from heaven blesses Jesus—as at his baptism (1.11). The gospel of Mark has no birth story, but Jesus’ sonship could not be more powerfully affirmed than it is at his baptism and transfiguration. What God says, God makes real. Jesus is physically transformed by being in the presence of God so that he has an unearthly appearance.

Peter, who has called him Messiah at Caesarea Philippi, now inexplicably reverts to calling Jesus “Rabbi.” Jesus is transfigured; the other disciples, not so much. They have questions about the resurrection but again, discuss it among themselves. Peter—the good-hearted one, the one who speaks before he thinks, the one who will become the first to turn away and the first to preach—Peter tries to hang onto the majesty of the moment. He is still in the process of becoming a disciple, a process that will not be fully realized until after the resurrection.

John Wesley talks about this process in terms of the word sanctification, but it could not be better expressed than in the story of the father of the boy who was having seizures. As they come down from the mountain, they see the remainder of the disciples in a noisy crowd. Some of the scribes from the synagogue are arguing with them. The Evangelist implies that there was something about Jesus’ appearance, even hours later, that was awesome. The comparison with Moses’ transfigured appearance after encountering God on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20.18-21) is evident in the gospel of Mark.

9.14-29 I Believe; Help Thou My UnbeliefExactly what was the nature of the argument is unknown; Jesus’ question in v. 16 is not really answered by the response in v. 17. It’s interesting that the Evangelist found the subject of the argument less important than the fact of the argument. That’s a telling insight into arguments within all houses of faith:

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Philippians 2.1-10If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

what the world sees is not our differences over theology or practice. What they see is whether we fight a lot or are loving and accepting. It would be wonderful if we met the ideal described by the church father Tertullian, writing in the 3rd Century about how the world sees the church: "Look," they say, "how they love one another" (for they themselves hate one another); "and how they are ready to die for each other" (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).

Have you ever heard of arguments within a congregation? How does that affect your opinion of

that congregation? _____________________________________________________________

What kind of things do congregations argue about? What is the responsibility of the member who

is a part of that congregation? ______________________________________________________

Arguing within a congregation is an ancient (and still embarrassing) tradition. There is an old Jewish joke (on which there are many Protestant and Catholic variations) about the man who was rescued from his desert island home. The rescuers were confounded by the presence, in addition to his little hut, of two shuls, or houses of worship. “Why two?”, they asked. “One is where I go to pray, and one is where I don’t go.”

The arguments detract terribly from the mission of the church. Jesus is furious with his disciples: “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?” When they bring the boy to Jesus, he experiences yet another convulsion. Jesus inquires closely of the boy’s father about the nature of the convulsions. The father’s response elicits memories of agonized midnight emergency room visits from any modern parent: how terrible to see your beloved child suffer and be able to do absolutely nothing!

21Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” 

Jesus hears and responds not to the tragedy of the boy’s illness, but to the father’s use of the conditional “if”: “What do you mean if!” All things can be done for the one who believes. And the father makes the most profoundly honest confession of faith in all of Scripture: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Here is where we find ourselves most of the time, somewhere on the road between confidence and confusion. Few Christians can dwell for long on the razor blade of question-free faith. The late Marion Edwards, former pastor of St. Luke, later Bishop in North Carolina, said that he had quite a list of questions which he wished to ask Jesus when he arrived in heaven—things that bothered him. He acknowledged that, by the time he stood on the streets of gold, some of the questions might not bother him anymore, but his relationship with God was such that he trusted that he could ask God anything.

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The man’s honest appraisal of both his faith and his failings moved Jesus as nothing else would. Here is the truth: God desires us to be honest with him. How else can he help us? When the parent asks the crying child, “What is the matter?”, that parent wants to know what is really the matter, even if it is hurtful for the parent to hear. There is absolutely nothing we can say to God that has not already been said by the psalmists. He is God; can we diminish him by our questions? Can we reduce him by our doubt? No. But we can open our souls to his inquiring spirit, so that we can be searched and known, cleansed and made whole. If we do not come to him with our questions, we find ourselves in the same boat as the disciples in v. 32: 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Jesus explains to the disciples that the kind of spirit that had possessed the boy can come out only through prayer. The text is not clear at this point on the exact meaning. But Jesus’ uniquely open relationship with the boy’s father reveals a profound truth about what it means to be a follower of Jesus: those who are willing to open themselves to him are entirely transformed and made whole. Sometimes this is a physical healing. Sometimes it will be a spiritual or emotional healing.

From what do you need to be healed? ________________________________________________

What is standing in the way of your healing? __________________________________________

9.33-48; 10.28-44 “The Greatest”Muhammed Ali once said, “I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.” See? It’s just embarrassing to talk like that. And yet Jesus catches his disciples at it more than once: “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest (9.33-34). “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (10.37).

In what must have been the first children’s sermon, he assumes the teaching posture of the rabbi (whenever Jesus sits down, you know it’s time to pay attention!) and gathers the twelve around him. Because of what happens next, we know that there were more people there. He takes a little child in his arms and looks around at the men to whom he has entrusted the sharing of the good news: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all….Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Later, Jesus reiterates this theme, saying “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it” (10.14-15).

Do the

disciples get it? They do not. Like the children in the back seat of the parents’ van, they seem to think that they are invisible and inaudible. Their continued jealousy of one another is expressed by John, who is

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Mark 10.13-16 “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus”Words: William H. Parker, 1885 UM Hymnal 277

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear; things I would ask him to tell me if he were here: scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea, stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

First let me hear how the children stood round his knee, and I shall fancy his blessing resting on me; words full of kindness, deeds full of grace, all in the lovelight of Jesus' face.

Into the city I'd follow the children's band, waving a branch of the palm tree high in my hand; one of his heralds, yes, I would sing loudest hosannas, "Jesus is King!"

An Anonymous StoryIt took me a year [after I was divorced] to be able to say the "D" word. I had always been taught that "good people" did not get divorced. However, I can now say with no hesitation that God does not love me any less. It's comforting to me to remember when I read passages [like this one in Mark] to remember the story of Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4.1-42).

One of the things I think the Church (and I am not talking just about St. Luke) needs to learn is how to minister to those persons as they travel this road. Divorce is messy even in the best circumstances. It affects us financially, emotionally, physically and mentally. We need to reach out at this time as much as when there is a death because in many ways it is.

I came to St. Luke before the divorce was final because I thought St. Luke was big enough I could get lost and never have to be involved. It seems God had other plans for my life. This church, collectively and individually, put their loving arms around me and loved me back to wholeness. A lot of those saints have gone on to their reward, John and Marjorie [Richardson], Mary and Bill Trembath, Johnnie Pritchett were among those who loved and welcomed me. Gilbert and Frances [Ramsey] and Blair Richards were staff members who were there for me. While this was true of St. Luke, it was not true of the wider church.

upset that some unnamed disciple is horning in on the exclusive turf of the apostles: healing in Jesus’ name. After their failure in 9.28, you’d think they’d be okay with someone being able to heal, but their focus is on their own power, not on serving others. Again and again, Jesus redirects their (and our) focus. Whoever is not against us is for us. 41For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

And then more specifically, he narrows the focus to his disciples. In the mind’s eye, you can imagine him narrowing his eyes as well. Jesus clearly does not want his disciples to ever put their own ambition before the needs of children. Ever. If that means with putting up with music that is not our favorite, so be it. If that means tolerating a bit of mayhem in the Sunday School class next door, so be it. If it means hearing a child cry out during church, so be it.

Several years ago, a young mother was abashed when her newly-adopted four-year-old daughter responded to a beautiful anthem by our choir with a hearty “Bravo!” in her native Romanian. Jesus would have responded to her as he responded to his disciples: If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. He is using hyperbole to make his point, but that does not make it less true or less appropriate. Be nice to little kids. It’s in the Bible.

How do we keep from stumbling ourselves? Jesus says that we are to remove—or allow God to remove—whatever it is that causes us to sin. Most of us do this by trying to push the sin away or push ourselves away from the sin, but that seems only to increase its power. The Rev. Jim Trice, former Columbus District Superintendent offers this suggestion: rather than thinking that we have the power to address the sin and conquer it ourselves (that is blasphemy), offer the sin to God. Let God deal with it. It’s not like God doesn’t already know we have this problem, right?

Regarding 9.49—“salted with fire”—the New Oxford Annotated edition of the New Revised Standard Version remarks that the meaning of such passages is “quite opaque”. In scholarly jargon, that means, “We have no idea what this means, and we don’t care.”

10.1-12 Jesus’ Teaching on DivorceJesus goes “behind the Law” (Leander Keck’s phrase) to the intent of God’s will. No one would argue that divorce is a blessed event. Whenever divorce is necessary, Jesus teaches that it is because of the hardness of somebody’s (or two somebodies’) heart(s) (10.5). Dr. Jon Gunneman, ethics professor at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, said that people sometimes condemn the Church for teaching that

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divorce is sin, but, “I can tell you divorce certainly feels like sin. And we need to know that before we can experience forgiveness.”

The Pharisees seem to have lost sight of the human element here. The name for the divorce in Hebrew is the get, and just like everything else, the get is bound in law and restriction. Note that Jesus’ comment in 10.12 about the wife divorcing her husband does not apply in Palestine, where it was forbidden for a woman to seek to divorce a man.

In dealing with divorce, there are several things of which we in the Church can be guilty, among which are:

Pretend that there is not a problem in our friends’ marriage until it’s too late to help them. If we suspect a problem, are we not supposed to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4.15)?

Forget that building one another up—supporting one another in Christian marriage—is one of the tasks of the Church (I Corinthians 14.12)

Put the interests of the mother or the father ahead of the interests of the child. What is best for the child(ren) trumps what is best or desired for the parents.

Tolerating or forgiving serial marriage while condemning other sexual relationships. Devaluing Christian marriage by focusing on the event of the wedding over the institution of

marriage. Turning a blind eye to adultery within our religious, social or business circles.

What do we need to learn about marriage and divorce from Jesus? _________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

What can St. Luke do better about how we respond to persons who are divorcing? _____________

_______________________________________________________________________________

10.17-27 Do the Rich Go to Heaven?The Bible’s teaching on wealth is complicated. The Hebrew Bible is pretty clear that wealth is a sign that God has blessed a person—think of Job or David or the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4.5-10). The Hebrew Bible would be the only Bible the disciples had, which explains their confusion in 10.24 and the surprise (shock, 10.22) of the man who asks Jesus: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

Luke’s gospel favors the poor and oppressed (Blessed are you who are poor, 6.20); Matthew’s gospel is more circumspect (Blessed are the poor in spirit, 5.3). Mark’s gospel does not seek to resolve the question but reminds us that entering the kingdom of God entirely depends on God, not on our efforts or wealth (or lack thereof): “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

Jesus’ commandment to this man—who is “young” and rich in Matthew’s gospel (19.22), “rich” in Mark’s (10.22), and a “ruler” in Luke’s, (18.18)—seems to be specific to him, although we know that the first generation of Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 2.43-47) sold their possessions and had a sort of communal life. The problem with possessions, as one wag pointed out, is that sooner or later they begin to possess us. Jesus clearly wants us to avoid that. We may be just as confused as the disciples in that

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regard. What is the path to salvation like when it is so very difficult for us to disentangle ourselves from our “stuff”?

If I ran up to Jesus and asked him, “What must I do to be saved?”, what would he say to me? ____

_______________________________________________________________________________

10:46-52 Following Jesus on “the Way”Jesus is headed south now from Galilee. He passes through Jericho, an important oasis on the way to Jerusalem. Three important stories in the Synoptics are placed in Jericho: the healing of the blind man (Mark 10.41-51), the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-35), and the story of Zacchaeus, the “wee little man” (Luke 19.1-6). In Mark’s gospel, this is the last event in Jesus’ life before his final week.

In Hebrew and Aramaic (the Semitic language spoken by Jesus), bar means “son of”. Simon bar Jonah (Matthew 16.17) is Simon, son of Jonah. This man, the blind beggar, has no name known to us other than “the son of Timaeus.” He sits in the dust on the road leading from Jericho up to Jerusalem. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Again, followers of Jesus try to “protect” him from folks who would disturb his holy path (compare 10.13-16). Again, Jesus makes a space and time for the one who is seeking his blessing. The verbs in this passage give a sense of the intensity of the encounter: there is shouting, ordering, crying, calling out, throwing off, springing up, and following. Jesus tries to send him home, exactly as he has done with every other person whom he has healed in Mark’s gospel. Only the son of Timaeus does not obey. He followed Jesus on the way—and the way he follows is the way to the cross. Less than one week later, his formerly blind eyes might have seen this Jesus crucified.

PRAYER FOCUS: One way to help sort our priorities is to practice a tithe of our income—10% of our “first fruits” to be returned to God. If you are not currently tithing your income, submit your question to God: is this something God wants you to do to help you? Talk with one of your pastors or a friend who tithes about what that might mean for you and your family._____________________________________________________________________________________

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PRAYER: Lord, what do I need from you to be a truer, more faithful disciple? What do I need to cast aside to follow up on the way? I’m so used to my own way that it is hard to see your way clearly. Forgive me for my blindness. Give me new eyes and a new heart. Help me to follow you in your way. Amen.

WEEK 6 (MARCH 25-31) MARK 11-13 “WHICH COMMANDMENT IS THE FIRST OF ALL?” Area of Service: Teaching children and youth in Sunday School, at Summer Camps, at United Methodist Youth Fellowship or Vacation Bible School; assisting with choir or puppets or Scouts; reading and volunteering in your child’s class at school and being there for every single game: all of these things lay down a foundation for faith which someday they will have an opportunity to build on. How are you helping lay the foundation for faith at St. Luke? To find out how to help, contact Mitch or Tammy Watts with the Youth Ministry (mitch@stlukeum.com or tammy@stlukeum.com), Hannah Ayers with Children’s Choir and puppets (hayers@stlukeum.com), and Rev. Loretta Dunbar with Education and Children’s Ministries (Loretta@stlukeum.com).

11.1-11 Jesus enters Jerusalem It is apparent from the narrative that there is some prior arrangement with some unnamed follower in Bethpage or Bethany for the borrowing of the donkey. Jesus orchestrates his entrance into Jerusalem in a highly symbolic way: he is choosing to fulfill scripture and portraying himself as the messiah, and as a Messiah of Peace. A conqueror would have ridden in on a war-horse. Dr. Bill Mallard notes that after the Messiah makes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, he does not stay, but ironically leaves and returns to Bethany.

The word which is translated “season” in the NRSV refers to exactly the right time or to God’s time () Contrast this with the word which we might have expected to be used here, chronos, . Chronos is the word from which we get “chronometer” (watch) or “chronological”, and refers to time that flows in a linear fashion. The two forms of time are contrasted above. We tend to think in chronos-time, which is human time, and we expect God to act in chronos-time, because every now and then, God’s time (chairos) intersects with chronos. In fact, if you were to put your own life on a time-line—a chronological line—you could point to where God’s time—God’s chairos—intersected with your life. That would be the time or period when you came to know God’s saving grace. God always acts in chairos time, every time!

God’s business is conducted “at the right time.” Jesus came at the right time, he died at the right time, and rose again at the right time. We move along with our mortal instruments, watches, calendars, computers, measuring time and somehow expecting the infinite God to conform to our standards. During the Christmas season, you may have seen “Jesus is the Reason for the Season!” Mallard explains that is not quite right: “Jesus is the Season!” His arrival makes it the right time!

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chronos: chronological or linear time, the time in which we live— chronos is a mortal creation. Translated as “times” in the Bible, this is the time by which we live while on earth.

chairos is G

od’s time—

the “right tim

e”, translated as “seasons” in the Bible. Chairos occasionally intersects chronos, as at M

t. Sinai or at the Resurrection.

11.12-14 The Cursing of the Fig TreeMallard also points out that Jesus is acting here in accordance with the prophecies of Malachi, key to understanding the role of messiah. When Jesus comes back into Jerusalem from Bethany, he is hungry and sees a fig tree. Mallard notes that Augustine of Hippo found it unacceptable that Jesus, God’s Son, the Almighty, the (logos), could be hungry. Augustine asserted rather that Jesus chose to be hungry for our sakes. He chose that so that the prophecy of Malachi (4.1) could be fulfilled: See, the day

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REFLECTION ON MARK 12:28 – 34 Helen Berenthien

Mark’s Gospel tells us that this incident takes place during Jesus’ last week on earth, as he visits and cleanses (casts out the vendors and money changers) the Temple in Jerusalem. Mark tells us that the Chief Priests and Scribes wanted to do away with and destroy Jesus (just as the Pharisees and Herodians had back in Mark 3:6, after Jesus had healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. After several verbal challenges (the baptism of John in 11:27 – 33; the Parable of the Vineyard and the Unjust Tenants in 12:1 – 11; the Question of Paying Taxes to Caesar in 12:13 – 17; and the Belief in Marriage After Death in 12:18 – 27), in all of which Jesus gets the best of his adversaries with truths which they cannot deny; they choose to remain silent in order not to be outdone and embarrassed before the people. Then, after hearing these exchanges and “seeing that Jesus answered them well” (Mark 12:28), one of the Scribes asks Jesus another question: “Which commandment is the first of all?” Unlike the other authorities who were “testing Jesus” and “seeking to justify themselves”—an attitude which unfortunately we hear from and see in practice in others today—and which too many times I recognize as my own, as well! —this Pharisee is really trying to hear what Jesus is saying and to see if what he has learned and believes is right. As Halford Luccock says in The Interpreters Bible (1951, Vol. VII, p . 846): This Pharisee is “the model for the right approach both to Christ and to the scripture….It is the reverent, humble search to learn the will of God for us and for our time; vastly different from the frequent attempt to bend the Almighty around until we can use him as a support for policies and points of view which we have already decided upon without reference to him.” Jesus’ answer summarizes the entire law and satisfies the questions not only of the Scribes and Pharisees centuries ago, but also describes clearly how I as a sometimes perplexed and struggling Christian in the 21st Century should live and believe and behave in a complex and rapidly changing world. Jesus gives two plain (but certainly not simple) rules:

1. Love God with all of my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength; and 2. Love my neighbor as myself.

These are for me some of the most powerful and challenging words that Jesus every spoke. As I ponder them, I must ask myself: Do I really want to learn from Jesus? Is my heart open and receptive to hearing the true word from our Lord, or am I more concerned with justifying myself and the position(s) I hold or have held for a long time….because it makes ME look better, and I can therefore say: “see, I knew I was right!...and since I’m right, then you’re wrong…..so I’m smarter and more perceptive than you are…so there!” and I can walk away patting myself on the back and feeling superior—never having learned anything at all! So…what did this Scribe do right, that might apply to my 21st century living? 1. He LISTENED TO Jesus and what he had to say, and observed how he behaved

and interacted with people. 2. He tested Jesus’ words and answers against what he also had been taught and

believed was true. 3. He stated his faith: “I am responsible for loving God with all that I am and all that I

have; and then I must love others as much as I love myself - - which is the other half of the equation.

Jesus welcomed this attitude from the Scribe and welcomes that same attitude from us. This is a monstrous, 24-hour-a-day task; but I am encouraged by the fact that “Only a God who IS love would make love his supreme demand!” (Luccock , p. 847); and I may trust that love to be my guide and my strength and everything I need as I seek to do His will day by day. PRAYER Lord, please help me always to be open to hearing the truth from you: hearing, trusting, believing YOUR truth, and then with your help and direction, applying this truth to the way I think and feel and live every day of my life. Thank you, holy Lord. Amen.

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is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. In Augustine’s understanding, Jesus acted in accordance with Malachi, not out of some petty vindictiveness against a harmless fig tree!

11.15-19 The Cleansing of the TempleMallard also points to Malachi (1.10-12) for help in understanding the next event in Jesus’ life. 10Oh, that someone among you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hands. 11For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. 12But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised. As in the other synoptic gospels, the “cleansing of the temple” is one of the precipitating events to Jesus’ arrest. Given that the Temple in Jerusalem, unique in its absence of statuary, was one of the best known public structures in the Roman world and had been restored and updated by Herod the Great at considerable public expense, Jesus’ actions are a very clear religious and political threat.

Mallard explains that the prophets of old spoke and acted for God. Jesus is here employing a prophetically symbolic act in much the same way as did the prophets of old. The doves were sold to the poor, who could not afford a sheep or goat (compare Jesus’ parents’ sacrifice in Luke 2). Possibly the poor were being taken advantage of, though we do not have Scriptural evidence for this. Jesus would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. Mallard notes that folks used the outer court of the temple, the Court of the Gentiles, as a shortcut from the city of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives. Jesus and the disciples went out of the city because it was not safe for them to stay in Jerusalem.

It takes a lot to kill a fig tree to its roots (11.20ff.). Any gardener who has tried to root out stray “suckers” from a fig tree can attest to that. Peter is amazed at Jesus’ power, but Jesus tries to help him understand that anything is possible with God, using hyperbole: If you say to this mountain (Mt. Zion, on which the temple is built) ‘be taken up and thrown into the sea’ and if you do not doubt in your heart.. . .it will be done. . .” The cursing of the fig tree is a parable which may refer to the rejection of Jesus’ message by some of the Jews. However, the parable is by no means clear. Mallard encourages a comparison of this story to Malachi 4.1: “See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” This is an instance of Jesus actively fulfilling the prophecy (compare to illustration on p. 23).

Mark’s gospel contains no “Lord’s Prayer” (as found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11), but the teaching to forgive as we are forgiven is repeated in 11.25. That this is found in the context of Jesus’ final earthly

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Mark 11.20-25 “Give Me the Faith Which Can Remove”Words: Charles Wesley, 1749 UM Hymnal 650

Give me the faith which can remove and sink the mountain to a plain; give me the childlike praying love, which longs to build thy house again; thy love, let it my heart o'er-power, and all my simple soul devour.

I would the precious time redeem, and longer live for this along, to spend and to be spent for them who have not yet my Savior known; fully on these my mission prove, and only breathe, to breathe thy love.

My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord, into thy blessed hands receive; and let me live to preach thy word, and let me to thy glory live; my every sacred moment spend in publishing the sinner's Friend.

Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart with boundless charity divine, so shall I all my strength exert, and love them with a zeal like thine, and lead them to thy open side, the sheep for whom the Shepherd died.

Mark 11.25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

Matthew 6.9-15 “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. 

Luke 11.1-4 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” 

Italics mark additions in Matthew’s gospel to what Luke’s gospel records.

week brings home the point that Jesus wants his disciples to learn this most difficult of his lessons before he is killed.

Again in 11.27-33 and 12.13-17, there are attempts by the religious leaders to trap Jesus with questions about his authority. Jesus counters both times with questions of his own, which, while astute and impressive, do nothing to defuse the situation with the powers that be. These classically rabbinic exchanges would have left his opponents ruefully acknowledging that he’d just beaten them at their own game, and vowing revenge. These two encounters bracket the parable of the wicked tenants, 12.1-12. The parable is aimed against the religious leaders, who realize its point and try to arrest Jesus.A further specious encounter with the Sadducees, who do not believe in resurrection, culminates in the wonderful statement of faith: He is God not of the dead, but of the living.

Most of the leaders are infuriated by Jesus’ insight (12.35), and Jesus warns the people against the scribes, who wore robes with long sleeves which would have prevented them from doing any manual labor. Pharisees all had some sort of occupation by which they earned their living. Saul of Tarsus, for example, was a tentmaker (Acts 18.1-3). The robe about which Jesus speaks would have been worn over the tunic and would generally be sleeveless. The scribes are contrasted with the widow (12.41), who gave all she had.

13 Mark’s “Little Apocalypse” This is the name which you may find as a heading in your Bible, but it doesn’t sound at all “little” when you read it! It is little only in comparison to the far lengthier treatment in Matthew’s gospel (chapters 24-25). The teachings of Jesus concerning the “end times” are not extensive—Jesus talks about money and its proper use far more than he talks about the end times. Jesus’ teachings seem to reflect events of 70 AD, when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Messianic pretenders, people who presented themselves as (or who perhaps who believed they were) messiah, were everywhere around the time of Jesus up to and even beyond 70AD.

There was a great rebellion against Rome known as the Bar-Kokhba rebellion in 132-135 AD. Many of the Jewish leaders—notably Rabbi Akiva—believed Simon bar-Kokhba was the real deal in messianic terms; he was successful (for a while) in defeating some Roman forces. It was Akiva who gave him the name “bar Kokhba” (“son of the star’), because he thought Simon was the one about whom Numbers 24.17 referred. The Emporer Hadrian brutally crushed the rebellion and sought to break the ties that Jews (and by association, early Christians) had to Jerusalem, even though the Christians did not acknowledge Bar Kokhba. Evidence of this failed rebellion was excised from contemporary Jewish writings but would have been common knowledge to the early Church, the first readers of this gospel.

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Some of the foundation stones of the Temple are the size of a school bus and weigh as much as a fully loaded 747 jet. The picture at the left is of a Bat-Mitzvah, or coming of age ritual for a “daughter of the Law” held along the Western wall but separate from the public area for praying, which divides male from female worshippers. Here the whole family can worship together. The stones in the background are smaller than the huge foundation stones; these came from the upper levels of the temple, not the foundation.

The disciples are impressed with the beauty of the building, but Jesus tries to impress on them that all of what they can see is transient and will disappear: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (13.31). The disciples are also reminded that though there will be many signs, “about that day or hour no one knows,”. . .therefore, “keep awake” (13.32, 37).

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Cynthia Cox Garrard © 2012

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How do we reflect the values which Jesus held for others? He offered healing for those who needed it. He fed the hungry, ate with sinners and the diseased, and recognized the gifts of even the most unlikely persons. What is a human life worth? What kind of difference in value do I assign my children as compared to a beggar on the street? One I shower with all they need and more; the other should be grateful for a stale sandwich or a coupon for a hamburger. One I stay up worrying about; the other rates barely a mention in my prayers.

PRAYER FOCUS: How am I loving God with all my heart and mind and strength? Where am I falling short?

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PRAYER Let me hear you in all the voices around me, Lord. Let me speak to you in tones of love and respect. Let me serve you in all that I do. Let me care for those over whom you have given me responsibility with tenderness and compassion. Let me be kind to the friendless. Let me be courageous to the unjust. Let me be your servant. Amen.Week 7 (April 1-7): Mark 14-16.8 Material to be added by Robert BeckumArea of Service: A group from St. Luke, led by Dr. Lee and Mrs. Suzanne McCluskey, will make a mission trip to Kenya June 28-July 10. They would like to take with them these items: new pencils, small hand-held pencil sharpeners, packs of notebook paper, un-inflated soccer balls and basketballs, and oven mitts for the women to use with cooking pots. Please bring your donations to the church office. Financial support is also welcome!

14.1-11 A Growing StormThe conspiracy to kill Jesus grows at the Passover approaches, however, the religious leaders are trying to avoid that particular coincidence, because they know that if they arrest Jesus during the festival. . .they may be a riot among the people (14.1-2). Four of the six insurrections against Rome happened during the Passover, always with devastating results. Jesus continues to work, although he does not stay in Jerusalem all the time. The fact that the religious and political leaders were trying every way possible to avoid arresting Jesus during the Passover is significant: how is that he came to be arrested at that time if they were seeking to avoid it?

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I Would Be TrueHoward A. Walter, 1906

v. 4-6 by Samuel R. Harlow, c.19181.2. I would be true, for there are those who trust

me;I would be pure, for there are those who care;I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;I would be brave, for there is much to dare.

3.4. I would be friend of all—the foe, the

friendless;I would be giving, and forget the gift;I would be humble, for I know my weakness;I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift.

5.6. I would be faithful through each passing

moment;I would be constantly in touch with God;I would be strong to follow where He leads me;I would have faith to keep the path Christ trod.

7.8. Who is so low that I am not his brother?

Who is so high that I’ve no path to him?Who is so poor I may not feel his hunger?Who is so rich I may not pity him?

9.10. Who is so hurt I may not know his heartache?

Who sings for joy my heart may never share?Who in God’s heav’n has passed beyond my vision?Who to hell’s depths where I may never fare?

11.12. May none, then, call on me for

understanding,May none, then, turn to me for help in pain,

In 14.3-9, we read of the anointing at Simon’s house. This is not Simon Peter, but Simon the leper. “Leprosy” is used in the Bible as a general term for several skin conditions, including what we now know as Hansen’s disease. We don’t know what skin condition Simon had. Nard was imported from India and very expensive. Those who were offended by the extravagance (the Evangelist doesn’t specify who was offended. It could have been the disciples or Simon or onlookers.) may also have been offended by having a woman invite herself in while the men were eating—men and women did not eat together. Jesus makes it clear that he understands what the woman meant to do—to anoint him beforehand for his coming burial. The tribute Jesus pays her is the highest compliment he pays anyone in the gospels: “Wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

14.7 The Poor You will Always HaveJesus quotes Deuteronomy 15.11: Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.” This is not as an excuse for us to ignore the poor but for them to be a perpetual focus of our generosity. The woman’s action was singular and timeless.

Again the Evangelist contrasts the faith of an outsider with the lack of faith of the disciples, in this case, with the lack of faith of Judas, who begins to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus (14.10-11). Again we face the question: what is a human life worth? The woman gladly gives nearly a year’s worth of wages in the form of the perfume, yet Judas sells Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

14.10-11 Judas’ betrayal

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“HE GAVE THANKS”Mark 14.12-26

Charles Cox, Sr.

In the gospel according to Mark, there are three specific episodes in which Jesus gave thanks for bread that was to be consumed at a meal.

The first episode is the feeding of the 5,000 and is recorded in Mark 6.30-44. In this particular event, the disciples were commanded to feed the crowd, but they could come up with only five loaves of bread and two fish. John tells us that it was a boy that provided the bread and the fish. Nevertheless, from this small fare, the five thousand were fed, and afterwards, the disciples filled twelve baskets with leftovers.

In the second episode, as recorded in Mark 8.1-10, Jesus took seven loaves of bread, gave thanks and fed a crowd of four thousand. Afterwards, his disciples filled seven baskets with leftovers.

The third episode is the most fascinating and intriguing of the three. It occurred on the evening of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples. The story, as it is told in Mark 14.12-26, has the same format as the other two episodes. Notice that in all three events Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and gave it to others. While the format is the same for all three events, the message Jesus delivered in giving thanks for the bread is staggering. Note that in John 6.35 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” In today’s memory verse, “Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, Take it; this is my body.”

Dare we comprehend what Jesus said at the Last Supper? There, Jesus the bread of life, took a loaf of bread, broke it, gave thanks, gave it to his disciples and said, “This is my body.” Simply stated, in the breaking of the bread, Jesus said that he was willing to give himself up for our salvation.

In our finite minds, the things he said and meant are inconceivable and completely unreasonable. Yet, the truth of the Last Supper is there. Jesus was willing to die for our salvation, and for that he gave thanks!

Memory verse: “While they were eating, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take it; this is my body.” Mark 14.22

Thought for the Day: “What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.” (The United Methodist Hymnal, #292)

The story of the woman’s generous gift contrasts sharply with Judas’ act of betrayal. It is not that devotion and denial can be measured in money; it is more her extravagant gift contrasted with his mean-spirited focus on an immediate result. We really do not know what Judas’ motives were. We do know how very common betrayal is—among families, friends, fellow students, co-workers—and for much less money (about a month’s wage) than Judas was paid.

14.12-25 The Last Supper (compare to Matthew 25.17-19 and Luke 22.7-13) Jesus’ words in v. 13 make it clear that this supper is also prearranged, as was the borrowing of the donkey. A man carrying a water jug would be rare—carrying water was women’s work—and thus easy to spot. A guest room upstairs would also be unusual; few homes would have enough space for 13 people to gather in one room, much less have an extra room in their home where they could set up a private, separate Passover meal. Some people bought a new set of earthenware dishes for Passover—they would be sure they were kosher. The host of this dinner must therefore be fairly wealthy. Jesus’ comment, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me” is puzzling: if Jesus clearly identifies who the traitor is, why didn’t the disciples do anything? The NOA/NRSV notes that the wording of the question asked by the disciples in v. 19 indicates that they expect the answer to be negative: “Surely, not I?” Sometimes, when you already think you know what the answer should be, you can’t hear the actual response.

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The setting of the meal within the context of the Passover makes Jesus’ words deeply symbolic: “22While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

The meal ends with the singing of a hymn, one of the “Psalms of Ascent”, Psalms 115-118, the second part of the Hallel psalms. These were psalms sung by Jewish pilgrims as they streamed by the hundreds and thousands into Jerusalem for the high holy days. Using the dry wadis as natural highways, their voices would have echoed and resounded to the heavens as the very stones cried out (Luke 19.40).

After the meal, the disciples and Jesus return to the Mount of Olives, where they had been seeking shelter at night, perhaps in the small caves that dot the hill. His disciples are quite confident of their strength in the face of danger, yet they do not have the strength to stay awake and pray with Jesus as he asks (14.26-42). The Greek words which are translated in the NRSV as “distressed and agitated” should carry with them some sense of deep distress and alarm. The same word is used again in 16.5. The “garden” of Gethsemane was an olive grove facing the eastern side of the Temple Mount. It is now largely a cemetery and the sight of many Christian churches, but some old olive trees remain.

Olives bear fruit only on new growth. The trunks of the olive trees can live for decades and the roots for hundreds of years, but it is doubtful that there are any trees or roots on the Mount of Olives which date to the time of Jesus, as some over-zealous guides would have you believe. Despite the differences in the gospels’ presentations of the arrest of Jesus, the similarities between the four are striking. It is unlikely that the disciples would have chosen to present themselves in such an unflattering light unless this is actually what happened! No one wants to be remember for sleeping on watch. There is an oblique reference in 14.51 to a certain young man, which may be the “signature” of John Mark, held by some to be the author of this gospel. It is at the home of his mother, Mary, that the disciples meet in Acts 12.

Did Judas have a choice?The question of whether Judas had a choice is really a question about our own freedom of will. It

is quite clear from Jesus’ own actions that he was set on being arrested during the Passover, to make the impact and symbolism of his own death the most clear. If Judas had “declined the opportunity” that the religious leaders offered him, Jesus would have found another way to get himself arrested because that was his goal as he carried out God’s will for his life.

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Mark 14.26 “When in Our Music God is Glorified”Words: Fred Pratt Green, 1971 UM Hymnal, p. 68

When in our music God is glorified, and adoration leaves no room for pride, It is as though the whole creation cried: "Alleluia!" 

How often, making music, we have found a new dimension in the world of sound, As worship moved us to a more profound Alleluia! So has the Church, in liturgy and song, in faith and love, through centuries of wrong, Borne witness to the truth in ev'ry tongue: Alleluia! 

And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night when utmost evil strove against the Light? Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:  Alleluia! 

Let ev'ry instrument be tuned for praise! Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise! And may God give us faith to sing always: Alleluia! 

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There are plenty of Bible verses which can be marshaled in defense of the idea that Judas did not have a choice, however, none of them explains how Judas was singled out of all humankind for the task of giving up the messiah to his enemies, how Judas and no other had no choice. For him to have a choice makes him more like you and me, which raises the next question,

What is the Difference Between Judas and Peter?What is the difference between the actions of the two men? _______________________________

What is the difference between the consequences of the actions of the two men? ______________

What is the difference between Jesus’ reaction to the two men? ___________________________

What is the difference between the reactions of the two men to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion? ____

Given that the Bible tells us all we need to know for us to live a life “with God,” what do you think that God would have us learn for our own lives from Peter’s and Judas’ choices? _________

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14.53-65 Jesus is Arrested and Tried He is arrested at night and taken immediately to the high priest’s home. Jewish law required that trials take place in the light of day. The witnesses do not agree (14.56), something that is also required by Law. Jesus’ prophecy of the coming of messiah is interpreted by the priests as blasphemy, therefore they asserted that they did not still need witnesses (14.63) though that was required by Law. Luke 23.41 asserts that Joseph of Arimathea did not assent to the condemnation of Jesus (compare Mark 14.64).

14.66-72 Peter’s betrayal Peter is recognized by his accent (14.70) as one of Jesus’ followers and is accused as such by some of the bystanders. Despite the fact that Peter had sworn to risk his life for Jesus and had promised not to deny Jesus, he does so. The gospels differ as to the number of times the cock crows. When Peter realizes what he has done, he breaks down in tears.

15.1-15 Jesus before Pilate Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of the region of Syria, into which Judaea fell. He normally resided at Caesarea Maritime, but was in Jerusalem, accompanied by troops, to quell any possible insurrection at Passover. Although there is no Roman record of Jesus’ crucifixion, the details in the gospel are consistent with Roman practice. Jesus is inconsequential as far as Rome was concerned, just one of many who were crucified daily throughout the Empire. Pilate sees that the will of the people is that Jesus be killed; it is expedient for him to accede to them to appease their blood-lust.

15.16-20 The game of the king. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records Roman soldiers in the provinces playing a cruel game with condemned prisoners in which they mock them as kings before killing them. The game was so barbaric as to be outlawed in Rome (!). Records of this game survive from the 4th century, scratched in marble paving stones in Jerusalem in a convent along what is now known as the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrows (a designation which postdates Jesus’ death by some 1800 years).

15.21-24 Jesus is crucified. Generally, the condemned would carry only the horizontal bar on which he would be crucified. Sometimes, a passerby might be compelled to carry the crosspiece if the condemned was too weak to carry

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it. Cyrene is on the north coast of Africa in what is now Libya. Alexander and Rufus are mentioned by not further identified, possibly because the early readers of Mark’s gospel knew who they were. In the same way that you wish your grandparents had identified the people in their photo albums, so, too, do we wish that the Evangelist had further identified these men! Casting lots for the clothing of the condemned was common; these soldiers were probably not well-paid, and this was a terrible job.

15.25-32 The two thieves. In Mark’s gospel, both thieves as well as the passersby deride Jesus. Everyone who was sympathetic to the condemned would have stayed away for fear of being cast to the same fate.

15.33-47 The death and burial of Jesus. About six hours after he was crucified, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, a partial quote from Psalm 22. This particular psalm ends in hope, leading some scholars to assert that Jesus was beginning to quote a psalm of triumph and hope, rather than crying out in anguish and sorrow as it would seem.

However, it should be noted that Mark records this cry in Aramaic, Jesus’ native language, not in the Greek in which the gospel was written or the Hebrew in which the psalm was written and in which it would have been used liturgically. This indicates that Jesus is lifting this part of the psalm out of context deliberately as a way of expressing his desolation, rather than merely beginning to quote a psalm of triumph. This is important because it gives us insight into how fully Jesus understands our feelings of abandonment in times of pain and grief: he was there.

The rending of the temple curtain from top to bottom (15.38) was a sign of “a great disturbance in the Force” (Star Wars, episode IV, Obi Wan Kenobi to Luke). Whatever caused the curtain to rip, it is clear that for Christian readers, it symbolized God’s mighty act of reconciliation in drawing us to him in unhindered access through Jesus’ death. The curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple; that it was rent from top to bottom rather than the reverse (and as it is erroneously depicted in the stained glass window in the St. Luke Sanctuary) indicates that it was a supernatural act.

The centurion who commanded the detail which killed Jesus (Romans, remember, not Jews) saw Jesus’ death as the beginning of something. Out of this crisis came a kind of faith for him. Jesus gives up his spirit and immediately there was a convert: “if you kill me now, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine” (Star Wars, Episode IV, Obi Wan Kenobi to Darth Vader).

Note the appearances of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (15.47, this is either two or three women, depending on whether or not you think James and Salome were siblings. There were no commas in Greek, so it is unclear.). The faithful journey of these women who loved Jesus meant that they alone among the disciples witnessed his crucifixion (according to Mark’s gospel). They refused to turn away even at the last. This took great courage, as anyone who cares for the dying can attest. There’s nothing the women can do to prevent the death or the placing of the stone (they had no political power), yet they have access to real power, which the men have apparently missed up to this point.

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Mark 15.16-20 “O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done”Words: Charles Wesley, 1742 UM Hymnal, p. 287.See also p. 286, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded”

O Love divine, what has thou done! The immortal God hath died for me! The Father's coeternal Son bore all my sins upon the tree. Th' immortal God for me hath died: My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Is crucified for me and you, to bring us rebels back to God. Believe, believe the record true, ye all are bought with Jesus' blood. Pardon for all flows from his side: My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Behold him, all ye that pass by, the bleeding Prince of life and peace! Come, sinners, see your Savior die, and say, "Was ever grief like his?" Come, feel with me his blood applied: My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

16.1-8 The resurrection. The Sabbath ends at sundown on Saturday, which was determined in the days before clocks as the point at which a white hair held by the side of a black hair are indistinguishable. Mallard reminds us that “the women waited to buy spices until the Sabbath had ended.” It is three days, by Jewish reckoning, since Jesus’ death. The same women who witnessed the death of Jesus go now to the tomb to properly anoint the body of Jesus for burial. Mallard notes, “Those who are beloved of the deceased regard it as a blessing to care for the body of the decease, but it was always done within 24 hours of death.” Here they have been delayed by the Sabbath from attending to this duty. Mallard adds, “Don’t overlook the power of darkness. When the siege of Sarajevo ended in 1995, residents were less excited about the cessation of bombardment than the fact that they once again had electric light!” Perhaps the women were also afraid of the darkness.

16.4—They were downcast, but when they looked up, they saw the stone that they had been worrying about (16.3) was already rolled away. Mallard imagines them saying to one another: “This is what we wanted! Now don’t be afraid!” The young man whom they see inside urges them not to be alarmed (the word used is the same as distressed, 14.32). The young man encourages them: You were looking for Jesus, the crucified one. He was got up.” Mallard notes that the young man is clear that what happened to the women was not a “subjective vision. No, the one who is raised is the same one who was crucified.” The Greek in Mark indicates that it was a power from outside Jesus which resurrected him. The Greek in John’s gospel says he rises or got up on his own. Here, he is raised by the power of God. “Well, then, where is he? He is going ahead of you” to Galilee. The tomb is empty. Mallard invites us to “reflect on empty—how emptiness is essential for life, music, birth, breathing, silence. We will not experience new life unless first empty ourselves.”

The remainder of Mark’s gospel (following 16.8 in some Bibles) was added later, probably based on the testimony of the other gospels or at least other witnesses. As we read, we must consider that, when this gospel was written, it would have been shared in the context of a house church meeting. A passage, perhaps the story of the crucifixion and resurrection, would be read, followed by a sermon or testimony. The leader or teacher would then exegete or explain the passage. This slim reference to the resurrection in Mark would provide a perfect entry point into the leader’s testimony of his or her own experience with the Risen Christ.

The women flee from the tomb in terror and amazement. Mallard: “It is awesome to look upon the resurrection! We think we can put out some lilies and have some trumpets, but we don’t approach the awesomeness of the resurrection with that. How much do you have to grow before you can truly look on the resurrection? Mark says you must go through the crisis to find faith. Compare an empty wall with a wall with a window: the latter is a blessed emptiness. What makes a difference is one word---if you are lost in a cave and come across one word—EXIT!—you are no longer lost. It takes a word to transform the stultifying emptiness to the blessed emptiness. Think of the emptiness in a dying congregation—how can that be transformed to a window? Our emptiness becomes blessed by the word: ‘He has been raised’, the same word that transformed these women!”

The challenge of the emptiness—the silence—is that it is not the entirety of the truth. Many of us love the “Hallelujah Chorus” from G. F. Handel’s The Messiah. You will recall that before the final “Hallelujah” there is full break in the music. It is known as a “Grand Pause”, and woe be unto the musician who breaks the silence before the conductor so indicates! Worse, imagine something so trivial as a cell phone going off during that majestic silence. The silence is necessary for us to appreciate the magnitude of the final word.

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In the Christian Church, we have a period of the year very much like that Grand Pause. It is the season of Lent, and its quiet and focus on the sacrifice made by Christ is very much necessary for us to appreciate and begin to understand the power of the resurrection. Tony Campolo reminds us that just as Good Friday needs Easter, Easter needs Good Friday as well. Mark’s gospel does not have the powerful stories of the resurrection shared in the other gospels, but it does have a profound silence that sometimes we fail to appreciate. The good news for us is that the Risen Christ pierces the silence and desolation, that he treads the mystery of the centuries to walk among us again, that he has been raised and is risen. Thanks be to God!

Have you heard enough to convince you of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?_________

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Having heard and believed, how will you share the good news—the gospel of Jesus Christ? ________

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