Liberation

Mark 1:21-28 (February 1, 2009)

1) The Text

21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

2) The Context

Mark has just told us about the calling of Peter (“Simon”, v. 16), Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee. This passage tells us of the recognition of Jesus’ authority, both in word and deed. A synagogue was where Jews met to gain a fuller understanding of their tradition through study and worship. At the time, it was probably not a building set apart for study and worship. Anyone with sufficient knowledge could teach. The “scribes” (v. 22) were specialists in the interpretation and application of Mosaic law to daily life. They frequently quoted scripture, but Jesus (on this occasion) does not: he speaks directly, confident of his authority.

The “man with an unclean spirit” (v. 23) was, in our terms, possessed: he was under the influence of evil forces. In Jewish terms, he was under Satan’s direction, separated from God. The devil, speaking through this man (v. 24), asks what Jesus is doing meddling in the domain of evil; he recognizes who Jesus is and that his coming spells the end of the devil’s power. He understands the significance of the coming Kingdom. Wonder-workers of the day healed using ritual or magic, but Jesus exorcises simply through verbal command (v. 25), so clearly he is divine. Jesus’ authority in word and deed is acknowledged.

3) Interpretation

This passage takes the shape of a sandwich, a familiar pattern in Mark. It begins and ends with comments about Jesus’ authority as a teacher (1:21-22 and 1:27-28). In between is an exorcism (1:23-26). Already this simple structure tells us a lot. We are meant to find a connection between Jesus, the teacher and Jesus, the exorcist. More than that, this is the first episode in Jesus’ ministry which Mark recounts after the call of the disciples. Following the conventions of ancient writing we would expect the passage to hold important clues about what is to come.

In 1:21-22 the first point to note is that Jesus enters the synagogue on the sabbath. He is at home in his own religious tradition among his own people. Mark tells us more: he teaches. So he is not only at home there; he takes on a responsibility within that tradition: he teaches. By implication that will also be a role for the fishworkers who follow him. It is a little odd that in so many parts of the church, teaching must be defended or reawakened when we realize how the lack of teaching creates a gap between clergy and lay people.

The people are amazed not that he teaches, but at the authority with which he teaches. What did they mean? Did he rant and rave? Did he shout? Was he clever with rhetoric, an adept story teller? He may have done all of those things or none of them. The context forces us to guess what Jesus must have taught. Even in Mark 4, where we get the parables, they are all about the effects of his teaching, rather than the teaching itself.

One guess is to note the sandwich structure: it must be about forcefulness or, at least, it must have been disempowering of oppressiveness, i.e., liberating. ‘And not as the scribes’ in 1:22 is an important clue. How did the scribes teach? From Mark’s gospel we would have to conclude that much of their teaching was concerned with fine points of interpretation of the Law. And from the rest of the gospel we would have to conclude that Jesus’ teaching must have focused on central themes like God’s compassion. In Mark and elsewhere we find Jesus often teaching with a directness which drew on common life experience rather than derivatively by interpreting scripture. This had the effect of shifting the power base of knowledge from the experts (in scripture, scribes) to the common people, who all knew about common life experience. It was a different way of doing theology, which democratized the process.

Mark interrupts our thought by the account of the exorcism but will lead us back to the theme – wiser – in 1:27-28. Jesus silences the demon and demands he depart. The demon does so, but not without yelling at the top of his voice. The exorcism is achieved. The demoniac has been liberated. For those of us brought up with strict scientific methods such accounts of exorcism call for more informed explanations. They feel so strange that we may want to avoid them altogether. It is then very hard to appreciate Mark who has made them so central. There are ways of slipping the awkwardness we feel. The trouble is we may end up slipping past the message of Mark. However we understand exorcisms, those reported from the ancient world or from present day cultures unlike our own, something real is happening. People are being set free. Physical contortions and hugely dramatic moments will occur in many different therapies, whether the frame of thought is demonology or modern psychotherapy.

The important thing is liberation, setting people free. This is an essential component of the "good news" of God's reign. It is a demonstration of what is meant when John predicts that Jesus will baptize with the Spirit. For Mark exorcising unclean spirits is a primary function of the Holy Spirit and the key element one should recognize in what Jesus is doing.

In 1:27-28 Mark returns us to the theme of authority and teaching. Now we know that he is writing about the kind of teaching which liberates, which discerns the demonic powers which oppress people (whatever the intellectual framework used to identify them) and seeks to bring about new beginnings.

4) Thought Exercise

What moments of liberation have you experienced in life?

How have you used these moments to renew, to grow, and to teach others?

Follow Me

Mark 1:14-20 (January 25, 2009)

1) The Text

14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 16As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

2) The Context

Fishing was a popular trade on the Sea of Galilee. Fishing was the most common occupation for people residing in the small villages of Capernaum and Bethsaida which were located on the lakeshore. The message of this particular Biblical text is that the disciples were called to become "fishers of men" or fishers for people." Jesus used the metaphor of fishing because people in a fishing village with numerous fishermen would "get it." These people intuitively understood fishing because it was a way of life for them. Jesus told his first disciples that they were to "fish for people" and were to "catch people" for Jesus Christ. Jesus could not have chosen a better metaphor to help his first disciples understand what their job was. Jesus always used metaphors that his disciples could understand.

3) Interpretation

In Mark’s Gospel, we read the story of how the first four disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John, are called by Jesus to be disciples. These fishermen leave their nets, their security, and their families to follow Jesus. The author tells us nothing of their inner deliberations, whether the fishing was good or bad, if they were religious people or not, if they got along with their father or had a sense of wanderlust. Mark merely says, “And immediately, they followed him.” This connecting phrase, “and immediately,” is the most common phrase in Mark’s Gospel, occurring 33 times in only 16 chapters.

The calling of James, John, Simon and Andrew and such other callings to leave all was a protest not against life at home, but more generally against societal structures which simply perpetuate the past and trap people into the service of the status quo. But Jesus’ socially disruptive call upset the system not only for those called but also for those left behind. It called for a new way of looking at life. There is a new set of priorities. This means changed values, but it is more than that. It means a new god, or better, a return to the God of compassion and justice.

How many times have commitments you made changed your daily routine? What commitments have changed your life? "I promise . . . "Those words lie at the base of our moral character. Not only do they require that our deeds match our words. They demand that we change to match our words. The vows of marriage mean abandoning the single life. A job change or school choice means old friends and habits are lost. Even a brief moment that shows moral strength can resonate throughout our lives. Consider how many lives have been changed because of a simple moral lapse in a fleeting moment. In truth, we have all made false promises and wrong moral choices. Faced with these facts, can we change for the better? In Mark's gospel, Jesus proclaimed a renewal of moral character based upon a simple invitation: "Follow me."

In this passage, Mark presents the call of the disciples, like that described in John. John saw evangelization as a process of personal witness, personal invitation, and discipleship from friend to friend. Mark, however, placed the call to discipleship in the public arena; it was made directly by Jesus. John emphasized the role of the disciple recruiting others. Mark emphasized the relationship of Jesus to the disciple. Mark began with the arrest of John the Baptist to introduce Jesus to public ministry. Jesus picked up on John the Baptist's theme. The Kingdom of God is immanent. Repent. Unlike John the Baptist, Jesus did not proclaim the advent of the Messiah. He preached belief in the Good News. Soon, the preaching of the gospel would eclipse the expectation for God's chosen One. [1:14-15]

The Good News demanded a response. It was more than a moral turnabout. It meant a new life situation, a new relationship with God. For Mark, Jesus was the embodiment of the Good News. His preaching, his call, established this new relationship with God. Much has been written about the social context for Jesus' ministry. Unlike John the Baptist whose ministry had a geographic location, Jesus took his ministry on the road. People came to see John the Baptist, while Jesus came to the people. While John drew his congregation from Jerusalem and outlying areas, Jesus' ministry lay in the backwater countryside of Galilee. John the Baptist got the attention of the leadership in Judaism, but Jesus did not encounter official criticism immediately.

These differences made the ministry of Jesus easier to ignore, but, ultimately, more dangerous to the leadership. Jesus was the leader of a group movement. In a culture with few social supports, people at the time of Jesus had to be self-sufficient. Hence, they would form a group for a common goal. Indeed, group identity and power became all important. Extended families would intermarry and form alliances for the common good. Governments (i.e., royal families) would contract with groups (i.e., local families and village cooperatives) to gather produce and bring it to market; in turn, the government would receive a large percentage of the profits. Like the rest of society, Jesus formed a group whose members moved from place to place (like an army). Peter, Andrew, James, and John were among the first to partake in the mobile ministry of Jesus.

However, the message of Jesus proved to be as threatening as his means. In a static culture that did not change from generation to generation, Jesus preached something new. God would come and change everything. For their own reasons, the first four disciples left the safety of their group (family and friends) for the challenge of a new life based on this new message. They responded to the call of Jesus, for they wanted to live with Jesus. The call of Jesus was more important than any security, any relationship, any possession they had.

"Follow me." The invitation Jesus gave his early followers is the same he makes to us now. He invites us to change and believe. We need to realize he not only gives us the challenge, he gives us the means to abandon our former life of sin and to trust in God. He gifts us with the Spirit. So, the call of Jesus is not only a direction; it is a helping hand. Human frailty may trip us from time to time, but the Lord will not disappoint. When we follow the Lord, he leads us and sustains us.

4) Thought Exercise

How is your life changing as you follow Christ?

How do you continuously renew your commitment to follow Christ?

Christ in Us

1 Corinthians 6: 11-20 (January 18, 2009)

1)Text

11And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” 17But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

2) The Context

Corinth was a major port which also commanded the land route from the Peloponnesus peninsula to central Greece. An industrial and ship-building centre, it was also a centre for the arts. St. Paul visited the community at Corinth between 45 and 51 AD. As he was leaving Ephesus (circa 54 AD), he wrote to the church on matters of some importance. Fellowship had deteriorated into cliques and in-fighting. Outside influences had challenged the core beliefs and morality of its members. A libertine philosophy had gained a foothold among some in the Church.

In chapter six, Paul addressed this matter directly. After he acknowledged the freedom Christians were given (6:12), he argued that sexual license was not true freedom. For sexual license did not acknowledge the roots and responsibilities of such freedom. The roots of Christian freedom were found in the justifying grace God gave the believer. And, as such, the Christian was responsible to God the Father. The person who claims sexual license was too self-absorbed to seek the roots of freedom or to exercise responsibility to someone greater than he or she was.

The interesting part of Paul's argument was his focus on the value of the body. This was purely Jewish in concept. The Greek culture in which the Corinthians lived downplayed the body and exalted the spirit. But, for Paul, the physical body had dignity as a vessel for the Spirit and a promise of the final resurrection. The body and spirit were inseparable.

Bodies grow up. Bodies grow old. No matter the shape of our bodies, they are still God's gift to us. They remind us where the Spirit dwells in the world. And they are a foretaste of our future on the final day. They reaffirm St. Paul's contention that we belong to God, not to ourselves.

3) Interpretation

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he tackles a number of specific problems in the church. One of these problems is immorality. In chapters 5 and 6 Paul deals with this issue. He begins by confronting a particular situation where someone in the church has married their "father’s wife." Paul tells the church that they should deal with this problem, that they should pass judgment on it. This leads him to discuss the problem of lawsuits between members of the church. They should deal with such disputes within the church itself. Church members need to deal with these matters in the knowledge that evil-livers "will not inherit the kingdom of God." Returning again to sexual immorality, Paul raises the issue of church members visiting prostitutes.

Dealing with ethics in the Gentile churches was no easy task for Paul. On the one hand he had to steer Gentile believers away from the slavery of the law, but on the other hand, he had to counsel those believers who were allowing their Christian freedom to enslave them again to sin. Paul knew well enough that a return to law-righteousness not only promoted disobedience, but also undermined salvation. A believer's progression toward Christ-likeness, as well as their possession of Christ-likeness, is always a matter of grace appropriated through faith. It is "Christ in us" that enables us to be what we are. Yet, in dealing with the Corinthians it was the slavery to sin problem that confronted Paul. Interestingly, it is quite possible that those he speaks against might have been influenced by his teaching on justification by faith apart from works of the law. That is, he may be speaking against those who have misunderstood the concept of "freedom" in Christ. His legalist brothers had always warned him that to remove the law from a believer is to invite libertarianism - anything goes. The problem in Corinth may well be this very problem.

There are other possible scenarios for the Corinthian libertarianism. The influence of Platonic thought is one. In Platonic thought, flesh is separated from spirit. One is of this earth and is destined for oblivion; the other is of God and is destined for eternity. Such a view can also promote an "anything goes" mentality. The Corinthians were certainly into the "spiritual" and their emphasis of the spiritual self might have left them open to a disregard for the physical self.

For some reason, believers tend toward Platonic dualism - the body is matter and is to be cast off; the soul is of God and is to be preserved. In popular theology it comes down to the body of the dead still in the grave, but the soul alive in heaven. Resurrection is often seen as a spiritual thing which concerns the soul, separate from the body. This results in two different approaches. The first approach is libertarianism. Seeing the body as something to be cast off in death means it doesn't matter what we do with it. We might as well satisfy its appetites, so we won't get distracted from the more important spiritual issues of life. The second approach is asceticism. Seeing the body as something to be cast off in death, it is best to subdue its control over us, allow us to live free from its constraints and accentuate the spiritual self.

Paul confronts this libertarian problem by focusing on sound teaching - Spirit filled truth. Walking in the Spirit comes about by hearing the leading of the Spirit. It is this leading, through the ministry of the Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and Pastors, which builds us "up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ", Eph.4:11-13. So, Paul gives the Corinthians sound teaching, and in the power of the Spirit, this truth will set them free. Those who are in Christ will hear Christ and as Christ is in them, he will change them into his own image.

4) Thought Exercise

How do you know that Christ is in you?

How does the Christ in you change you?

Justification by Faith

Romans 5: 1-5 (January 11, 2009)

1) The Text

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

2) The Context

Romans is the first epistle in the New Testament, although not the first to be written. Paul wrote it to the church at Rome, which included both Jews and Gentiles. His primary theme is the basics of the good news of Christ, salvation for all people. The book was probably written in 57 AD, when Paul was near the end of his third missionary journey around the Eastern Mediterranean. It is unusual in that it was written to a church that Paul had not visited.

Paul has been trying, since Romans 3, to make one of the most difficult arguments in his letters. He is attempting to explain in Romans how it is that Christianity is completely consistent with central Biblical principles but that the Jews, the supposed custodians of Biblical faith, by and large didn't accept Jesus as Savior. That is, the custodians didn't accept the one who is now interpreted to be the culmination of the faith. This is a real problem for Paul and for the early Christian movement in general. But he will argue that the Jews, even though they had gifts of the covenant, the promises, the Law and other things, pursued a sort of "human righteousness," while Christ gives us a "divine" righteousness. More specifically, he will argue in Romans 3-4 that the central principle of Biblical religion is naked faith in God--but that the Jews have missed the boat on that one. They have substituted a righteousness based on law for the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. But the root principle of Biblical religion, for Paul, is faith. Romans 4 tells the story of the "founding father" of the religion--Abraham--and how he was "justified by faith." Faith, then, was the foundational principle of Abraham's life and, by extension, Jewish religion. When we get to Romans 5, we are already at the end of the argument.

3) Interpretation

In this short passage are two key concepts. First, Paul makes an original argument about justification by faith, which began in chapter 3 and culminates in this passage. Here Paul takes one side of the spectrum of NT beliefs regarding the interplay of faith and works for salvation. There is a puzzling relationship between these two ideas. The simple answer is that they are related as smoke and fire; that one "justified" by faith will certainly want to live a servant life; that works "flow" from faith. But that doesn't answer the question that often is insistently pressed: "Is faith 'enough'"? There is a spectrum of answers in the NT, from the statements in John 3:16 or Acts 16:31 ("Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved") that faith is all you need to those statements in the Apocalypse or in James that "faith without works is dead" or that one will be judged according to one's works. The tension runs through Paul, too. In Romans 5 (this week’s passage) we have the impression that justification is by faith--by faith alone.

Second, suffering is one of the most persistent enigmas of faith and of life. Why do the good suffer? Or, why is pain so much a part of our existences when the Scriptures are replete with promises of the joy that should characterize the Christian life? But suffering is a companion for many, both individually and collectively. Suffering can erode trust in the world, life and God. Yet, if we are willing to trust the message of suffering, to learn from its lashes, so to speak, then the gifts that suffering brings into our lives are of incredible richness. Many who have suffered significantly will say that they would never have chosen the life of suffering if the choice had been available to them, but now that they have endured the trial, they are a better or more complete person for it. Not everyone will say this, to be sure, but many will. And I think that is what Paul is getting at in these last few verses. Suffering can deepen us, giving us words, feelings, friends, and an attitude towards life that is at once grateful and humble. It, in fact, can counteract that very spirit of boasting that so much characterizes this passage.

So in 5:3-5 he celebrates the fact that life is hard on the path of discipleship. Paul sees beyond suffering to hope and that keeps him going. But it is not a hope focused on personal relief and reward, as though salvation is about his future happiness. Rather 5:5 brings us back to what counts: the love which comes from God has flooded into our lives, to flow out through us to others. The love which is the foundation of being set right with God flows onward and outward seeking to bring wholeness (peace) to all. Paul's spirituality sees love as the fruit of the Spirit. The sign of the Spirit is not great escapes, but great love. And the sign of that love is the cross. That is the story that carries the hope of resurrection in its fulfillment, because such loving participates in the life of God.

Thus we end with Paul in the place where he often brings us--a paradox. Regardless of whether faith or works is central--we are loved by God and in a community of people who share that sentiment. And this love leads to service, to study, to insight that will be helpful for others.

4) Thought Exercise

How do you see the relationship between living a life of faith and a life of good works?

How can faith help us deal with our own suffering and that of others?