MORE POWER! MORE GLORY!! MORE SPIRIT!!!
SURVEYING THE SITE—Mark 1:29-40
Synagogue, the gathering place, is an important image this
week. Throughout the New Testament, when we read about synagogue, we should not
think of it as the center of Jewish worship; this modern sense had not yet come
into being. Worship then was centered in Jerusalem, in the temple which was
still standing. It was not until after the temple was destroyed in 70 c.e. that worship in synagogues fully
developed.
READING THE BLUEPRINT
From the synagogue, Jesus and the “Fab Four”—Peter, Andrew,
James & John—gather in Peter’s home where we hear that Peter’s
mother-in-law is ill. She is presumed to be dying when Jesus gathers with her
and raises her up by the hand.
Note the intimate relationship of touch in this encounter. This ministry of resurrection mirrors, though dimly, the tomb event in Chapter 16. The one who is raised up from the dead is the one who has the power to raise others. Immediately Peter’s MIL uses her hands, serving them at the table, embodying the first diaconal ministry.
Hearing of the touch that brought wholeness, and that Peter’s mother-in-law is raised up and fever free, the people bring to Jesus others who lack wholeness and those who are demonized. The whole city gathers before the door of Peter’s house.
In this gathering place Jesus lays hands of caring service upon those who are in need, and he casts out demons telling them to be silent because they knew him. This act of hospitality leads to the saving of many.
The Gospel of Mark allows us through time and repetition to see that God’s creative impulse is not limited to speaking in Genesis. In deserted places we see that God’s creative power is continuous. From the chaotic wastelands we leave behind each day, God creates anew for the continued delight of God’s people. Each day God creates space for us to enter joyfully into new work of God’s creation celebrating the life God has given us.
The image of the deserted place appears throughout Mark’s Gospel. In chapter 1, John is in the wilderness and Jesus is cast into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. In this week’s text we see Jesus, very early the next morning, go to a deserted place, the place of new creation, where he prays.
When the Fab Four find Jesus, they claim that “everyone” is seeking him. Yet, instead of returning to them, Jesus looks to others who are seeking him saying, “It is for this that I was sent out.” He turns to others, those to whom his fame has spread, gathering with them in their gathering places, with the people of Galilee, where he continues to go ahead of his disciples, and where we continue to find him, proclaiming the good news and casting out demons.
ROUGHING IN THE HOUSE
God has made us communal beings. Certainly, we are not the
only creatures with herd mentality. We are uniquely made with the gifts of
communication and a need to be with one another for survival. God generously gives
us other people with whom we get to share work and discover all kinds of ways
to get in trouble to satisfy this communal aspect of our lives. We are
interdependent because of this need for community.
At the same time, God has given us a strong need to distinguish ourselves from one another. This stubborn independence, called individuation, is sometimes so strong that we come to believe that we individually are more important than the communities that surround us.
Reinhold Niebuhr speaks of the dilemma of human nature with this need for community and the need to separate as necessary and yet sinful. He says that one of the gifts God has given us is the gift of transcendence. It gives us the ability to see beyond ourselves in order to compassionately care for one another.
Transcendence is healthy and differentiates us from other animals. The difficulty comes when we misuse it. Having been given the gift to transcend ourselves, we attempt to transcend God. When we abuse transcendence, that is, when we believe that we have the power of God over our neighbors, we sin, because we dishonor our neighbors and dismiss God’s authority in our lives.
Abuse of our gift of transcendence is more likely when we isolate ourselves from one another. Then we find ourselves believing that our needs are greater than our neighbor’s, behaving in ways that dehumanize and devalue those around us. Isolationism denies the value of God’s communal gift and denies our intrinsic need for compassionate care of one another. Gathering together in Christ’s name resists isolationism and fosters our continued communal health.
PUTTING UP THE WALLS
In these days of global pandemic, this week’s reading comes
to us with certain poignancy. Into our places of illness and death, Jesus
comes, takes us by the hand, and raises us up. In a time when we are not able
to touch one another or be fully present to one another in the manner in which we
are accustomed, Jesus comes to care for us by laying hands of service upon us. Mark
uses the Greek word “therapeuo” for healing or cure, the word from which we get
therapy. Through this intimate act of community, Jesus raises Peter’s
mother-in-law and those whom the people of the city bring before the door of
the house.
Some point out that this day is the Sabbath, and, although Jesus raises Peter’s mother-in-law on the Sabbath, the people wait until the Sabbath is over, not coming until it is evening, at sundown. More importantly, this darkness time is God’s holy creation worktime. In this creation time, the demons clearly know who Jesus is. Jesus not only casts them out, but he also commands their silence.
In these days when Coronavirus and other diseases continue to impact our lives, Jesus continues to walk with us with hands of caring service. This touch comes to us through the very community God has given us including doctors, nurses, scientists, workers who stock our grocery shelves, and housekeeping staff in our hospitals and care facilities. We know Christ’s “therapeuo” through the work of God’s people in their care for us.
Jesus continues to call out the demons of falsehood as they surround us and gives us the authority to call them out. Not only are they being called out, but in Christ’s name, we continue to command those voices of hate to be silent.
In those deserted places of our lives, we continue to seek the one who gives us life. We call him to us, only to discover that we are being led into Galilee. For this, Jesus is sent out—out of the tomb, out of the baptismal water, out of the wilderness—to a place where we shall meet him.
For Mark, Galilee is not anchored geographically. It is any place where the preaching, teaching, and healing ministry in the kingdom of God is ongoing, where Christ’s presence is known—seen, understood, and engaged.
HANGING THE TRIM
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken
Gather us in, the blind and the lame
Call to us now and we shall awaken
We shall arise at the sound of our name—Marty Haugen
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