MORE POWER ! MORE GLORY !! MORE SPIRIT !!!
SURVEYING THE SITE—Mark 6:53-7:13
This week we begin a detour or, maybe, just a road less
traveled. While many congregations will be beginning a topical sermon series, and
some may be sticking to the regular readings exploring the theological
underpinnings of Jesus being the bread of life come down from heaven for us, I
propose a fuller reading of Mark. Following the feeding of the five thousand,
Jesus once again demonstrates his creation authority. When there is an adverse
wind, Jesus brings calm. When the forces of the world would prevent the
disciples from being the witness-bearers of Jesus’ message, Jesus rights the
boat and they enter the work of salvific wholeness.
So now, after reaching that place apart, Jesus and the disciples land at Gennesaret where they moor the boat, marking an extended time on land, as we, with those of Jesus’ time, will travel from Gennesaret until he again gets in a boat in chapter eight to go to Dalmanutha. There are many miles to go, and Jesus truly has “people to see and things to do.”
READING THE BLUEPRINT
And having passed over, they came upon the land, into
Gennesaret (the garden of the prince), and they anchored near the shore. Coming
out of the boat, immediately, having recognized him, [the people] ran
throughout the country. They carried about those who were sick, on
couches/pallets, hearing of the place where he [was]. Wherever he entered in,
the villages or cities or fields in the marketplaces, they laid those who were
sick. And begged him in order that they might only touch the border/fringe of
his garment and as many as touched him were saved.
And gathered together to him are the Pharisees and some of the Scribes having come from Jerusalem seeing some of his disciples with common hands, this is, not [ritually] washed, they eat the bread. (For the Pharisees and all the righteous Jewish people do not eat unless, with the fist, they wash the hands holding the tradition of the elders and [unless], coming from the marketplace, they ritually wash themselves, they eat not, and the many other things [that] there are which they received to hold fast to—ritually washing of cups and jars and bronze/copper kettles.) And the Pharisees and the Scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not follow according to the tradition of the elders? With common hand, [your disciples] eat the bread.”
[Jesus] said to them, “Well spoke Isaiah prophesying about you hypocrites, as it has been written, ‘This people, with the lips honor me but their heart is far off, holding off from me. In futility they worship me, teaching teachings, [that are the] commands of men.’ For pushing away from the commandment of God, you anchor to the tradition of men.
And he said to them, “You have found a good way to push away from the commandment of God in order to keep/protect your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’, and ‘Whoever speaks badly of father or mother, to death let him [horribly] die!’. But you say, ‘If anyone decrees to father or mother, “corban!”, which is gift [to God], you [father or mother] no longer are allowed anything, [then] you [son]no longer have anything to do for the father or the mother’, voiding the word of God with your [the Pharisees and the Scribes] tradition which you [then] pass on. Many similar things you do [with other commandments of God].”
ROUGHING IN THE HOUSE
I have not seen these passages linked before, but the act of
mooring the boat here when the boat has not been moored before intrigued me.
Why here and not elsewhere?
My research has revealed that the country of Gennesaret was a fertile place where almost anything could grow. During the 1st century it had become overgrown with thorn trees. It is also the site of a crushing defeat during the Jewish rebellion, and Vespasian removed thousands from the area, assassinated many and sent 6,000 into slavery. This battle which took place during the writing of Mark could lead to Gennesaret being known as the “widows’ tears”.
Regardless, the theme of garden that had become thorns and brambles leads to a reminder of Eden, that place where a wall of thorns prevents humanity from returning. And though humanity is not able to return to the garden, the resurrected Christ can. Into the brokenness of the world, into the corrupted garden, Christ enters. The people recognize him and bring to him the broken of the world begging to touch the fringe of his garment. As Jesus walks into the garden, into the Widows’ Tears, he brings “shalom”, restoration wholeness.
We are quick to claim curative healing, and I don’t deny the possibility, but the salvific activity of the bodily-resurrected Jesus brings a deeper indication of God’s activity among us. We are reminded of the days when God walked with humanity at evening.
All of this “shalom” wholeness restoration work makes Jesus ritually unclean. He has touched the unclean of the world and has taken that uncleanness upon himself. Yet when the Pharisees and the Scribes arrive, they do not challenge Jesus directly; they challenge him concerning his disciples, “Why do your disciples eat with unclean hands?” Jesus anchored the boat because the Pharisees and the Scribes are pushing back against the work of God’s kingdom restoration, favoring their own anchorage—tradition.
The interchange between Jesus and the Pharisees/Scribes calls cultic/ritual practices into question. At the same time, we are reminded that God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of everything in the garden except from the Tree of Knowledge (of good and evil). That train, of course, has left the station. That ship has sailed. And so now, everything in the garden is fair game. They were cast out before they could find the Tree of Life, but for the people in Gennesaret, the fruit of the Tree of Life stands before them. It is this fruit of life that draws the broken of the world to him.
PUTTING UP THE WALLS
In an article about the Hebrew letter “vav” (it translates
as “and”), the almost universal first word of every sentence in the Hebrew
writings, I discovered that the “vav” is in the shape of a tent peg. As such it
is a most valuable possession. When you live in tents, the tent peg anchors you
to the place you are staying. They sink into the ground like roots, holding the
superstructure in place. Although bone was sometimes used, tent pegs then and
now were usually made of wood. Symbolically they were a garden of trees that
gave life.
As those “vavs” anchored the lives of the Mosaic people, so now, Jesus comes and anchors the boat. As the ark of the covenant carried the tablets of the Law, so now, the boat bears God’s Word for us. As the Israelites found new life in the wilderness, so now the people of Gennesaret find a new salvific life in relationship with the bodily-risen Christ.
The reference to the commandment to honor or value your father and your mother that your days will be long upon the land that the Lord your God has given you is not an accident. The understanding of “corban” not only breaks the relationship of our biological families, but it also severs our relationship with God for God is our ultimate progenitor—our first father and mother.
It is in this sense of creator of us all that corban appears so destructive. Corban allows us to consider ourselves as most important without an anchorage outside of ourselves. Corban denies any responsibility for family, neighbor, and, ultimately, for nation. It only gives privilege to the selfish and funds the institutions of oppression. Corban and the tradition it comes from are antithetical to the anchorage at Gennesaret.
Yes, even today, we worship with our lips but find ways to sidestep the intent of the Law. We say things like, “God meets us where we are,” or “God loves us as we are,” and then practice a system of exclusive rules that divide because others do not believe the way we do. We “do not love our neighbor as ourselves,” and we certainly do not love God with our whole, “shalom” heart.
But in Gennesaret, this active relationship-driven inclusive community where the diseased, the disabled, the broken of the world find place and value is experienced. This new community life challenges the boundaries of polite society.
We are reminded that the privileged have rules to live by, but the poor do what they can to survive. In our more privileged world today, we need to remember that fasting is something that those who have an abundance of food do. The poor need not fast because it is part of life. In the same way, ritual purity is a luxury of those who do not consider themselves as “common”. Yet Jesus enters into our commonality in order to liberate us.
HANGING THE TRIM
Jesus cuts through the wall of thorns surrounding the garden
and then wears them so that we might fully know the Kingdom of God.
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