ROME IMPROVEMENT 09/26/2021

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SURVEYING THE SITE—Mark 9:38-50

We are now deep into considering what this “rising from the dead might mean.” We have witnessed the disciples avoiding the issue by determining which of them was the greater. We have seen Jesus set the little girl in their midst in order to discuss the importance, or lack of importance, of status and the importance of being bold enough to ask questions when they do not understand. Apparently, the disciples are slow learners and wish to preserve their status because this week the story continues with a confrontation between John, and the guys, and someone else who understands the egalitarian quality of the resurrected reign of Christ.

READING THE BLUEPRINT

John said to [Jesus], “Teacher, we saw someone, in the name of you, casting out demons and we [got up in his face] because he was not following us.  But Jesus said, “Do not [get in his face]. For no one who [makes] power in my name will be able soon to speak dishonorably [about] me.”

For who is not against us is on behalf of us. For whoever might give to you a cup of water to drink because you are in the name of Christ, truly I say to you, that he might not destroy the benefit of him.

And whoever might lead into sin one of these little ones who trust in me, it is more good for him if he set around the neck of him a donkey’s millstone and he has been thrown into the sea.

And when your hand might lead you into sin, cut it off; it is honorable for you crippled to go into life rather than the two handed having to be cast into Gehenna, into the unextinguishable fire. And when your foot might cause you to stumble, [i.e.] sin against itself, cut it off; it is honorable for you to enter into life lame rather than the two footed having to be cast into Gehenna. And when your eye might cause you to stumble, throw it out; for it is honorable for you one-eyed to enter into the reign of God rather than the two eyed having to be thrown into Gehenna where the worm of them not dies and the fire not is extinguished. For all in fire will be salted. Honorable the salt, but when the salt might become saltless, how will you make it proper? Have in yourselves salt, and be at peace with one another.

ROUGHING IN THE HOUSE

One would think that the disciples would have been listening to everything that Jesus told them, wouldn’t one? I mean, If I were there, I’d be hanging on every word. Wouldn’t I? I’d have the record app on my phone working all of the time. After all, what the resurrected Christ said might be important for the future, don’t you think? Not to mention the selfies with Jesus just to prove that I was there, no photoshopping necessary.

Well, either the batteries were dead, or the disciples didn’t have the time to listen to those things Jesus said that they forgot, or maybe the demonstration of putting the little girl in their midst was not the best visual aid. At any rate, John reports that the disciples are still concerned about who is deemed most appropriate for making the “engaged kingdom of God” known.

Clearly, they have not gotten the concept of evangelism down. “We ‘got up in the face’ of someone who thought that they could be your disciple.”

Jesus tells John and the boys, “Stop that! If this guy continues to practice faith, he will learn what it is to live a faithful life. If you give a person a glass of water and they drink it, can you take the benefit of the water away from the person?”

John may be the person that is highlighted today, but it is not much of a jump to see the world of denominationalism in his words. “We tried to stop them because they weren’t following us. Because they don’t see the wonder of God and God’s amazing capacity of salvation mercy the way that we see it, we had to tell them they are wrong and have to stop.”

I have refrained from using “hell” in this reading in favor of the Greek word, “Gehenna”. The site Jesus refers to is not hell, neither the place of dishonor where your name was forgotten forever as Teutonic peoples envisioned nor the locale imagined by Dante in the 14^th century. It is much more likely to be the place of refuse that needs purification.

Gehenna is a valley outside Jerusalem that was once the site of idol worship. It was later used as a garbage repository perhaps because of the Temple’s disdain of the idolatrous place. The garbage was burned both to control the volume of garbage and to remove the source of pestilence--rats, maggots, and flies. Eventually, the fires of Gehenna burned twenty-four-seven and, when the wind was from the right direction, Jerusalem experienced 1^st century air pollution.

PUTTING UP THE WALLS

Recently, I heard an interview where the person was talking about Christian Exceptionalism and how Christian missionary practices have created an international climate that presumes a favored—exceptional—place in the world for us because we’re Christian. Somehow, just being Christian means that the people we are trying to serve must not only embrace the Good News of Jesus Christ, but that they should do so the way we do, embracing our culture as well. They must dress like us, think like us, govern themselves like us, and want all of the same things we want in the world—consume like us. Dr. Winston Persaud addressed this same concern twenty-eight years ago when he asked my seminary class, “Can we bring the Gospel to others without bringing McDonald’s as well?”

It continues to be important to recognize Jesus’ words for us this week as post-resurrection. In addition, it is important to hear them through Paul’s vision of being in the body of Christ. In Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, Paul limns, portrays, us, with the many spiritual gifts we have been given in community, to be the body of Christ. This corporate understanding is the body Mark reports when he recounts Jesus’ teachings concerning the hand, the foot and the eye.

If the work the communal hands are doing is not the work of the kingdom or if the hand of guidance does not lead to kingdom living, then sever relations with those people. The body of Christ remains honorable with one hand only.

If the journey of the body of Christ does not lead to the cross and resurrection, if the journey does not lead into the world of need, recognizing the suffering of the world and the healing work of raising people up into justified living in Christ, then amputate the foot. If the vision of Christ’s body does not see people like trees walking or if the vision does not include hope-filled service in the future life of Christ, then enucleate, throw it away, get glasses.

The body of Christ remains honorable one-handed, one-legged, one eyed. And if you cannot lead people into that relationship with the risen Christ, the one who suffers disability and gives it honorability, then it might be better to have, not just any millstone hung around your neck, but a millstone that is so big that it takes a donkey on a windless to turn it, and then be cast into the sea.

HANGING THE TRIM

In a post-resurrection reading, we have already seen the resurrected body of Christ with lacerations of flogging, with nail holes in his hands and feet, with marks from the crown of thorns, and a hole in his side from the soldier’s spear. Now this week, we bear witness to the honorability of disability. Life, even eternal life, gives honor to all who dwell in the body of Christ. In the very truth of Jesus’ disabilities, we find ability and empowerment to proclaim Christ’s justifying words and work for the sake of the world.

ROME IMPROVEMENT 09/19/2021

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SURVEYING THE SITE—Mark 9:30-37

As we continue in the Gospel of Mark, we skip over the Mount of Transfiguration which we read at the end of Epiphany. (See Rome Improvement 02/14/2021.) We also skip over two other events. One is the debate between the disciples and the scribes.

In the other, a man brings his son with epilepsy to Jesus for restoration wholeness. This father entreats Jesus, “If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.” Jesus says to him, “If you are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.” To which, the father immediately cries out, “I believe! Help my unbelief.”

Following this statement of faith, Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out. The child, after convulsing terribly, is still, like a corpse, but Jesus takes the boy by the hand and lifts him up, and the boy rises.

When the disciples are apart from the crowd, they, who previously have questioned what this rising from the dead might mean, do not ask about resurrection although they have just witnessed this boy rising, restored. Instead, they query, “Why couldn’t WE cast [the unclean spirit] out?” This sets the scene for this week, as Jesus and the disciples are again on the road reflecting on what has happened.

READING THE BLUEPRINT

And from there, having gone forth they were traveling along through the Galilee. And not [Jesus] desired that anyone might know. For he was teaching the disciples of him. And he was saying to them, that the son of man is delivered into hands of men, and they will kill him and having been killed after three days he will stand up (arise). But they were unknowing the word and they were afeared to ask him.

And they went into Capernaum and having come in the house he asked on them, “What in the way were you reasoning out?” But they were silent for they were debating in the way which one [was] greater.

And having sat, [Jesus] called the twelve and he says to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he will be of all last and of all, servant.  And having taken a little girl, he stood her up in the midst of them. And having embraced her he said to them, “Whoever might a little girl welcome on the name of me [that one] welcomes me; And whoever may welcome me, not me welcomes but the one who sent me as ambassador (in his stead).

ROUGHING IN THE HOUSE

If this passage is a pre-crucifixion narrative, it begins to look like a rather ghoulish account of who will be top dog after Jesus is dead. As a post-resurrection account, this passage continues to be an uncertain wondering of bodily resurrection and the continuing engagement of the reign of God. It is another account of the disciples caught thinking they have power of their own only to discover that any power they have is derived through the bodily risen Jesus.

Rather than trying to understand and enter the engaged reign of God, they succumb to putting their minds on human things, not on divine things (8:38-9:1). The disciples are more concerned about their own power than focusing on what Jesus is doing in this “engaged resurrection reign of God world”. Rather than discussing “what this rising from the dead might mean”, they choose a discussion about power, “Which one is greater?

In a world of “honor and shame” each disciple wishes to seize the most amount of honor he can. (See Rome Improvement 09/12/2021.) “I must be better, more skilled, more literate, better looking, be a better friend, more favored, than the others. Well then, I feel that I should demonstrate that to the others, and they should know their place. After all, I was invited up the mountain; I offered to memorialize the place with booths.”

Hearing the teaching about the “son of man” again, “The son of man is delivered into hands of men, and they will kill him, and having been killed after three days he will stand up.”, the disciples still do not understand resurrection and are afraid to ask Jesus what it means. They might have been asking themselves, “When he says “son of man” is he talking about himself or us? This rising from the dead stuff sounds good, but the dying? Not so much.  Can’t we just lean into ‘There are some standing here who will not taste death.’ Maybe the best of us will be the ones or one. Yeah, let’s go there.”

It is this fear-filled, uncertain, and confidence-lacking group that Jesus addresses. “What were you reasoning out on the way?” It is to this group that Jesus shows the kingdom of God when he reaches out and takes a little girl who is running through the house, hugs her (letting her know that she is safe), and stands her in their midst.

Jesus says, “Being most important is not important. Being least important in the eyes of the world AND willing to serve all of the people God sends to you is important. Looking good and always having the answers is not important. Being willing to ask the hard questions is important. This little girl, by her place in the world without status and willing to ask questions when she doesn’t know, that’s where the reign of God is engaged. You can’t serve if you do not know that there is a need. Look around. Ask questions. Learn that it is not about you alone, but the whole of God’s creation.”

PUTTING UP THE WALLS

And on-and-on the reasoning goes down through time to today. Is it better to be Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, United Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Baptist, or pick your own flavor of Christianity?

It is so much easier to find solace in the theological teachings, the liturgical practices, the social homogeneity/ethnic cohesion than it is to ask the question, “What does this rising from the dead mean for us today?” It is easier to see our worshipping community as a safe place for us, meeting the spiritual needs of us, of caring for our circle of friends and those who are satellite friends of us, than it is to ask about what we don’t know.

Before the people who followed Jesus were known as Christian, they were known as the people of “The Way”. So, when Jesus asks his question about what they were reasoning out on the way, he is asking not just the twelve but all who are with him on the way.

What are we reasoning out among US today?

How can we make our space a safe space for those who aren’t here?

How can we lift up the people who are thought to be beyond consideration, outside the community of us?

What question/s do we need to ask in order to understand what this rising from the dead means in the marginalized communities around us?

How can we be Jesus’ disciples if we are not willing to ask about what we don’t know?

Or worse, how can we be Jesus’ disciples when we choose to ignore the questions of the day because we don’t want to know the answers.

It is so much safer, even while recognizing each other’s value, to continue to argue, reasoning which of us is greater?

HANGING THE TRIM

Aimee Laramore, Philanthropic Strategist at Christian Theological Seminary, speaking on the connection between faith and giving, says, “To be an ally is safe. Allies are able to give their approval without getting involved. But to be a co-conspirator, that has consequences that may cause you to lose your life.”

When we are willing to ask the questions that give us understanding, we surrender our allyship and become co-conspirators. This is what Jesus is challenging us to become, co-conspirators in the engaged resurrection reign of God, to reason out what this rising from the dead might mean, understanding that we cannot, by our own reason or understanding, save ourselves. (Martin Luther, Explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed)

ROME IMPROVEMENT 09/12/2021

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SURVEYING THE SITE—Mark 8:31-9:1

Following the vision of the blind seer where the fullness of God’s reign is seen as people, living crosses, walking around, and following Peter speaking Jesus to be the Christ, the title given to Jesus in Mark 1:1 (“In the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”), this week, Jesus gives instruction on what discipleship looks like. And it looks a lot like the vision of the blind seer with the sufferings that might accompany radical self-giving living.

READING THE BLUEPRINT

And [Jesus] began to teach [the disciples] that it is necessary that the Son of Man to suffer many [things], and to be rejected by the elders and the high priests and the scribes and to be killed and after three days to rise/stand up and in boldness the word he was speaking.

And having taken [Jesus] to him [Peter], Peter began to denounce him. But having turned and having seen his disciples, [Jesus] denounced Peter, and he says, “Go away [to the back of the class], Satan, because you are not devoted to the things of God but the things of men.”

And having called before [him] the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, “If some want to follow after me, let [them] deny themselves thoroughly and let [them] lift up the cross of him and let [them] follow after me.

For…

Whoever would wish/desire to save [their] true life, [they] will lose it. But [those] who wish/desire to lose [their own] true life [or die] on account of me and the Good News, [they] will save it.

What benefits the [one] to gain the whole world and to lose [one’s] true life?

What might anyone exchange for their true life? 

Whoever might be ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinning generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of [that one] whenever he comes in the splendor of his father and with the holy messengers.

And [Jesus] was saying to them, “Truly I say to you that there are some here of the ones having stood who would not taste death until they would see the reign of God having come with power (“fully engaged”).

ROUGHING IN THE HOUSE

Again, how you read a passage determines the outcome. If this is a pre-crucifixion narrative, then the necessity of suffering “many things” falls solely on Jesus. As such, it is the first of three prophetic statements of the crucifixion cross to come in the gospel of Mark.

Like history, most prophetic writing is completed after the event has taken place. It’s similar to setting the calendar back in your computer in order to recover a setting or document that inadvertently was deleted or like digging through the files of the Wayback Machine to hold politicians accountable for what they believe has been erased. By doing this, it is possible to accurately report the past with certain understanding of the future. It is always possible to have predicted with accuracy the events of the future of today when you actually write about them in the present.

Jesus begins to teach his disciples that it is necessary for the Son of Man suffer many things. We know this is true because, since we are with the disciples in Galilee where we have been promised that Jesus would meet us, we already know that the crucifixion has occurred and that the tomb is empty.

Thus, as a post-resurrection account, these words take on new meaning for us. We know that Jesus has just been named by Peter as the Christ/Messiah and that Jesus has shifted the title from Christ (anointed one) to Son of Man. This descriptor is understood from the Old Testament (cf. Daniel) and leads to the title of Messiah.

In addition, Mark has another reason for using “Son of Man” at this point. Although it claims Jesus’ true humanity and points to the Messianic promise, “Son of Man” also claims all of humanity. We might translate this passage as, “[Jesus] began to teach [his disciples] that it is necessary that the Children of Humanity [must] suffer many things.”

From the perspective of Mark, the suffering of Jesus has become the reality of the persecuted church of his time. It is a reality they endure because of their confidence in the empty tomb. It is possible to speak of the rejection of the elders, the chief priest, and the scribes, because the temple is destroyed. As such, the elders, etc. are not so much those notable for crucifying Jesus as they are the Roman authorities persecuting the early church.

Consider the times. Claudius evicted the Christians from Rome in 49; Paul writes his letter to the underground Christian community sometime in the 50’s; the Christians are blamed for the burning of Rome in 64; and the war with Rome has resulted in the temple being destroyed. The Christian community is right in the middle of much of the conflict going on in the world. All before the gospel of Mark is written.

As a result of the siege of Jerusalem, the early church was impoverished and starving. By some accounts, only Paul’s Macedonian collection and other relief efforts made it possible for the Church in Jerusalem to survive at all (Romans 15:26 and 2 Corinthians 8). These people knew suffering was necessary; cross-lifting was part of discipleship as they continued to bear witness to the resurrection-offered hope amid intolerable life conditions.

This post-resurrection image of the cross is not the defeated crucifixion cross of death. This is the life-giving, “like trees walking around”, resurrection cross. The Christian mindset by the time Mark writes his Gospel, although it includes suffering, self-denial, and cross-lifting as part of following Jesus, already recognizes “for the death [Christ] died, he died to sin once for all” (Romans 6). Therefore, for the disciples and us to die in persecution does not save, but the discipleship witness in death testifies to confidence in the power of the risen one—the one who has already suffered many things, died, and is risen from the tomb.

PUTTING UP THE WALLS

In the first century worldview, honor and shame balanced one another. There was a finite amount of honor. If one were to gain honor, then someone else had to suffer shame. Therefore, the words, “deny oneself, take up your cross, and follow”, was a radical concept. The idea that those with honor would intentionally give that honor away was beyond thinking unless one could realistically expect future benefit, like favors owed.

Although this worldview is not as common in our culture, we still see political favors given with the expectation that future favors will be returned. Therefore, Jesus’ words of self-denial and a cross-lifting way of living continue to challenge us. Indeed, the Children of Humanity must continue to suffer as long as we put our own needs first.

Self-denial is not for the sake of self-improvement, pious status, or self-righteousness. Self-denial is for the sake or welfare of the neighbor. It is a way of living that lifts the needs of those around us to being as, or more, important than our own.

For example, I hate wearing masks. I am vaccinated and therefore have a high degree of resistance to the Delta COVID virus. Yet, knowing I am relatively safe, I continue to wear masks because I can potentially transmit the virus to others who are unvaccinated and remain more vulnerable. In this simple way, we deny ourselves for the benefit of those around us.

But self-denial is not enough to follow Jesus. An article on ψυχή, psuche, (true life) in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (vol. 9, p. 643) considers Mark’s addition of the words “on account of me and the good news” to earlier known sayings. Doing so indicates “only orientation to Jesus and not to the [self] can lead to this [true life]”.

Consider the act of fasting. For many, fasting is, in fact, persistent hunger. It is not voluntary or spiritual. It is a way of life. For these people, they simply don’t have enough food. When fasting is chosen, it may be a beneficial practice for health, or it may be part of spiritual discipline which is undertaken to make food available to those who did not have food. If the food we do not consume does not benefit those who need food, then the fasting we do is self-serving and not an act of denying oneself “on account of me and the good news”.

I once asked a friend who was giving up chocolate for Lent, “For the benefit of whom?”

She looked at me quizzically and finally answered, “I guess for the benefit of my wallet and the ten pounds I want to lose.”

I suggested she give the money she saved from not buying chocolate to something like the Heifer Project or ELCA Good Gifts. She said, “But then I wouldn’t be saving anything.”

Giving up chocolate for her, even during Lent, was not a true spiritual practice because such practices need direction, and the direction is always out into the world. If our spiritual practices don’t benefit others, they are simply self-improvement. Self-improvement has its place, but it is not the cross-lifting, tree-walking-around discipleship that Jesus speaks of or that the blind man saw.

Many people do model this self-denying, cross-lifting discipleship. We recognize them and even reward their behavior with medals and honors—Gandhi, Martin Luther King jr., Mother Teresa, William Barber, and others. Although we admire them, we rarely let their examples change our lives. In part, this is because we live in a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” world. We are focused on self-improvement, self-advancement, and self-satisfaction.

But when we are able to deny ourselves for the sake of Christ and for the Good News, we recognize the importance of denying self and cross-lifting. Seeing the possibility of what the world might be, we stand on the threshold of the kingdom of God coming in power. We have a moment when we stand with Christ and those who exemplify self-denial in order to bring good news to the oppressed, the poor, and others who are marginalized and, in that moment, we can believe that the reign of God is “engaged”. This indeed is not a distant, someday vision. It is present to us today.

HANGING THE TRIM

The hope and the promise of the resurrection cross, walking-around-tree living, is found in denying oneself for Christ and the Good News brought to others. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream …”. John Lewis encourages us all to, “Get into good trouble.” How will we speak that Good News into being today?