For nearly four months, lectionary preachers have had heaping helpings of the Gospel of John. Now with Lent and Easter, Pentecost and Trinity Sundays past, we have returned to ordinary time, and, beginning last week, we have returned to a steady diet of readings from the Gospel of Mark. The contrast between John and Mark is notable. The recent lessons from John set before us the confident and wise Jesus, certain of his purpose and profound in his teaching. He is calm, capable and in control. Through sustained discourses and long prayers that are unique to John, we have also glimpsed the mystery of Jesus’s intimate relationship with the Father and the continuation of Jesus’ ministry through the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. The divine nature of Jesus is on full display in the Gospel of John in all of its depth and complexity and wonder. Mark presents Jesus differently. In contrast to John’s cool and composed Jesus, the Jesus in this week’s passage from Mark is volatile and, to some, erratic. The scene in this week’s passage follows a fast-paced opening sequence in Mark where in the space of just a couple of chapters, Jesus performs an impressive list of healings and exorcisms, generating astonishment and amazement from an ever-growing crowd. “We have never seen anything like this” (Mark 2:12) typifies the response to Jesus in the early part of Mark. In addition to the great crowds, Jesus also draws the ire of the religious authorities who already seek to “destroy him” (3:6). The dividing lines are quickly drawn. Accordingly, emotions are high and the situation is tense as our passage begins. A multitude gathers again around the charismatic Jesus, even while others decide he has gone too far. Is he too popular, too powerful, too “outside the box?” Have too many outsiders been included, too many sinners welcomed, too many norms violated? There is something about this Jesus that attracts and repels. Great numbers crowd around him; but others, even his own family, conclude he needs to be restrained. “He has gone out of his mind” some say (3:21), which is perhaps really a way of saying that he has gone beyond our minds. He has surpassed what we might expect or imagine. The boundlessness, the inclusiveness, the unwillingness to be limited by regulation or convention, the unrestrained mercy and grace – all of it is beyond what we can grasp – and well beyond our control. He doesn’t conform to polite society, and he seemingly has little interest in decency and order. What kind of Presbyterian is he? ... Read the rest of the commentary on the website.
Thank you to this week's writer John Wurster. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment