Proper 5 Year B
If you are ever thinking you should read a Gospel through
from beginning to end and decide to choose simply by length you would choose
Mark. It is, by far, the shortest of the Gospels but, this morning’s passage
should remind us, perhaps should not be the beginner’s choice.
Mark is uncompromising in his theology. The Gospel is short
and this means that everything is written and a heady pace with a sense of
urgency. Some version of Mark must have been around before Luke and Matthew
were written because they both contain large chunks of this text. The
difference is the way that the authors use the material.
The Gospels are not designed to be witness statements in the
way that the police might take statements at a crime scene. None of the writers
would have seen historical veracity in the way we do, that is not to say what
they tell us is untrue but, rather, that what they say is intended to build a
picture of or a case for Jesus not to provide a chronological account of
events.
Marks does not waste time in making his agenda clear. His
first eight chapters are dotted around with healing miracles. On their own this
would leave Jesus as some sort of mystery healer, and there were plenty of
those around. But Mark, from the rending of the heavens at Jesus Baptism on, makes
it clear that Jesus is not just any miracle healer. Jesus is part of God
breaking into humanity, tearing apart the ordinary fabric of life and seeing
humanity in the truth of God’s own light and presence.
I am not sure whether you have seen any of those shows on TV
where families do an intervention for a loved one who is struggling with some
sort of addiction or severe behavioral problem. It is not without a lot of
heart-rending that these situations usually occur and we usually do not know
how effective they are long term.
When we enter the Gospel today, Jesus family seem to be in
the midst of some sort of intervention. This is not the picture with which we
are familiar – we tend to think that they, or at least Mary, intuitively
understood what Jesus was about and how he would go about his ministry. In this
passage they are afraid for him because they thought he had quite literally
gone mad. Interestingly the word which Mark uses, in our translation that they
came to restrain him, is the same word in Greek which he uses when Jesus is
arrested and seized by the authorities.
Mark is clear from the beginning, then, that whether it is
those closest to Jesus, or those who only ever seek to do him harm, that
misunderstanding comes from the same source, and that source is not of God.
Mark often put stories in layers, often called a Markan
sandwich. This story is a great example. If you look at the text you will see
there is a clear pattern of interactions – the crowd, the family, the scribes,
the defeat of Satan, then back to the scribes, the family and the crowd. This
structure makes clear Mark’s central point and that is the defeat of Satan. To
find out how this will happen we have to look at the structure of the whole
Gospel in which it is clear that the defeat of Satan comes about through the
Cross.
We are near the beginning of the Gospel in our reading today
and that idea of the Cross as power is a long way from the thoughts of the
crowd who see Jesus as some sort of superhero. But even in this story we begin
to understand the subversion and overturning of the old ways of thinking.
Already, earlier in this chapter, Jesus has questioned the
Sabbath as an institution. Is it right to hurt or to heal on the Sabbath –
could it be that the Sabbath is getting in the way of God’s in-breaking of the
new covenant? To the faithful Jews and, especially, the Jewish hierarchy, this
would have been a red flag. Then, in this passage, Jesus dismantles another
mainstay of Judaism, the family.
This is a hard thing to hear. After all, for most of us, our
families are the core of our lives. There are various ways to soften this
message to say something less radical, but, like it or not, Mark is extremely
radical and very persistent in his demands for Jesus followers. This is not
Luke’s social justice or even Matthew’s fulfilment of promise this is something
else. Mark sees everything through the lens of the cross and so should Jesus
followers. Jesus power comes from allowing himself to be subjugated and so
should his followers. Jesus has one clear direction to follow, and so should
his disciples.
A wider reading of this passage would compare the family of
Jesus to the Jewish family structure. Jesus comes, not to reinforce existing
closed communities, not to give the political power, but rather to open them up
and create new community. His family are turned into outsiders as an example of
the new paradigm of seeing those who are currently viewed as the establishment
being moved outside the circle and those who have been excluded being brought
it. In this interpretation the harsh language is Jewish hyperbole and Jesus did
not mean us to actually reject our families.
Perhaps, somewhere between these two interpretations there
is sensible ground to stand upon in our modern age. According to Mark, Jesus
really does say harsh things about his family. According to Mark old norms of
religion are now suspect and existing categories are called into question.
According to Mark the primary mode of existence is Christian community.
Are all these ideas incompatible? After all we do not have
to look too far to realize the devastating effect on society of simply looking
after ourselves and our own. Whilst family is important we know we need to
balance our own wants and needs over and against the needs of society as a
whole. There is a difference between what it is my right to do and what is
right to do.
Family in our modern world has a very different meaning than
it had in the first century. We are dispersed. Children, parents and
grandparents may well live and operate in very different communities. When we
become inward looking and almost cultish in our family allegiances we have a
problem because instead of truly looking at God, instead of truly taking up our
cross, instead of being disciples of Christ above all else, we begin to hold
things, privilege and even other people as more important than God. We make
them into idols.
Mark is writing a story for a persecuted Church, it is vital
they keep their eyes looking forward and do not get drawn back into old ways of
thinking and behaving. We are in a different age but we also need to remember
that our primary call is as beloved sons and daughters of God, all of us, no
matter who we live with or who we love. We must face Godward, and remove
ourselves from distractions which would seize our attention and turn us in a
different direction.
So as we read Mark we have to be prepared to be challenged.
We have to be prepared to deal with a story which is urgent and sometimes
harsh. But if we persevere we hear a story of a God of action and interaction and
we learn the true meaning of power. Our lives are meant to be marked out, to
look different and our power lies in understanding our community, on earth and
in heaven goes far beyond our expectations but calls us to obedient
discipleship.
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