Mark 8:31-38 A Reflection on the Cross with Some Personal Additions

Mark 8:33  -  “Get behind me, Satan!” (v. 33)

Certainly this encounter between Jesus and Peter causes any follower of Christ to take pause. If Peter who was a leader of the disciples could be the instrument of Satan, then the possibility exists that any of us could, also, find ourselves opposing the message and ministry of Jesus. Peter received the chastisement of Jesus because he attempted to dissuade Jesus from the cross. Any retreat from the message of the cross puts us over against Jesus.

The disciples were willing to fight for Jesus, and they were willing to die in that fight. In Gethsemane a sword was drawn and a blow was struck. (Mark 14:47) They would fight and die, but they were not willing to take up a cross voluntarily. Peter and all the disciples, despite their protestations, deserted Jesus when he surrendered to the cross. (Mark 14:19; 29;71)

The message of the cross is self-denial. (Mark 8:34) The message of the cross is total abandonment of one’s life to the Gospel. (Mark 8:35) The message of the cross is the decision to choose God’s way over the ways of the world. (Mark 8:38)

Peter found himself following the ways of the world, of evil, of Satan, when he attempted to substitute his own judgment for the Lordship of Christ. The good news is that God’s grace brought Peter to repentance and faith. He embraced God’s  forgiveness and in the light of the resurrection received a new understanding of God’s plan in Christ to reconcile the world. Our first natural response to the cross, like Peter’s response, is to flee. Only in the strength of the Spirit can a disciple bear the cross. Yet those who bear the cross are promised the power of resurrection.

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Witness to the Cross today.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) “Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply.”

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Grandchildren. We were sitting around the dining room table explaining to Mr. Happy (age 3) his given and family names. He has uncles from both the Burke and the Smith sides of the family who are named William; I told him that he and I share that name too; he responded, “Congratulations!”  We laughed. Then we proceeded to name all the Smiths in the family. Another burst of laughter when he summarized, “God is a Smith!” 

Mark 1:9-15 A Reflection with Some Personal Additions

Jesus begins his ministry.

One finds not a spare word in these seven verses. Information, insight, and instruction fill the passage so tightly that once it is opened it is difficult to repackage into one theme. Messages abound: baptism, repentance, temptation, divine intervention, the reality of evil, the relationship of John to Jesus and the content of the Gospel! Mark squeezed all these important ideas into just seven verses.

Jesus traveled over eighty miles from Galilee to the wilderness of Judah to identify with John’s ministry in which John called people to repentance and baptism. Jesus’ personal intensity of purpose became a dramatic public demonstration as he gave witness with his whole body, descending into the waters of the Jordan in the arms of John and then coming out of the water as one lifted from death to life. Still more dramatic the heavens broke open; they were “torn” open, and the barriers between divine and human were bridged in the person of Jesus when God’s voice was heard. The full meaning of “Son of God” was not clear to the disciples of Jesus early in his ministry, but the message was clear that Jesus was pleasing to God the Father.

Mark pushed the action forward saying, “at once,” Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. Jesus was affirmed by God, but often, as here in the wilderness, he faced challenges to his ministry. Especially he faced the reality of supernatural evil, personified in Satan. The “wild animals” of the wilderness were a true challenge as well and could symbolize the reality that ministry has many natural obstacles. Not every problem has its source in supernatural evil. Angels, the help of God, came to Jesus to minister to him and will come in some form, in some way to all who endure opposition to ministry in the Lord’s name. The wilderness journey was forty days. Just as Israel had been formed through forty years of wilderness life, so Jesus endured this necessary step in his progress toward God’s eventual purpose for him. In the Bible forty symbolizes completeness. God prepared him fully and will prepare the church and all its servants for the ministry God has called them to fulfill.

John was imprisoned. (v. 14) The officials foolishly believed they could silence the proclamation by killing John; instead, with the passing of John Jesus stepped fully into the public eye and preached the Gospel. As John had prophesied one far more powerful (verse 7) had appeared. 

Jesus brought good news: God’s kingdom or rule in the human heart was at hand for those who were willing to embrace the twin gifts of repentance and faith. Repentance was the gift of change; one can change again and again by turning toward God. Faith or trust in God was the gift that enabled the repentant to receive mercy and forgiveness and transformation through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus proclaimed this Gospel in word and deed. Fulfillment of his ministry came with the cross and resurrection--the demonstration of God’s love and God’s power. What Jesus promised in his preaching he fulfilled. Then and now, all who have received the Gospel wait for Christ’s return and the consummation of all things to the glory of God.

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Richard Baxter. “Faith is not a collection of opinions. People who dispute . . . are frequently the least acquainted with God. . . . Concentrate on the important things. The least controversial are the most valuable for faith.” (The Saints’ Everlasting Rest)

Marriage. In 1969 I made plans to ask Judy on Valentine’s Day to marry me. However, I was so eager that I asked her on February 13. I was right to waste no time. Forty-six years later I continue to be grateful to God for my dear wife who has blessed me beyond all that I could have imagined.

Mark 1:41 A Reflection on the Anger of Jesus

Mark 1:40-45 -- “Jesus was indignant.” (Verse 41, NIV)

The NIV translation reads that “Jesus was indignant.” In the KJV and several other translations one reads that Jesus was moved with “compassion,” not indignation. Both translations have support, but the two ideas take the reader in different directions. What are the implications if the reading is indignation? 

The word compassion fits well with our understanding of Jesus. With that word this miracle is another sign of the kingdom of God breaking into the world which is gripped by suffering and death. The ministry of Jesus serves as a model for the church. We, too, are called to relieve suffering and to proclaim the promise of resurrection in face of death.

If Jesus’ healing of the man with leprosy is accompanied by indignation then our understanding of this miracle becomes more complex. It  reveals the difficulty that Jesus faced in ministry. The leper came to Jesus with a challenge: “if you choose, you can make me clean.” (verse 40) This question contains an implied criticism. The leper suggested in his question the possibility that Jesus would choose to ignore suffering and to do nothing for its relief. 

When we feel anger we are getting a signal that something in our situation is wrong. The Bible teaches us "be angry but do not sin." (Eph. 4:26, RSV) We are to listen to our anger and evaluate the warning signal; perhaps, all that’s needed is to ignore foolishness, but it is also possible that anger warns us against harmful ideas or potentially harmful actions.

The leper questioned the motives of Jesus. The indignation Jesus felt was a signal that something was wrong in the situation. Instead of coming in humility and trust the leper came with a challenge. Jesus did heal the man, but then he “sternly” (verse 43) warned him to follow up this healing with two steps. The leper disobeyed both instructions of Jesus. He did not go to the religious leaders for validation of his healing, and instead of being quiet about the miracle he immediately told everyone that Jesus had healed him.

This man’s disobedience resulted in such large crowds seeking Jesus that he “could no longer go into a town openly.” (verse 45) The leper’s disobedience worked against the purposes of the very one who showed him compassion. Doing good is difficult. 

When the church ministers to people it will sometimes happen that the people served will question our motives. They may not understand and not cooperate with the help that is offered. Jesus faced that ministry challenge with the leper, and the church has the same challenge in its ministry as well. Compassion and indignation may both accompany the work of the church.

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Kenneth Leech.  “Religion goes disastrously astray when it ceases to be a sign of contradiction and becomes the cement for social conformity.” (We Preach Christ Crucified, p.10)

A Reflection on Mark 1:29-39 and Some Personal Additions

Mark 1:29-39  “. . . Let us go somewhere else . . .” (Verse 38, NIV)

“You think I am a demon; that’s because I am living in Hell, and I want out.” Those words were spoken by a character in the movie, “Blood Diamond,” a man who was trading diamonds to finance warlords and had hopes that his illicit business would help him escape from the civil war in Sierra Leone. This movie character was far from innocent, but he was desperate for deliverance. He sought it in the way he knew. It was the wrong way, a way certain to extend his own suffering and the innocent suffering of many others. As depicted in fiction the reality is that the fires of Hell continue to erupt into our world bringing evil and making demons of people. 

Jesus felt the urgency of his mission: to preach a message that could silence demons and drive them from the world. In our text the disciples look for Jesus who has slipped away for a time of prayer. When they find him they urge him to return to Capernaum where people were flocking to hear him and to be touched by him. Instead, he left Capernaum under the urgency he felt to take his message on to the next needy place. “Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Verse 38)

Students of the Gospel of Mark have long noticed its urgency. The word “straightway” in the KJV or in the NIV the words “at once,” (1:12, 18) or “without delay” (1:20) or “just then” (1:23) or “as soon as” (1:29) or “immediately” (1:30) occur multiple times to push the action forward. Jesus has a mission to fulfill and time is short. Mark throbs with the missionary imperative. All the Gospels, each in its own way, has this same urgency. Matthew recorded the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-2); Luke continued his Gospel with the book of Acts and the Spirit pushed spread of the Gospel into the world. John made it clear that his Gospel was written so that people would become believers. (John 20:31) An urgency for evangelism and the missionary movement are essential elements of the Gospel of Christ.

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A Prayer. Learned by Dorothy Day when she was a child, remembered and quoted in The Long Loneliness. “Enlarge thou my heart, O Lord, that Thou mayst enter in.” 

Grandchildren. Mr. Happy, although only 3 years old, has been helping me with accountability. Recently, I went back into the kitchen to get seconds on the delicious meal Judy had cooked. As I came back to the dining room table, Mr. Happy cried  out in genuine distress, “Pal (that’s what he calls me), Pal, don’t eat two meals!” Chagrined, I took my plate back to the kitchen. He made an observation that had never come to me before: second helpings are actually a second meal.