Mark 1:21-28
Epiphany 4- Year B
In his sermon On Zeal John Wesley is clear that if you are participating in one of the works of piety (in this case, teaching) and an opportunity comes to participate in a work of mercy (in this case, healing) there is no way to excuse shifting gears away from piety to mercy without endangering one's connection to GOD's love.
Here Jesus gives us an example of this ordering of life. He does not keep on teaching but attends to the healing.
And, as any good story would have it, it turns out that Jesus' willingness to respond to the situation at hand leads to emphasizing the teaching he was doing. His walk fit his talk, as we like to rhyme.
It was the work of mercy that validated the work of piety. We must not be afraid to shift gears backward and forward as we move through life for it is this very movement that validates every movement.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/february2003.html
Listen to Theodore Jennings as he writes in The Insurrection of the Crucified:
"...it is precisely the demonic that testifies to the identity of Jesus as the 'holy one of God.' This is a messianic title formally similar to the assertion that Jesus is the Christ or the Lord. Thus, the confession of the unclean spirit is precisely that confession by which the Christian movement thought to distinguish itself from all unbelief. Indeed, Paul had put forward (or appropriated for his own purposes) the claim that '...no one can say that "Jesus is Lord" except by the holy spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:3). this criterion is utterly overthrown by Mark's narrative, not only here but throughout the gospel. The danger which lurks in Paul's use of this criterion is that if it is taken literally it leads to a view of faith which is merely ideological. By placing the Christian confession here in the mouth of the unclean spirit, Mark demonstrates that the mere confession that Jesus is Lord, Christ, or 'holy one of God' is by no means an adequate definition of faith. It may just as well be demonic. Those who loudly proclaim the 'lordship of Christ' may, for all their 'spirituality,' be demonic. The test of an authentic confession is not ideological, or theological but, as we shall see, practical."
Now, how practical are the words you use to describe the world and your hope in the midst of this world? Do they beg all manner of questions? Do they sidestep a confrontation? Do they absolve you of needing to make a radical decision?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/january2006.html
Fame is not a good thing for Jesus. It is a never-ending trap. To keep fame going requires greater and greater time commitments to fame and resources put into it. To paraphrase the Red Queen, "Now, WITH FAME, you see, it takes all the running YOU can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get more fame, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
No wonder he does what he can to infuse the world with his teaching, not his wonder-working. This is quieter, but deeper. While the healing is a direct outgrowth of his teaching it can't be said, given all the healers around, that a healing will lead to his teaching.
As we draw near to Sunday, may the words formally spoken lead to outgrowths of healing. Pick the arena in the world where you think the most healing needs to be present and begin talking in such a way that it will grow. Or simply teach what you can, where you are, and opportunities for healing will come along. Either way remember that Mark begins with the baptismal words, "You are my beloved," and your passing those words along will have great healing power.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/january2006.html
We do so easily become accustomed to idols - that which would captivate us for its own end. Even the good things of our lives, or, more precisely, exactly the good things of our lives are prime candidates for being the strongest of idols. Personal wants, family, nation, doctrine all have moments of being exactly the right response to a particular situation and then they hang around to hang us out to dry in another.
Being so captivated makes it very easy to question any intervention on our behalf: "What have you to do with me. If I followed where you lead I won't recognize myself. In that choice your destruction is to be preferred over mine."
There is probably not a justification I have not used to keep on keeping-on with what I am doing. My knowledge about what I am up to is very puffed-up. Over-blown, even, to the point of fragility and hyper-sensitive to any attempt to change coming from the outside. Such change would explode my world and where would there be anything left on which to start to rebuild?
A first task of a prophet is to have their bubble burst about what is good. Love-of-G*D good doesn't revolve only about our knowledge. We are one satellite, among many, that becomes aware not only of trespasses against us, but ours against others. In this crucible a future is conceived, nurtured, and brought forth. This is also a first task of a congregation and a priest even though it is more difficult here to come to see it.
- - -
How you doin'?
got anything to do with me?
anything for me?
anything from me?
we so question godly idols
ourselves and others
when we catch a connection
beyond captivity
it is no surprise
amazement
then we enshrine
our new connection
in routine expectation
ripe for bursting
teaching authority
goes beyond anything for me
beyond eternalizing moments
how are you doing?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
Teaching draws opposition. This seems to have been true from before Socrates and ever since. Teaching (of which preaching can be a subgroup) has its power in clarity (authority is revealed in clarity, not subterfuge) and this is always dangerous for people and times that are interested in simply consolidating or actively trying to replicate a previous experience..
The opposition in this passage is confusion – noise and accusation (still favorite tools of those not ready to proceed).
Can you imagine Jesus not yelling back, not shouting or raising a voice or using an exclamation mark – but simply stating, "Quiet," in a low tone that can be heard in the midst of chaos?
For some it would be enough to settle for "Quiet" but there remains a need for a resolution of the situation. In this case there is also a sending away of that which broke in. A boundary was set. Again, authority is not just control but resolution.
News of this kind of authority does travel. It even awakens the one who demonstrates such authority to additional uses of this resolving power to make whole and make one.
An image we might remember is the play honoring Anne Sullivan, in regard to Helen Keller, is entitled, "Miracle Worker", while the story Helen tells about herself and Anne is entitled, "Teacher." May we all tell this story about ourselves – that we taught those who came after us that they might go further.
A question for us this week is about the authority we demonstrate regarding our own life and the lives of those around us. May it help us resolve the questions we have about who we are and give direction to our courage to be on the edge of new teaching.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html
Authority - “meaning the freedom to express one’s powers” (JANT).
Authority is a freedom always available, even in coercive situations. Expressing one’s powers may or may not carry the day in the short-run, but it is always a witness to what you consider to be trustworthy. In this you can be as authoritative as Jesus.
It is worth reflecting on the accusation, “Have you come to destroy us?” Certainly there is a sense in which the answer is, “Yes”. For some who are into security, any modification from their ultimate control, is a death. This is the same dynamic used by those privileged in religious power. They must protect every part of their established tradition for the loss of any one part is experienced as a destruction of all of it.
The new Jewish Annotated New Testament is very clear here: “Although there has been a tendency in the modern period to distinguish Jesus’ healings from those of contemporary Jews and others, this is a theological not historical judgment. The miracles in the Gospels contain the same procedures, healing formulae ..., and demonological lore as the magic of the ancient world.”
Let’s not get caught up in trying to make things more holy than they are and openly stick to the simplicity of a freedom to express a power available in the moment.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/01/mark-121-28.html