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Prayer and Welcome: Nancy Lopez

Welcome to our RefleXion community!   May the Peace of the Lord be with you.

We’re in the season between Jesus’ resurrection and His ascension, and what was Jesus doing those 40 days?  Well, for one thing, He was showing his scars to someone who needed to see them.  Remember Thomas? “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Jesus showed Thomas his wounded hands, his scars.  It had me wondering if there is a difference between wounds and scars.  Wounds are injuries.  Scars are evidence of the healing of a wound.  

Scars tell stories.  Scars from an operation tell the story of an injury or disease, a surgery, and a recovery.  Scars from a burn are different from knife wounds.   Jesus must have had horrendous scars.  After His resurrection, why do you think that He still had those scars?  Perhaps they remind us that He is one of us, that He knows our pain, and that one day we will have all the healing we need. 

A couple of weeks ago I was remembering Lazarus and how He was raised to life but still had his wrappings, as we do, metaphorical bandages and coverings.  I wanted to say a bit more, because I know from personal experience that removing bandages and allowing ourselves and others to see our wounds is not at all pleasant!  Seeing our bloody mess might cause us to choose to just cover it up again. As we remove our coverings–shame, fear, addictions, blame…, if our wounds are still quite bloody, even infected and destroying the surrounding tissue, we certainly don’t want to cover them again; we want to seek healing and not to expose them to everyone right now.  Or maybe we just need some stitches to help us heal or perhaps an infection specialist. 

Perhaps we will see that we are already healed; we might see a scar, and that’s evidence of a measure of healing.  And then if someone needs to see to believe for themselves, we can show them our scars and tell our story.  I’ll bet you already do that; and for that, we are thankful.

Will you pray with me? Lord Jesus, we thank you for your healing powers.  We pray that we will see more and more of those powers working in us and for us.  We will not reject our scars but offer them as invitations to believe in healing.  Thank you for being our Savior and our Exemplar.  Help us, heal us, bring Shalom.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

And Jesus went on with the disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” . . . “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
. . . . “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his [soul] will lose it, but whoever loses his [soul] for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:27-38

Intro: We are at the center of Mark’s gospel, heart of his message – the hub of the wheel

In chapter 8 Mark pulls everything together
– Jesus Christ appeared in the world on a mission
• he came to introduce people to the kingdom of God
• but making them aware of God’s presence and kingdom proved to be extremely difficult
◦ it is not easy for us to awaken to God’s Spirit
– this chapter reveals the tension our worldly mind and spiritual mind more clearly than any other
• I tried to describe this tension a few years ago in one of my meditations:
“A theme that Mark has emphasized, is that the human mind is geared to physical reality. As a result, our minds do not open easily to the spiritual realm, in fact, we are resistant to it. We are fixated on the material realm and how it is humanly perceived, experienced, and manipulated. The term Mark uses for our fixation is ‘hardened heart.’ This has been the disciples’ struggle for awhile. Their hardened hearts prevented them from gaining insight from Jesus’ miracles (Mk. 6:52). They keep missing the point, because their minds were stuck in material literalness.
When Peter rebuked Jesus, his mind was locked by his limited perception and consciousness. Jesus pointed this out when he told Peter he was not setting his mind ‘on the things of God, but on the things of [humans]’ (v. 33). It seems that Peter felt ashamed of a crucified Messiah. That resulted naturally from his one-dimensional perception. Given a more complete perception, he would learn that the real shame lies not in following a crucified Messiah, but being disowned by him when he comes ‘in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Jesus is the revelation that enlightens us to the dimension of God’s kingdom. He contrasts the realm of ‘this generation’ with the realm of ‘his Father [and his] angels,’ which is the same contrast we see between ‘the things of [humans]’ and ‘the things of God.’ The truth that has been illuminated in the previous stories, like light shining through stained glass windows, bursts through this chapter in brilliant color. I may not see the full spectrum very well, but I know the truth is here, and it is larger than my universe.”

The chapter begins with another “miracle meal”

The way Mark introduces it, is different from the previous one
– it begins with Jesus explaining to the disciples his compassion for the families gathered there
• they were in this “desolate place” because of him
◦ they followed him here because they wanted to be with him
• it’s true that they had to go home sometime, but he could not just send them away
◦ they’d have to labor across rugged terrain on empty stomachs
– how Jesus treated the crowd is a lesson for his disciples
• the concern for others that they needed to feel and act on
From my meditations: “This is Jesus Christ our Lord. ‘In the days of his flesh’ he knew hunger and weariness; he knew suffering and sorrow; he knew empathy and compassion. Jesus felt what the crowd felt. He feels what we feel.”

On the move again, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees

They came to him, not to be with him like the others, but to argue with him
– they asked for a sign to prove himself–that he came from God
• Mark describes Jesus’ initial response to their challenge this way: he sighed deeply in his spirit
◦ for years, that phrase has intrigued me
From my meditations: “My thoughts swirl around his deep sigh. What did it signify? Sorrow? Frustration over their demand that he satisfy their rational minds? Why could they not see that God was calling them to a larger reality than can be contained by this world or human minds? God’s kingdom is infinite space and eternal time. Signs may point people in the right direction –if they accept the sign–, but signs do not provide access to the kingdom of God.
How can we possibly know the depth of Jesus? From those subterranean depths there came a sigh. It is ‘in his spirit’ that Jesus sighed. What does it tell us? A sigh emerges from feelings too deep for words. Jesus does not feel the compassion for the Pharisees that he felt toward the crowd. The Pharisees do not get their sign. They get nothing from him other than a warning. God’s Spirit sighs over our stumbling around in the dark.”

I have come to believe that verse 14 is a setup

This sort of maneuver is sometimes referred to as “priming”
– a thought is placed in a person’s mind to influence their response to a question that follows
• we read “bread” then “yeast” and make an automatic association
◦ with the disciples we think “bread” — and it is important that we fall for this trick
◦ it puts us in the same position as disciples
• we need to realize that we have the same problem!
◦ our minds naturally turn to the physical and literal meaning of words
– what was the immediate danger the Pharisees presented?
• a mind-set that demanded physical or rational validation
◦ that God must let us touch the intangible, see the invisible for us to believe
◦ it is the mind-set of “human things” over “God’s things”
• if we let go of the materialist mind-set, we begin to see
◦ bread can be a sign; a fig tree can be a sign; a fishing net can be a sign

I notice in scolding the disciples, every sentence Jesus speaks is a question
– to me, the most devastating question is, “Are your hearts hardened?”
From my meditations: “A ‘yes’ answer to this question would answer his other questions. “Yes, I am blind; yes, I am deaf; no I do not perceive or understand, because my heart is hardened.”
The leaven of the Pharisees does not make bread rise, it makes hearts harden. A hardened heart is one that cannot change.”
• he also asks, Do you not yet understand?
◦ as if saying, “If you don’t get it by now, you’ll never get it”
• what were they supposed to understand by now?
◦ that with Jesus material needs are never the main concern?
◦ perhaps God meeting our material need is a secondary grace
giving us his kingdom may be his primary grace
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Mt. 6:33)

I’m convinced Mark deliberately placed next story in this spot

It’s a story about a blind man – but it’s an odd one
– first, it follows the exact pattern of a healing before this chapter
• in both stories:
▫Jesus has just arrived in a location
▫ the people there bring a disabled man
▫ they beg Jesus to heal him
▫ specifically, to touch him
▫ Jesus takes the man aside
▫ touches him
▫ applies spit
▫ heals him (one hears clearly, the other sees plainly)
▫ Jesus instructed them not to tell
◦ besides sharing this unique pattern, these are the only healings stories in Matthew, Mark, and Luke in which Jesus uses spit in the process of healing someone
• Mark wants us to connect these two stories with disciples, who Jesus just now asked,
Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?
– the second odd thing about this story,
• the blind man is not healed instantly, but in stages

Here is how I read this story:
– Jesus has just dealt his disciples a devastating blow
• he’s demonstrated that they have not made much progress
◦ I imagine that left them feeling discouraged
• but it’s not only the disciples who take a hit,
◦ we the readers also realize we’re not getting anywhere either
◦ we feel just as blind, deaf, and uncomprehending
• and, we may fear it’s a chronic condition with no fix
– eyes and ears are organs of perception
• in two stories, before and after his criticism of the disciples, Jesus worked miracles
◦ he made a deaf man hear and a blind man see
• Jesus was showing his disciples what he could do for them
◦ by working miracles, he could open their ears and eyes
◦ and he could also crack open their hardened hearts
• as frustrating as it may be for both teacher and student,
◦ receiving and owning spiritual insight comes in stages — as with the blind man’s healing

In an unusual twist, Jesus tested the blind man’s sight (v. 23)

That’s also what he did with disciples when warned them regarding the leaven of the Pharisees
– now, after his scolding them and healing the blind, Jesus he tests them again
Who do people say that I am? . . . But who do you say that I am?
• this time they pass the test – they have 20/20 vision
• but then he begins to inform them of what lies ahead
◦ Mark adds, “And he said this plainly”–unlike his analogy with the leaven
– what happens next is way too familiar – it’s definitely my MO
• Peter reverts to his rational-literal mind-set
• and we’re back to where we started at the beginning of this talk

Conclusion: Jesus sums up perfectly everything we’ve gone over

If there’s one point on which all of this is balanced, it’s your soul
What can a man give in return for his soul?
What kind of deal can you broker for your soul?
And once you’ve completed the negotiation, you’ve lost your soul

Awareness has consequences
We can no longer trust the rational, literal, material mind-set
We realize that there is no worldly road that brings us to a life worth living,
there is only the daily pursuit of following Jesus

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Welcome to our RefleXion Community!          Peace be with you!

All my photos from my phone are saved “in the cloud” at Amazon, and every day I have the opportunity to look at my photos from “this date” in past years.  Do you ever do that?  This year I noticed a real difference in nature between this year and last year.  This year the trees outside my window are just barely beginning to get their leaves.  Last year they were full of foliage. In past years I had Monarch butterfly caterpillars already hanging in their chrysalises on this date.  This year I haven’t even seen a butterfly, let alone eggs and caterpillars.  Every season is different and has its own ways and timing. 

Don’t you wish we could look at our own souls from this day in past seasons?  If there was an audio message attached, I’ll bet it would say, “Look how far you’ve come!”  In any case, let’s be encouraged that there are seasons and reasons for our souls.  And we don’t have to judge or compare ours with others. 

Last week, Chuck reminded us that on the church calendar we are still in the “Easter” season, the season of resurrection. Can we look out our window and say to ourselves, “It is new season, that is all.  If I am in Jesus, I am still in the season of resurrection.  I’m being made new.” From Romans 8:38, “And I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  Neither death or life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”

Will you pray with me:
Lord, thank You for Your promises.  Let this be the season where we take hold of them, and You, where we let go of old ways, where we let things be that aren’t ours.  Give us, we pray, resurrection power to grow in You, to be made new for Kingdom life.  We welcome You, Lord, as we welcome each other in Your name.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, the do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” Mark 7:1-5

Intro: I have been blessed with a number of extraordinary friends

One of them was incredibly creative
– he could hardly complete a project, because he was constantly distracted by new idea
• sometimes I would call him when feeling depressed
• his creativity was so inspiring, it changed my outlook
– he agreed to fill-in for me as a guest speaker
• it took him awhile to come up with a title for his talk, but eventually emailed it to me:
“Don’t Be the Kind of Christian There Are Already Too Many Of”
• Jesus gave talks on that same topic
◦ he said that regarding charity, prayer, or fasting, you must not be like the hypocrites (Mt. 6:5)
and in chapter 23, he tells his disciples,
The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat [to teach], so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For the preach, but do not practice (Mt. 23:2-3)
◦ he follows that statement with a long list of the wrong things they did

In my meditations that I’ll share with you today, I used the word “religion”

When we hear that word, we may think of a specific institution
– like the Roman Catholic Church or Southern Baptist Convention
• we may think of an organization built around a set of beliefs and practices
• religion is the visible expression of devotion to a deity or supernatural concept
◦ if we get no closer to God than external religion,
◦ we have an empty, lifeless container without the contents
– religion can bring out the best in people and the worst
• it can liberate people or oppress them
◦ it can be a blessing to a community or a curse
◦ it can make peace or it can make war
• all of my past meditations on this chapter focused on the dark side of religion
◦ in this passage, religion’s traditions turned people into self-righteous fault-finders

Jesus had little conflict with anyone other than religious people

The Pharisees and scribes imagined themselves to be in charge of religion
– it seems they felt they had to take control of religion and use it to control the actions of others
Gerald May, “I have to say again . . . that there is no ‘how to’ in [spirituality]. If we are willing for it, if we are open and awake to its possibility, it just happens. It is given. My religious faith explains it thus: God is endlessly, irrepressibly and unconditionally loving, always calling us home. But in that love, God leaves us always free to accept or decline the invitation. God treats us with absolute respect. God may beckon us gently or challenge us fiercely, but God will not make us puppets and pull our strings. . . . Love does not control. Love frees.”
• buried beneath the Pharisee’s and scribes’ complaint was a genuine concern
– in 2011, when reading Mark, I was also reading in Leviticus (roughly, chapters 11-15) — I wrote:
“The world of Leviticus was full of potential contamination that could pollute the soul. The list included things that could be ingested (ch. 11), touched (ch. 12), or issue from the human body (chs. 12 and 15). Every layer of human covering could be rendered ‘unclean,’ ‘impure,’ ‘defiled’; from one’s own skin, to their clothing, to their home (chs. 13-14).
“The infected person was excluded from the community of God’s people until they went through a cleansing ritual. The ritual of reinstatement occurred in stages that included inspection, a “sin offering” and bathing.”
• I have never fully understood this invisible pollution
◦ it wasn’t presented as a health concern (people then were unaware of germs or bacteria)
◦ it was more like a taboo that released dark energy
• the problem created by the religious people was how they interpreted those purity regulations
◦ their interpretation is presented here as
the tradition of the elders (v. 3) and . . . there are many such traditions that they observe (v. 4)

There is an element of their worldview that I find tragic

First, to them unwashed hands were not just dirty, but “defiled”
– they believed religious impurity could enter body and infect the soul
• there is another layer to this situation
◦ “defiled” translates the Greek word koynos, which translated literally means common
(the division in the purity code was between holiness and everything else)
◦ common or profane refers to everything that is shared by all people and everyday encounters
• normal human activities and interactions made people impure
◦ if you were someone susceptible to excess guilt, can you imagine what that thinking would do to you?
◦ every sensitive person would have an obsessive-compulsive disorder
– in verse 4, “wash” translates the Greek word for baptism
• this cleansing was a ritual purification and not a matter of hygiene
• I was invited to speak at a large Pentecostal church
◦ after service, pastor and assistant used disinfectant wipes to clean their hands
◦ it was probably wise, but I remember being bothered by it,
like they were wiping off the physical contact they had with “normal” people

Jesus did not defend his disciples directly

Instead, he pointed out what was wrong with the Pharisee’s and scribes religion

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. Mark 7:6-8

– the quote from Isaiah knocks the wind out of every believer
• I have to ask myself, when I pray and worship, where’s my heart?
• the heart will be the central theme of Jesus’ rebuttal
– what Jesus stresses from the quote is a mistake they’ve made
• and it’s a very common mistake among many Christians
◦ they did not distinguish between human traditions and God’s commandments
◦ they assumed they were the same thing
Chuck Kraft, “The Scriptures are inspired; our interpretations are not.”
• frequently we have failed to make this distinction
◦ it is one of the short-comings of the religious mind

As we read in verse 4, and there are many other traditions that they observe
– it boggles the mind how many things get tacked onto the basics
• in the book of Acts, there were Christian advocates who insisted,
◦ that though we are saved by grace, it is grace plus circumcision (Acts 15:1, 5)
• religion is always adding to the list – we are saved by grace plus something else

I have imagined a pause between verses 8 and 9

Jesus waited for a response from them, but they remained silent
– maybe they were stunned
• it never occurred to them this quote could apply to them (as Jesus claimed it was written of them)
◦ they could hardly believe that, given all their religious commitments,
◦ they weren’t really honoring God
• perhaps they never thought about this: whether their hearts were in the right place
– while they were mulling this over, Jesus gave them an example
You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! – and he finishes with, And many such things you do (v. 9)
• they created as many loopholes for the serious stuff,
◦ as they did commandments for the mundane things
• traditions can be used to avoid keeping the commandments
◦ interpretations can be used to avoid doing as Jesus taught
◦ religion is often used to keep us at safe distance from God

In verses 14-23, Jesus turns religion in the right direction

There are spiritual toxins that can defile a person
– and those toxins are produced in the human heart
• no germ that enters us can makes us a thief, or murderer, or adulterer
◦ but what’s in our heart can turn us those directions
• purity does matter, but its source is internal
◦ it works from the inside out, not the outside in
◦ no purifying action is effective that doesn’t reach the heart
– it is the heart that has to be purified
• it’s a lot easier to wash our hands than to wash our hearts

Friday I was reading in 1 Chronicles – King David’s last words
– instructions to Solomon and his prayer for the people
• listen to what he says about the heart
And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart, for the LORD searches the hearts and understands every thought and plan (1 Chr. 28:9)
I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. . . . O LORD . . . keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments (1 Chr. 29:17-19)
• what we see is the heart is of central concern to God
◦ and that having a good and true heart is a cooperative effort
◦ God willingly works with us to make our hearts whole
– I always feel the need to work on my own divided heart
• it is encouraging to know God joins me — and he goes beyond anything I can manage
◦ he performs “heart surgery to remove stuff and to mend torn tissue
◦ he prescribe exercises to strengthen my heart
◦ and if necessary, God replaces my heart with a new heart (Eze. 36:26)

Conclusion: The remainder of the chapter is intriguing

Jesus travels to Tyre and Sidon, then Decapolis
Gentile territory, where the risk of contact with impurity was everywhere
In particular, he encounters a Gentile woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit
But, of course, Jesus was not defiled by his Gentile environment or contacts
He continued to do what he had always done
What he does for us today
He forgave, purified, healed, and brought God to people
Jesus doesn’t spread religion–he shares himself

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning, RefleXion Community!                        The Lord is with you!

I’m still thinking about Resurrection.  In John Ch. 11—you’re familiar with the story–Lazarus had died, had been dead a while.  Jesus told Martha that if she believed she would see the glory of God.  Jesus brought him back to life by a command:  Lazurus!  Come out!  He calls each of us out by name too.  He made a way for all, yet it is a personal coming to life, isn’t it?  And the next verse intrigues me, The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with graveclothes, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to the friends who had gathered:  Unbind him and let him go.

A couple of things I notice:  The man—though brought to life—was still wearing his graveclothes, and his face was covered.  Graveclothes are entirely appropriate when one is dead; but once we are brought to life, they are not!  Lazarus came to life but was still wrapped, still bound up.  Jesus could have done it all.  After all, when He rose from the grave, He left all his wrappings behind.  But now Jesus asks the community to help.  Graveclothes/wrappings/bandages/coverings—they all remind me that the man is still bound up with things that won’t allow his full movement and a face cloth that covered his true identity.  Bandages protect wounds, coverings protect shame; wrappings create an illusion or an image that we want others to see. Lazarus, though in life, is still bound up with things that won’t allow his full movement and true identity.

I am Lazarus; I am the community.  Where are my bandages wrapped around my identity?  How do these make me feel substantial, or safe?  Who’s helping us unbind?  Who are we helping take off their graveclothes and feel the freedom of life in Christ?    Are we?

Let’s pray: 

Dearest Lord Jesus, thank you for bringing us to life in you.  Thank you for giving us each other.  Let us not take that lightly.  We were all dead for a long while and may stink a little—or a lot, but it is our privilege and purpose to care for each other.  Let us see those opportunities and love one another as you have loved us.  Let us remove our graveclothes that yet may hinder our free movement in The Holy Spirit.  May the Peace of God fall on us this morning, in Jesus’ Name.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary . . . ?” And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. Mark 6:1-6

Intro: Years ago, a woman who worked at the church experienced an emotional or psychological breakdown
– her therapist recommended a clinic for in-patient care
• when she was allowed visitors, her family asked me to go see her
• right away I noticed she looked different – lighter, like a weight had been lifted
◦ she was definitely in a better frame of mind
◦ brighter, positive and hopeful
– she explained that to get well, she had to detach from her family
• she could no longer be around them
◦ hearing that shocked me–in fact, it upset me
• I knew her family – they missed her and wanted her back
◦ but I didn’t know them the way she did – so I just listened
◦ my responsibility was to support her progress, not question her therapy

In the church subculture, we expect God to fix families
– for Christians to repair ruptures and to reconcile with brothers and sisters,
• for spouses to develop closer connections in prayer and shared activities,
◦ and for children and parents to negotiate healthier relationships
• but at times the real breakthrough requires a break up
◦ some people must escape their family’s control or abuse
◦ otherwise, they will never become their true self
– there are good families, that are safe and nurturing
• but there are many others, even Christian homes, that are not
◦ to insist that people stay in an abusive relationship, perpetuates the abuse
• my encounter with that woman in the clinic opened my eyes
◦ and what I’ve learned since then has informed my meditations on the Scriptures
◦ especially Jesus’ teaching regarding family and way he treated his own family

In this chapter, Jesus is full of surprises

He surprised the people of his hometown – and they didn’t like it
– he surprised his disciples by feeding a crowd of thousands with small rations
• then surprised them again when he walked on water and calmed a storm
• we’ll begin with Jesus’ reunion in his hometown
– although his old neighbors knew of his “mighty works” (v. 2), in verse 5 we learn,
he could do no mighty works there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them
(I would be ecstatic if I ever touched a few sick people and they were healed!!)
◦ we’ll come back to this
• instead of celebrating their hometown hero, they took offense at him
◦ Jesus explained that a prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household
◦ so I’m sure he anticipated their reaction
• three of my meditations were formed around their rejection of Jesus

We create problems if we refuse the role we’ve been assigned

Let’s back up to chapter 3
a crowd gathered, so that [Jesus and disciples] could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind” (Mk. 3:20-21)
– why are they not able to see Jesus for who he is?
• because they knew him for who he was
• when Jesus lived at home, he conformed to their expectations
◦ he became what he had to be for their sakes
And he came to Nazareth with [his parents] and was submissive to them (Lk. 2:51)
◦ but now, as an adult, he was doing the will of his Father
– in a family, everyone is assigned a role
• I suppose there are a few rules about this
◦ for instance, “Children should be seen and not heard”
◦ but for the most part, it’s an unconscious process
• it has to do with individual personalities, how they mesh,
◦ and what is required for the family to function
◦ in time, family dynamics depend on everyone playing their role
– the dynamics and the roles may not be reasonable or healthy
• they may not even be sane–e.g., a child caring for alcoholic parent
◦ if someone outgrows their role, it throws the family off balance
◦ then the others will try to hammer them back into their role
(sometimes they face criticism or mockery, such as “You’ve become too big for your britches”)
• it is tragic that many people comply with their family and continue to wither
◦ they don’t want to cause problems, or feel it’s their duty to stay and conform,
◦ or they’re afraid they can’t survive without their family’s support
• Jesus tells us to put him above our family
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt. 10:37-39)

We must try to see our family members and friends for who they are

It can be really difficult to accept a loved one’s personal growth
– especially if becoming their true self changes our relationship with them
• I knew a hippie, who when he became a Christian, his mother told him,
“I liked you better when you were on drugs”
– it is always fair to renegotiate our relationship with others
• if the old ways of relating no longer work, renegotiate
• we may not enjoy the friendship in the same ways as before,
◦ but we’ll preserve what is best in a relationship

What we think we know may interfere with our faith or even cancel it

Regarding Jesus’ old neighbors, Mark says, And he marveled because of their unbelief (v. 6)
– earlier they were astonished at him, now he’s baffled at them
• what was their problem? They thought they knew Jesus
Is not this the carpenter . . . ?
◦ that was the extent of their knowledge
• remember Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus?
◦ that literal-minded Pharisee asked Jesus, “How?” but there is no how when it comes to something only God’s Spirit can make happen
◦ Jesus’ old neighbors were asking questions like this, Where? What? How?
– we think we know or that we need to know, when in fact what we need is to believe
◦ I think we have a constricted worldview of what is and is not possible
◦ and it gets in the way of our faith
• no one can exert more control over me than my own mind
◦ I create mental barriers for myself
◦ faith and hope are always sources of creativity and possibility
• the slender volume of my mind is not enough space for faith to do its work
◦ I need to believe and trust with all of my heart

I have often meditated on what the unbelief of the hometown crowd cost them
Matthew says,
And he did not do many might works there, because of their unbelief (Mt. 13:54)
– in one of my meditations, I wrote,
“It is truly tragic that I am able to limit what Jesus does for me. Do I ever leave him marveling at my unbelief? If so, I want to change this.”
• nothing God wants to do with me or in me depends on me or on what I can comprehend or figure out
• if God has something for me, I don’t have to get it to receive it

Another subject I have often meditated on is Jesus’ compassion for crowds (v. 34)

In vv. 33 and 55, we find people running to Jesus, literally
– wherever he went, Jesus drew desperate people
• what did he do for them when they reached him? he began to teach them many things
• what? Basic Bible doctrine? Be more judgmental? Decipher the day of his return?
◦ most likely he taught the kingdom of God–in parables
◦ how heaven enters us and transforms us
◦ and how we then affect others through his love
– the practice of Pharisees was to exclude people from their circle
• exclusivity is our nature; we draw lines and build barriers
• inclusivity is the nature of Jesus; he loves all and build bridges

Conclusion: There’s so much more here

For instance, we have the story of John the Baptist’s execution (verses 14-29)
– I once wrote in the margin of my Bible app:
“It is chilling to think that the fate of a great prophet of God could be subject to such trivialities as a birthday party, a girl’s dance, and a king’s ego. The death of his saints is still precious in God’s sight regardless of how their lives end. The glory or dishonor of our death is determined not by our exit from this world, but by our arrival in heaven.”

For our last meditation, Jesus took a stroll across the lake
– walking on water and calming the storm had his disciples “utterly astounded”
Mark says their reaction was because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened (vv. 51-52)
• he is suggesting that after witnessing the “miracle meal,” nothing else that Jesus did should have surprise them
The benefit of soaking our souls in Mark’s gospel is that it feeds our faith
Absorbing these stories of Jesus as much as possible will deepen our faith in him
So when you read and pray and work and go to bed at night,
leave the doors of your mind open to faith,
because all things are possible

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning!       He is Risen!              Hallelujah!

“Come as you are,” “Just as I am;” I always think of Billy Graham when I hear these phrases.  I’ve been pondering these invitations this week, to come just as I am; and I realize there’s a part of me that still wants to come to Jesus with something shined up, straightened up, sinless, not “just as I am.” 

A sentence from a David Benner book also arrested my attention, “But again, I must come to love through sin and failure rather than success and self-improvement.” And this verse from Philippians 3: “…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death that by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (which is, of course, is where I want to go).  But if, as Philippians tells us, we may know Christ and the power of His resurrection, by becoming like Him in His death (many translations say, ‘conformed to his death,’) I realize that as He carried the burden of sin with Him, I must carry the burden of my sin with me to the cross.

It is there that it is forgiven and resurrected, that it is transformed from a place of torture, which sin is, to an empty cross, and to a flowering cross. 

I keep reminding myself that The Way is the Paschal mystery, which includes death AND resurrection.  That is the Jesus Way. 

Join me to pray, will you: Almighty God, we pray that we might understand the incredible greatness of Your power for us who believe, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead.  Reveal to us through Grace this sacred paschal mystery at work in our own lives.  Raise us, O Lord, to new life in Christ.  You made a way for us to know You as a giving and forgiving God, a redeeming God.  We will follow Jesus on the Way He made for us, the Way of the Cross, the way of death and resurrection.  Hallelujah for this reality—we live because Jesus lives.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointment.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words. Luke 23:55-24:8

Intro: Every year, one line from the Easter story comes to mind

I decided that I would talk about that line today
– the women came early in the morning,
• and they found the tomb, but they did not find Jesus
• however, two men met them, dressed in dazzling apparel
◦ I don’t know about their “apparel,” but that sounds like “Project Runway” to me
◦ the only other time Luke uses the word for dazzling, it’s translated “lightning”
(later they’re referred to as “angels”–vv. 22-23)
they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
– that’s the line: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
• it’s a good one, isn’t it? The kind that preachers love
• can we think about this line for awhile?

The question is off kilter

The angels knew the women were not seeking a living person
– if we back up a few verses we read,
they saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it (Lk. 23:55)
• they had not come seeking “the living”
◦ they came looking for a corpse that placed there two days before
• in Matthew, the angel’s first words were:
Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified (Mt. 28:5)
◦ In Mark’s gospel the angels say,
Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here (Mk. 16:6)
◦ both of those statements make more sense
– so in our passage, these angels knew why the women were there and what they were seeking
• why do they ask this question?
◦ were they pretending to be naive?
◦ were they teasing the women, the way brothers tease their sisters?
◦ were they gently scolding the women? They go on to say:
Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise (vv. 7-8)
• I doubt that naivete, teasing, or scolding was the point Luke wanted to convey
◦ perhaps Luke heard something bigger in their question,
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
◦ I see something bigger – do you?

Maybe Luke wanted to give special emphasis to fact that Jesus was alive

That’s the whole point of observing Easter, right?
– we celebrate life – not in the poetic sense of all living things
• nor is it a message to “make the most this one life”
◦ Jesus did not just “come back to life”
◦ his body was not revived, or resuscitated, or re-booted
• he moved forward through death to a greater dimension of life
◦ a life beyond the existence of biological organisms
◦ a quality of life infinitely larger than what we experience
– his resurrection requires us to adopt a new concept of “life”
• a quality of life we cannot fathom
◦ in John’s gospel Jesus said,
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10)
◦ the Greek word perissos means in excess, more than necessary, a superior quality|
◦ the resurrection life of Jesus was all of this — and it’s the life he came to give us

It is natural that we would find idea of life after death comforting

“Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live” (Jn. 14:19)
– this gives us a sense of security – it makes us feel safe
• I want to believe that in some way the person I am will persist and not be extinguished
◦ and the same for those I have known and loved and lost
• but I think the New Testament is telling us something more than that
◦ telling us something about Jesus
– He is not here–that is, in a tomb or a graveyard–he is risen
• the quality of life that Jesus has now affects our experience of him
◦ he is not in a grave, he is not in the past, he is risen
“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forever more, and I have the keys of Death and Hades (Rev. 1:17-18)

Jesus’ resurrection tells us that we can know him in a new way

Yesterday, my meditation was on Jesus’ prayer in John 17

It is his longest recorded prayer, and fills an entire chapter
– I’ve always known that it is profound
• perhaps that’s why I’ve always struggled with it
◦ I follow it for a line or two, then it changes direction
◦ I try to track the change, but then it doubles back
◦ I think I understand one line, but the next line presents a different thought
• the words make sense – most the lines are manageable,
◦ but to me it seems jumbled and somewhat incoherent
– maybe John intended this prayer to come off this way
• as though we can hear the stress that grips Jesus hours before the cross,
◦ and his urgency to make this final prayer over his disciples
• early on in my reading of John, I would power through it
◦ the prayer was a riddle I couldn’t solve, a mystery too deep for me
◦ later I studied it line-by-line, looking for the rational thread that held it together
◦ but that also proved futile

Yesterday morning was different

It was nothing like any of my previous readings
– I wasn’t trying out a “new method” of interpretation
• in fact, I wasn’t even trying to make sense of it
◦ maybe “not trying” helped me relax into it
◦ I had never before felt its living power like I did yesterday
• it feels weird to say this, but it’s not that I understood it all,
◦ that the prayer finally made rational sense to me,
◦ but it felt like I absorbed it all – I received it and truth of it
– when I began reading I decided to listen as if I could hear Jesus praying the words
• what happened, was that I experienced Jesus’ prayer
◦ he was present, and he was praying, and I was with him listening
◦ and though I did not fully understand it, every word spoke to me

It would be wrong to suggest that I heard Jesus’ voice
– but listening to Jesus pray, I felt his voice
• when I was a small child, I would often sit on my dad’s lap when company came to our home
◦ with my head against his chest, I could feel his deep resonant voice vibrating through his chest
• feeling Jesus’ voice was something like that; like a smooth low frequency hum; a warm sound wave running through the natural world, holding it all together and giving it life; quiet and powerful

Jesus is speaking to his Father

The Father is not present in the same way Jesus is
– but neither is he far away
• he is right here, listening to his Son
◦ their intimacy is undeniable, yet shrouded in mystery
• I am listening, and I hear Jesus pray for himself
◦ I hear him pray for his disciples – I hear him pray for me
◦ he prays for all my Christian friends – and all my Christian enemies as well
(those that Phil Aguilar refers to as the “Christian Mafia”–and he knows because they’ve out a contract on him and his ministry)

I hear Jesus pray something strange, and I have to rewind to hear it again
I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world (v. 11)
– how could Jesus say that? He was right there with them when he prayed these words
• they could hear him say this prayer – and later they could write it down
◦ within a few sentences, Jesus himself says,
But now I am coming to you [the Father], and these things I speak in the world (Jn. 17:13)
• Jesus used the present tense first person singular in strange ways in John’s gospel

For instance, Jesus told his critics, “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” But they came back at him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham” (who lived and died many centuries prior to this conversation). “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (Jn. 8:56-59)

• Jesus could say “I am” regarding an event thousands of years prior to his birth,
◦ and he could say “I am” regarding a future in which he would no longer be in the world physically even while he was still in the world
– reading, I am no longer in the world worked a profound effect on me,
• because I could hear him in the present tense;
◦ that is to say, I could hear him pray those words in the exact moment that I read them
• and it was true; Jesus is no longer in the world but with the Father,
◦ impossibly distant, impossibly present here and now, praying for me – for us – it was uncanny!
◦ his prayer creates us, shapes and maintains all that is real
◦ and his prayer is ongoing in the eternal now
. . . he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:25)

Conclusion: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

If Easter is only a fertility holiday of eggs and bunnies, it’s dead
If Easter only takes us back in history and leaves us there, it’s dead
But if Easter is resurrection, it initiates us into a greater quality of life,
an “abundant” life that Jesus shares with us,
so that Paul can tells us, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life” (Ro. 6:4)