Holy Textures

Mark 5:21-43

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 8, Ordinary Time 13
Sunday Between June 26 and July 2
4th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

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This text is a "Mark sandwich," a story-within-a-story, that is meant to be digested as a whole.

Jesus has just returned from foreign territory on the other side of Lake Galilee, and once again a large crowd gathers - the gossip network is successfully spreading news of Jesus; successfully increasing his public status and honour; and thereby also increasing his potential threat to the established authorities.

Indeed, his reputation has increased to the point that two members of the elite take the risk of crossing strict social boundaries to seek Jesus' aid: Jairus, an official of the synagogue, and an unnamed women who had spent all her money being treated by many doctors - to no avail. We know that Jairus belongs to the elite by virtue of his office. We infer the unnamed woman is also among the elite by virtue of her having money to spend on doctors. She is also probably a widow, since otherwise the money would not be hers to spend. We can also assume that Jairus has also had doctors treat his daughter - also to no avail.

Thus, in a nut shell, the context of this lesson is two elite members, who have used their socially accepted resources to no avail, step out of their gated communities and join the crowd of low-class people on the street to seek help from the rising folk hero - Jesus of Nazareth. A daring come down for them.

Mark 4:35-41

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 7, Ordinary Time 12
Sunday Between June 19 and June 25 Inclusive 
3rd Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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Jesus peacefully sleeping at the back of the boat in the midst of a raging storm has gotta be one of the all time great images. This is what it looks like to trust in God's caring no matter what the circumstances.

The drama of this story hinges on four questions, with a concluding exclamation:

1. Teacher, don't you care if we drown?
2. Why are you so afraid?
3. Do you still have no faith?
4. Who is this?
      
5. Even the wind and sea obey him!

Mark 4:26-34

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
 Proper 6, Ordinary Time 11
Sunday Between June 12 and June 18 Inclusive 
2nd Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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This week, we return to reading through the Gospel of Mark. Having read most of Chapter 1 way back in Epiphany, we skip Chapters 2 and 3. Malina & Rohrbaugh title the section, Mark 3:7 to 8:26:
          Back and Forth at Sea with Jesus and His Disciples.

Chapter 4 is a miniature, "Sermon by the Sea:"

Matthew 9:35 - 10:23

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The lesson given for this Sunday has a shorter version, 9:35 - 10:8, and a longer one, 9:35 - 10:23. My choice of a shorter version is 10:5-23 since this gives more of the direct teaching of Jesus to his followers. (And that's what I'll comment on here.)

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

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Following the Sermon on the Mount, Chapters 5 through 7, there follows a series of healing stories and calling / discipleship stories:

• Cleansing a man with leprosy. (8:1-4)
• Healing a Roman army officer's servant (8:5-13)
• Healing Peter's mother and others at Peter's house (8:14-17)
• The costs of following Jesus (8:18-22)
• Stilling a storm (8:23-27)
• Casting out two violent demons (8:28-34)
• Healing a paralyzed man (9:1-8)
• Calling the tax collector, Matthew (9:9-13)
• New wine cannot be put in old wine skins (9:14-17)
• Healing a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, and
  bringing back to life the daughter of a synagogue leader (9:18-26)
• Healing a man who is blind (9:27-31)
• Casting out a silencing demon (9:32-34)
• The crowds are drawn to Jesus - the harvest is plentiful, but
  the laborers are few (9:35-38)

Luke 8:26 - 39

The previous verses had demonstrated Jesus' power over the demons within nature by calming a storm, now we will see Jesus' power over the demons within people by calming a wild man.

The description of the behaviour in verses 27 and 29 is exactly how a possessed person behaves: shouting, naked, living among graves; and how the community responds: isolating, guarding, chaining.

Notice the honorific greeting used to greet Jesus: "Son of the Most High God." When Jesus, asks him his name in verse 30, this is a sign of Jesus' higher status: well-behaved subjects speak first only to acknowledge the sovereign, "Your Majesty," and then wait for well-behaved sovereigns to ask for their name. Giving one's name gives power to control and direct.

The name "Legion" has a double meaning. Literally, it means, "Many, thousands, multitudes." But it also alludes to the occupying Roman soldier legions which numbered 3,000 to 6,000 each. Many Israelites felt the Roman legions were a demonic occupation.

The presence of a herd of swine nearby indicates that this scene is taking place in land used by non-Israelites.

Why are the people of the city afraid of Jesus, instead of welcoming? Perhaps they prefer the stability of demonic occupation by Roman legions to the disruption and destruction that might come with them being cast out?

The man seeks to follow Jesus out of devotion and out of the debt now owed to Jesus for freeing him. But Jesus directs directs him to give his devotion to the one who truly freed him - God. Notice that the man fails to do this and instead continues to praise Jesus.

Questions (from LESSONMaker)

• What situations seem hopeless to you?
• What has been your first reaction when meeting wild behaving, "possessed" people?
• Why did the man beg Jesus not to torment him? What was Jesus doing - or going to do - that would be tormenting?
• In what ways do people today ask Jesus to leave them alone?
• What can you do this week to become more aware of Jesus' ability to help you with your most serious problems? What form do expect this help to take?

Luke 7:36 to 8:3

Jesus! How Could You!

Meal times are rich with assumed, unspoken, expectations and customs. And meals with invited guests are even more so. What food will be served? What drink will be served? Who will sit beside whom? In what order will people be served? What will be "polite" conversation? What thanks are to be offered? To whom? By whom? Etc.

This lesson from Luke both reveals and takes for granted many such meal time customs in Jesus' day.

In Jesus' day, there were no paved roads, no socks, and no running water. So it was an expectation that a host would provide guests with a servant to wash the guests feet on their arrival, and provide some scented ointment for their hair. Meals were served onto low tables, and the guests would lie on sofas, propped on their left side, taking and eating food from serving dishes with their right hands. Only men would eat together. Women would enter the room only to serve food. They would not talk with the men. And as always, a woman would always have her hair covered and would never directly speak to or touch a man in public.

Thus, when the woman in this story comes into the room where the men are eating, she is violating a huge standard of socially respectable behaviour for a woman - just by being in the room.

I wonder why she is weeping? For joy? For sorrow? For loss? For repentance? For relief?

It is shocking what she does. Washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Touching him with her hair. Anointing him with ointment. But then, she is already a woman with a reputation. She has no "good name" left to lose. But what about Jesus? Any proper man would have re-acted with outrage and anger at her behaviour. Any proper man would have absolutely prevented the way she touches him in public. Allowing this behaviour tars Jesus with the same reputation as the woman touching him. And if left unchallenged would bring dishonour on the host as well.

However, an interesting twist takes place. Just as the host is thinking to himself, "Doesn't Jesus know what sort of person this woman is," Jesus tells a story to make plain that he does indeed know what sort of woman she is, and more than that, knows what sort of person his host is as well. Ouch.

Only Luke reports this event in Jesus' ministry. I wonder why? Certainly Luke was from the same social class as the Pharisee in the story. I wonder if this story was particularly poignant for him? Reminding him - and causing him in turn to remind us - that God's care, love and forgiveness is for all - without distinction. But not without inequality. All are forgiven, but not all are forgiven equally because some have greater debts, and God's forgiveness is never partial, never half way, never with a hidden catch. It is always total, whole, full and complete. Ouch. It is good news that my debts are forgiven, but hard to hear that someone else's much larger debt is also totally forgiven.

And yet, it is exactly this good news of God's hospitality being extended to all without distinction that was one of the marks of the new community of those who followed the Way of Jesus. I wonder what our churches would be like if we could fully live this hospitality? I wonder if others would still find that distinctive and attractive?