Rabbi

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Let’s say you want to learn to swim. You would need water, a bathing suit, and a teacher. And while the bathing suit might be optional, the teacher knowing how to
1. Swim
2. Teach
Would not

The other day I heard a very smart man complaining that his students lacked motivation. I thought, that is your job, make it fun.

Yesterday I saw a man teach a kid to do something nuanced and physically challenging. He is good at what he does, both doing and teaching.

I say all this because at the heart of the Jesus question is–
Can he really do what he teaches?
Can he teach me to do it?

Most of us think the gospel is words. We are wrong. The gospel is the pop quiz, the open book test.

The real thing?
Can you rise from the dead?
Can you love like Him?

Everything he says is just the instructional course. Everything he does is life everlasting.

A whacky miracle

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Mark 1:23-28 (NIV)
Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, [24] “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” [25] “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” [26] The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. [27] The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” [28] News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

I have heard that Beethoven added percussive elements to his fifth symphony because he was tired of people drifting off. Do not know if that is true, but I do know that a rousing case of demon possession will wake you up in church.

The first question: why is this guy in church, possessed? Wouldn’t you think the demon would have steered clear of Jesus?

Ultimately no one steers clear of him. He says we will all face him either in love or judgment.

I once saw something like this happen in a very large church outside DC. A man stood in the morning service (hundreds of affluent parishioners) and began shouting at the pastor.

He was ushered to the foyer and as he talked to the escorting deacons he began to take his clothes off at which point a man of action (former marine) put him in a headlock until EMS arrived.

Memorable. But this story is extraordinary.. Jesus makes the demon leave. He doesn’t need either a marine or EMS.

We watch too many horror movies when in truth real life is full of ordinary horror.

Demons do go to church and sometimes they appear to run the show–not with loud exclamations but with quiet joylessness, fear, envy, lust, and greed.

How does the story change if the man with the demon is just an ordinary guy? How about if he seems quiet and earnest and tends to participate in Sunday school? How about if the demon is just the spirit attached to fear, lust, or pride?

What do you want to be free from? And what do you want to be set free to do?

These questions shape our souls. The answers are of eternal significance.

You want a good teacher

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Mark 1:21-22 (NIV)
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. [22] The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

This was a home church in a hometown. This crowd knew Jesus’ people. They were at church.

Then this guy comes in and starts talking and whatever it is that he says astounds people.

Let’s face it: most of us doze our way through church. How many sermons do you remember?

But Jesus is memorable and his preaching is different.. Like he knows what he is talking about. Because he does.

It is not hard to have authority when you are the author.

Jesus is the author and the finisher
The beginning and the end.

He is the Man.

And if you want an idea of what he said? Check out Matthew 5-7.

Blessed are those who listen to Jesus
For they shall hear the voice of God.

The story to the bone

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Mark 1:16-20 (NIV)
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. [17] “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” [18] At once they left their nets and followed him. [19] When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. [20] Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Let me just put the modernist paraphrase on this–an itinerate carpenter sees some dudes with legit jobs and tells them to quit them for an unvarnished Ponzi scheme.

I once got in trouble for trying to rid a church of a Ponzi scheme…those were good times.

Today this sentence popped into my head–kindness is it’s own reward.. I thought, not really…. Avarice, power-mongering and Viagra are their own rewards.

Kindness is a discipline practiced with one eye trained on eternity.

Same with this story. Take 12 grown men with decent jobs and make them penniless outlaws for a quack story about Resurrection? That is bad economics.

That is Jesus. What He calls us to leave is as important as what He calls us to pursue.

He says–

leave your life to gain it

and

take up your cross and follow me…

If he is wrong we are fools. If he is right….
Run to Him.

Funny repent story

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Mark 1:15 (NIV)
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Repent?

When I was 6 I played t-ball. I am left-handed so when I batted I faced 3rd base. Often in the adrenaline of the moment I would hit the ball a modest distance and run toward…3rd base.

Repent means change directions. Jesus is telling everyone who hears Him–change directions, you are going the wrong way.

All of us are going the opposite direction.

So he tells us to turn around and run the other way. Toward the Good News.

Jesus.
Home.

Mark 1:the kingdom near

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Mark 1:15 (NIV)
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

The time has come. Ah-ha!! That sounds good. Christmas! The kingdom ushered in.

Most of us assume that this kingdom thing would have been better if there had been some major trouncing of Romans, a bit more fire in the sky. As though we could handle that…Most of us panic if our wifi is down.

The kingdom of God is always near. People are mostly rank amateurs, cowards and failures, but there is the King, standing at the door of heaven saying come in, be here with Me.

Abide with Me now.

Mark: the superhero gospel

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My young son loves superheroes, none more than Batman. With a generous amount of fast forwarding through schmaltz, I have been watching the latest Batman movie. I keep thinking it is a star-studded bloated mess. I also think that there are few movies worth perishing for and that the disaster in Colorado is all the more tragic when the film is all soulless violence.

Mark, by contrast, is the superhero gospel. People often note how fast the narrative moves and how time and action drive the story.

Mark 1:13-15 (NIV)
and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. [14] After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. [15] “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

We are still in the first chapter and we ask these questions–
wild animals and angels?
John in chains?
And how near, exactly, this kingdom?

The King. The king is who you want to follow. All the way to the end of the only true superhero story that has ever mattered.

Mark 1: the rough road

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Mark 1:12-13 (NIV)
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, [13] and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Up too late. So what do I do? Resort to Bible study. It is legal, free, and happens to be at the heart of my search.

I don’t like to fast. I don’t like to talk about fasting (because I am not good at it). But here it is–Jesus, God, gets baptized by his cousin and pointed out as God and then spends 40 days fasting in the wilderness.

No fun.
For a long time…
No fun.

Why?

Jesus was baptized for the mirror opposite of my baptism. I was baptized to acknowledge my rightful deadliness, my death sentence, and the helplessness of my condition.

Jesus was baptized to be me through the stuff I can’t do or handle or be.

Sinless God becomes broken me.

It is like we change lives, coats, passports. His lets me into heaven and mine lets Him into hell.

Reason enough to fast. Reason enough to stay awake late at night, scanning the horizon for the face of my savior. My God. The Ransomer.

Memorial Stones

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We live in a party culture. We buy things on time. We are more likely to joke about the grim reaper on Halloween than face the devastation of death–especially tragic, violent death.

This year some of my friends lost family members. At least one death was a homicide. Lives were changed forever and I know that my friends carry their grief. I carry it with them.

I posted the report for this blog because I have been thinking about a baby girl named Toryn Buckman. She was brutally tortured and murdered. Just a baby.

Someone out there mourns for this little one, but can any of us face the statistics? Several thousand children die each year as the result of child abuse in the US alone.

Any country that is so dangerous for children is…not safe for anyone.