MK 6: 30-34 & 53-56 

Marginally Mark…Pentecost +9…Revised 2018 

There are at least three thrusts in today’s passage. All of them Gospel to take on board. Personally, in our Christian community, &, in the wider community in which we’re embedded.

The first thrust I see is that we all need time apart. Not just for personal leisure or respite; for God. We need to let God make ‘God-Space’ in us for God-self & for ourselves. And, we are called to help others let God make God-Space in themselves, too. God-Space is space in which God can centre in us, & we can centre on God & in God. At the opposite end of the scale, workaholism isn’t a saintly quality anymore than it’s a gift of the Spirit! 

Secondly, there will be times, as Jesus & His disciples find in today’s passage, when genuine urgency needs to usurp even our God-Space. Genuine urgency takes priority, at least temporarily, over even our personal need for God-Space; as well as & any other needs we’re experiencing. How are we to discern when urgent really means urgent? Not only for us, but for that other person too?

Thirdly, the ‘hinge’ that opens our God-Space up to human need is that compassion Jesus shows when He ‘switches off’ His own needs, including His personal need for God-Space. Yes, He does have that need! Or He wouldn’t be fully human, would He? If meeting the urgent & pressing needs of others takes precedence even in Jesus’ eyes, here is an object lesson for us. A lesson in avoiding the old accusation of ‘being so heavenly-minded we’re no earthly use’! 

I can’t remember the source of this old story from long ago that seems appropriate here, but it runs like this: ‘One day God decides He wants to know what people all over the world think of Him. So God says to everyone,  “I know you call me by & worship me by many different names, but I want you each to tell me how you think of me in just one word!” One says, ‘Light’, another ‘Warmth’ & so on…’Power, Peace, Law, Joy, Judgment, Wisdom…’ The one who says Light feels a brightness, Peace feels peaceful, Judgment feels judgmental. . Until at last someone says ‘Compassion’, & God begins to weep! 

If people were to use just one word to describe us, what might that word be? It’s a question worth taking our time in discerning. Would it be ‘Compassion’? How much of God’s own 'wholeness' are people receiving at our compassionate, ministering hands? How much are we ourselves ministered to by the hands of others? 'Hands' being those of the Body of the Christ who has no hands but ours. Or, are we so busy responding to demands we have no hands to spare for the real need, wherever it lies? If so, is that God we can still hear weeping? For another reason this time?

Brian

MK 6: 14-29 

Marginally Mark…Pentecost + 8…Revised 2018  

The Baptiser’s ministry in life & in death is to point to Jesus. John is the hinge between the older & newer covenants. But from the very beginning (JN 1) every- thing hinges on Jesus who has now indeed, ‘Come’. Wisdom suggests preaching today’s Gospel in the light of fuller references to JB. His “Are you the One who is to come, or should we be looking out for another?” [LK 7: 19] is a good starting point. Jesus’ comment on this: “ Among those born…none is greater than John, yet the lesser in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.” [LK 7: 28] needs exploration, too.

What are our expectations of Jesus’ today when we’re locked up in, or by, some situation or another? When we’re feeling let down, does grasping we’re members of God’s Kingdom, under God’s Rule, not Herod’s or anyone else’s, help stabilise faith?

In what sense has Jesus ‘come;’ for us? Are we experiencing the ‘Kingdom of Now’? 

What does Jesus mean when He says JB is the greatest of human beings, yet that one lesser in the Kingdom is greater than John? ’Tis a puzzlement! One explanation that may hold up is that Jesus means John, fulfilling his role as Fore-runner, represents time past; the era before Jesus has inaugurated time present, the Kingdom of Now in His own Person. So, those who accept Jesus among them as God in Now Time are greater than JB. John remains Prophetic of the New Era Jesus ushers in, but hasn’t in himself seemingly become part of it. (Being of Celtic background, though, I find it hard to draw such a line between the Kingdom in heaven & on earth as this would mean attributing to Jesus.)

John, great Prophet that he is, can help us focus on our own calling to be ‘small p’ prophets. Let’s not leave John, questioning, & seemingly, disillusioned, without exploring the fact that faith questionings & struggles come with the territory for both ‘p’ & ‘P’ prophets. Do we discern the questionings, in people’s hearts, if not out loud? Might they, too, be ‘small p’prophetic in some way to advance God’s Rule?

Journeying in faith, living in the Kingdom of Now means accepting that in Jesus, God is always doing, & always will be doing things God’s own way; not John’s, not even yours, or mine. Hopefully, John discerns this before being put to death. Though we can’t know the rest of his spiritual journey, we are responsible for monitoring our own. Not least our call to have faith in the One Who has come. We have no need to look for ‘someone else’ when we discern God doing things in God’s loving way. 

Both John & Jesus begin ministering with a message of, “Repent...", but only LK [3: 10+] goes on to tell us John's message has a strong social concern, as of course does Jesus’. Many ‘out there’ are looking to see if God-in-Jesus has come in us today. May they recognise Jesus as ‘that One who has come’, by His Spirit in us! 

Brian

Mark 6 : 1-13

Marginally Mark…Pentecost + 7…Revised 2018 

When Jesus stills that storm ‘a couple of weeks ago’, the disciples ask that Question, “Who is this?” Today, questions from the synagogue where He’s teaching, in His home territory, come thick & fast: “Where’s he getting all this..? What’s this wisdom that’s been given to him? What about these powerful deeds happening? Isn’t this (just) the carpenter? Isn’t he (just) Mary’s son? James’ & Joses’ & Judas’ & Simon’s brother? Aren’t his sisters (we aren’t bothering to name - they’re only women) - still living among us?” 

Such is their lack of faith in Him that little happens in His home community today, when it could have been so much! How much are our own communities missing out on, when so little is happening when it could be so much?

Is this recognisable as the story of our denomination, congregation, Home Group, etc.? Are we allowing YHWH God, in Jesus, & by His Spirit, the vote of confidence God needs if we’re to see what the power of healing love can do when God is ‘let loose’ in our midst; questions or no questions?

One question we need to ask ourselves is whether we’re so busy giving answers to questions no-one’s asking that we’re not dealing with real questions lying long un-answered. Another we might explore is whether many people are asking questions about God / Jesus ‘ Holy Spirit at all today? If they’re not, why is that?

God in Christ is a vulnerable God, most obviously so in the person of Jesus. The Son of God so vulnerable in Himself & to others vulnerable one way or another. Making Himself vulnerable, too, in those God sends out in His Name. Do we need to develop some ‘strategy’ to face up to this lack of confidence not only in God, & in Jesus, but in us? Does that need to start, maybe paradoxically, with building self-confidence through an ‘intake’ from God-self of that humility we see & experience in Jesus the Christ. He Who is everyone’s brother & ‘sister’ & wants us all to become brothers & sisters to Himself, & through Him, to each other. 

MK often seems to give us no more than the bare bones of situations he reports on, cf. for instance LK’s elongated account of today’s incident. How about we imagine the questions the Twelve who are sent out may be asking as they go? Or, what are the questions asked of them when they knock at this door or that? What stories do they share on the way back to Jesus, & when they report to Him? What questions are they likely to come back asking themselves, each other, or Him? Now, better still, what questions do we need to be asking, what stories do we need to be sharing, to find the answers, the God, we need today? 

Brian