Chiasm/Ring Composition/Inverted Parallelism (Mark 6:47-52)

• 1. Disciples & Jesus Separated (Mk 6:47)
  • 2. Wind Adverse (Mk 6:48a)
    • 3. Jesus Moves toward Them (Mk 6:48b)
      • 4. Disciples Afraid (Mk 6:49-50a)
    • 5. Jesus "I am" Fear Not (Mk 6:50b)
  • 6. Wind Cease (Mk 6:51)
• 7. Disciples & Jesus Still Separated (Mk 6:52)

This is a classic example of a well constructed ring composition template, chiasm or inverted parallelism.

• 7 semantic (relating to meaning in language or logic) units present a ideas which are then repeated backwards.
• 7 is the perfect biblical number, and this format is common to the OT and NT. 
• Ring composition often relates the center to the outside. The disciples are in focus in the beginning (1), the middle (4) and at the end (4). In the beginning (1) they are separated from Jesus. In the center (4) they see him and are afraid. At the end (7) they do not understand and are hard of heart.

What is God's message for us? Sun, 3/29/2020

These are my thoughts and reflections, primarily from the comments and questions after the sermon on Sunday (3/29/2020): Create Peace, not Fear or Anger (Mark 6:34-46).

• Nianzu asked, "What is God's message to us at this time of the coronavirus pandemic?" My spontaneous reply was that God's message to each person is different. What do you think God's message is to you?

• Defi said, "Feed your faith, not your fear." How true.

• Jim's reply to Michael's question about what Jacob needed to struggle with God and man was, "Though God saves us, we still need to struggle for we still have sin in us." (My paraphrase of Jim's answer.)

• Yohan's comment, which reminded me of his book Reclaiming our Political Roots, was sad yet true: "The heroes and first responders in times of crisis in the past used to be Christians, the Christian hospitals and the churches, but today it is the government."

• Whitney commented and and asked a question about how non-Christians might perceive a Christian's lack of fear as arrogance and bravado.

• Elena commented that Herod's banquet of unlimited high end booze and top notch food sounded better than Jesus' simple fish and loaves...

• Both Adrian and Chris commented how apt this text spoke relevantly to our current situation,

Thanks to all who participated and contributed to a lively exchange after the sermon.

The coronavirus makes death real and that is good, because death is real

Lewis preached in Oxford at the onset of World War II titled, "Learning in War-Time." Substitute "pandemic" or "coronavirus" in place of the word "war." Then the current Covid19 pandemic helps us re-focus, shatter hopes for finding ultimate fulfillment in this world, point us to the Divine reality, and lead us to peace in this life (Jn 14:27), knowing that our eternal Hope lies in the Lord.

Yet war [Covid19] does do something to death. It forces us to remember it. The only reason why the cancer at 60 or the paralysis at 75 do not bother us is that we forget them. War [Covid19] makes death real to us, and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right.

All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centred in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise man can realise it. Now the stupidest of us know. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon. But if we thought that for some souls, and at some times [like Covid19], the life of learning, humbly offered to God, was, in its own small way, one of the appointed approaches to the Divine reality and the Divine beauty which we hope to enjoy hereafter, we can think so still.¹

^{1 C.S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time", The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (HarperSanFranciso, 1980), pp. 62-63.}

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