What's the big deal about getting Jesus right? What's a downright scary verse in the Bible? Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!" (Mt 7:21-23).
How do you see Jesus? Right off the bat Mark's Gospel begins with a succinct explicit statement: "The beginning of the good news (gospel) about Jesus the Messiah (Christ), the Son of God" (Mk 1:1). Mark wants his readers to know the identity of Jesus from the first line. But none of the characters in the story knows it--except the demons! In this way Mark sets up an awful tension between the reader's knowledge and the ignorance of the actors. The reader's knowledge is further confirmed by a voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism (Mk 1:11) and again by a voice from the cloud at the transfiguration (Mk 9:7). Only toward the end of the story does a human character rightly utter the confession; the outsider Gentile centurion, witnessing Jesus' horrible death on a cross, speaks the truth: "Surely (Truly) this man was the Son of God" (Mk 15:39). Only here at the climax of the story we find the goal toward which Mark's narrative presses: Jesus can be known as "Son of God" only when we see him as the crucified one.
What does it mean to follow Christ? To be a Christian? The title "Getting Jesus Right" suggests that we Christians today might not be getting him quite right. Why is that? Consider the fact that Jesus' own disciples who followed him daily in the flash and saw the miraculous things he did and heard his teachings daily got him quite wrong. You might even lament at them saying, "How could you be so stupid?" If that's the case with Jesus' own hand-picked disciples, are we so sure that we get Jesus right when we say "I believe in Jesus" and "I'm a Christian"? Isn't there also a general idea or impression that if you accept and believe in Jesus, your life will be okay and get better?
Why is this happening to me, a good Christian? There is a faithful Christian who devoted the last 40 years of his life working full time, being a faithful husband and a good father, and serving and supporting his church as his life's priority. As he was about to retire in his late 60s, he suddenly fell ill and his sickness may be incurable. Understandably he was saddened, shaken and shocked as to why he became ill without warning when he has been healthy all of his life with no bad lifestyle habits and with no prescribed medications for any health issues whatsoever. And also, he lived as a devoted faithful Christian. But now it is uncertain if he will live beyond a year. A confounding question may be, "Why would God allow such a thing to happen to such a faithful Christian man? Why do bad things happen to good Christians? What if this happened to me?" Does this question suggest that he may not have gotten Jesus entirely right?
As we consider this question of getting Jesus right, let's examine how Mark portrays Christ the Messiah in his Gospel, and what Christians should expect by following Christ.
What is the central question in Mark's Gospel? At the hinge point of Mark's story Jesus himself asks, "But who do you say that I am?" (Mk 8:29).
Who is Jesus in the first half of Mark's Gospel (1:1-8:26)? Jesus bursts on the scene proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom of God and doing mighty works, casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, calming the sea and wind, walking on water, and twice multiplying food to feed large crowds. In the first half of the story (where we might expect a different ending), Jesus is like a wonder-worker or magician or superhero who exercises the power of God to subdue the forces of evil.
How do the disciples comprehend Jesus' identify? Though the disciples witnessed all the marvels recounted in the first half of the Gospel, they remain stupidly uncomprehending. Jesus declares that it has been given to them to know the secret of the kingdom of God (Mk 4:11), yet they do not understand Jesus' parables (Mk 4:13; 7:17-18), they are afraid and have "no faith" during a storm (Mk 4:40), and they fail to understand the meaning of the multiplication of the loaves (Mk 6:52) twice (Mk 8:4)!
Why are the disciples portrayed in such a negative light? The narrative is constructed to elicit the reader's identification with the disciples through vicariously experiencing their failure (eg. Peter's denial of Jesus). Christian readers find themselves exhorted to receive forgiveness as to live more faithfully.
Why is there such a disconnect between Jesus' doing great works of God and the disciples stupidity and dullness? A related question would be, "How do you view the power of God?" The juxtaposition of Jesus' mighty works with the disciples incomprehension invites us to recognize that power is not self-attesting. Great power and great miraculous works may not help a Christian to truly know God. Those who know Jesus primarily as a wonder worker and as doing great works of God do not understand him at all, for the secret of the kingdom of God is that Jesus must die as the crucified Messiah. The tension between Jesus' miraculous acts of self-disclosure and the disciples utter inability to comprehend provokes a crisis of understanding--a crisis that starts to come to a head in the second half of Mark 8.
Eyes that fail to see, ears that fail to hear (Mk 8:17-18; 4:11-12). Jesus lamented after another display of his disciples misunderstanding him. Sounding almost exasperated and impatient with his seemingly unlearning disciples, he said, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?" (Mk 8:17-18). His rhetorical questions echo the words he had earlier explained to the disciples the mysterious purpose of his teaching in parables: "The secret (mystery) of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside (the outsiders) everything is said in parables so that, 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" (Mk 4:11-12).
Reference:
- Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: community, cross, new creation: a contemporary introduction to New Testament ethics. Part One, 3. The Gospel of Mark: Taking Up the Cross. 1996. HarperCollins Publishers, NY.
No comments:
Post a Comment