Mark Twain worried, he said “It ain’t
those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the
parts that I do understand.”
Was working with a couple of kids at
Centreville School this week. In the grade 2 class they were learning to write
descriptive sentences about people they interviewed. So, two kids were sent to
interview me & write a descriptive paragraph. So I was asked about my
favourite thing, favourite food, favourite colour, favourite thing to do &
the first question from the other child was, how old are you? So I said 51, he
responded “wow, you going to die soon”. HE went on to say, “You are a lot older
than my mom she is only 37, my grandmother she is 69, so she is older than you.”
Having a child tell me I am going to die
soon; doesn’t have quite the same impact as if it was my doctor telling me this
information, but it does may you think.
Jesus is telling His disciples today that
he is going to suffer and be rejected & die. They were deeply impacted by
this news and the disciples naturally want to deny such accusations. How could
this possibly be? There must be a
mistake a way to stop such speculation.
This text in Mark’s gospel introduces a
new phase in Jesus teaching and ministry to the disciples. This teaching was
unlike any Jesus had spoken of before and they were not prepared to hear today
what He had to say. The disciples had
left fishing boats, jobs, and families to follow Jesus. Their work was hectic
and exhausting, at times there was
opposition and suspicion, but on the whole, they found their work exciting. Sure, there
were the occasional times where they did not understand Jesus, but they were
called to be disciples to be followers and therefore they would continue to gain
insight and understanding along the way. There was still a lot to be done and
understood. But now, Jesus unexpectedly, what seemed abruptly to them, is
speaking of His own suffering, rejection and death this was not at all on their
horizons; they reacted with genuine surprise, shock, bewilderment and
fear.
Who
would want to hear such news about anyone?
Dr.
William Sloan Coffin of New York’s Riverside Church said this in the April 20,1984
edition of the Lutheran Standard, after the death of his son, Alex. "The
night after Alex died, I was sitting in the living room of my sister’s house
outside of Boston, when a middle-aged lady came in, shook her head when she saw
me and said, "I just don’t understand the will of God." Instantly, I
was up and in hot pursuit, swarming all over her. "I’ll say you don’t,
lady!!" I said. (I knew the anger would do me good, and the instruction to
her was long overdue. )
I continued, "Do you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper of his, that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he probably had had a couple of ’frosties’ too many? Do you think it is God’s will that there are no street lights along that stretch of road, and no guard rails separating the road and Boston Harbor?"
Dr. Coffin continues in the article: "Nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesn’t go around this world with His fingers on triggers, His fist around knives, His hands on steering wheels. God is against all unnatural deaths. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy and muteness. As Alex’s younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket: "You blew it buddy. You blew it."
Dr. Coffin continues: "The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, "It is the will of God." Never do we know enough to say that. My consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex died; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s was the first, of all our hearts to break."
I continued, "Do you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper of his, that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he probably had had a couple of ’frosties’ too many? Do you think it is God’s will that there are no street lights along that stretch of road, and no guard rails separating the road and Boston Harbor?"
Dr. Coffin continues in the article: "Nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesn’t go around this world with His fingers on triggers, His fist around knives, His hands on steering wheels. God is against all unnatural deaths. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy and muteness. As Alex’s younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket: "You blew it buddy. You blew it."
Dr. Coffin continues: "The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, "It is the will of God." Never do we know enough to say that. My consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex died; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s was the first, of all our hearts to break."
What gives any of us the right to say “|it
was the will of God?” I
It doesn’t make the situation any better,
or more understandable, who would think God would will tragic circumstance on
anybody?
In a similar way the disciples, Peter, the
impulsive disciple, on hearing Jesus news, began to reprimand Jesus when he
spoke of the suffering and rejection and death that He was about to experience.
Peter’s response came from the self. He was thinking of himself.
Jesus said to Peter “get behind me Satan”
in other words, Peter quit thinking of yourself.
Sarah Henrich – Working Preacher and her
commentary on this passage writes Jesus'
reproach of Peter is a truly severe correction. Peter has thought the matters
of humankind, not of God. Better put, he has conceived Jesus' identity and
God's realm in human terms, not in godly ones. Such misconception is the very
stuff of Satan. It is dangerous business to limit God's way of being in the
world to what we desire.
She
goes on to say that Mark forces us to see that even when we think we have
grasped something of Jesus in one circumstance, we fail to see in another. Our
blindness is not healed in one step, or even in two or three. Like the
disciples, we learn from being corrected, even rebuked. And like them, we fail
to apply the lesson we learned, for the fullness of its meaning is beyond us.
Astronaut Peter Mansfield was talking on
CBC Thursday morning about the view from space and being able to see the
community where he grew up & than in minutes see more parts of the earth
where he had travelled. He had a specialized view of the earth.
Think now of God’s view of us? Not only is
God above us, God is beside us, before us, and need I say it, within us, in our
hearts. Who has the better view of what is going on in and around us and who
holds the bigger picture and the larger plan of all things?
1 Colossians
15:15-20
15 The
Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation. 16 For
in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things
have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things
hold together. 18 And
he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the
firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have
the supremacy.19 For
God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in
heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Devastating situations and mountain top
experiences we have all had. But I do not hesitate in saying that the highs and
the goods far outweigh the devastatingly bad ones. Maybe not at the time, but
later on when the cloud recesses and the sun sends a shimmer of light once
again, despite the loss, the pain there is thanksgiving to. Even while going
through a challenging, heart breaking time, we mustn’t lose sight of God’s
grace, and blessings. Life can be very tough, and very, very good.
In the commentary on today’s gospel
lesson, one of the writers in speaking about Mark’s gospel and how for Mark the
cross is central to understanding Jesus and the nature of discipleship. Says,
as Jesus makes His first prediction of the cross, of which there will be two
more in Mark, cross bearing is something we all must do, & it is appropriate
on this 2nd Sunday of Lent that Jesus reminds us of the cross we to must bear
and what lays ahead for Him. Jesus said “If any want to become my
followers….”
Mark’s gospel does not want his church to use Easter and skip Lent &
Good Friday. The importance of
Easter and the resurrection is the unfathomable love and sacrifice that was
made on Good Friday.
Life cannot be all Easter, but the hope
and promise of Easter makes the Good Fridays and Lenten wilderness journeys of
our lives all the more bearable, endurable, because the hope and promise and
miracles of the God of Easter resurrection are always with us and always within
view. We can take the good news of the resurrection into every circumstance and
situation that life takes us to and through His Son that that we now have His
will, in our hearts and lives, this is God’s will. God sacrificed so that we
can carry that hope of Christ with us in all things. Thanks be to God. Amen
Preaching Through the Christian Year, Year
B – Fred B. Craddock, John H. Hayes, Carl R. Holladay, Gene M. Tucker
Sarah Henrich –
Working Preacher
C. Clifton
Black & Michael Rogness
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