See Jesus More Clearly (Mark 8:22-25; 10:46-52)

"He took the blind man... When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, 'Do you see anything?' He looked up and said, 'I see people; they look like trees walking around.' Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly" (Mk 8:23-25). "'What do you want me to do for you?' Jesus asked him. The blind man said, 'Rabbi, I want to see.' 'Go,' said Jesus, 'your faith has healed you.' Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road." (Mk 10:51-52).  

From the last sermon (covering primarily the first half of Mark's Gospel), we considered whether or not we Christians are getting Jesus right today. The question was posed because even Jesus' own hand-picked disciples--who heard his teachings daily and saw the miraculous works that he did--got him wrong, even though Peter, representing the disciples, acknowledged correctly that that Jesus is the Messiah (Mk 8:29).

Healing in two stages?? After the disciples' most recent confounding lack of understanding, Jesus lamented about them having "eyes that fail to see and ears that fail to hear" (Mk 8:18), where their failure of perception would place them in the category of being "outsiders"--those on the outside who do not know the mystery of the kingdom of God (Mk 4:11-12). The next scene is a brief healing story (8:22-26) with a noteworthy peculiarity. Jesus heals a blind man, but the healing--unlike any other healing in the Gospels--proceeds in two stages (Mk 8:23-25).

Are the disciples "not seeing" clearly? There is a heavy emphasis placed on "not seeing" in the immediately preceding dialogue with the disciples in the boat (8:14-21). Thus, it would be rather myopic if readers fail to see the symbolic implications of this unique healing in two stages. Mark placed this odd healing episode immediately before the pivotal conversation at Caesarea Philippi (Mk 8:27) in order to show that the disciples are about to undergo the process of having their vision healed--but gradually, rather than all at once.

First stage of the healing: Peter blurts out, "You are the Messiah"  when Jesus asked, "But what about you? Who do you say I am?" (Mk 8:29). Let's read carefully to see how Mark tells the story. The distinctive character of Mark's account of Peter's confession is often overlooked, because the Matthew's version of the story (Mt 16:13-20), where Peter is extolled as the rock on which Jesus would build his church (Mt 16:18). Mark, however, recounts the event quite differently. Rather than praising Peter for his divinely gifted insight (Mt 16:17), Jesus abruptly rebukes the disciples (Mk 8:30). Many translations soften the force of Mark's strong word: "warned them, sternly ordered them," while the verb in Greek is "rebuked," the same word used in Mk 3:12 where Jesus rebukes and silences the demons, who have shouted out, "You are the Son of God" (Mk 3:11). In both cases, why would Jesus sharply censure speakers who declare the truth about his identity as the Messiah, the Son of God?

Peter began to "see" Jesus, but imperfectly, like the man who saw "trees walking." In the first century context, the term "Messiah" evokes in the popular imagination the image of an anointed ruler who would overthrow Israel's enemies (the Romans) and restore the royal throne of David. With such fervent hopes in the background, Peter's designation of Jesus as "Messiah" comes with it a range of connotations that are strongly nationalistic and oriented to the exercise of power. Thus, Jesus' rebuke of the disciples, while not rejecting the title "Messiah," signals the beginning of a teaching project of massive proportions. Read Mark 8:31.

The meaning of "Messiah" must be redefined in terms of the suffering Son of Man (Mk 8:31). But Peter, not surprisingly, finds this hard teaching decidedly undesirable, even unacceptable. This triggers a mutual rebuking contest between Peter and Jesus (Mk 8:32-33). Characterizing Peter as Satan is purposeful (Mk 8:33), for Peter's apparently reasonable objection is in fact a suggestion that Jesus deny himself and his mission, thus capitulating to Satan. By uncompromisingly rejecting Peter's position, Jesus affirms that he is to be a suffering Messiah. That is what obedience to God require of him.

Being a Christian is to follow Jesus in the way of suffering, rejection and death. Though the disciples may have recognized that Jesus is the Messiah, they have yet to learn what that means. As with the blind man, their vision is only partially restored (Mk 8:24). They will not see all things clearly until much later--after the crucifixion. Only then will they see clearly that to be Jesus' disciple means to allow one's own identity to be stamped by the identity of the one who died forsaken on the cross. To accept Jesus as my Messiah--to be a Christian--is not simply a mental affirmation and acknowledgment about who Jesus is, but it is to choose my own identity as well, an identity that must be shaped by the cross.

Embracing Jesus as a man of power--whether supernatural or political--fail to see and understand him clearly. Jesus can be rightly understood only as the Son of Man who will surrender power in order to suffer and die. The cross becomes the controlling symbol for interpreting Jesus' identity. Only at the foot of the cross can any Christian correctly confess, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mk 15:39). Thus, after Jesus' pivotal conversation with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi (8:27-9:1), the mighty miraculous works very nearly cease with only one exorcism (9:14-29), one healing (10:46-52), and the withering of one fig tree (11:12-13, 20-21). The working of miracles seems to have become a distraction to his mission rather than an expression of it. The story now moves inexorably toward Golgotha.

The cross is also mysteriously necessary for the sake of others (Mk 10:45; 14:22-24). The tightly compressed saying of Mk 10:45 echoes the depiction of Isaiah's suffering servant figure (Isa 52:13-53:12), who was made an "offering for sin" and bore the iniquities of many. Mark's extended passion narrative is the story of a sacrificial action on Jesus' part, a giving up of his own life for the people of God.

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.

Getting Jesus Right (Mark 1:1; 15:39)

"The beginning of the good news (gospel) about Jesus the Messiah (Christ), the Son of God" (Mk 1:1). "And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, 'Surely (Truly) this man was the Son of God'" (Mk 15:39). "But who do you say that I am?" (Mk 8:29).

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).

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).

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.

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:

1. 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.

Be Kind and Gentle (2008 - 2018)

"I am kind and gentle in heart" (Matthew 11:29).

West Loop Church (WL) began in Jan 2008. 2018 began with our 10 year anniversary. These are some of my extemporaneous random reflections over the years.

1. Be kind and gentle (Mt 11:28). Jesus said, "I am kind and gentle in heart."  Mother Theresa said, "I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness." I realize that when I feel attacked, oppressed, imposed upon, criticized, slandered, gossiped about and experience injustice, I am reactive, angry, loud, defensive and offensive. I am anything but gentle and humble in heart, even if I try to control my outward expressions. For the rest of my life, I pray to learn my Lord who is "kind and gentle in heart," though it will surely be with many failures.
2. Criticism is rarely welcomed. I want to change the world, or at least change my church for the better. But I learned that criticism and pointing out what is wrong is often met with anger and resentment. Whenever you point out any problem, YOU are the problem. Jordan Peterson's statement comes to mind: "If you can't even clean up your own room, who the hell are you to give advice to the world?" Yes, I pray to clean up my own act first, rather than be critical with what's wrong in the world.
3. Preaching with awe, fear and trembling (Phil 2:12-13) and with humility and tears (Ac 20:19). I began preaching 30-40 times a year at WL in my late 50s about a half dozen years ago by default, since I was the least busy among our elders who all work full time. Ever since doing so, it has been the greatest joy of my life to be able to read and study countless "boring" Bible commentaries on many books of the Bible in preparation virtually daily all year round. Each and every Sunday my heart is in awe, having been given the utmost privilege to preach. It is a tremendous responsibility that I cherish with fear and trembling and with the utmost of gratitude to all those who come with willing hearts to listen and learn. This is nothing but God's grace to me. I realize that it is also a great challenge when my wife once told me, "If you behave like this at home (I don't remember what I did!), I can never listen to you preach on Sunday." That was a thunderbolt and a tsunami! In God's time and by God's choosing, I pray to pass the baton on to younger preachers and pastors who are called to preach and lead the next generation.
4. Enjoy chaos and do scary things. As one who has basically lived a charmed life all of my life, scary things to me are certain books of the Bible that I thought that I would never ever preach on. They are Revelation, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekial. By God's grace, I barely skimmed the surface of those books and preached on them over several years. It was overwhelming, scary, challenging, unpredictable and fun.
5. Blessed weddings. Over the last 10 years, Rhoel and I have officiated and blessed the weddings of Al and Kelsey, Mike and Gail, Iron Man and Jen, Adam and May, Niamzu and Donna, Defi and Jaime and next week in Jan 2019 Daniel and Maria. John Yoon and I also blessed the wedding of Sam and Heather in the Philippines. It has been our utmost joy to bless them and see to God's hand of grace upon their lives.
6. The best job I ever had. As a physician I have done countless jobs as an internist over the last 38 years in the US. But over the last 3-4 years I began practicing telemedicine where I do phone and video consults online. I regard this as my best job ever because I no longer have to go somewhere else to work, but I can work from home or from anywhere else as long as there is a quiet room.
7. Fall in love with God was our theme in 2018. St. Augustine said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance, to seek him the greatest adventure, and to find him the greatest human achievement." Personally, I desire by God's help to be a person who is deeply and madly in love with God and my wife all the days of my life.
8. Themes in 2019 that I am considering are:
1. Be perfect and merciful (Mt 5:48; 9:13).
   
2. See Jesus more clearly (Mk 8:22-25; 10:46-52).
   
3. Walk the gospel line (Gal 2:14).
   
4. Have faith in Jesus' faithfulness (Gal 2:16-17).
   
5. See coincidences as providence (Rom 8:28).
   
• Or the above may just be the first 5 sermons that I preach in 2019!
9. Be kind and gentle (as in #1 above). A close friend told me last week that after almost 2 decades of being "shepherded," she did not know how to listen to God directly for herself outside of the voice of her human church leader. Sorry to say that included me. From her I learn how NOT to be a leader, shepherd and pastor in the church. "Be kind and gentle" is not an end in itself. Rather, it is to not impose myself on others, even if I know that I am right and others are wrong and lacking in wisdom. "Be kind and gentle" is to lead others personally to seek to know the God who loves them, outside of human voices and church voices, as well intentioned as they may be.

Clean Your Room - Jordan Peterson

"If you can't even clean up your own room, who the hell are you to give advice to the world?"

Walk the Gospel Line (Galatians 2:1-14)

"I saw that they were not walking (acting) in line with (not following, not straightforward about, not obeying, deviating from) the truth of the gospel..." (Gal 2:14, various translations). "We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you" (Gal 2:5).

What is the gospel? What is "the truth of the gospel"? What does it mean to "walk in line with the truth of the gospel"? How do we "walk in line with the truth of the gospel" today?

Most Christians know that the "gospel" means "good news" or "good tidings." When Christ was born, an angel announced to shepherds in the fields that he brought "good news of great joy" to them, for this child was the long awaited Savior, the Messiah, Christ the Lord (Lk 2:10-11). Ultimately, the gospel, the good news is that salvation has come to all mankind. This good news, this gospel of our salvation would culminate in Jesus' death for our sins and his resurrection from the dead (1 Cor 15:3-4).

Regarding this gospel of good news, Galatians 2:1-14 speaks of several incidents.

1. Jewish Christians compelling Gentile (non Jewish) Christians to be circumcised in order to be regarded as truly Christian (2:1-5). Paul regarded this as enslaving a Christian who should be free in the gospel (Gal 2:4). In 2014, I shared a blog entitled Galatians Set Me Free from Legalism.
2. Paul's comment regarding his respect for the church leaders, while declaring and maintaining his own independence (2:6-10).
3. Paul, the newest "junior" apostle, publicly rebuking and chastising Peter, the top "senior" apostle, because Peter failed to "walk in line with the truth of the gospel" (2:11-14). This made Paul quite upset, to put it mildly.
   

Why was Paul so angry? Galatians is Paul's most angry and polemic letter. All Christians say that faith in Jesus and the gospel is all we need for life and salvation. But practically some Christians and churches communicate–explicitly or implicitly–that faith in Christ is not quite enough. In Paul's day, Jewish Christians (the so-called Judaizers) taught the Gentile Christians that in addition to believing in Christ they must keep Jewish traditions–circumcision, Sabbath, dietary laws, special days–in order to become "fully Christian" (2:1-5). This so outraged Paul that he did not express any pleasantries or thanksgiving after his introduction (1:1-5), as he did in his other 11 epistles. Instead he immediately launched into them (Gal 1:6ff) by directly confronting and accusing them of deserting Christ and distorting, changing and perverting the gospel (Gal 1:6b-7). To those who taught that additions to the gospel were needed (which is no gospel at all), Paul cursed them with God's curse…twice in two verses (Gal 1:8-9). Boy was he mad!

Why was Paul so angry with Peter? Compared to Peter, Paul was a "junior" apostle. Yet, in that orderly structured hierarchical Jewish culture, Paul rebuked Peter publicly (not privately). Then he openly shared and circulated this embarrassing and shameful account in a letter to be read in all the churches (Gal 2:11-14). Today it is like sending out a mass email to everyone in the church about how wrong and bad you are! Imagine Peter, the rock of the church (Mt 16:18), committing such a basic sin and getting publicly rebuked by a junior! Peter's sin was that he failed to "walk in line with the truth of the gospel"; he was "deviating from the truth of the gospel" (Gal 2:14). How? When he withdrew from eating together with Gentile Christians. By his behavior he was saying that Jewish Christians were better than Gentile Christians because they kept the tradition of Jewish dietary laws. By making this distinction Peter communicated that the gospel of God's grace was insufficient for salvation and good standing as a Christian. He was stating by his action that justification was not just by faith alone, but also by the works of the law (Gal 2:16).

Some reflections on freedom based on Galatians:

1. Freedom from the Fear of Man (Gal 1:10; 2:6).
2. Freedom from Racism, Nationalism, Tribalism (Gal 2:15).
3. Freedom from Stressing Human Effort (Gal 3:3).
4. Freedom from Conceit, Provoking and Envying Others (Gal 5:26).
   
5. Freedom from Comparing Ourselves with Others (Gal 6:4).