A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (9)

 

“[Jesus] answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” (Mk. 1.38-39)

     Preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons – or indeed, casting out demons in synagogues (cf. 1.21-28).  It’s an intriguing way to summarize what Jesus was doing as he walked around the villages of Galilee.  As a matter of fact, most New Testament scholars – even the skeptical ones – agree that Jesus had a reputation for being an exorcist.  Needless to say, Jesus had something of a habit of disrupting the sabbath routine in the synagogues he frequented (cf. 3.1-6).  As I read Mark’s narrative, I get the uneasy sense that had I been in attendance at a synagogue when Jesus made an appearance, I may indeed have taken the side of the Pharisees.  I mean, let’s be fair.  The Pharisees were “ordinary” believers, laypeople.  There can be no doubt that they were committed to following their God the best they knew how.  They were studious and learned, well-versed in the Scriptures and the tradition.  They were sincere, earnestly desiring to create the conditions in which God would act to deliver his people.  The Pharisees’ motto seems to have been “to obey God and to have him obeyed” – a praiseworthy goal, as far as it goes (it’s unsettling to note how this description of the Pharisees is what many of us aspire to as Christians).  But what if God turned out to be different from what they had imagined…?

     Perhaps unintentionally, the Pharisaic approach to holiness created a “holy huddle”, a community of “serious” believers who regulated their behaviour and common life with numerous laws, rituals, and well…rules.  As inevitably happens within any human community, there is a “status game” that one can play.  The name of the game, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, was to demonstrate one’s loyalty and devotion to Yahweh through a strict observance of the law of Moses, as interpreted by the Rabbis that one had access to (or whose teachings one had access to).  The unavoidable (and perhaps unforeseen) consequence of such a community is that it is inward-focused.  The priority is determining who is “in” and who is “out”; moreover, much energy is expended in making sure that those who are “in” are behaving in such a manner as to maintain their “insider” status.  In true prophetic fashion, Jesus had a nose for sniffing out hypocrisy and mere “playing of the (status) game” as opposed to genuinely self-giving love of God and neighbour (cf. Mk. 12.28-34).  Jesus wasn’t interested in games – human lives were considered by him to be far too valuable to be reduced to mere tools for the increase of one’s status.  As a Rich Mullins song has it “He was a man of no reputation, and by the wise considered a fool…”  The love of God embodied in Jesus could not be contained by the walls of any synagogue.  Jesus was always “going out” beyond the safety zone, the expectations of the pious, beyond the limits of the “playing field” of the holiness game.  Jesus came “to seek and to save that which is lost” (cf. Lk. 19.10).  As far as Jesus was concerned, holiness was not so much a status to attain, but, as C.S. Lewis put it, a “good infection” to spread around.

     The fact is, church (synagogue) is easy.  Everyone knows the rules.  Everyone is presentable, respectable and polite (almost always).  However, once one leaves the confines of the church – once one attempts to follow Jesus in “the real world” – there are few rules, besides the command to love.  However, as Jesus demonstrated, love is risky.  The sad fact is, many of us have a habit of judging many of the people around us as being unworthy of love.  However, as Jesus repeatedly emphasized, it is precisely those deemed unworthy by those “playing the game” who are the primary “targets” of God’s love (cf. Mk. 2.15-17).  I suppose that as far as Mark is concerned, being holy = following/imitating Jesus, the “Holy One of God” (1.24).  As a lifelong church-goer, I’m acutely aware of the temptation to pretend that “church life” is what being a Jesus-follower is all about.  However, re-reading the Gospel causes that illusion to evaporate.  Surely, if I am truly following my king, I will experience what his first followers experienced – not confirmation that what I was already doing anyway was adequate, but rather a constant challenge to go beyond the bounds of what is familiar, status-endowing, self-serving and even safe…