Proper 24B (OT 29)

Mark 10:35-45

Initial Thoughts

  • Kind of feels like this one preaches itself.

  • What does lectionary skip? Last week we ended at v. 31, today we pick up at v. 35

  • v. 32-34 On the road to Jerusalem, those following were both amazed and afraid. Then he takes 12 aside and again predicts his death and Resurrection, which will culminate in a clash with chief priests in Jerusalem.

    • Rolf Jacobsen: What if we stopped calling this the prediction, and instead called it an announcement, or a mission statement. 

    • In other words, Jesus’ very mission is understood to be one of sacrifice and service. From the start, It is not about triumphalism. It is immediately after this teaching that James and John “call shotgun.”

Bible Study

  • The Story

    • James and John’s Request:

      • After this teaching about impending death, James and John approach Jesus and ask, “We want you to do whatever we ask.”

      • Seriously strange request.

      • Interesting to note that in Matthew, it is their mother that asks this question.

    • Jesus’ Response:

      • You don’t know what you’re asking

      • I am going to suffer a great deal, I don’t think this is the joyride you’re expecting.

    • J and J: Yes we can.

    • Jesus’ Second Response:

      • You’re right.

      • Shotgun is not mine to grant. There is someone else driving this car.

    • Other 10 get mad

      • Their anger demonstrates they are no better. They’re mad at James and John for trying to finagle a better place. They still think of the ‘better place’ in the traditional way.

      • They’re probably just mad that they didn’t think of it first.

    • Jesus Third Response:

      • Leadership is different now.

      • Power in the Kingdom of God is not defined in the way it always has been. Power is not about control and coercion. Instead, it is about service.

  • Interpretation

    • “James and John have fully embraced the wonder and power of Jesus. But they seek to turn his promise and power to their own advantage. In doing so, they show how badly they have misconstrued his intentions. In one of his most remarkable utterances, Jesus reverses field and redefines the largeness of the gospel.” (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year B, p. 549)

      • Reverses common understanding of what power is.

      • Redefines the patronage system, turning it on its head.

      • Continues the themes from last week, especially how it ended.

    • James and John do not lack ambition. It is not their ambition that Jesus has a problem with. He redirects their ambition to match the Kingdom, as opposed to their own glory.

      • He never says “no.” He simply warns them that honor and glory only comes through service and sacrifice. 

      • “Maybe the greater sin in the seminary and the church is not misplaced ambition but complacency and lack of ambition altogether. Where ambition exists, it can be redirected and purified. But where it is entirely absent, mediocrity takes hold, the status quo hardens, and professors and committees debate endlessly about methodology and procedure. Yes, it is too easy to demonize James and John; their act of stepping forward matters more to Jesus than their immediate reasons for doing so.” Stephen Chapman, Christian Century, Oct 17, 2006)

    • “Mark identifies the Human One as the embodiment of the way of nonviolence about which the catechism is concerned (10:45). He has come to serve and also to give life, refusing to “save” it. The phrase ‘as a ransom for many’ appears to be an allusion back to ‘slave.’ The term referred to the price required to redeem captives or purchase freedom for indentured servants. Jesus promises then that the way of ‘servanthood’ has been transformed by the Human One into the way of liberation.” (Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, p. 279)

    • NRSV: Ransom vs CEB: Liberate

      • “At the same time, Jesus' mention of a "ransom" indicates that his death will be more than just an inspiring example or a martyr's tragic protest against an unjust system. The word in question (in Greek,lytron) indicates that his death does something; it secures a release. This verse often sparks lively debates, and it has a history of, in my opinion, being misunderstood by those who take the notion of a "ransom" to mean a specific type of payment. In those readings, Jesus' death is transactional, a payment made to satisfy the penalties accrued by human sin or to repay something owed to God. “

      • Jesus’ mission is “to serve and to give his life to liberate many people”

Thoughts and Questions

  • What is the place for ambition in the Church? Can ambition be pointed in the right direction? Is mediocrity a recipe for disaster?

  • When new people come into our church, are we honest about what they’re getting into? If the church is simply a place to come and feel good, meet friends, and be encouraged for the rest of the week, then there is really no need for a warning (and no need for a church). Is the church doing anything that would get us crucified? Is the church taking any chances? Is there a prophetic voice, a move for justice? 

  • If Jesus’ prediction of his death and resurrection isn’t a prediction, but instead a mission statement. What does that mean?

    • He’s redefining messiah.

    • He’s redefining power, greatness, and honor.

    • He’s redefining God, and God’s mission in the world.

Hebrews 5:1-10

Initial Thoughts

  • 22B, Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

  • 23B, Hebrews 4:12-16

  • 24B, Hebrews 5:1-10

  • 25B, Hebrews 7:23-28

  • 26B, Hebrews 9:11-14 (if not All Saints Sunday)

  • 27B, Hebrews 9:24-28

  • 28B, Hebrews 10:11-25

Bible Study

  • Thomas Long: “The Preacher knows that he is on marshy ground here, that this is the crucial theological and pastoral issue for his congregation. They know without a doubt that Jesus was weak - anyone with eyes to see could know that - but is this Jesus also genuinely strong enough to help? They are all well aware that Jesus was a fellow sufferer… but the question for them was whether this weak and suffering Jesus is truly the divine Son who, in ways that eyes cannot see, stands in graceful glory at the beginning and end of time, and in the middle of time is even now redeeming the creation and bringing the children of God home.”

    • The Preacher then answers this question by naming Jesus as the High Priest, and in a chiastic structure, spells it out

    • The function of the High Priest (v. 1, 9-10)

      • Serves as mediator between God and humanity.

      • Carried out sacrifices to atone for sin.

      • Jesus’ priesthood is one-time and eternal.

    • The person of the High Priest (v. 2-3, 7-8)

      • Ordinary human beings who were subject to human frailty and error. This gave them a sympathetic pastoral authority.

      • Jesus knew suffering and the fragility of humanness. This gives him a sympathetic pastoral authority.

      • Jesus’ humanity did not tarnish his obedience. He did not lack for compassion or falter from his purpose. So, unlike human priests, he is perfect in his priestly authority.

    • The appointment of the High Priest (v. 5-6)

      • Not self-appointed. Only God-ordained.

      • Quotes Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110:4

      • Not only appointed to Priesthood, but to Sonship, which is an even higher order than Priest.

  • Main theme of Hebrews: Jesus is supreme and perfect high priest.

    • Might be difficult to grasp without more complete understanding of the role of high priest.  From JewishEncyclopedia.com “The distinguished rank of the high priest is apparent from the fact that his sins are regarded as belonging also to the people (Lev. iv. 3, 22). He was entrusted with the stewardship of the Urim and Thummim (Num. xxvii. 20 et seq.). On the Day of Atonement he alone entered the Holy of Holies, to make atonement for his house and for the people (Lev. xvi.); on that occasion he wore white linen garments instead of his ordinary and more costly vestments. He alone could offer the sacrifices for the sins of the priests, or of the people, or of himself (Lev. iv.); and only he could officiate at the sacrifices following his own or another priest's consecration.”

    • Jesus and High Priest alike = Selected by God, vulnerability, function as the one who removes the sins of the people.

    • Jesus and High Priest disalike = Human is inherently flawed. Jesus has perfect relationship with God, and thus superior. “Even as the contrast emerges between Jesus and other priests, highlighting the superiority of Jesus, the high priests of Israel are not demeaned in any way.” (Beverly Gaventa, Texts for Preaching, Year B p. 554)

    • Jesus’ vulnerability is what made him the perfect high priest. His ability to identify, and walk alongside us in our suffering because of empathy makes him perfect.

    • Like Gospel theme of coming not to be served, but to serve; here Hebrews shows that Jesus’ greatest strength was on display when he was vulnerable and weak.

    • Caveat: Do not imply all suffering is good.

  • Who is Melchizedek?

    • A great article from Encyclopedia Britannica

      • “a figure of importance in biblical tradition because he was both king and priest, was connected with Jerusalem, and was revered by Abraham, who paid a tithe to him. He appears as a person only in an interpolated vignette (Gen. 14:18–20) of the story of Abraham rescuing his kidnapped nephew, Lot, by defeating a coalition of Mesopotamian kings under Chedorlaomer.”

      • “Psalm 110, in referring to a future messiah of the Davidic line, alludes to the priest-king Melchizedek as a prototype of this messiah. This allusion led the author of the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament to translate the name Melchizedek as “king of righteousness” and Salem as “peace,” so that Melchizedek is made to foreshadow Christ, stated to be the true king of righteousness and peace (Heb. 7:2)”

    • Another great article from Bible Project

  • Verses 7-10 When Jesus was human, he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to ‘take this cup away,’ but he was nonetheless obedient. In his obedience to the mission, he was made perfect.

    • Jesus’ obedience to the mission of God is what made him perfect.

    • He became the source of salvation for all who obey him.

    • To obey Jesus is to obey God.

    • To obey Jesus, you must know what he commanded.

Thoughts and Question

  • In American churches, we may need to be reminded that Jesus suffered. We seem to get the triumphant Jesus easily - because triumph is all we have known. But the suffering Jesus is much more difficult to stomach.

    • How can a suffering Jesus actually be a source of strength to a culture that values nothing more than winning?

Job 38:1-7, (34-41)

Initial Thoughts

  • God’s response reminds me of Colonel Jessop’s response from A Few Good Men

  • You can read all of 1-41, but it is just a litany of examples of things God does that Job has no ability to comprehend.

  • Remember back to a couple weeks ago to Job 1:10-11, satan, the adversary, tempts God by claiming that if God took away all of Job’s blessings, then Job would curse God face to God’s face. This is the first face to face encounter between Job and God- this is the moment that was set up in Job 1. The question is what will God say and how will Job respond?

Bible Study

  • Interesting phrasing of questions:

    • Who are you?

      • God demands to know who Job is to question God - not because he is human, God will tell Job to be more human - to “gird his loins” - but because he has no knowledge. 

      • See chapter 12 - Job claims God’s designs brought the deep darkness, the “shadow of death” to light. Thus declaring God as the bringer of darkness instead of the one who speaks light into being. 

      • God begins by dismissing this accusation with the words, “Who is this that darkens counsel with no knowledge?”

      • God then affirms Job’s human right to question God and speak to God face to face- “gird up your loins like a man”

      • How to “Gird up your loins”

    • Where were you?

    • What do you know?

    • Can you?

    • Is God giving Job a new perspective? Is this way of God telling Job that these are only “first world problems”?

    • Is there any satisfactory answer God can give Job?

  • Our relationship with God

    • “The scenario challenges all human egotism, our habit of replacing the confession that our chief end is to glorify God with the assumption that God’s chief end is to be concerned with mortals.” Wells, J. B. (2009). Theological Perspective on Job 38:1‒11. Feasting on the Word: Year B Vol. 3, p. 148).

    • “We think and worship as if the only question was whether God loves us, instead of whether His love has absolute power to give itself eternal and righteous effect.” Samuel Terrien, “Job,” in The Interpreter’s Bible (New York: Abingdon, 1954), 3:1171.

    • God is depicted as both transcendently sovereign whose majesty and power is written throughout the incomprehensive cosmos and God is also intimate enough to enter into the human condition and concerns - to speak with Job, to hear the cries of slaves in Egypt, to walk with us in the milieu and mundanity of everyday life. 

  • Refusing to Give easy answers

    • What would it look like to resist the temptation to answer questions about God and instead reaffirm what we know about God while we lean into the questions?

      • “The temptation of many churches, drenched in the cherished theologies of our traditions, is to give our people answers. But faith, by its very nature, is not the product of right answers. The deepest places of our knowledge of God are often those places that we cannot explain: experiences of tranquility in the presence of fear, comfort known deeply near death, the enigma of undeserved suffering visited on the life of a child—these and many other moments experienced regularly by people in the church.” Connors, A. F. (2009). Pastoral Perspective on Job 38:1‒11. Feasting on the Word: Year B Vol. 3, pp. 148–150). 

  • The Sovereignty of God vs the Goodness of God

  • Calvin Response:

    • Accept that God is both all powerful and all good and you simply cannot comprehend this rational paradox

    • Basically Job’s response is the correct response which is repent for questioning the might and goodness of God

  • Process Response: Omnipotence is a Theological Mistake rooted in the book of Job

    • God is the root of all power

    • God chooses to limit God’s power out of love for creatures which allows them to freely respond to God’s love and grace

    • Creation’s rejection of God’s love and grace is the root of “evil” and suffering

    • However, the goodness of God is maintained as God lures all of creation into loving, interdependent relationship

  • James Gustafson response: Our theology is too anthropocentric (human focused)

    • As we learn more about the cosmos, we learn that humans are far from the “center of the universe”

    • We learn more about the vastness of what we do not know

      • Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s brain bomb about no intelligent life on earth

    • While human goodness may be rooted in our understanding of God, God is not bound by that human notion what is good because the very nature of God is beyond our meager comprehension

Thoughts and Questions

  • Can we hold to the notion that God is both all powerful and all good? If so- then how do we address issues of deep tragedy without simply saying “it is a mystery” or “this is for the greater good”?

  • What can we know about God given the rhetorical questions presented in this passage? Can we still serve and love God and one another without being able to answer the theodicy question of why the innocent suffer?

  • How do we maintain both empathy in listening to one another’s concerns,  while also providing a helpful perspective on what matters?

  • What does it mean to believe not only in an omniscient or omnipotent or omnipresent God but an omniamorous God (an all-loving God)?

    • Love is not always comfortable or friendly

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com,@pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”,"Real Ride"and“Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.

Pentecost BEric FistlerMark, Hebrews, Job, Psalm 75-150Comment