ENCOUNTERING JESUS (series): “QUESTIONS” 

On Christmas morning this year, Stefanie surprised me with an unexpected gift a book titled: “Our Q & A a Day” – 365 questions answered by 2 people every day over a 3-year cycle. My The book jacket states: This journal is designed so that two people can create a snapshot of their relationship in the easiest way possible. Even just one sentence is enough to create a snapshot of your life together. As the years go by, you will be able to see how your answers compare, contrast, and change!” Here are some of the questions: March 13: “If you had an extra $100 dollars in your pocket what would you do with it?” July 31st: “What does your partner talk a lot about right now?” October 1st: “Do you feel completely at home in your body? followed by Why or Why not? You know what question I asked Stefanie when I opened this gift and flipped through the questions: “Is this gift for you or for me?” I’m sure that there are a few here today asking the question: “Why would mention this book out-loud?”

Questions are powerful. Questions are instructive. Today, most teaching is still built on Socrates 2400-year-old method of questioning – illuminates the importance of questioning in learning. Questions teach us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas. Questions teach us the value of developing inquisitive minds in cultivating deep learning. Second, questions create intimacy. In 2013, social-psychologist researcher Arthur Aron published the results of an experiment, where two people answered thirty-six questions. These questions only take about 45 minutes to discuss—and they almost always make two people feel better about each other. You can also try them with people you already know well—friends, family members, even long-term partners—to deepen your ties. Questions reveal much about those who asks and those who answer.

Mark knows the power of questions. He employs questions to reveal the true meaning of Jesus’ identity. He employs questions to reveal the discipleship decision at the heart of the matter. Chapter 2 – and really through to Mark 3.6, is the first opposition Jesus faces to his ministry by the Jewish religious & political authorities. The basic structure is a QUESTION is asked of Jesus; Jesus COUNTERS with a question or saying; and then Jesus makes a PRONOUNCEMENT on the matter. The settings are real life situations where it’s most helpful to ask: What is the right thing to do here?

People tend to be most comfortable with real-life case-study/situational examples because we actually encounter life by living (even the philosophers)! For example, The same homeless man sits outside of the Barnes & Noble on the Country Club Plaza on KC panhandling for money. You have change left after purchasing the newest Star Wars novel. The man asks holds a cup up to you and asks you for money. WHAT do you do? Follow up: WHY do you do it? The questions and their answers reveal much.

The questions and the answers reveal much about the Jewish religious & political authorities and about Jesus. SPOILER ALERT: This section ends ominously. Mark 3.6 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. It doesn’t take long for Jesus’ opposition to turn hostile. That was fast! Why would anyone want to kill Jesus? We know Jesus as compassionate, loving, just, forgiving; he fed and healed people.

It’s tempting to criticize the Jewish political and religious authorities as being shady characters, but that’s not necessarily a historical accuracy. Rome allowed some of the people they conquered to govern themselves and if they kept things in order, Rome stayed out of their business. The Pharisees were a popular group who brought religion into everyday existence for all God’s people. They believed that obedience to God’s Torah resulted in a good blessed life. Like any human group, each probably had some bad apples. However, by-and-large, they were decent people. People who paid their taxes, mowed their lawns, sent their kids to good schools, and went to church weekly. In short, they’re a lot like us. As we look deeper into the context of the conflict that caused decent people to want to kill Jesus, I ask you to you to keep this question in mind: “If we encountered Jesus today and he did similar things that he does in these stories, would we follow him or kill him?”

QUESTIONS OF CONFLICT

Jesus Heals a Paralytic (READER: KIRSTYN GRANI)
2 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

The Question: (Which they don’t ask aloud, it’s described as being in their hearts, or will): “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus could have made this easier on himself than he did. If he simply started with healing and didn’t mention forgiveness, people would have been amazed and the scribes likely wouldn’t have cared. But he starts with something that the scribes believe is in God’s power alone & he does so without any kind of authorization. The scribes are so angry and aghast that they can’t even speak – but it had to be written all over their faces. Jesus questions their hearts – Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Why are you so mad? They’re mad because Jesus changed the rules of forgiveness.

The Counter: “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven” or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk?” A common understanding of the ancient world is that sickness was punishment for some sin committed. In the minds of the scribes, the disease was evidence that the paralytic was a sinner; he did something to deserve it and the people were right to separate him from community. There is a connection between sin and sickness, but it doesn’t work the way the scribes think it does. Sickness exists because of sin’s grip on the world. The effects of sin are debilitating physically, socially, and spiritually. Jesus is as concerned w/restoring the paralytic to community – to say that he belongs as he is with relieving him from his predicament. Contrast the scribes feelings with the faith of the four friends that show a total disregard for propriety & property, who go for broke – desperate to find healing for their friend they rip the roof off a house, interrupting Jesus teaching a nice lesson. Can you imagine our church being so full of people seeking Jesus that some folks from the neighborhood busted out a section of a stained glass window to get in? THEIR FAITH (not the paralytics) moves Jesus to action. It’s contrasted with the LACK OF COMPASSION in the scribes – who only care that God’s authority isn’t violated and that the sinner remains appropriately punished.

The Pronouncement: But so you know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…“ There is NO QUESTION – GOD’s MERCY is offered freely without condition. Jesus wants us to participate in this ministry. In his name, he gives us authority to go into all the world proclaiming forgiveness and freedom. Do we have the kind of desperation, the faith, and the compassion of the four friends – where nothing can hold us back? Or is it easier for us to be comfortable and watch what happens at a distance?

Jesus Calls Levi (READER: MATT WISEMAN)
13 Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 15 And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

The Question: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The tag-line “tax collectors and sinners” is mentioned three times in these few verses; the repetition tipping us off that this is a problem. We’re used to hearing this phrase – so much so that it’s not really offensive to us anymore. I mean, taxes are such a regular part of life and we’ve already accepted that we’re sinners so this seems good to us. “Tax collectors” were hired to do Rome’s work, but any money they got on top of the taxes they kept. They took advantage of peoples’ lives for personal profit. “Sinners” is a kind of catch-all term for people with loose morals and a disregard for God. They conspired with the secular government and stole from their neighbors. But what if, instead of tax collectors and sinners – the text read “Planned Parenthood Abortionists & Flamboyant Drag Queens?” These are kind of people Mark means by tax collectors & sinners.

The Counter: “Those who are well no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Those are the kind of people Jesus attracts, the kind he EATS with. Eating together in the ancient world was a virtual pledge of unity. The Pharisees had many meal rituals because of their pious regard for ritual purity. Above all, they wanted to honor God with their holiness – separation from all the sin-sickness; people who really believed that it was important to “avoid every appearance of evil.” As much as he spent time with them, it’s clear – Jesus actually liked these people and sought them out. The word translated as call, really means something stronger – to “recruit.” Jesus came to chase after the riffraff. The upright, upstanding citizens would exclude themselves from Jesus’ party-company. These self-styled righteous remain on the outside looking in – content to sit and judge from a distance – saying: “thank God I’m not like those people!” What kind of religious leader shares company with these kinds of people who revel in their sick corruption and flaunt their immorality? Eating with these people cast doubt on Jesus’ personal judgment and his righteousness. How would you view me if I was out at Johnny’s having a great time with the local abortionists and drag queens? It’s much more likely we’d be aghast & appalled.

The Pronouncement: “I have come to call [recruit] not the righteous but sinners.” There is NO QUESTION: God loves dirty, rotten sinners! We live in a time when Christians are more known for judgment from a distance than we are being a loving presence. Maybe if we don’t hear Jesus, we’ll hear Yoda: “fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side.” God wants people who walk in faith with him into the unknown toward the unlovable.

The Question about Fasting (READER: SARAH JONES)
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

The Question: “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” One could look around at our particular culture and discern quickly that we don’t have a problem fasting, or abstaining from food. Pharisees fasted twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Abstinence from food was an obligatory act of covenant obedience. John’s disciples fasted because it was the appropriate self-denial necessary for repentance and to prepare for the judgment. We know Jesus fasted for 40-days in the desert in preparation for ministry, for example. He taught his disciples how to fast – differently from the Pharisees. Later, Christians throughout centuries would value fasting greatly. The problem isn’t with fasting, it’s with pride in our own piety. Instead of trying to look somber, sullen and pious – he told them to fast normally, mostly not for the purpose of trying to look holy to everyone else. Wanting everyone to see our personal holiness opens up to the very real, subtle danger of spiritual pride.

The Counter: “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they?” Jesus wants to emphasize the sheer joy of God’s good news. After all – weddings are times celebrate. In Jesus’ day, weddings were feasts that often lasted a week. Jesus’ presence as the groom signaled to the bride, his community that the wedding was happening – it was time for laughter and love. This joyful, simple spirit marked the early Christians. The pious pagans of the ancient world referred to Christians as “atheoi” – “godless” – because they had few religious obligations. They weren’t serious enough. The word used for new is kainos – meaning fresh. It’s not a novelty or a tidying up, it’s brand new. It’s a new society – a Kingdom is a social reality, wine is a socially shared drink. Jesus proclaims a brand new kind of life altogether. Fasting is part of this society, but it’s not good in and of itself. The one central activity Christians were known for was eating together and welcoming others to the common table. Christians were known for the antithesis of fasting. Makes you wonder how over time, and in our world today, Christians came to be known for sullen, judgmental piety rather than joyful, radical hospitality – doesn’t it? Spiritual pride destroys our joy & distorts our witness.

The Pronouncement: “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak…No one puts new wine into old wineskins. One puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” There is NO QUESTION: God is not in the business of merely rearranging things, he’s in the business of replacing the old with the new. This is the true purpose of fasting. St. Basil says: true fasting is to refrain from vice. Shed your unjust control; Pardon your neighbors; Forgive them their trespasses. This year we’ve focused on radical hospitality. We have these marbles – blue ones for inviting people into our lives; white ones to symbolize inviting people to church. The purpose is to remind us, inspire us, to make sure that TABLE is not only at the heart of our worship, but that the practice of TABLE is in our hearts.

Pronouncement about the Sabbath (READER: MIKE KENNEDY)
23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26 He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

The Question: “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” Interestingly both Matthew & Luke, later Gospels – eliminate Jesus’ sabbath saying, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the sabbath.” Perhaps they didn’t want there to be any confusion, but protecting the integrity of the sabbath ran deep. Sabbath laws go back to creation stories which for Jews & Christians reveal something of God’s original intent for all his creation, including humankind – this is the ultimate precedence – nothing can trump it. Sabbath is meant as celebration of goodness of God’s creation. God rested and enjoyed everything, so should we. The Sabbath wasn’t meant as repression, but freedom. The problem is that laws written to ensure mutual concern and release from oppression can swing around easily and duty becomes oppression.

The Counter: “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food?” This is kind of ironic – as Mark has Jesus questioning whether or not the Pharisees even read scripture, but gets many details of the story wrong. Mark really doesn’t have a strong exegetical understanding of Sabbath. What he gets wrong in details he gets right in the big picture. The law of neighbor love transcends practices of piety, even on the sabbath day. It’s quite easy to say people are more important than principles, but in reality, it isn’t so easy to lay aside deeply held religious practices or political world-views, is it? As Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel said, “Excessive piety may endanger the fulfillment of the essence of the law.” Sabbath rest was made for humanity, laws are meant to be a blessing, not an obligation. It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.

The Pronouncement: “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath. The Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” There is NO QUESTION: God desires what is good for his people. In our over-busy, burned-out, margin-less modern society – were attracted to the idea of Sabbath, we just don’t seem to know how to practice it – or maybe we’re just afraid to. We need Sabbath, not as something to check off the list to say we’ve performed our duty. Maybe we really just need Sunday as a day to celebrate our love for God & enjoy the company of others. Maybe we need to learn how to have faith that God provides. Maybe we need to be content with less stuff so we can have more goodness.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCIPLES (US)

NOW: Let’s return to the question that we asked at the beginning:

“If we encountered Jesus today and he did similar things that he does in these stories, would we follow him or kill him?”

Think hard before you answer. Do you really want the disruption that Jesus brings? Do we really want the responsibility of sharing his mission of announcing forgiveness & freedom? Do we want to even be seen with the kind of people he liked to associate with, let alone invite them into our lives? Do we really want Jesus messing up our ideas of Church?

There is NO QUESTION as to who Jesus is or the purpose of his Kingdom reign.

The question is, do we trust him enough to follow him into this new life?