It's Time!
29 January 2009
It's Time!
image:
In my last post I suggested a creative re-reading of the first chapter of Mark. What I was trying to do in that narrative was to highlight the context in which Mark frames Jesus’ announcement of the Kingdom.
Notice,
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:14-15).
The challenge facing pastors week by week is serious. I’m deeply concerned that most congregations are hearing the texts only in ways that prop up the reigning social imagination; in my case, the consumer capitalism and militarism (among other things) of the United States of America. But we need scripture to subvert our imaginations and sow the seeds of a new world. This can never happen while pastors simply offer scripture as a way of learning how to live well-adjusted lives in whatever society we find ourselves.
So, the hermeneutical and homiletical challenge facing me each week as I stand before my congregation is, “How is this text, by God’s Spirit, evoking a new imagination among us? How is it calling forth a new way of being human for God’s reign in the time and place we find ourselves? And how is it calling us to do this communally, as the image of the Trinity?”
With this in mind, I asked myself, what is Mark saying to my congregation and me this week? Well, on Tuesday of that particular week, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. His inaugural speech hit all the right notes for me and I was duly inspired. As a thoroughly American man in my late 30s there is a deep sense in which this is, for me and my generation, a kairos moment. But I also have a deep ambivalence. I have been taught, in my Restorationist/ Anabaptist tribe to distrust the government. I have been schooled in a more escapist eschatology, which holds out no hope for this terrestrial ball.
So, in the midst of the buzz of inaugural week in the US, with my hopes for a ‘new birth’ of democratic hope, comes Mark to spoil my party, because he also speaks of a kairos moment. “The time is fulfilled.” It is time! And at this kairos moment Jesus recruits common laborers to be the face of his campaign and calls for repentance.
While I was praying and wrestling with these thoughts, and totally independently of them, I emailed my friend in Moscow, who is a pastor there. I asked him, almost in passing while writing about other things, how the inauguration of Barack Obama went over in Moscow. His words were incredibly sobering to me and I read them to my congregation at the end of my message last week. Here is what he said.
As to the inauguration we aren't impressed. We think that he will guarantee US imperial course. The stakes in today's world are very high. We as Christians are caught between the national interests of our respective states that pretend to be our Saviors.
The urgency in his tone struck me. It was exactly the urgency I have learned to hear in Mark’s words – “It’s time! The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” I can just as easily hear Jesus saying, “The stakes in today’s world are very high. There is no time to waste with false gods who will get us nowhere.”
Compare this to another email I received from a theologian acquaintance speaking about the church situation in the Europe and the UK.
In Europe we simply can not afford the time or the energy to get into this kind of interim ‘lets change the church’ discussion or argument – church and culture occupy almost totally different trajectories and if we do not design a model of radical culture engagement that is fueled by a biblical imagination we will keep doing what by and large the mainline denominations are doing, which is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
I see this kind of “rearranging of the deck chairs” going on around me constantly. Whether it is an economic stimulus package that promises to “save” our consumerist way of life or definitions of missional church that will finally get the church back on track, whether we’re talking about how to keep our youth and young adults in the church, revive our worship services, grow the church, or whatever else, this conversation continues within the safe confines of Christendom or consumer capitalism; it threatens nothing and no one.
But Mark has a different agenda and we would do well to listen. Mark’s Jesus makes his kingdom announcement under a darkening sky. John has been arrested by Herod. Why? Because his preaching isn’t for the purpose of helping his listeners lives well-adjusted lives under the oppressive Roman occupation and a temple elite which had lost its way. And by Mark 3 these same authorities are conspiring to kill Jesus.
Let those that have ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Search
- Steve Moran on Mt. Ellis on the Brink of Winning Big
- Bonnie Dwyer on Mt. Ellis on the Brink of Winning Big
- Donna Haerich on Fascinating Adventist Mathematics
- victor on Fascinating Adventist Mathematics
- Andre Reis on Hate Speech?
- Your Friend on Fascinating Adventist Mathematics
- Your Friend on Hate Speech?
- Donna Haerich on Hate Speech?
- Your Friend on Laughing in Church
- bevin on Hate Speech?
Comments
Mar 1:14-15 NJKV: Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Gospel comes from the word, euaggelion which means Good News
Repent comes from the word, metanoeō, which means, to think differently, to reconsider, to change one's mind.
Here is Mark 1:14-15 from Philips NT: It was after John's arrest that Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, saying, "The time has come at last - the kingdom of God has arrived. You must change your hearts and minds and believe the good news."
So my question on this text is, what is the Good News? What is it that Jesus is proclaiming? This is before he called his first disciple. What is it that we are to change our minds about in order to believe the Good News?
Great question! That is THE question, isn't it? How rarely I hear it asked because most Christians think they know the answer already.
I'm hinting at some stuff in my previous post here.
The point made by Gregory Boyd in _The Myth of a Christian Nation_ is that no earthly government can usher in the Kingdom of Heaven because it only has the power to control external behavior, while the Kingdom of Heaven changes people from the inside out.
But I think we can still rejoice when we see an earthly government that operates from a moral basis, and we can continue to do everything possible to make this world a better place while we are here, even as we cooperate with God to further His Kingdom.
Carol - "The Myth of a Christian Nation" is an excellent book. Greg Boyd pictures every kingdom of the world using power over people, to control them. God's kingdom in Boyd's terminology, uses power under people, to lift them up. There has been much discussion on Spectrum on the issues of say, homosexuality and abortion. A lot of the talk is kingdom of the world talk, let's enact laws to restrict this or that, control behavior. Boyd says, if asked to give our opinion (vote) we should, but understand that voting is the easy thing. The hard thing is "bleeding" for homosexual or the teen mother seeking an abortion. And his examples of how one "bleeds" for these are excellent.
Ryan, I asked the question, "What is the Good News" to a friend from long ago, who is now an Adventist pastor. Here is the response I got back:
The Good News is that Jesus died for my sins and your sins and everyone else’s. He took the penalty of the second death for me and He lived the perfect life for me. And He has promised that through His Holy Spirit, He indwells in me and His robe of righteousness covers me.
Now, back to the context of Mark 1:14-15, how does this statement of Good News fit? Jesus was very much alive, he certainly had not yet died, yet he was proclaiming THE Good News!
The Good News was something that was radically different than what the Jews were looking for. Is it still radically different from what most of us all looking for?
I've downloaded your sermon Ryan, now to listen...
Change my way of thinking...? Who, me?
A fascinating question about Mark 1:14, 15...
>> So my question on this text is, what is the Good News?
>> What is it that Jesus is proclaiming?
>> This is before he called his first disciple.
>> What is it that we are to change our minds about in order to believe the Good News?
_________________________
In the same sense that a business plan is executed without telling the competition the particulars of the business plan... you just do it... it looks like Jesus, in "proclaiming the gospel of God," was simply starting the "execution of the business plan" formulated between the Father and Jesus as Jesus expressed it 3 years later in John 17, a few hours before his death when he said on the cross "IT is finished,"... specifically
6 - Jesus manifested the name of the Father to the disciples
8 - the disciples believed that the Father sent Jesus
21 - that the world may believe that the Father sent Jesus
25 - now the disciples know that the Father sent Jesus
26 - Jesus made the name of the Father known to the disciples... so that the disciples would personally experience and "know" the love that the Father exhibited in Jesus.
What Jesus said about himself before he called his first disciple is obviously connected to what he said about himself after he called his first disciple... before his resurrection and also after his resurrection.
Since Jesus was speaking at that time only to members of his community, his proclamation to them to "repent and believe," a tacit implication that a change in thinking is expected, his proclamation would be related to the community and it's understanding of it's long-term and historical purpose.
The presupposition is that Jesus is conveying a "truth" that his community would NOT know UNTIL he told them (the execution of the business plan).
Business plan part #1 - John 8
8:31 - Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
8:32 - And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
8:36 - If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
8:42 - ... I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
8:51 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
8:56 - Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
8:57 - Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
8:58 - Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
8:59 - ... Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Business plan part #2 - Matthew 28
28:16 - Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
28:17 - And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
28:18 - ... All power [...authority...] is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
28:19 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations ... .
28:20 - Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
_______________
There is "only 1 ultimate reality" that Jesus spoke about -
... "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me"
... "you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free"
THIS is both the "tip of the spear" and the "edge of the sword" universal message of the "called out" universal church...
The "sword of the word" as spoken by Peter definitely still applies to us today because the great struggle of the ages is between our Champion Jesus... THE Christ (the Only anointed one)... and the enemy of our souls... Satan, a liar and murderer from the beginning, as Jesus correctly identified with appropriate "rhetoric"...
Our "cutting edge sword of the word" is to "...proclaim the excellencies of HIM who has called you out of darkness into HIS marvelous light"... (1 Peter 2:9)
... "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me"
... "you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free"
Lift Up Jesus Only and Jesus Will Lift You Up
See You At The Resurrection
Art
http://www.LiftUpJesusOnly.net
Dear Ryan Bell
Great article! It maid me thinkable and there came some thoughts to my mind which I want to express by the following lines.
What a time, in which we leave in! 2000 years ago the world was in a same great spiritual darkness because even God´s chosen people has forgotten God and his law. But they were longing for salvation from all evil by a certain King and Ruler that would deliver them from all enemies. But what happened when he came to bring them real peace and everlasting live? Is it possible that history will be repeated by the greatest men of the world of today because of the same reasons?
What are we going to expect from earthly kings and rulers of the present time, in which the whole world puts its trust? This world and their churches and religions need a special preparation and a special message for the next future as John the Baptist had for the Kings and Rulers and the religious leaders and their deluded people in His time. Is it time to remember what happened 2000 years ago and what of that could be repeated very soon?
“In the Jewish nation we behold a chosen nation divorced from God because of unbelief. Jesus, the lover of humanity, was called upon to pronounce sentence against the people for whom he had lived and labored, but from whom he had borne insult, mockery, and rejection. He had borne everything from them, he had done all that was possible that he might save them from ruin. He knew the history of sin. He had watched its unfoldings from the beginning. He had seen the heavenly angels bewitched by its evil power until they were led to sympathize and to join with Satan in his rebellion against God. He had passed through the terrible scenes when there was war in heaven, when Satan had been expelled from the abode of bliss, and before his vision were all the consequences of sin. O if he could but do one act of mercy by which they might be led to abandon their rebellion, and come to him that he might save; but he had exhausted the resources of infinite love. The last arrow had been drawn from his quiver; he could do no more. The salvation of the Jews would have been the joy of Christ, the rejoicing of the angels, but they would not. No man will be saved against his will. {1888 1059.4}
“Through the Son of God coming to our world, the infinite resources of heaven are open before us. He was the express image of God, the brightness of the Father's glory, and yet he was made flesh and dwelt among us, and lived out the laws of the kingdom of God in order that he might win to repentance and loyalty the transgressors of the law. To accomplish this, he descended from one depth of humiliation to another, in order that he might reach and rescue man. He died on the shameful cross, and when he could descend no lower, he was laid in Joseph's new tomb, crucified by those whom he came to save. Could heaven have done better than to give Christ? Could humanity have done worse than to insult, reject, and crucify the Majesty of heaven? (HM-PR- 12)
“When the world is at last brought up for trial before the great white throne, to account for its rejection of Jesus Christ, God's own messenger to our world, what a solemn scene it will be! What a reckoning will have to be made for nailing to the cross One who came to our world as a living epistle of the law. God will ask each one the question, What have you done with My only-begotten Son? What will those answer who have refused to accept the truth? They will be obliged to say, We hated Jesus, and cast Him out. We cried, Crucify Him, crucify Him. We chose Barabbas in His stead. If those to whom the light of Heaven is presented reject it, they reject Christ. They reject the only provision whereby they may be cleansed from pollution. They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. To them it will be said, "I never knew you: depart from me." God will assuredly avenge the death of His Son.” (RH Jan. 30, 1900).
“The Majesty of heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! strange infatuation!” (GC 23)
“God has a controversy with those who accept the fallacies of the great apostate, which are prepared to suit every class in the Christian world, and who discard the law of God, pronounced by Inspiration to be "holy, and just, and good." By the death of Christ the changeless character of this moral standard of righteousness is shown. Christ lived the law of God's government; he was an expression of God's character; and he died to save men from the penalty of the transgression of this law. Those who reject God's law crucify the Son of God afresh. They identify themselves with those who crucified him between two thieves on the cross of Calvary. (RH DT- 01-30-00)
“And now another scene passed before him. He had been shown the work of Satan in leading the Jews to reject Christ, while they professed to honour His Father's law. He now saw the Christian world under a similar deception in professing to accept Christ while they rejected God's law. He had heard from the priests and elders the frenzied cry, "Away with Him!" "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" and now he heard from professedly Christian teachers the cry, "Away with the law!" He saw the Sabbath trodden under foot, and a spurious institution established in its place.” BC- PP PR- 02-PG- 476
Is that the next great event that we would have to experience in trying to resolve all our economical, political and spiritual problems on this planet? Or do we have to do with a great deception in all theses statements and would we still have to wait for the real Elijah that will bring peace on earth and between men as it seems to be written in the last Prophecy in the Old Testament?
"Remember ye the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
So what are we expecting even here in Europe and all over the world from the New Man in the White House in near future?
May God bless Him as he would have to decide what your Nation and what our whole world should claim, whether the real and true Son of the Father or the wrong Son of the Father, which would be Barabas! So what will be our message to this world if we read the first chapter of Markus?
Is this the time?
Armin
BH,
Short answer: your friend's description doesn't fit. This is the beginning of wisdom! :)
Ryan - I agree! It does not fit. And I hope it is the beginning of wisdom!
Art, the only thing I would add at this point is that we need to read Mark for what Mark says without clouding that with John or Matthew. Mark has a unique purpose and literary intent. So do John and Matthew and Luke. What I am driving at in this post and the previous one is that we can be greatly helped by understanding what Mark was "doing" with his narrative.
Sometimes, as modernists, we are so concerned with what the "meaning" of the text is, as though there is one simple meaning that is obvious to all people through 2000 years of history. Instead, I would like to ask the question, "What might Mark have been "doing" with these narratives?" Once again, hard to be certain with 2,000 of history between us, but it's a different question. And the beauty of the question is the way in which it leads to the next question for local communities of the Way of Jesus - "what does Mark/Jesus/the Holy Spirit want to do with us as we listen to this text?"
I think that Mark tells us this story, in the way that he does, by compressing the narrative timeline and arranging the details, to set up the power encounter between Jesus and "evil," whatever that means (and we don't know what it means yet because we've only read chapter 1).
Enough for now....
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