New Thoughts (01/17/08-01/19/08)
So, as I have noted, I discovered a misunderstanding of mine in this study. Somewhere along the years I had established a connection in my mind between the story of the Gaderene demoniacs and the events from this passage. That misunderstanding colors some of my thoughts as I have left them under the various ‘relevance’ headings, but I don’t think that those conclusions need be disposed of simply because of this error. Given what I read in the various texts regarding this locale, it is certainly clear enough that Jesus had been here before, had taught here before. So, while I had in mind this sense of the impact of that demoniac who was left in Gadera to tell all who knew him what had been done for him, the impact we witness here is much the same. It is just that we can attribute it to the evidence of more than one man.
You see, there is something powerful in the report that the people there recognized Jesus. They recognized Him by His mark, but the signs that declared Who He was. Of this Jesus, they already had a thorough and accurate knowledge, and therefore, when He came ashore that had in mind the Truth of this Man. How is it I manage to stuff all this apparent significance into that simple word? Well, many years ago I had done a study comparing several different terms for knowing. There was eido, there was ginosko, and then there was epignosis. The term we have here is closely related to that last term: epignosis. Epignosis describes that sort of knowledge which, when once we have hold of it (or is it the other way around?) must have a life-changing impact on us. There are very few places in the New Testament that this term is used directly, and I recall that in that short list two prominent examples were first, the knowledge of our sinful condition and second, the reality of God’s gracious redemption through this very Christ Jesus.
This connects very well with R.C. Sproul’s latest Tape of the Month message. In looking at the opening chapters of Romans, R.C. reminds us of the necessity of doing as Paul did when we declare the Gospel. We must first get through to the sinful mind with the message of its true sinfulness. Only when the utter hopelessness of our situation is made clear to us does the Gospel of the Kingdom become good news in our ears. A man who does not notice that he is drowning is hardly likely to reach for the life preserver that is thrown his way. So, the sinner who has not experienced the epignosis understanding of his present fallen state, nor the epignosis of the Savior Who reaches out to him.
Think about Peter in the previous study. He had been able, for a moment, to walk on those same waves Jesus was walking on, but then he began to slip beneath those same waves. Well, suppose his feet had touched on something before he sunk too deep – perhaps a sandbar or some such. Would he still have been so anxiously calling out for help? I would guess not, because his feet would telegraph a certain sense of safety. Not complete safety, of course, but they would tell him that his situation was not life-threatening in any immediate sense. He could keep his head above the waters until the boat got to him. But, this was not the case for him. He found no sandbar, and he had no idea how far from shore they were. He only had an idea of how bad the waves were. So, he cried out in panic to the only available Hope of rescue.
That is absolutely the image of the sinner who has experienced epignosis. He has suddenly come to the realization that he is drowning in his own sins. He is far beyond the reach of anybody who would or could rescue him. And, not only are the waters of his sins deep, they are also wild and storm tossed. Such a man knows utter despair in that moment of knowledge. He would cry out, even if he saw nobody to cry out to. But there, standing atop the very waves of his sins, standing triumphant and victorious atop the very things that threaten to destroy him, stands a Man. There is one last ray of hope for him. And that last ray of hope reaches out His hand. Now dawns the brighter epignosis, the recognition that when all hope is lost, God reaches out and gives to us what we could not hope to gain for ourselves. There in the darkest realization of our deserved condemnation, Jesus speaks to us of His office as the Redeemer, His mission as the Atonement, His authorization as the Substitute. He reaches out to us with this gift of having our name cleared of all charges in the courts of the Creator God.
Some would say that it is ours to take if we would so choose, or to refuse if that be our inclination. Some would say that, but this Redeemer has not come to a man on a sandbar, a man full of his own capabilities and self-reliant ways. He has come to a man drowning and beyond rescue from any other quarter. To such a man, there is no choice. And honestly, even were that man to show some reluctance to grasp the hand that reaches out to him (a matter unthinkable in such circumstances) the Savior I know would insist. As the Charlie Peacock song relates, “You don’t ask a drowning man if he wants to be saved.” Why would you think your own Savior would await your answer before pulling you out? Did He play that kind of game with Peter? Yes, Peter cried out, ‘Save me!’ That is a rather natural response to seeing help at hand, however improbable that help. But, when the Savior reached out to Peter, I don’t hear Him asking, “are you sure? Are you willing to take My hand?” No, He reached out and took Peter’s hand and pulled him out.
Well, that’s a rather lengthy revisit of the prior passage, so let me come back to the present. Jesus had, by most accounts, taught in this region before. There is some suggestion that this is where the parable of the sower was spoken (Mt 13:1-9), along with all those other agricultural parables He used in the Sermon by the Sea. Well, this is certainly a fertile region by that sea, so I suppose it would make sense. This is also a region that sits, depending on the path traveled, between Nazareth and Capernaum, which would also argue for Jesus having been through the area before.
Well, whatever one might make of matters of divine healing, one thing cannot be denied without denying the Gospels outright: Where Jesus is, healing happens. That has held true throughout the whole of His ministry. From start to finish, we see this. I will maintain that it was not the point of His ministry, at least not the main point, but it was certainly the effect. It was, if you like, a trademark. It was the mark by which folks recognized Him. Interesting that this mark was not upon Him, but upon those He had already cared for, upon those who had been with Him.
This remains for me the major point to take away from the scene before us. Where Jesus has been made manifest, people will recognize Him on His return. Now, you can argue with me as to whether those who saw Him here recognized Him for Himself or because of those with Him. But, in our own day and age, that argument is made moot. The only evidence that people will have of Jesus having been here is the evidence of our own lives and examples. It is worthwhile, then, to ask of ourselves: What does my evidence say about Jesus?
You know, I’m not even talking about those occasions of where we are consciously and officially testifying. I’m talking about the day to day. I’m talking about the behavior people see in me as I go through whatever I may be going through – whether it’s the good times or the hard times. I’m talking about what, for instance, my coworkers see. Is there anything about the manifesting of Jesus in my workplace habits that would cause them to flock to Him?
Here’s something kind of weird: It seems He’s not even that offended if folks are flocking to Him for all the wrong reasons. As I say, healing wasn’t His main focus – the Kingdom was. Yet, if it was healing that people came for, He wasn’t going to berate them for that. He didn’t reject them, send them packing because they weren’t seeking after the things that really mattered. No! And, He didn’t even refuse those who would walk away with nothing more than the temporary balm of that physical healing. There was no sense that He felt His power expenditures were wasted on those ingrates. None of that.
Consider the picture before us: They came for healing. They were going nuts making sure that everybody who had an illness, everybody who knew somebody with an illness, heard that He was on the scene. They “ran about that whole country”. They were hauling their sick friends to wherever they heard He was. This isn’t like hopping in the car and running a few blocks into town. This is on foot, carrying the stretcher through some three to ten square miles of well-watered (read borderline boggy), cultivated land. One didn’t simply go traipsing through the crops. One must use whatever paths were laid out, with whatever detours that might mean. And, if you’ve ever walked through marshy, loose and watered soil, you know that it slows you down. Yes, they obviously kept to the trodden paths, but that would mean crowding and slowdown, too.
The point I’m laboring here is one of desperation meeting hope. I really don’t think folks would have been quite this frenetic over just another Jewish exorcist. I really don’t. Oh, they probably would have gathered to such an individual when he came to town, but rushing through the fields to reach him wherever else he happened to be? But, this One they recognized. As much as everybody knew somebody who was sick, I suspect everybody knew somebody who had been touched and healed by this Teacher before. It was more than words and rumors. They knew those people. They had seen the marks of His power on those people. So, when He came back, they not only recognized Him, they recognized the importance of His presence for them. They had missed their chance last time. They would not risk doing so again. They would force their way into His presence. They would lay their need before His eyes, for they have already heard of His mercy and compassion. If He sees them, of course He’ll help. If they can but touch Him, that help will have come to them.
Yet, there is a reverence even in their desperation. They have not come to the place that woman with the hemorrhage had come to. They have heard about her, it seems, but they have not her boldness of desperation. So, they cry out to Him for permission. They begged Him to allow this, says the NIV. The entreated Him, says the NASB. Zhodiates, in defining the word in question here, points out that this is something stronger than the usual begging of the alms seeker. It’s beyond the vague hopes of that beggar who pesters every passer by on the off chance that perhaps one or two will feel a bit of compassion, or guilt, or whatever other emotion might convince them to drop a coin. This is calling out for aid, as one in most dire straits. This is calling out like Peter called out from the waves – Save Me, Lord!
What I find even more compelling, though, is the word itself: parekaloun, or its root form parakaleo. Does that word look vaguely familiar? It should. It draws very near to parakletos, the one indicating the calling, and the other being the one who answers that call. When we cry out, as these did, begging for God to answer in our hour of need, the Paraklete, the Intercessor, the Consoler, is there in answer. We Charismatics have an instant association of ho Paraklete and the Holy Spirit. We need to remember ever and always, though, that when Jesus promised this great boon to His Church, He said He was sending another Paraklete. If the Holy Spirit is, in this office, another, then there is a prior holder of this office, and that prior holder can only be the very Jesus these people are crying out to. Now, we ought to understand that the arrival of another did not necessitate that the former stand down. No, the office need not be so exclusive. Rather, we who have come after are blessed to have two filling this office together! In heaven, seated beside the Father Who yet reigns over all things, is our Wonderful Counselor, our Chief Advocate, our Paraklete. Whatever accusations are brought against His elect, He is there to answer on their behalf, to plead their case, and to pay their fines. Meanwhile, as we continue here in this exile, we have the company of the other Paraklete, our Adviser, our Consoler. When we are troubled, He is there to remind us of eternal truths. When we are wandering, He is there to advise our path back to solid ground. These two labor in tandem, perfectly coordinated in their efforts as they are perfect in their being. There is none better to whom we might appeal in our desperation.
So, these we read about entreat the Counselor for redress. See our condition! See our suffering and come swiftly to our aid! There are two things we might notice here. The first is that He did not refuse. See this! However misguided their understanding, however clouded by what can only be called superstition, yet He honors the reverence in their turning to Him. OK, you wish to touch My robe? Go for it. I’m not going to stop you, nor am I going to be so offended by the foolishness of your thinking that I will refuse to hear the cry of your heart. I understand your desperation, how it has clouded reason and confused your thinking, and I am not offended by this. Let Me first deal with your condition and then we can see to your learning the True Way of the kingdom.
Alongside this, though, we need to see the second point: Jesus did not come here, so far as we are given to know, with the intention of playing doctor. I return to a point, and I hope I am not simply reading my own bias into the texts, but I never see healing as some fundamental point of what Jesus or His apostles were doing. Casting out demons: Yes. But, even this was more because the opportunity was laid before them. Looking at what Jesus is doing here, though, He simply came and they, having heard what transpires in the presence of this Lord, bring their sick out to Him. It is the same thing He had faced just before, in feeding the thousands. He had come to teach, but they were attracted by the possibility of physical health.
If I look forward to the early church, I see the same distinction. Peter and Paul do not show signs of setting up shop as the local healers. No, their eyes are on something far greater: the Kingdom of God! It is the health of the soul that has the attention of the Apostles, and this ought certainly to be our focus still today. Look at the brief example we have from the Acts of the Apostles. People brought their sick out and laid them in the streets hoping that maybe Peter’s shadow would fall on them and lead to their healing (Ac 5:15). Understand this: Peter wasn’t walking through the streets so that people would be healed. People were pursuing him because where Peter was, healing happened! Big difference, if you ask me. Peter’s focus was still where it should be: Behold the kingdom is here, and God has provided a path to citizenship for you! If healing happens, that’s secondary.
Something new has been dawning on me as I consider this current scene, though. If physical healing was such a distraction from the purpose of the ministry, why did Jesus put up with it? After all, when demons spoke the Truth about Him in hopes of being a distraction He silenced them and forbade them to speak further. So, why is this distraction allowed to continue? What I am seeing, though, is that it isn’t allowed to continue. That is, it seems, the reason that healing always seems to precede the message.
Now, somebody’s bound to raise the point that the promise was that signs and wonders would follow those whom God was appointing. Fair enough, but healing needed to precede. Why? Precisely because it was a distraction. So long as the sick remained sick and distressed, their desperation could only serve to cloud their concern and comprehension of the reality of the Kingdom of God. That needed to be cleared out of they way first, then the message could come forth and people might hear it. It was rather like plowing the fields in preparation for sowing. Yes, some seed would still fall on hardened ground and fail to take root, but had He not plowed first, the entire field would have been hardened ground and not just those few spots.
[1/19/08] The things I covered yesterday are not yet complete. These are matters too important, too wonderful, to simply be noted in passing. The first marvelous bit of news is that Jesus does not reject us for all our misunderstandings of the Kingdom. It is easy for me to become very worked up over people who come with what seem to me to be horribly misguided views of God and His Kingdom. Of course, this reflects something about me, doesn’t it? It reflects a rather foolish misconception of my own that tends to think I’ve locked down the real understanding. How foolish is that? How foolish is it for any mortal man to think he has figured out everything there is to figure out about God? I don’t want to slip over into the error of thinking God is unknowable, for He has gone out of His way to make Himself known and understandable to us. But, there always remains that which is simply not for us to know. That which is revealed is for our understanding and we certainly ought to be doing all that we can to understand it, to own it, and to live it. That which is not revealed, though, remains in God’s possession, His alone. Even Jesus recognized this boundary in His earthly walk.
Really, though, my focus this morning is not on the errors that we can’t seem to avoid however hard we try, it’s the response of our Advocate to these errors. He doesn’t berate us. He doesn’t reject us. He doesn’t even correct us as a first response. He simply accepts us with all our foibles! If that doesn’t amaze you, then it can only be that you haven’t realized all your foibles, yet. It can only be that your self-perception is still rather more elevated than it deserves to be.
View it from this angle: If I were God, and I had expended so much effort to make my ways clear, to tell my creation what I’m all about and what they’re all about; were I then to come down and see that they couldn’t be bothered to listen to my explanations, I’d be irate! Yet, God is so blessedly merciful that He just chalks it up to our sorry condition and moves on. That is not to say that He ignores our foolishness completely, nor that He allows it to continue unabated. He will not, though, allow it to hinder His real purpose for us.
This brings me back to the second thing I wanted to revisit: Jesus shows the heavenly model on this whole matter with His actions as we have them. The crowds are coming to Him for all the wrong reasons. They want the free food. They want the physical benefits of healing. They want the ‘bless me’ stuff. They’re not really all that keen on the holiness and righteousness part. In large part, they are blithely unaware of it. More fundamentally, they didn’t come to learn of heaven. They came to get something from heaven. They don’t want their citizenship. They just want to enjoy the privileges of citizenship. Jesus doesn’t get upset, though. He doesn’t even refuse them their earthly trinkets. He heals those that came for healing. He feeds those that came hungry. But, He doesn’t stop there. No, He sets them down, now that these things are out of the way, and addresses the matter of heavenly citizenship.
What I’m trying to show here is that Jesus, rather than trying to slap our foolishness out of us or declaring us unfit because of it, works with our foolishness and gets it out of the way, so that we can focus on the things that really matter. What a teacher! What a marvel! Can you imagine such a thing in the modern classroom? OK kids, you want to come in here and just play games. Well, then, here’s a game to play. When it’s done, though, it’s done. Then we can spend some time on serious matters. Look! He’s attracted them rather than building resentment in them. He’s like a salesman in this regard, or even a pusher, if the connotation weren’t so negative. Let us say, rather that He’s the best of diplomats. He gives a bit to your desire so that He can more fully captivate your attendance upon His own.
This is such a display of mercy! Lord, first and foremost, thank You for manifesting such mercy to me. Thank You for working past my own foolishness that I might be more attentive to Your lessons. Then, too, Lord, I must ask that You teach me that same mercy. You have put me in position as Your representative, a teacher on this more limited basis, but a teacher assigned to teach from Your own lesson plan. Holy One, if I am to teach from Your lesson plan, let it be by Your methods and with Your style.
Holy Spirit, I thank You, as well, for the understanding You have been giving me through this all. Let it sink in. Let it become a part of me. So often I have chosen to be offended by things that seem so out of order, so poorly prioritized. But, let me go from here with a reaction more in keeping with Your own: accepting those around me, and doing gently the things that are needful for their improvement, as You measure improvement. Oh, Lord, give me to have a heart like Yours.
I come now to the final point for this study. This pertains to that picture Mark paints of the situation there in Gennesaret. Wherever people heard of His coming to them, they were bringing their sick out to the marketplace, laying them on the roadside. My first thought, in all honesty, was “marketplace? In the countryside? What marketplace?” Then, the natural progression was to think that the point was simply that they were getting their sick out to the most traveled, most frequented place they could. There is some truth to that, and even something to be said on that aspect, but that’s not the whole of it. But, as there is something to it, let me stop and consider that for a moment.
They were getting their need out where it was most visible. That’s a somewhat more generic statement of what was happening, and it points up an issue for us, or at least for me. Now, when we are dealing with matters of physical sickness, we may be somewhat more willing to let it be known. There’s generally nothing shameful about being sick. There may be matters of symptoms that we don’t want to discuss all that much, but it’s not shameful. At least it oughtn’t be. We have, I think, made it so in the minds of many. It has to do with those misconceptions Jesus was dealing with, though. We have it in our heads that kingdom citizenship means never being sick in the least. We ought not to have so much as a sniffle. This thinking leads us into the foolishness of denying the patently obvious when we do get sick. No, no. Of course I’m not sick. I’m a believer! I am well, I tell you. You’re a liar, I tell you, and you know it. This habit is not only grounded in misconception, but it makes your words utterly untrustworthy and meaningless to everyone who hears. Somebody is going to have to point me to a lot of supporting Scriptures to convince me that God teaches us that we should play the game of ‘positive thinking’ and proclaim loudly that things are not as they are. I know most of the standard ones, and they are being twisted out of all recognition if this is what people think is intended!
OK, got off track there. My point is this: for the most part, we are unashamed of confessing the obvious truth of our being sick when such is the case. When it comes to spiritual conditions, though, we are far less willing to speak up. No, no, of course I’m praying enough. No, of course I’m not giving in to this sin or that. Why, that’s never been a problem for me. Yes, I know a lot of folks deal with that particular issue, but it’s just never been something I had to fight. That may be true. Maybe. But, more often than not, I suspect it’s a call for us to inspect ourselves for rich young ruler disease. You know, the one that causes us to think we’re actually living the righteous life to perfection when the reality is that we haven’t managed so much as a sinless hour?
But, we don’t want that out in the open, so we hide it away as best we can. We begin by trying to hide it from everybody else, at least those that we know they know we are Christians. But, it doesn’t stop there. The habit of sin never does. No. Pretty soon, we’re doing what we can to hide it from ourselves. It might be that we decide it’s not really a sin, just a bad habit. Then we can get all righteous about hiding it from everybody else because their understanding is weak and Paul tells us we should respect that. Worse yet, we may fall back on the excuse that yes, we understand it’s sin, but the flesh is weak, so what am I to do? And still the disease progresses, for then we move on to trying to hide it from God Himself, as if such a thing were possible! We have to really dumb ourselves down with delusion to play that game, but we’re apparently up to the task. Here’s the saddest part: all that hiding accomplishes nothing in terms of really addressing the guilt we know is ours. Whatever delusions and illusions we’re throwing up, we’re really not fooling anyone, not even ourselves. We still know, however much we’ve layered excuses on top of that knowledge, and the guilt we feel over what we know remains.
All the while, if we would just follow the example of these people and get that issue out where it’s so visible it can’t possibly be missed, it would take but the least passing by of our Savior to deal with it once and for all. These people were begging Jesus for a touch, and He did not refuse them. We, on the other hand are hoping and praying that He won’t look. Sadly, He does not refuse us, either. I pray, for my part, that the time will come swiftly that I invite Him to look, nay beg Him to look and to touch and to deal with these issues once and for all. It’s not that I haven’t asked before. It’s more that I’ve asked more out of some sense of politeness and propriety than out of a real, heartfelt desire.
I’m not sure how to state this succinctly, nor how it fits with everything I’m seeing in this passage, but there it is. I guess the simplest thing I can say is He’s still got a lot of misconceptions He needs to deal with in me before He can get to the things He really wants to be teaching and doing. He is merciful to teach me in my teachable moments in spite of this junk I carry. He is merciful to continue to work through me in all my imperfection. But, He is not giving me an excuse by doing so. He is only being patient. Some day, I will wake up and realize that His patience, like my own, can wear thin.
God, may it be soon! My realization, not Your patience thinned.
OK, back to this matter of the marketplace, the agora. For us, I think the concept of the marketplace is all about commerce. Whether its produce or manufactured goods or even ideas that we’re talking about, the marketplace is for us a place of buying and selling. We don’t really think of it in any other way. But, for the society in which Jesus walked, there was far more to it. This was also the place where trials were held. It was the courthouse, if you will. This was also the place where the citizen could come for redress. Perhaps we could add City Hall to the picture. It is those additional, less Western aspects that really grabbed my attention.
This is the place for citizens to come for redress. What a fitting place, then, to seek our Advocate! It’s an odd way to think about physical sicknesses, but that is in some sense how it was seen and how it should be seen. So, they came to their Counselor. “Look! Look at what I have had to accept as I sojourn in this land. As my representative and as my Country’s representative, I’m calling on You to do something about it!” No, there’s nothing so close to demand in their address of Jesus, nor should there be in ours. He is our Counselor, yes, even our friend and brother. But, He is the King’s official, even as He serves us, and that office He fills demands and deserves respect. He stands as the Chief Ambassador of heaven, never mind that He is the rightful King of all the earth!
You know, I recall a time when the Governor came to speak at some company function I was in attendance at. Our CEO said something which I think much of America has rather forgotten, but it remains a truth. His words were to this effect: You may not like what the Governor stands for or what he has done, but you will show respect for his office. You will stand up when he is introduced because the office he holds deserves it. As a country, we have largely lost that. We have become so wrapped up in personality politics that we have all but forgotten what the office itself means, or ought to mean.
That same lack of respect has crept into our treatment of the King of all kings. We really don’t give Him the honor His office deserves. We treat Him rather contemptuously even as we worship Him. How often do we get all in His face with our demands as though He were our servant? How often does our cry for help turn into the childish plaint that He must do what we ask. You have to, God! You promised. Yes, and just like that child we mimic, so many of the promises we insist on were never promised at all. We just heard what we wanted to hear and then demanded that He act the way we heard it. As a parent, I go through this all the time. As a child, I do, too, to my chagrin.
But, let me end on something a bit more positive. Our King, our Advocate, our Legal Counsel still comes to the marketplace of our lives daily. He comes prepared to hear our grievances, to give us redress for our woes. He comes bearing Justice in Mercy, because that is, after all, Who He Is. He comes for those who will come to Him publicly, displaying their sorry condition in all its ugliness. And, He comes so that He can just as publicly transform those sorrows into joyful blessings. If we opt to stay at home when He comes, well, whose fault is that? He’s available. He’s approachable, and He’s so thoroughly condescending in the best possible sense, when it comes to our silly misconceptions. What possible reason do we have not to come and receive from Him?
