You Were There (10/05/10)
What is it that has the disciples so fearful? Following Mark’s narrative, I see that Jesus has been speaking to the sacrifice necessary to those who would truly seek the kingdom. It is that time in which Peter notes that they have left everything to follow Him. If I am correct in associating the two passages, then we are also in this place wherein Jesus has made clear that He is going to be gone for a time, and leaving them to carry on, and this, too, is a sacrifice of sorts, isn’t it?
I can easily imaging the concerns that would be running through their heads as they consider the things He has been saying. You know, the miracles were cool and all, but Jesus has been getting a little dark of late, don’t you think? I mean, all He talks about anymore is sacrifice, death, loneliness. Now, He’s telling us (if I’m hearing Him right) that He’s going away, that He will be king, but not for awhile yet, and besides, most of those He will rule over hate the very idea of Jesus as king.
How can He continue to head for Jerusalem knowing all that? What sort of madman rushes headlong to meet his death? I mean, you know and I know that the leaders in Jerusalem want His hide, and He knows it as well. And, let’s face it: They’re going to succeed eventually. Even Jesus is admitting as much. So, I ask again: why are we going there? He’s cast out so many demons, is He in need of having them cast out now? It’s unbelievable! There’s got to be something off with Him. We’d best be praying for a return of His sanity, I suppose.
Yet, where else would we go? Who else is going to tell us the Truth? Who else has ever spoken the things He speaks? You know, we’ve seen some pretty astounding stuff these last few years, and through it all, Jesus has never once failed us, has He? No, come to think, there’ve been so many who thought to take His life and never have they succeeded. So, though it makes no sense to me, I will trust that He knows what He is doing, and I will continue to follow, continue to stay close to this marvelous Messiah.
New Thoughts (10/06/10-10/07/10)
As so often happens, a particularly lengthy passage is being followed by the briefest of passages. I have before me what is essentially a single verse, two sentences, set as a transitional conclusion in the text. Yet, there is meat to be had in this. Before I get to the meat, though, I am inclined to trim off a bit of fat.
I notice that a great number of translations seemingly go out of their way to identify two different groups in what Mark is saying. There are those who were amazed, they indicate, and there was this other group who were fearful. This seems to be an attempt to protect the reputation of the disciples, particularly the twelve who would be called apostles. But, why? The apostles themselves do little to airbrush their humanity. There are numerous occasions to see that their understanding was limited and their steadfastness not always so steadfast.
So, let me consider the text in its basic form. First, there is no particular indication of who exactly is being indicated by they or them, at least not in this sentence. Neither is there really anything intervening between notice of amazement and notice of fear that would require a shift in our interpretation of who was feeling these things. It is they. Whoever they are in the first case (i.e. whoever it was that Jesus went out before) it is still they who are in view in the second case. Well, the last group I can see referenced in the text are the disciples (Mk 10:24). Peter is mentioned by name, true, but he hardly qualifies as a they all by himself. It seems much more reasonable to suppose that they who are amazed are also fearful.
Even in the NASB, there is this vague implication of two groups, unless we take it as a parallelism. Jesus was walking ahead of them, and they were amazed – group one. Then, there were those who followed, and they were fearful – group two. This may actually be one of those rare moments when I find the KJV to be superior. “And as they followed, they were afraid.” One group, one collection of disciples, moving from the amazement that springs from hearing such surprising lessons to fear, because they see that in spite of all He is saying, He’s intent on meeting this future head on.
Of course they’re afraid! Listen, I know there have been those throughout Church history who have faced the imminence of death with steely resolve, even rejoicing if the accounts are to be believed. I know this. Yet, I would maintain that it is noteworthy precisely because it is so unusual. It is not necessary to suppose this is the common lot of all who are in Christ, that they can look death in the face and smile at the prospect. I mean, yes, there is the inestimable comfort of knowing what joy awaits on the other side, yet there is still something in us that prefers life to the grave, prefers the known to the not really known. Death, if nothing else, presents us with the moment of proof as concerns our beliefs. In that moment of death, we shall learn whether all our hopes have been made certainties or whether we have devoted much of our life to futile efforts that in the end left us no different than our neighbors in the cemetery. No matter how clear we are that this hope of ours is already a certainty, no matter how confident we are in that salvation which Christ has bought for us, the majority of us will still choose to cling to this life so long as we may rather than step through that final curtain into eternity. Something in our sinful natures must surely leave us just the least little doubt that we are ready to face our Creator.
Yes, they’re afraid. Recall that they do not have the benefit of history with which to analyze the events unfolding about them. They have such understanding of Messiah as they have, and they are fairly certain this Man is the One. But, their expectations, as we see over and over again, are not entirely accurate. They’re expecting the victorious conquering hero just as much as the Pharisees are. They have, as Peter pointed out, tossed away good livelihoods, most of them, to hitch their fate to this Messiah and now, He’s talking about dying. He’s talking about being rejected. In Israel! What Jew could be so perverse as to reject the Messiah their own God has proclaimed? Of course, we know the answer.
Then, there is this matter of Him departing for some distant kingdom to be crowned. What’s that all about? You know, these guys may not have had the greatest of understanding, but I don’t think they’ve missed the implications here. They grasp that much. Jesus is that king who went to a distant land. He is the king whose people didn’t want Him. I mean, they’ve already seen that to some extent, haven’t they? They know Jesus has enemies. That’s why they’re stunned by His determination to go into the very heart of enemy territory at a time when they must surely be looking for Him. They know He is walking into a death trap, and they fear that their being in company with Him may well mean that they are also marching to their own deaths. Fear? You bet. And yet, the strength to walk on in spite of fear.
Before I take to that point, though, I want to turn my eyes on Jesus. Notice this: Jesus doesn’t revile them for their fearfulness. He’s been with these guys for some three years now. I know I’d be getting a little tired of their limited comprehension. I’d be less than patient with the cringing and debating and failure to lay hold of who He is. But, not Jesus. Because He is who He is, not me. He does not even complain in the least of their fears. Rather, He takes them aside to explain once more that He knows full well what’s up and, more importantly, that God does, too. It’s OK. It’s in the plan. Yes, death awaits Me, but so, too, does Life. He shall rise again (Mk 10:34)!
We will see, as these final days unfold through the Gospels, that Jesus spends a great deal of time addressing this. He is preparing them to face what must come. He is planting in them the seeds of understanding. Look, He knows full well that they will run nonetheless. He understands that. But, much like He is planning for the Life that will follow upon His death, He is planning for the rock-solid faith that will follow upon their weakness.
This is a marvelous truth for us to lay hold of. God explains Himself. This takes me back to that study of grace that I did many years ago. There is the Hebrew term for grace which, roughly translated, bears that suggestion of the superior bending down to meet the inferior. I have that sense of one so great as our God coming down to our level, as it were. No, not so as to sludge about in the mire of sins as we do, but to make Himself understandable to us. His ways are and ever shall be far and away above and beyond our own. Yet, He has been so gracious as to leave us with the means of coming to know Him. We have the creation around us which reveals, if we will but observe, much about the nature of our God. We have, more wonderful still, the texts that He has caused to be recorded over the millennia, the continuing and expanding revelation of Himself to mankind.
We have this marvelous record of what He has always been and what He is. We have this incredible good news that He has no more reviled and rejected us than He did these disciples. No! He has seen our weakness and are fallibility and, rather than destroy us out of hand as faulty workmanship, He has actually in many ways taken the blame upon Himself and set about fixing the defects in us. That is going to bother some who read this, I suppose. I am not, however, suggesting that God is to blame for our sins. By no means! But, He has taken that blame upon Himself anyway. He has made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us. He has laid the full penalty of our sins upon His own Son, which is to say, upon Himself.
That is grace. In that much, He really did lower Himself to our level. He really did in that sense come down into this mire of ours, but not to stay. He came to pull us out. He came to clean us up. He came to refashion us – who, though made in His image have willfully blurred and distorted that image – such that we might once more really be in His image.
Nor does He leave us in suspense. He has explained what lies ahead of us, even as He explained so carefully to His disciples. There are hard things coming, but we won’t be taken unawares by them because He has already pointed them out, and He has already admonished us to stand fast in His strength, on His Rock. He has shown us what lies beyond the hard things, revealed the glory that awaits. Yes, there will be the need to persevere. There will be plenty of reasons for fear to come in. But, fear not! He has overcome. Already! It is finished. Already! Stand fast and see the salvation of the Lord!
I confess I find it a daunting supposition to consider that I am to be like Jesus. Here is One Who, though wholly a man as He walked upon the earth, remained simultaneously wholly God. Yes, He had set aside much of His godly prerogative, but this could not change His essence. He Is the Son of God even as He is the Son of Man. Such a standard, while clearly my rightful goal, is ever beyond me to attain to. To face what He faced in the steadfastness with which He faced it is not likely to be my lot except He Himself provide the backbone.
But, in these disciples there is also a strength, and this is a strength I can relate to. I have mentioned it already. The time is come to look at it a bit more fully. These guys are fearful, and with good reason! They can see what’s coming, and even though Jesus has explained that it’s in the plan, that only goes so far. This is the amazing thing, though. They are afraid, and yet, they follow! They do not turn away from Him. They do not, in this dark time, decide that maybe they should just go back to what they were doing. Oh, that reaction will also come, but not now. Not with Jesus there in front of them leading the way. For the present, His willingness to face that future that lies ahead gives them the courage to do so.
This strength of the disciple is something I can more readily consider as a goal. There are those times in our lives when we maybe sense where God is leading us, but we don’t so much sense His active participation in the journey. He is out in front of us somewhere. The little we may understand of that path down which He leads us may be enough to inform us, as these men were informed, that hard times lie ahead. The path is not going to be easy. The only assurance we have is that the path will be right. Indeed, we are pretty well assured that there will be not only trials, but tribulations ahead, persecutions of the worst sort. Yet, we are called to persevere, to follow however dimly we are able to make out His leading.
This is the strength I would seek to take away from these two very short verses. I will trust that He knows what He is doing, for how could it be otherwise? Though my eyes may see what seems to suggest He does not have it under control at all, yet I know Him and knowing Him, I can affirm that He is indeed in control; unshakably in control. Therefore, trusting Him, I can and will continue to follow where He leads or, if necessary where He points and sends, for I know He is ever with me. I need not fear that the pillar of His presence shall depart from me, for I have His own promise on this: Lo! I will never leave you or forsake you. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I know Thou art with me.
Yes, Lord, and I shall endeavor to remain close to You, aware of Your constant presence and seeking to know that much the better what it is You have for me to do in this life, in this moment. I will trust You, Lord, for I know that You are trustworthy. I will follow, even when fear should seek to dissuade me, because I have You in me to strengthen and to lead. You have conquered fear and death, and You, my God, my King, my Savior, my Love, are with me always. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Glory be Yours, and may Your glorious Truth be manifest in how I live my life in You. Amen and amen.
