Tag: Gospel of Mark

When You Being You Makes Things Worse…

They say that most people’s weaknesses are their strengths used to excess. Someone who is loyal can also be stubborn, someone who is patient is a procrastinator, someone who is kind is taken advantage of. Sometimes our weaknesses are not the problems, but rather our strengths.

There are times when you are being you, and you being you is the best thing for the people around you and the situations you are in. And then all of a sudden, you being you makes things worse! One minute they love your new ideas, the next they get annoyed because you’re always changing stuff. One day they love that you are chatty and friendly, the next they are frustrated that there’s no peace and quiet in the office. One week they like it because you are productive and get stuff done, the next week they’re exhausted and grimace when you rally them to get more stuff done.

Jesus was sometimes his own worst enemy. In the gospel of Mark  we read a story where Jesus has done too much good, and now things are falling apart. The emerging plot to kill Jesus (because of his provocative healings) by the Pharisees and King Herod’s men caused Jesus to flee the village and head to the lake to cool off. But, the crowds found him there, overwhelmed him, driving Jesus into a boat to avoid getting crushed. So many people had been healed, and so many more still needed it.

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Imagine the chaos, the cries for help, the pleading and begging. And, on top of that, there were plenty of people with impure spirits falling down on the ground screaming out to Jesus in deranged voices, “You are the Son of God!” And Jesus is commanding them to shut up. Jesus being Jesus is seeming to make things worse.

Jesus can relate to your moments of self-frustration – when you being you seems to work for people one minute, and then the next you’re still being the same you but making things worse. Like Jesus, we are probably right that we need to pull away for a bit, figure out what’s going on, and what we’re doing to make things worse. But Jesus pulled away in order to get back into the fray. He withdrew in weakness to return strengthened.

Have you been in a place where you being you is making things worse? Sometimes personal success is our worst enemy. Sometimes lack of self-awareness harms us. Sometimes denial of our past hurts undermines the use of our strengths. Sometimes refusing to forgive turns our strengths into weaknesses. Sometimes lack of boundaries makes things worse.

We think of Jesus always being perfect, but he was fully human. Christmas reminds us of the radical way God wants to be present to people – he becomes like one of us so that we may become like him. What’s it mean to be like God? To love. Which is why Jesus always teaches us to forgive, because love covers over a multitude of wrongs. When you being you makes things worse, repent and forgive. When things get crazy, get away in order to come back stronger in love.

place-of-rest-2What do you need to do to withdraw, like Jesus? Be home alone? Get outdoors for a brisk walk? Go out to eat with a trusted friend? Journal? Sing? Cry? Play? Sleep? Pray? Count your blessings? Go to church? Volunteer in your community? Get counseling? Read a good book?

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Take a break so that you can take stock of what you’re doing to make it worse and recalibrate your strengths so that you can be the loving, healing, stronger person God is helping you become.

The Courage To Do Good Anyway

Now more than ever we need to find the courage to do more good in our country. Sometimes we get weary of doing good. It can become easier to stay seated as things deteriorate. It’s easy to turn away and give up. It’s tough to keep standing up to do good. Especially when it’ll cost you. But with the way things are these days, together we need to keep finding the courage to do good anyway.

We see in the gospel according to Mark that Jesus didn’t shy away from doing good, even when it cost him. In one case, when Jesus restored the shriveled hand of a man in a synagogue on the Sabbath, the religious leaders started plotting how to kill Jesus.

withered-handThere was immense social pressure on Jesus to not heal this man on the Sabbath in the synagogue. Jesus challenged them anyway: “‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent.” It made Jesus “angry and deeply distressed” to watch people stubbornly sit on the sidelines and not care enough.

We have to decide ahead of time: am I going to do good and save more lives no matter if those around me do nothing?

Think about what this means for your life at home, with family and friends, with neighbors and coworkers, fellow citizens and strangers. To listen, to share, to respond to lies with truth, to be vulnerable, to resist evil, to forgive, to give compassion,  to walk with – this is more than just being polite and nice, this is doing good that saves, heals, and rescues.

We can’t have courage out in the world if we won’t show it at home.

The more material comforts we accumulate, the more power and social prestige we attain, the more advancements and accolades we desire, the greater the temptation we will avoid doing good that requires courage. We’ll do the good that fits within our schedule or career track, but we’ll stay seated and silent when it comes to doing good that could get us misunderstood, mocked, or plotted against.

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What if Jesus is stirring in you a desire to stand up and do more good that saves more lives in our community?

Jesus knew that his healing of the man with the shriveled hand would get him in trouble with the religious and political leaders. The man with the shriveled hand got healed, but he also may have gotten a new set of hardships. But: what’s the point of doing good? To stay out of trouble? Or: to save life and bring healing, in the way of Jesus, to those who are struggling?

Jesus knew his mission: to embody the good news of God through his wise words and healing actions. This mission changed the lives of individual men and women, but also challenged the sinful structures of society – religious, economic, political, and militarily (they’re always intertwined). So it is for Jesus followers still today.

This poem was found in the walls of Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta, where she daily demonstrated courage to care for the least of these in her country while challenging the system. May it inspire you to join Jesus in the restoration of the shriveled hands and stubborn hearts of our country.

mother_teresa_photos-6“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.”

 

May Christ grant you the courage to do what is good, everyday.

Blessed Are The Religious Rule Breakers!

Religion gets a bad rap these days. Religion has a long track record of legalism, hypocrisy, and violence. Religion gets used to justify oppression of women, marginalization of minority populations, and prejudice towards outsiders. With all this going against religion, it’s no wonder that more and more people in the United States are identifying themselves as n0n-religious.

But I find it interesting that for all that is reviling about religion, more and more people around the world are becoming more religious, not less. It seems to me, upon closer inspection, that what we hate most about religion is really about humanity: people can be jerks. One could make a strong argument that all people are religious – so the problem is not religion, but how humanity embodies that religion.

Weat Field below Mount Tabor (from area of Endor)For example, in the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of Jesus “going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.” So what, you ask? The problem here is that they did this on the Sabbath! Gasp! I know, terrible right? The Pharisees see this transgression and grill Jesus: “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

It’s this kind of picky, mean-spirited, legalistic condemnation that we all despise about people. Maybe the Pharisees meant well: the Sabbath is a beautiful idea! It ensures that people get at least one day of rest each week, a way to protect them from unjust labor practices by employers, and a way to provide space for communities to relax together. But the Pharisees turn this religious day into a rule-keeping day, which sucks the life and purpose out of it.

Jesus the religious rule-breaker resists their attempts to ruin his day and condemn his disciples. He uses a story from the Old Testament about a time when King David violated the Sabbath when he was “hungry and in need.” Jesus then goes on to remind the religious rule-keepers what has always been true about the Sabbath and religion: “The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.” He then declares: “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Sabbath is about rest that connects us to God and each other, not about keeping a list of do’s and don’t’s.

Think about this: rules at their best protect the weakest among us, give direction to us, and seek to intertwine freedom and responsibility for all. But like most human rules, when religious rules become more important than flourishing, when religious rule-keeping becomes more important than justice and mercy, then it’s time to be a religious rule-breaker.

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What is it about religion that really causes a negative reaction in you?  For me, growing up as a kid, I was really bothered by hypocrisy in the adults. (Confession, now that I’m adult, I see how easy it is to be a hypocrite…). As a college student I reacted against religious people that talked a lot about right beliefs and right moral actions, but did little to relieve the suffering of the poor and abused in our communities. As an adult, I am disturbed by the religious justification of violence towards those who are feared or despised.

For all that I resist about religion, I’m still admittedly religious. Though I’ve been wounded by religious people and their rule-keeping, I’ve not given up on religion. Instead, I see what’s best in people and seek to draw that out for their flourishing and ours. And since I believe all people are religious in some way, I’m committed to being a religious-rule breaker, if that’s what it takes, to break open new realities for religion to work for our good again.

So let’s not give up on Sabbath keeping (go ahead, enjoy those weekends of rest, take the vacations, get a full night of sleep – it’s God’s will for you)! Let’s not give up on helping the hungry and needy (most non-profits that do this are religious based).

Lets reconsider the ways our church-going, praying, Bible reading, charity, serving our neighbors, work of reconciliation, being patiently present can reflect the religious rule breaking of Jesus – for the flourishing of all!

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