MARK 1:40-45
LAST WEEK ONE OF YOU
ASKED ME WHY JESUS WAS ALWAYS TELLING PEOPLE NOT TO SAY ANYTHING
ABOUT THE MIRACLES HE WAS PERFORMING. AND TODAY YOU HEARD IT AGAIN,
WHEN HE COMMANDS THE LEPER NOT TO TELL ANYONE HOW HIS CURE HAPPENED.
EVEN THOUGH JESUS TELLS PEOPLE NOT TO SAY ANYTHING, THEY OFTEN DO:
THE LEPER SPREAD THE NEWS FAR AND WIDE. AND THIS IS THE YEAR THAT WE
HEAR JESUS MAKING THIS STRANGE REQUEST, BECAUSE IN THE OTHER GOSPELS
WE DON'T HEAR JESUS DOING THIS.
BIBLE SCHOLARS HAVE A
TERM FOR THIS, CALLED THE “MESSIANIC SECRET”. AND THERE HAS BEEN
A LOT OF SPECULATION AS TO WHY IT APPEARS IN MARK'S GOSPEL. SOME
HAVE SAID THAT JESUS DID NOT WANT PEOPLE TO THINK HE WAS THE MESSIAH
ALONG THE LINES THAT THEY EXPECTED, BECAUSE THAT WOULD GET THE ROMANS
RILED UP AND PUT AN END TO HIS MINISTRY. OTHERS SAY THAT JESUS DID
WANT PEOPLE TO TELL OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT HIM, AND THE BEST WAY TO DO IT
WOULD BE TO FORBID IT. BUT IN MARK WE FIND THAT SHORTLY AFTER HE
STARTS HIS MINISTRY, HE NO LONGER CAN GO INTO THE CITIES BECAUSE HE
HAS BECOME SO FAMOUS, AND THERE ARE SO MANY DEMANDING TO BE HEALED,
THAT HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO WHAT HE CAME FOR, WHICH WAS PRIMARILY
PROCLAIMING THE KINGDOM OF GOD. SO IF JESUS WAS TRYING TO KEEP
PEOPLE FROM NOTICING HIM IT DIDN'T WORK VERY WELL.
GENERALLY WHEN YOU HAVE A
QUESTION ABOUT SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE, IT HELPS TO KNOW SOMETHING
ABOUT THE AUDIENCE FOR A PARTICULAR WRITING. EVERYTHING IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT (AND THE OLD) WAS WRITTEN FOR SOME PURPOSE, AND WRITTEN FOR
SOME SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. PEOPLE THINK MATTHEW, FOR EXAMPLE, WAS
WRITTEN TO SHORE UP THE FAITH OF NEW JEWISH CONVERTS, BY SHOWING THAT
JESUS FULFILLED THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. LUKE WAS
WRITTEN FOR CERTAIN GENTILE CONVERTS WHO DID NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT
JEWISH TRADITIONS. THE WHOLE STORY OF THE ANGELS AND THE SHEPHERDS
AT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, AND THE STORY OF THE ANNUNCIATION, WOULD
REMIND GENTILE READERS OF THE LEGENDS THAT SURROUNDED THE BIRTH OF AN
EMPEROR, OR POSSIBLY ONE OF THOSE LESSER GODS AMONG THEIR HUGE NUMBER
OF GODS. MOST PEOPLE THINK MARK IS BEING WRITTEN WITH THE CHRISTIAN
COMMUNITY IN ROME IN MIND THE GOSPEL WAS WRITTEN SHORTLY AFTER THE
REIGN OF NERO, WHO HAD LAUNCHED ONE OF THE MOST SEVERE PERSECUTIONS
UP TO THAT POINT. THE REMAINING CHRISTIANS IN AND AROUND ROME MUST
HAVE BEEN WONDERING WHAT KIND OF TERRIBLE CHOICE THEY HAD MADE WHEN
THEY BECAME CHRISTIAN.
ALL THROUGH THE FIRST
PART OF MARK, JESUS TELLS PEOPLE TO SAY NOTHING ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE
WITNESSED. AND AT THE CENTRAL POINT IN THE STORY, WHEN JESUS ASKS
HIS APOSTLES, “WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?” PETER BLURTS OUT, “YOU
ARE THE MESSIAH OF GOD”. AND HERE AGAIN, JESUS TELLS THEM TO SAY
NOTHING. BUT HE NOW GIVES A REASON: “THE SON OF MAN MUST SUFFER
MANY THINGS AND BE REJECTED BY THE ELDERS AND BE KILLED AND AFTER
THREE DAYS RISE AGAIN.” THE KIND OF MESSIAH JESUS WAS WAS NOTHING
LIKE ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THE MINDS OF THE APOSTLES, OR FOR THAT
MATTER, AMONG THE JEWS IN GENERAL. THEY ALL EXPECTED A GREAT KING,
OR A HIGH PRIEST, OR A PROPHET LIKE THE ONES OF ANCIENT TIMES – OR
PERHAPS ALL THREE ROLLED INTO ONE. BUT THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE OF THE
CHRISTIAN IN ROME WAS THAT THE MESSIAH WAS VERY MUCH LIKE THEY WERE;
A PERSON WHO WAS MISUNDERSTOOD, PERSECUTED, PUT TO DEATH – BUT ROSE
FROM THE DEAD AND PROMISED THAT HIS FOLLOWERS WOULD RISE WITH HIM.
AND THAT WAS A WONDERFULLY CONSOLING MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO HEARD
MARK'S GOSPEL. IT WAS REVOLUTIONARY, INSISTING THAT CONTRARY TO ANY
RATIONAL EXPECTATION, SUFFERING COULD BE TRANSFORMED; DEATH COULD BE
MADE INTO LIFE.
IN TODAY'S GOSPEL JESUS
HEALS A LEPER. THE LEPER ALMOST DARES JESUS TO HEAL HIM, AND JESUS
TAKES UP THAT DARE. BUT UNEXPECTEDLY HE DOES SOMETHING SHOCKING. HE
TOUCHES THE LEPER. IT IS AS THOUGH A CONNECTION HAD TO BE MADE FOR
THE HEALING TO TAKE PLACE; A BRIDGE SO THAT THE LEPROSY WOULD LEAVE
THE MAN – AND SOMEHOW BE TAKEN UP BY JESUS. IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK,
MOST OF THE MIRACLES JESUS PERFORMS DO INVOLVE TOUCH OR SOME SORT OF
CONTACT, REINFORCING THIS IDEA THAT HE TAKES ON OUR BURDENS. AND IN
TELLING THESE STORIES ABOUT JESUS, AND IN THE IDEA OF THE MESSIANIC
SECRET, MARK IS TELLING US AND HIS OWN AUDIENCE SOMETHING ABOUT GOD,
SOMETHING ALSO TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, OUTSIDE EVERYTHING THEY HAD EVER
THOUGHT ABOUT GOD.
THE WAY GOD IS, MARK IS
SAYING, IS NOT AS A GREAT KING, NOT AS SOMEONE WHO SITS IN HIS HEAVEN
GRANTING FAVORS AND DEALING OUT PUNISHMENT. FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS
OF HUMANKIND, THAT WAS THE WAY THE GODS WERE SEEN. THEY WERE TYRANTS
WHO HAD TO BE PLACATED BY SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS; THEY HAD NO
MORALITY, AND WHY THEY DID THINGS WAS NEVER PREDICTABLE. BUT THE GOD
OF CHRISTIANS, EMBODIED IN THE MESSIAH JESUS, IS A GOD WHO SUFFERS
WITH US, WHO TAKES ON OUR BURDENS; WHO UNDERGOES DEATH, WHO LITERALLY
GIVES EVERYTHING HE POSSIBLY CAN FOR THE SAKE OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
AND SOMEHOW, THIS IS TRANSFORMED INTO LIFE ETERNAL. TO THE ROMAN
CHRISTIAN IN MARK'S TIME, HIDING FROM THE AUTHORITIES, SEEING HIS
FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS THROWN TO THE LIONS, OR BEING LIT ON FIRE
TO LIGHT THE STREETS OF ROME, THIS WAS THE ONLY POSSIBLE REASON FOR
REMAINING A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
YOU AND I STILL HAVE THAT
PAGAN TENDENCY TO THINK OF GOD AS THE ONE WHO FIXES THINGS, THE ONE
WHO RULES OVER US, THE ONE WHO GETS SOME SORT OF PLEASURE FROM OUR
PRAYERS AND SACRIFICES. OLD HABITS DIE HARD, AND IT TOOK A LONG TIME
FOR GOD, WORKING FIRST THROUGH THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEN THROUGH
JESUS AND NOW THROUGH HIS CHURCH, TO CONVINCE US OTHERWISE. BUT
DEEP IN EVERYONE'S HEART IS THAT QUESTION, “WHY DO BAD THINGS
HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?” WHY DO WONDERFUL PEOPLE SUFFER SO MUCH?
WHY DO I HAVE TO SUFFER, WHEN GOD COULD FIX THINGS WITH A WAVE OF HIS
HAND? AND PERHAPS THERE IS NO PERFECT ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS.
BUT THE MESSIANIC SECRET, THE FACT THAT THE MESSIAH OF GOD MUST
SUFFER MANY THINGS, AND BE PUT TO DEATH, IS AN ANSWER WE CAN LIVE
WITH.
AND WE ARE LEFT WITH THE
SAME CONSOLATION THAT THOSE ROMAN CHRISTIANS SO LONG AGO HAD –
THERE WILL BE RESURRECTION, THERE WILL BE TRIUMPH, EVEN OVER DEATH
BECAUSE OF THIS MESSIAH.
