One Man's Web

Mark shapes this second reflection on Jesus attitude to sin, judgement, and healing, as the calling of a disciple. (See The Shape of Things to Come, above) Again, he is walking alongside the sea, (Mark 1:16-30) and again he calls a disciple. But there are differences between the two calls: Firstly, the fishermen of Chapter 1 worked in reputable occupations whereas the tax collector, according to some⁴ , made any house he entered unclean.  Tax collectors were regarded in rabbinic texts as the people least likely to repent.⁵ Mark means us to see the contrast between Levi and the disciples who were called in Chapter 1, but emphasises that the story of Levi is a call narrative with the closing words, "I come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)

This new disciple is ordinary, like you and me. But, as was noticed very early in the Christian tradition, he is not numbered among the twelve apostles in Mark 3:13-19!... Read on >>>>

This draft text covers the section of Mark from the end of Chapter 1 to Mark 2:12, including comments on crowds, and the use of the term "the Son of Man."

The honeymoon period is at an end. Until now, the religious authorities have been invisible, with only a swipe at their lack of authority (Mark 1:22,27), and an almost incidental mention as Jesus sends the man to the priest in this pericope. (Mark 1:44). But now in Chapter 2, the charge of blasphemy arises, and almost without exception, the authorities will be hostile towards him for the remainder of the gospel. (cf Mark12:28-34 for that possible exception.)

The word is now out about Jesus; he can no longer go into a town openly. (Mark 1:28, 45) People have been astounded at his actions, they have gathered at the door of houses, and even out in the wilderness places people came to him from everywhere. The crowd (as yet unannounced) has become visible in the narrative.

Across the Gospel of Mark the crowd shows the nature of humanity.  Within our culture of empire the crowd is the ultimate source of authority; Pilate (cf Mark 15:15) and the Temple authorities who nominally hold the power of life and death, all bow to the crowd, even though they are often able to manipulate the crowd because they and the crowd have the same desires. They fear the crowd. (eg: Mark 12:12) Fame is bestowed by the crowd, which can as quickly focus on another, or destroy its favourite as a scapegoat. "Behind every crowd stands the original lynch mob ready to hound the scapegoat to death." Read on >>>>

From the text: This is not a story about the repudiation of purity rules. It is a story about restoration of community. I emphasise this because I have been strongly influenced by the idea that Jesus opposed the purity rules of his society because he saw purity was the antithesis of compassion.  Levine points out that there was no law against Jesus touching the leper, or healing him. Indeed,

Scripture assumes…that people will contract impurity as a matter of course. Impurity is not prohibited, and being impure implies no moral censure. The system cannot [simply] be transposed … to a moral key except as metaphor (for example, having an “impure heart”). An impure person—a menstruant, a leper or a mourner—is not thereby a sinner, nor is a pure person necessarily righteous. … Jesus was a Jew of his own time rather than a left-leaning liberal of ours.

The pericope four times uses the purity system term clean in a positive manner, and Jesus sends the man to the priest, instructing him to offer the normal offering for his cleansing. Jesus shows his respect for the Law. There is no repudiation of the temple system at this moment. As Levine notes, the very fact that the leper came to Jesus challenges the idea that lepers were not allowed in public... Read on >>>>

How do we live without being overwhelmed by despair as the outlines of the new Nero's regime became clear? What practical things can we do to maintain perspective?

Most people who read this article are better off, and safer, than the vast majority of people who have lived throughout history. And we are likely to remain so, despite this new Nero. The Doomsday Clock has been close to midnight for all of my life, and in many respects, Nero succeeding Biden is just are more emperor. The United States has done pretty much what it wants in the world long before the first-arrival of Nero. Objectively, nothing much has changed. The world is, as my colleague Nathan notes in a sermon draft, "a total shit show out there… " After commenting on the horrors being perpetrated by Israel, they say "We could work our way around the globe – Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Burma, Venezuela – and the stories don’t get any better." The question is how to live so that the horrors of the world do not drive us to despair despite all its beauty and wonder.

There are things we can do. Some involve disabusing ourselves of false notions of "progress" The others are behavioural changes that I have found to yield significant alterations in my perspective. These are not based on a few ideas dreamed up since November 5. I write as a depressive personality who too frequently struggles not to give in. to total despair.

First, the theology: Our basic task is to "inhabit" the Christian story rather than being sucked into the stories told by empire. Perhaps the key thing to remember is that loved by God though we are, we are not special above other people, and are not owed a particular privilege in the universe. The idea that we are somehow special is one of the key idolatries that sneak into our faith life. Rather than being special, we have lived in a momentary bubble in history where many of us "ordinary" people have been rich beyond the dreams of our grandparents. This is not our right. Indeed, when the prophets cry out at the rich we are likely in their sights.

For a small moment in history, we in Australia have been one of the more privileged vassal states of the bickering empires. And I have relaxed in my fortunate status, forgotten my complicity with those in power, and have been seduced by my privilege to feel as though it is somehow owed me, rather than being a moment of good fortune which is now fading... Read on >>>>