Holy Covenant United Methodist Church - Mark 1:40-45 "The Fury of God's Anger"

Mark 1:40-45 "The Fury of God's Anger"

Written by Rev. Don Lee
Saturday, 11 February 2006
If you really want to get a good look at Jesus, get your Bible and read through in one sitting the gospel of Mark. It won’t take that long and I promise, it will be well worth your while. One of the things I believe this will do for you is give you a much better grasp of just how human Jesus is. Did you know that Jesus was often angry? For example: Mark 2 Jesus “rebukes” the scribes for questioning his authority to forgive sins. Mark 3 He looks angrily at the synagogue leaders for valuing the Sabbath over a person’s well-being Mark 7 Jesus sarcastically chides the Pharisees for “rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep their traditions.” Mark 8 Jesus angrily rebukes Peter calling him “Satan.” Mark 10 Jesus becomes indignant (aganakteh'o) literally “sorely displeased” when his disciples stop parents from bringing their children to Jesus to bless. Mark 11 Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree. He upturns the tables of the moneychangers in the temple Mark 14 Jesus barks, “leave her alone” at the disciples for harassing the woman with anointing oil. He chastises the religious leaders for arresting him at night instead of in the daylight for fear of the community’s reaction. Whoa, this is not the washed-out, meek and mild Jesus pictured in the family bible! On the contrary, this is a “man on fire!” I believe reading from Mark 1:40-45 gives us a front row seat to God’s anger, though you have to know what you are looking for. Please stand as you are able and listen for the word of our Lord: A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. Prayer: Jesus, you reached out and touched the untouchable, you healed those of broken body and mind, you rebuked evil when you encountered it among us, and restored the lost to wholeness. Lord Jesus, teach us to live and to love as you lived and loved. Amen. One sunny day a rabbit came out of her hole in the ground only to be caught by a fox. "I am going to eat you for lunch!", said the fox. "Wait!", replied the rabbit. "Why should I wait?" said the fox. "Well, I’m just finishing my thesis on 'The Superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'" "Are you crazy? I should eat you right now! Everybody knows that a rabbit doesn’t have a chance with a fox." "Not really, not according to my research. If you like, you can come into my hole and read it for yourself. If you’re not convinced, you can eat me for lunch." Since the fox was curious and had nothing to lose, it went down the rabbit hole. The fox never came out. A few days later the rabbit was again taking a break from writing and this time a wolf grabbed her. "Wait!" yelled the rabbit, "you can't eat me right now." "And why might that be, my furry appetizer?" "I’m almost finished writing my thesis on 'The Superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'" The wolf laughed so hard that it almost lost its grip on the rabbit. "Maybe I shouldn't eat you; you really are sick ... in the head. You might have something contagious." "Come and read it for yourself; you can eat me afterward if you disagree with my conclusions." So the wolf went down the rabbit's hole and never came out. After finishing her thesis the rabbit was out celebrating in the local lettuce patch when another rabbit came along and said, "You seem awfully happy!" "Yup, I just finished my thesis." "Congratulations. What's it about?" "'The Superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'" "Are you sure? That doesn't sound right." "Oh yes. Come and read it for yourself." So together they went down the rabbit's hole. As they entered, the friend saw the typical graduate abode, albeit a rather messy one after writing a thesis. The computer with the controversial work was in one corner, and in the other, between two piles of bones sat a large, well-fed lion... The moral of the story is: The title of your thesis doesn't matter. The subject doesn't matter. The research doesn't matter. All that matters is who your advisor is! This morning we go down the rabbit hole of God’s anger. Verses 40-41, A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Ironically, the earliest manuscripts of Mark actually disagree over which verb to use to describe Jesus’ response to the leper. Many use the word “Splagchnizomai.” This verb is translated “filled with compassion” or “moved with pity.” But some manuscripts use a different verb. The word orgizo in the Greek means literally, “Becoming angry.” Thus Mark 1:41 reads, “Moved with anger, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him….” Many translators favor the compassionate response of Jesus because it’s what you’d expect from Jesus. Matthew and Luke avoid the issue by leaving out any reference to Jesus’ emotional response. But assuming the manuscripts were correct in their use of or-gid-zo just what exactly was Jesus angry about? To suggest that he might be angry with the leper’s request for healing is inconsistent with Jesus’ response. He reaches out and touches the man, healing him. So what incites Jesus’ anger? In 1st century Palestine, lepers were extreme social outcasts. Excluded from communal life and forced to live in colonies outside the mainstream of community. Lepers were considered cursed by God. Leviticus 13:45-46 states: The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, "Unclean, unclean." he shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. To even touch a leper would make you ritually impure, according to Levitical law requiring you to endure a prolonged process of ritualized cleansing before you could enter the temple. By touching this man Jesus make a statement about the preeminence of grace over obedience to the law. There is no evidence in the Gospels (I can find) that Jesus ever attended to the ritualized cleansing required by the law. Jesus’ instructions to the cleansed leper continue to reveal his heated emotional state. As one writer puts it, “The NRSV’s “sternly warned, or “embrimaomai” fails to convey the “emotional agitation” attached to the verb.” It originally referred to the snorting noise horses made. (http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/mark1x40.htm) Jesus knew that despite the man’s healing, without the priest’ declaration he was still leper in the eyes of society. Given what I know of Jesus in the Gospels I don’t think he’d be okay with a system that devalues people; excludes them from communal or religious life; and reinforces a theology that claims God has cursed the sick and poor. Do you? The Old Testament Prophets (especially Amos, Micah) and Jesus, paint a very specific picture of what angers God; Any system that dehumanizes people. Last week I watched a PBS special about German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was part of the confessing movement in Germany during WWII; German pastors who stood against the nationalism of their country, claiming that our allegiance as Christians was to Christ not to country. Bonhoeffer spoke out against the injustice he saw, not as a POLITICAL ISSUE but a KINGDOM ISSUE. He was eventually arrested and on April 9 1945 executed at the Flossenbürg concentration camp. The question of my allegiance as a Christian is not a political issue, it’s a kingdom issue! Its okay if you don’t agree with me but I hope you’ll at least listen to what I’m about to say: We need to be extremely careful that as Christians we do not confuse nationalism with our allegiance to Christ. When my grandmother, mom and aunt were locked up in an internment camp during WWII for no other reason then they were Americans of Japanese decent, a great many “good” people both inside and outside the church were silent. And I wonder if the internment took place today, would you remain silent as my rights were stripped and I was locked up because of no other reason then my ancestry? What if I was a Muslim? Of course if I were Muslim I wouldn’t be your pastor but honestly, would it make you care any less? Would you remain silent or would you speak up? If God is angered by systems that dehumanize the innocent, then the Church cannot remain silent …even if our speaking out is viewed as unpatriotic! Who are the lepers of our day? The victims of AIDS Immigrants and minorities the poor and homeless gays ex-cons Some we don’t intend to alienate but do. Some we find difficult to relate to. Some we may violently disagree with over ideologies. Regardless, the Gospel asks us to take a hard look at what we believe. How much of what we believe is determined by personal bias or patriotism then by of the Christ of the gospels? If I am a better citizen then Christian, then I am guilty of what the Bible calls idolatry. Christians put God 1st! Our Scouts know this….it’s God, and then Country! Where does our allegiance truly lie? We should be angry about poverty, about homelessness, about the suffering of those with treatable illnesses such as AIDS. These things are just as much a deadly blight upon humanity as terrorism and as with terrorism, they deserve our righteous anger! However, we are not called to act from anger. We called to act from Grace. We need to “reframe” our response. Yesterday, Mike Reinquist spoke to the Spiritual Journeymen about “reframing.” He told the story of a little boy who goes outside to practice hitting the ball. He throws the ball up, swings, and misses. The ball plops onto the ground. He swings three times, each time missing. Gathering his equipment back up he trudges into the house. His mom asks, “Honey, how did it go?” He replied, “I may be a lousy batter, but I’m a heck of a pitcher! That’s reframing. If our allegiance is to Christ then we must be about his business. And if this is true, then we know what to do. As Jesus proclaims in the Gospel of Luke, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18 These are blueprints for the building of God’s Kingdom and they call for a faith response! Reinhold Niebuhr, theologian and author of the Serenity Prayer, taught “instead of just exhorting people to be generous, loving and Christian, we should create systems of justice that keep power in check and enable the poor to make their own claims on society.” P. 1, 3H, 2/11 DMN Irish Rocker, Bono of the band U2 recently spoke at the National prayer breakfast recently. I want to read you two quotes from his speech. “Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives. Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone. I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us, if we are with them.” A 2nd quote: It’s not about charity, its about justice. And that’s too bad. Because you’re good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can’t afford it. But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality. Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.” What’s an Irish rock star doing lecturing our nation’s leaders about poverty and AIDS? He’s reframing the debate! He’s offering solutions and reminding our politicians where their loyalties must ultimately lie, with God’s agenda! And so must ours! Down in the rabbit hole of God’s anger, we discover the gift of God’s radical grace. And the thing about grace, if you have it, you must share it. Thank God there’s grace! In the words of a popular song, I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you And even though It all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my lips but Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah….