Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

 

The Authority to Heal

Jesus is distinguished from other teachers today by being characterized as one who “teaches with authority”; what does this imply?  For one thing, those who taught scripture in Jesus’ time would reference other sources as the basis of their teaching, not claim an independent power of interpretation. To some extent, scripture scholars do this today in what is called exegesis, or the attempt to understand through careful critical methods the intent of the original author by considering the language and context of the scripture under study. When a person simply uses oneself as the basis for interpretation, it is called eisegesis.  Jesus’ method of teaching, “with authority”, and the action of commanding demons, positioned Jesus as a great prophet in the line of Moses.

Jesus did not use any particular rite of exorcism, no formula, he simply commanded the demon to come out, and the demon revealed Jesus’ identity as “the Holy One of God”, the same language used to describe the priests in the line of Aaron. Jesus is being revealed in Mark as having the priestly and prophetic qualities of the Messiah. The demon is promptly silenced because to reveal him as Messiah would only fully be revealed after his resurrection and in light of his kingdom “not being of this world”; the time was not right.

Mark’s gospel portrays God’s presence in Jesus as one that is imbued with the power to act as God, to teach as God would teach, and heal as God would heal. Jesus does not initiate a “battle plan” to overthrow the Roman authorities but ignites the world with God’s saving love.

We, like Jesus, are empowered to act. Through the Holy Spirit dwelling in all believers who follow Christ, our presence announcing God’s love is imbued with the healing authority of God. Our lives should rest on the confidence that although our world is “passing away” as St. Paul preached last Sunday, it is within this world that God continues to act with great compassion and healing.

Such radical Good News often divides, as it did in Jesus’ time, and even among his disciples. Our unity with one another doesn’t come so much in the authority of our “scribes”, though scripture and the teachings of our institutional elders is an important foundation for our faith, our unity comes through our sacramental union with the Body of Christ----one another as mediated by the Holy Spirit.

What is truly a life of radical service is more than political action, social justice, and committees, although these must be an integral part of our being Good News; radical evangelical service seeks communion--being with-- with the sick, hard-hearted, and demon-possessed of the world. Rather than simply developing programs of change, we are the change, and the power of God when we become good news, one person, at a time. This is how the Kingdom is announced, and the reign of God proclaimed.

Second Sunday after Epiphany

 

"Can you hear me now?"

Unity without Uniformity--Diversity without Division

           

Thus week begins Christian Unity Week, which raises awareness of what we as Christians share in common rather than what divides us. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations in the world. Each of these groups defines itself in some manner that distinguishes them from the other 40,999.  At first, this may seem rather disheartening, but Christianity since its proliferation in the first century has been diverse; in fact, it is probably more accurate to discuss first century “Christianities” to accurately represent the depth of the early divisions.  Early on, some believed Jesus was not divine, but a person “inspired” by God.  Some believed that one must first become a Jew to be a Christian.  Some believed in a Christian God of Jesus and an Old Testament God. Such issues, for the most part, resolved themselves by the early fourth century at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea. However, from this unity (and some would argue uniformity) came the Great Schism of 1054 where East and West divided, and later in the sixteenth century when there was a split within the Roman Church that began the Protestant movement and ensuing multiplicities. Did I mention the Popes and anti-Popes between the third and fifteenth centuries? What are we to make of all this?  What is the difference between division and diversity?

            Today, we begin reading St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.  Like Christianity at large, Paul’s large Church at Corinth was on the verge of splintering into several different communities.  In his letter, he addresses three key issues: Division—no one could decide on whom to follow; Sexual Immorality---one member of the church was sleeping with his stepmother; and Lawsuits—on top of all this turmoil, it seems there was a rash of lawsuits among the community. Paul’s wise counsel is still valid today. Regarding division, Paul remarks “It is not important who does the planting [of the seed of faith] or the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow”(3:6-7). Regarding sexual sin, Paul counsels confrontation and the opportunity to repent. For lawsuits, he counsels handling disputes internally. The point is that the community must place Christ at its center and the love of Christ must animate the community in all it does. There is no “rule book”, but rather the Spirit of discernment. Paul famously declares “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible…. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.   I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”  Paul’s understanding of freedom wasn’t to go one’s own way but to use freedom to enter into the world in an intimate and meaningful way, to use one’s freedom to establish relationships rather than abandon them. In short, Paul speaks of the freedom to love as God’s love reaches through and beyond Israel, to the “nations of the world”. Devotion, not doctrine gives Christians unity.

            Jesuit father John Whitney, in a recent NY Times article, is addressing the issue of the protest of the firing of a gay vice principal and the reaction to the students “making a mess” in their opposition to the firing.  He responds in the article by putting “making a mess” as being consistent with church tradition. More importantly, he discusses the dynamics of controversy without division over the issue as to whether or not Gentiles could become Christians.

           

            “What is most amazing about this moment in the Church [the Gentile controversy] is how the community comes to decide, together, what is to be done. There are debate and disruption, but it is not seen as division; rather, it is the way the Holy Spirit is working within the community. Further, this debate is grounded in human experience, and not on tradition or on the power of office. Rather than beginning with Scripture—with the Torah or the Prophets—the community begins with the experience of the faithful: with the testimony of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas—none of whom claim special authority in the face of the communal discernment, but all of whom, instead, simply testify to the way in which they have seen the Gentiles touched and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit…. Here is diversity without division, complexity with separation, debate, and dissent without the need for punishment or condemnation. In listening for the living Spirit of Christ Jesus, the Church begins by listening to the sinners and seekers who are his body in the world.”

            This is true diversity and unity rather than division spawned from insistence on uniformity. When we orient ourselves to listen to the other and honor the experience of faith, we don’t abandon unity because this listening is done as our worship. The Spirit is alive when there are people speaking from the heart and confronting the community out of love.  Because some of our practices and doctrines differ, we worship God insofar as we love one another, listen to one another, and honor the Spirit present in all our communities.  Very often, as in the case of Israel, God speaks through a community as well as to a community. What is your neighbor saying?  Are you listening?