What Is This?
Christmas 2 – Narrative Lectionary 2
January 3, 2015
Grace, Mankato, MN
Mark 1.21-45
There’s a new show on TV this fall, “Super Girl.” If you haven’t seen it, in this current reboot Super Girl is the cousin to Superman. In the premier episode, we hear about her origins, how she came to earth and her “coming out.” She is supposed to arrive ahead of him from the planet Krypton, but gets delayed. By the time she arrives, he has grown up and is the one to watch over her. He places her in an adoptive family, hiding who she is. What is particularly interesting is that she, like her cousin, takes pains to keep her identity secret even while she is gradually revealing herself to the world. However, the world isn’t so sure about her. In fact, they are not only curious but also fearful. Furthering the irony, there are “bad” aliens bent on taking over earth who also have powers, but unlike humans, they know exactly who she is and the threat she is to their plans.
I find the connections between Super Girl and Jesus in today’s reading to be startling and instructive. But first, there are some interesting features of Mark that are important for us as we begin the Jesus story. As John Odegard mentioned last week, the gospel of Mark hits the ground running and never lets up. This is highlighted by the often used word, “immediately.” Second, Jesus is “on the way” in Mark’s gospel, always heading somewhere. Of course, Jesus is heading to the cross. As one commentator notes, the gospel of Mark is “a passion narrative with an expanded introduction.” In today’s reading, we see three other features that I’d like to connect. First, Jesus is one who teaches with authority. Second and third go together: while the crowds and his followers struggle with who Jesus is, alien powers know exactly who he is. So here’s my premise: these features are warnings for us to step back, be humble, and not assume we know it all about Jesus and his message.
So, every time we read or hear about Jesus in Mark (or elsewhere) she should ask, “What is this?” Today we hear about how Jesus is one who teaches with authority, not as the scribes. Now, the scribes were the respected and learned professional interpreters of scripture in that day, akin to pastors and seminary professors. It was their job to study the scriptures and pass on hundreds of years of interpretation. We don’t know the precise problem, but perhaps they had wandered a bit in their learning, getting away from the core message. We aren’t told the content of Jesus’ teaching, and maybe perhaps that’s good. All we have heard comes earlier in chapter 1 when Jesus’ first words are, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” I suspect that Jesus’ teaching was striking because it rang true with peoples’ lives and opened them up in new ways that the teaching of the scribes hadn’t accomplished.
This leads to the second feature in our text today, that Jesus also prods us always to ask, “Who is this?” Clearly, Jesus is a teacher, preacher and a healer, but we sense that he is so much more. After all, preachers, teachers and healers were a dime a dozen in Jesus’ time. In Mark’s Gospel in particular, Jesus often tells those he encounters to “Shut up!” and not tell about what he has done. In scholarly circles this is the so-called “Messianic Secret” and a lot of people have weighed in on why Jesus does this. When we see that that powers that stand against Jesus understand him better than his closest friends, we begin to get a glimmer of understanding about Jesus’ desire for secrecy. Perhaps Mark wants to caution us that we don’t know Jesus as we think we do.
This is especially important for us reading the Jesus story after 2,000 years of study and commentary. One thing Mark is trying to tell us is that we won’t even begin to understand Jesus this side of the crucifixion and resurrection. Furthermore, even then, we don’t understand not as much as we think. In other words, we need to be humble as we approach the Jesus story. Jesus invites us to come to the text anew each and every time as if we don’t know Jesus at all. That’s why my New Testament professor, Dr. Rick Carlson, could exclaim at the beginning of a class, “I saw something today that I never saw before!” It’s why a group of pastors could study the same biblical text every month for over five years. God always has something unexpected for us.
Jesus is no Super Girl, but like her, he invites us not to presume to know who is and instead to ask, “What is this?” So, up, up and away, amen!
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