Cradle to the Grave

          As this New Year approaches I am preparing for an incredible opportunity and I am reflecting on a past opportunity that I most certainly did not see as an opportunity at the time. In 2005 I served as an infantry Marine in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. 2005 proved to be a life changing year for me and after my battalion suffered the loss of 48 Marines and Navy Corpsman I was forever changed. What I failed to recognize at the time was ancient beauty that surrounded me. Whenever we set ourselves into a defensive posture along the Euphrates I always felt drawn to the ancient ruins along the river banks taking scenic pictures like the one above. In 2012 I resigned from my job and began taking classes in seminary. This endeavor was a calling back to the military but as I began my education I found the depth of the rabbits hole quite daunting. I began with my study of Hebrew and then the Old Testament. During my studies I became fascinated with how the most horrible year of my life opened my heart and mind to the Christian texts. This year I registered to take part in a travel seminar to Israel. When I completed my fall semester this past month I finally had a chance to take in the opportunity before me. Not only was I about to take the opportunity of a lifetime and see the Holy Land but I had already been to a land that was a very deep part of the story. Although there is still great debate many scholars believe that Iraq is the location where the garden of Eden existed. Most scholars believe that the location was in the vicinity of Mesopotamia or Arabia. Now, I am not bold enough to say that I walked in the garden. Certainly that wouldn't be theologically accurate because the angel guarding the garden would never have let me into the gate. I would say that I have had the opportunity to take in the type of landscape that the writer of Genesis referred to as well as the desolation east of the garden. Even if one is to argue that Iraq is not the location of Eden it is the land from which Abraham originated and traveled. This list goes on, but Iraq is significant as a starting place for  the story. 

             

            It was only this past month that I finally realized that I would have a rare life experience. I will have been given the rare opportunity to see the land of the beginning and the land where the story within our texts ends. The cradle of civilization, the Temple of Solomon, and the grave of Jesus Christ. I am excited, overwhelmed, and overjoyed. Not only do I get the opportunity to see these lands but I get the opportunity to see it's people. The dialogue between Muslim, Christian, and Jew have been a recurring issues that has fascinated me since before I began my studies at seminary. 

              

             As I begin my travels I plan to study the texts and exegete what they communicate to me in the lands I travel and the people I with whom I will interact. I will do my best to reflect honestly and openly with the intention to not only share my own thoughts and insights but invite other's as well. 

             

              Grace and Peace as Christmas comes to a close and we enter into the Epiphany Season!

BAH HUMBUG!

        I am having a grumpy Christmas, yes, a grumpy one. It isn’t because I didn’t get what I wanted, I didn’t really ask for anything to be honest. This year I threw some random things on my Christmas list to prevent my mother-in-law from buying me china as punishment for not asking for gifts. It isn’t because I’m not getting the cookies or the turkey I want, I am because I usually do the cooking in my house. It has a lot more to do with this holiday we call Christmas. No, I am not about to throw another put-the-Christ-back-in-Christmas at you because that isn’t what irks me. I honestly don’t mind the secular view of Christmas, what I mind is a secular interpretation of Christmas that we pass off as an authentic truth.

         The birth Narrative of Jesus is interesting. It is probably the best-known story in the bible along with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We only find the details of the Jesus' birth in two of the synoptic gospels, Matthew and Luke. To sum up the version in Matthew’s gospel, it happened, and Jesus is the messiah. Matthew’s intent throughout the narrative is to detail the significance of Jesus’ lineage and the divine happenings surrounding his birth. Matthew shows the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Essentially Matthew is building a case for Jesus to be seen as the Messiah.

        

         Luke takes a different approach. Luke is a great story because Luke tells a great story. The problem is that Luke’s story doesn't seem to cut the mustard for us today. Christmas has become commercialized; you don’t need to read this blog to find that out. What is tragic is that our commercialization has polluted the story. Drummer boys, innkeepers, stables, even the animals, have become essential parts of the way we see this story. No where in this story do we find any of those details. Now don’t get me wrong, my kid makes a slam-dunk of a cow in the Christmas pageant at school but it ain’t in there! It reminds me of a scene from the movie "Love Actually" when characters discover there will be lobsters and octopus' in the school nativity. 

         So why do we do it? The story is full of a recurring theme I have a tendency to latch onto, a theology of suffering and human frailty. In our Christian roots and even today we struggle with the misconception that there is a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament. We see the God of the Old Testament as angry and vengeful, whereas the God of the New Testament is gracious and loving. This is the view we tend to latch onto. A dualist approach to the one God we claim a monotheistic devotion to. I would argue that here in the birth narrative we find the difference. In our Old Testament texts we see numerous voices crying out to God for sympathy but not a single tear drop falls. God does give mercy but the emotion cannot be seen by humanity. Job even demands that God justify God’s self to which God simply replies “who do you think you are?” It is with the birth of Jesus Christ that God becomes fully human and fully God. God exists as one of us, suffers as one of us, and yes, cries like one of us.

         The point of the manger scene is for us to visualize this suffering, this poverty. This is great imagery if we want to portray Jesus as a God that not only exists with us (Emmanuel) but a God who suffers with us. The problem lies in the fact that the nativity is no longer a scene of suffering. If it were a scene of suffering, I am not so sure we would want our kids in a Christmas pageant. I mean, hey, when is the last time you saw a crucifixion pageant?! It doesn’t go with our Christmas casseroles, stockings, Christmas trees, and presents. The tragedy is that this is what the truth that the nativity presents. The mighty and powerful God, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and so omnibenevolent that God submits to the human form. God doesn’t pick a wealthy family, a powerful family, but is born to a modest family that is subjected to the same suffering as all those who follow YHWH and face occupation at the hands of the Roman empire.

         Scholars believe that the word we translate as inn was most likely meant to be translated as guest chamber or a guesthouse. Many also believe that this “stable” in which Jesus was born was not in fact a stable at all but a separate room within the same building in which they could not find room within the “guest chamber”. Now I am not trying to paint a rosey picture either. This separate room could very well have been occupied by animals and anyone who has ever worked on a farm knows very well that a closed chamber which is occupied by animals is never a pleasant experience for the human senses. It is not sanitary and it is not pleasant. St. Jerome, in fact, uses this vision to utilize the allegorical perspective claiming that Christ is born into surroundings as filthy as our sin.

         This is depressing, yes there are Angels and Shepherds but when we strip away the paper mache angel wings and plastic shepherd staffs its just not as warm and fuzzy. A more responsible vision of this birth is perhaps a more controversial vision today. Picture the incarnation of God taking place in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. Picture a baby born in a U.N. shack, among the filth, starvation, and poverty of that existence. How’s that for a Christmas message?

         I know it’s awful but it’s also HOPEful. What gives us hope is that God in all of God’s power and might reaches down into the most modest of circumstances to live as one of us, to truly be one of us. God sweats, cries, and bleeds with us, and it all begins with the birth of a child, Jesus Christ. This is the hope we receive at Christmas and that should be enough. Christmas is a significant holiday as it should be, but it stands alone as a significant day. Should we destroy and disregard our other traditions that surround this High Holy Day? Perhaps not, but if we are to be followers of Christ in a broken and dark world we must look to a Savior and a story that isn’t always comfortable, it isn’t always pleasant, but it is hopeful and it is most certainly a story for us. Let’s not water it down but hold it up for the raw beauty of the mercy and love we are shown. Take a moment and consider that possibility in the midst of Santa Claus, eggnog, turkey, and plastic nativity sets. It’s a powerful image and it should be an image that permeates this day if not every day in our lives.

            I pray you all may find peace, joy, and comfort in the sacrifice and love of the One who chose to suffer as one of us. We celebrate the God who loves us, chooses to be with us, and chooses to suffer beside us.

Mark and a Theology of the Cross

            The complicated way we approach the life and ministry of Jesus is a hybrid perspective based on variations within the four gospels. It is reminiscent of the scene in the movie Talladega Nights, The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.  The characters Cal and Ricky become engrossed in their own preferred depictions of Jesus after Ricky Bobby’s prayer. During the prayer Ricky refers to Jesus as the baby Jesus, and he is scolded by a member of his family for not referring to Jesus as an adult. “Look, I like that baby version the best, and I’m sayin’ the prayer here!” To which Cal replies, “I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt because it says, like I wanna be formal but I like to party, too, cause I like to party.” 

            This seems to be a frequent approach to Jesus when we read our gospels. Hopefully we refrain from putting Jesus in tuxedo t-shirts, but we still have a tendency to combine multiple images of Jesus. During Lent we combine multiple discourses on the cross that are found separately through our synoptic gospels, and we refer to it as Jesus’ seven last words. Now, this isn’t an effort to discount the synoptic study of the gospels. This is an effort, however, to take an opportunity and take a step back from the text. It’s an opportunity to read the text as its own story. After all these are our stories, they are our good news. If we are to begin a journey into the gospels as a story, then Mark is a wonderful place to begin.

            Of all the gospels, Mark is one of the most mysterious. Mark is most frequently credited as the earliest of the gospels. In fact, Mark is accepted by many scholars as one of the main sources for our other gospels. Questions of when, where, and who wrote Mark’s gospel is still hotly contested among scholars, but it is widely agreed that Mark’s gospel is the closest to an original witness to Jesus’ ministry. Our early Christian church was characteristically an orally grounded tradition, and it is not until much later that our stories begin to be preserved in writing.

            The uniqueness of Mark is apparent from the very beginning. Mark’s gospel opens abruptly with a very brief introduction to John the Baptist, and then we are “immersed” right into the baptism of Jesus. Within Luke and Matthew there is a detailed account of the birth of Jesus, and within John there is a detailed introduction that prepares the reader for the Messiah with a bold preface verifying the divinity of Jesus. Mark, however, begins with a short prologue (1:1-13) that introduces Jesus as the Son of God at his baptism. Jesus is tested briefly (1:12-13), so briefly in fact that Mark’s description of Jesus’ testing isn’t even a quarter the length of Matthew or Luke’s depiction of Jesus’ testing in the wilderness. For the most part we are only informed that it did indeed happen. This is a common feature of Mark’s gospel. Mark seems to state things simply, using not only Greek but pieces of Aramaic throughout, which was the common tongue in Jesus’ day. This coupled with Jesus’ unique depiction as a tangible human character, brings Jesus closer to us as a member of humanity. Jesus becomes a character less beyond our reach, instead sharing in our human circumstance.

            Mark’s gospel is of great value in the ongoing conversation about the theology of the cross. In Mark’s gospel, we find a Jesus who suffers not only on the cross but also at the hands of humanity through varying forms of rejection. What is particularly unique about this is that Mark explores not only Jesus’ suffering but Jesus’ compassion. Mark allows the reader to explore Jesus’ emotions (10:21) and love for all of humanity. This complicates our discernment of the intended audience in Mark’s gospel. Jesus does not “play favorites” so to speak in Mark but devotes his compassion to all of humanity.

            Jesus also takes particular care within Mark’s gospel to not reveal himself, demanding those who are healed to refrain from revealing his responsibility for their healing (eg.7:36). Jesus demands that his disciples refrain from revealing his divine nature (eg. 9:9-10). The hidden identity of Jesus as the Son of God becomes one of the most consistent themes within Mark’s narrative. It is apparent in Mark’s gospel that the reign of God revealed through Jesus Christ is not to be spoon fed to the masses. Jesus is not advocating a mega church within Mark’s gospel, Jesus is drawing the true believers to revelation of God’s reign in the world.

            The hidden message of God’s reign on earth through the death and resurrection of Jesus is alluded to throughout the text. Jesus foretells of his death (9:30-32, 10:32-34, etc) throughout the text. These consistent foretellings go mostly misunderstood and unrecognized by his followers in Mark’s gospel. The most ironic aspect of Mark’s gospel is that throughout the text Jesus warns of his crucifixion. What we find in Mark's portrayal of the passion of Christ is an abrupt conclusion. The conclusion is so abrupt that additions have been made. Many scholars disagree as to whether the story has lost its ending or if this was intentional on the part of the author. 

            I would argue that this abrupt ending concludes the narrative in the same mysterious and sudden fashion we find throughout Mark. Jesus is not revealed in a glorious fashion but through his humanity. The atoning death of Jesus is not revealed to us in a grand fashion, just as Jesus’ mission is not revealed in a particularly grand fashion. We don’t find Jesus standing before us in a tuxedo t-shirt as we want. We find Jesus standing before us as he is; the Son of God in flesh and blood. This is not the beautiful vision we crave on Christmas or Easter morning. It is a dissatisfying and unsettling vision.

            Even as we find this vision to be dissatisfying, it is important to remember that this is the vision of our atoning Savior that gives hope to a suffering world. A child suffering in poverty, the prisoner who is told that he/she is the worst of society, the cancer patient who rejects the sight of a mirror, these are the followers Jesus is calling to in Mark’s gospel. Mark’s gospel is a simple narrative in comparison to Matthew, Luke, and John, but it reveals Christ in his humanity, clothed in not only flesh but also our suffering. Mark’s gospel reveals, discreetly, a true theology of the cross. Mark doesn’t reveal an end to the mission but a call to discipleship. What is unique about the open ended ending of Mark’s gospel is that it gives the reader the opportunity to be part of that discipleship. It doesn’t scream for us to follow, it whispers to those in the dark to follow the light and to seek out our risen Savior in the suffering of this world.

Sources:

Joel B. Green (ed.), Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010)  

David Rhoads, Joanna Dewey, and Donald Michie, Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012).

Marcus Borg and N. T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999)