Week beginning 5 November 2018
Gospel Readings:
Mark 2:23-28
Mark 3:1-6
Mark 3:7-12
Exodus 5:1-23
Devotion 1
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, allowing space for God’s voice to be heard.
Read: Mark 2:23-28
Today’s reading brings into view the sabbath, which was one of the key markers of Jewish identity. In this episode, however, it becomes clear that the “official transcript” of sabbath-keeping held and espoused by the Pharisees was not the way it was seen from below, by those on the underside. For Jesus and his disciples, who had come from a social setting where hunger and the ever present uncertainty about the ability to provide for subsistence needs were a daily reality, the luxury of strict sabbath-keeping was not rigidly held. For them, sabbath was a gift of God given to sustain life and to nurture generous community, not to impose further hunger and hardship.
In claiming the authority to interpret how this symbol of national identity, the sabbath, was to shape the people, Jesus invokes the figure of the Human One.1 This language evokes in Jewish thought God’s authority given to the people over against worldly rulers.2
Jesus, in applying the title to himself claims authority to interpret God’s way for Israel accurately. It is an authority which comes not from the view from above, but from first hand knowledge of what it is like on the underside.
Reflect
- What strikes you in this story?
- In what ways do you sense God’s Spirit inviting you to live out this story?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
1 Traditionally translated as “Son of Man”.
2 See Daniel 7.
Devotion 2
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, aware of God’s presence in a broken world.
Read: Mark 3:1-6
Jesus’ debate with the Pharisees escalates in this episode as they continue to contest the meaning of the sabbath. The answer to Jesus’ question, “Is it lawful to d good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” is self-evident—surely it is right to do good on the sabbath! The Pharisees’ hardness of heart is depicted here in their anger at Jesus’ act of doing what they have just been forced to admit is a good thing. Moreover, not only are they angry at Jesus’ healing, they then proceed to make plans to do exactly what they have conceded is not right to do on the sabbath—to kill.
The duplicity of the Pharisees is further heightened as they “conspire” in an unholy alliance with the Herodians. Herod Antipas, a puppet ruler whose power came from Rome, is already aligned against Jesus. His arrest of John the Baptist and Jesus’ proclamation of another “kingdom” leaves the reader in little doubt that Herod would not have been a strong supporter! The Pharisees, on the other hand, observed sabbath and table laws as a means of resisting foreign domination—the very same foreign domination that upheld Herod’s rule. Now, they were in bed with the enemy. In their quest to hold onto their influence over the Jewish population, they had not only displayed callous disregard for a man whose disability they sought to use for their own purposes, they had also betrayed themselves.
Reflect
- Take a moment to listen to God’s Spirit. Where do you see this kind of duplicity in the world around you? Where do you see it in yourself?
- In what ways have you felt Jesus’ anger or grief?
- How is God’s Spirit prompting you to respond to today’s reading?
Pray for one another.
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
Devotion 3
Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of repentance together, aware of our inadequacy and God’s grace.
Read: Mark 3:7-12
Jesus continues his vocation of manifesting God’s reign in marginal Galilee. Now, however, people begin to come to him “in great numbers” from other places. What is important here is that each of the places mentioned had their own significance in the landscape of power of the region. Judea, and in particular Jerusalem, housed the Temple and the centre of political and economic power for Israel over against marginal Galilee. Idumea was the place of origin of Herod the Great whose family still ruled over Galilee. Sidon and in particular Tyre were port towns important for trade and the imperial economy in the region.
Despite the “centrality” of these places, people come from them to marginal Galilee. No doubt, those travelling to see Jesus are those on the underside—those of the “many” whose exploitation upheld the privilege of the “few”. For them, the chance to encounter Jesus’ liberative ministry was something they would expend great energy to do.
Reflect
- What strikes you in today’s reading?
- In what ways is God’s Spirit inviting you to live out this story?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
Devotion 4
Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of gratitude together, giving thanks for the ways you’ve experienced God’s loving kindness.
This week’s Common Value: Living in marginal neighbourhoods.
Read: Exodus 5:1-23
Ask
- How might we get alongside those who are marginalised this week?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer