Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
A man with leprosy came to Jesus and knelt down. He begged, “You have the power to make me well, if only you wanted to.” Jesus felt sorry for the man. So he put his hand on him and said, “I want to! Now you are well.” At once the man’s leprosy disappeared, and he was well.
After Jesus strictly warned the man, he sent him on his way. He said,
“Don’t tell anyone about this. Just go and show the priest that you are well. Then take a gift to the temple as Moses commanded, and everyone will know that you have been healed.”
The man talked about it so much and told so many people, that Jesus could no longer go openly into a town. He had to stay away from the towns, but people still came to him from everywhere.
Mark 1:40-45 Contemporary English Version
I’m wondering why Jesus did not want to get his profile lifted. I guess the answer comes in the last verse. He was swamped because of over exposure. He knew the extent of his resources, his limitations. And he knew the power of word of mouth. And yet Jesus is keen for the man to contact the priest. He wants the priest to be in the loop, to be aware of what is happening as God’s acts are carried out in Jesus’ ministry.
As I prepare for a wide-ranging and public role in the Uniting Church - see www.visionformission.unitingchurch.org.au - I am very much aware that building a movement of mission takes time. It involves building a team of people who share vision and can muster resources for the challenges involved. There’s a lot of undercover work to be done that no-one will see for a while. Patience is required. At the same time there are to be no ’secrets’ about how we operate. All is above board - open for scrutiny.
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Thursday, February 2nd, 2006
Jesus Heals Too Many People
As soon as Jesus left the meeting place with James and John, they went home with Simon and Andrew. When they got there, Jesus was told that Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever. Jesus went to her. He took hold of her hand and helped her up. The fever left her, and she served them a meal.
That evening after sunset, all who were sick or had demons in them were brought to Jesus. In fact, the whole town gathered around the door of the house. Jesus healed all kinds of terrible diseases and forced out a lot of demons. But the demons knew who he was, and he did not let them speak.
Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray. Simon and the others started looking for him. And when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you!”
Jesus replied, “We must go to the nearby towns, so that I can tell the good news to those people. This is why I have come.” Then Jesus went to Jewish meeting places everywhere in Galilee, where he preached and forced out demons.
Mark 1:32 after sunset: The Sabbath was over, and a new day began at sunset.
Mark 1:29-39 (Contemporary English Version)
This last week I’ve been revisiting some material on congregations with impasse. Ken Halstead, Lutheran author of “From Stuck to Unstuck”, describes common ‘binding paradoxes’ faced by Christian leader today…
1. Pastors are called to minister to more situations of acute brokenness, although hurting people may resist participation in healing community.
2. Pastors need to master additional skills & lead more effectively at a time when old-paradigm vision of authority disappearing.
3. Pastors and congregations are expected by some to provide increased services and options at a time when less money available.
4. Churches and pastors often feel pressure to alleviate anxieties and uncertainties by giving them solutions and absolute truths, at a time when scholarly integrity requires us to recognise ambiguities and complexities.
5. Pastors and leaders are entrusted to tell the truth yet may feel they must be nice at all times, pleasing the customer – never expressing anger.
I’ve noticed that sometimes I fall into the trap of operating out of a need to keep people happy. The problem is the more capacity I show, the more people expect!
It’s not much wonder Jesus told the spirits to stay silent about who he was. He wouldn’t be able to cope with the demands of crowd who really knew his full capacity. He needed to take it slow, working at a sustainable pace with a wide spread of people.
The people who were looking for Jesus could have started showing signs of possessiveness. “Stay here and be our healer”. Jesus needed to get away before that happened.
The time alone in the hills was the escape valve for Jesus. He had to get some perspective beyond the immediate urgent concerns of the crowd.
In my role as mission consultant I’m seen by some as a source of support and resourcing. I’ll need to make sure I have time for solitude and big picture visioning.
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Monday, January 23rd, 2006
A Man with an Evil Spirit
Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the Jewish meeting place and started teaching. Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority, and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses.
Suddenly a man with an evil spirit in him entered the meeting place and yelled, “Jesus from Nazareth, what do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God’s Holy One.” Jesus told the evil spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” The spirit shook him. Then it gave a loud shout and left. Everyone was completely surprised and kept saying to each other, “What is this? It must be some new kind of powerful teaching! Even the evil spirits obey him.” News about Jesus quickly spread all over Galilee.
Footnotes: Mark 1:23 evil spirit: A Jewish person who had an evil spirit was considered “unclean” and was not allowed to eat or worship with other Jewish people.
Mark 1:21-28 (Contemporary English Version) (CEV)
© 1995 by American Bible Society
I’ve come across a few people who want to tell everybody else they’re God’s holy one. Or the Son of God. Or the new Christ. But to have people on the edge of psychological/spiritual stability yell out who Jesus is… that’s another thing. My first reaction when reading this as a young person was one of appreciation of the capacity of Jesus to deal with destructive and oppressive forces in the lives of people he met.
I had regular encounters with people who demonstrated the kinds of behaviours being described here. I was keen to see what Jesus did, and perhaps follow in his footsteps. I noticed, for example, that Jesus didn’t deal with shouting people by shouting back at them. His authority was not based on the using the ‘correct words’ or the ‘loudest voice’. Nor was it based on physical shaking.
In the 1980s I went through my own shaking. I was involved in a number of deliverance ministry sessions in which deeply wounded people sifted through the crisis points of their lives and claimed spiritual victory. In some cases there were deep sighs and cries of agony as painful memories were resurrected and dealt with in the name of Jesus. I began to wonder if what we were doing was really all that helpful for those in the ‘inner healing/deliverance’ sessions. The physical expressions of ‘release’ may not have been due to evil spirits leaving. They may have been just expressions of deep hurt.
I was deeply impressed by the advice given at a Vineyard Ministries conference around that time. The common sense approach he advocated involved honouring normal medical procedures including physical, psychological and psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. If it became clear that there was something more, something sinister, involved in the oppressed person’s life, then would be the time for spiritual discernment and careful ministry of deliverance. But again, no need for shouting, shaking or magic formula.
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