Last week we looked at the Jeremiah scripture where Jeremiah was instructed to go watch a potter at work and he would receive a word from God for the people of Israel there. The scripture describes the potter as being in control. His has the power and more importantly a vision for what is good is expected from the clay. However if the clay failed because of imperfections of any type the potter reformed the clay into a ball and started over again. The potter never gave up on the clay….
I mentioned to you that I was working through an acronym to lead out thoughts. The Word is VOICE. Because the majority of prophets reported hearing God in some fashion. God also provided them with visual illustrations. To the Word VOICE is s simplistic reflection on How God gave direction and vision to Israel. So the V in voice stands for vision….I related the need to find a focus point as our lives spin around and God shapes us in our everyday motion.
Today the focus is connected to the letter O….the word for today is openness. The prophets were obviously open to God and were empowered and shaped and prepared for their mission on his behalf.
Today we are looking at the Gospel of Mark for our connection to openness. However; I find that anyplace God and Christ were working openness was required.
This morning we will be looking at snapshots of scripture form the Gospel of Mark. I am going to remind you about the slide show of locations that events that the Gospel marks out and we will look most closely at parts of chapter 7. Today’s material could easily seed 20 or more sermons, but our focus is more of a wide angle view…
I refer to this book as a slide show because Mark offers the shortest account of the life of Jesus in the simplest of language.
This book is thought to be written specifically for gentile audiences because of the language and the description of common Jewish practices.
It is also thought to be the first gospel written because Matthew and Luke seem to quote almost all of the book, often word for word in their versions.
So, Mark is a bit like a reader’s digest condensed book. John the baptism Jesus ministry starts, apostles called, people healed. Slide here is a shot of John the Baptist, now we have the baptism of Jesus.. Slide - slide -slide…Here is a healing, look at the crowds in this shot…all the people that came out for themselves and their loved ones.
There was this story about the sewer..and lamp stands…and mustard seeds.
Then we had some more miracles…storms calmed….more healings…casting out of demons and even a girl raised from the dead.
Then we get a glimpse of what it was like for Jesus to Go back home….Not a very heartwarming event. Then we hear about John the Baptist becoming a kind of sick party favor.
All those slides and we are only half way through chapter 6. But, I am going to slow down here to start getting to our main point for today.
Another slide in this chapter is related to Jesus sending his disciples out to preach and to cast out Demons. They have special instructions to go without any cash or extra clothes and to stay at the first place they are invited.
They respond and Verse 12 and 13 say this, “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”
-- Mark is the Joe Friday of the gospel writers, just the facts.
Up to this point Mark has pointed out that there were crowds that were listening to Jesus teaching. The sought him out in search of healing and perhaps even hope.
When the disciples return from this teaching mission, they are sitting around telling stories about the amazing response of the people and how God healed people.
But here was a problem. People kept coming to where they were and interrupting them. Jesus tells them, let’s go on a retreat, for a little rest and relaxation in the wilderness away from the crowds.
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
Ok even though they hopped into a boat and headed off across the Lake, someone saw them and figured out where they were headed. They told the people milling around what they figured out and ran around the lake and beat them to their destination…
That is worse than getting a sales call on your sell phone when you are on vacation.
The group is exhausted and just trying to get away for a day or two. And the crowd wants to hear and see more. This teaching is radical, forgiveness by repentance alone and witnessing the healing ability had to be something from God.
These people were open and doing everything in their power to be as close as possible to this prophet for as long as possible.
Jesus feeds 5000 people and people are coming form all over the place.. There is a surge of humanity approaching the hope that Jesus is generating by preaching and teaching.
However there is another group. At the start of chapter 7.
1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed.
Let’s hit the pause button for a second. Pharisees and teachers that came from Jerusalem, 60 miles away as the crow flies. Much longer if a good Jew wanted to remain clean and avoid Samaria, perhaps 100 or more miles.
They have been with the crowds and witnessing what this rabbis is teaching and doing perhaps from the gathering of crowds starting chapter 3. They may have come with the crowd at the side of the lake and have participated in the feeding of the 5000. At a bare minimum, they have heard some pretty amazing reports and traveled a long way to check this guy out.
These religious men, with clear credentials within the Jewish culture ask Jesus a question, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"
That is an interesting reaction. With the stories they have heard and perhaps even events witnessed the question we have recorded has to do with eating with
“unclean” hands. Not necessarily dirty hands…but “unclean” It says unwashed….
Perhaps they did not physically wash. Water was not enough in the Jewish culture id you interacted with gentiles in the marketplace…even if only by accident. If there was any chance of gentile, unclean contaminations a ceremony was needed. Perhaps the disciples did not recite the standard prayer as water was poured across the hands.
Whatever the situation, the new crowd was pointing out the cleanliness principals that have set the Jew apart from all the other cultures for generations.
Jesus replies:"Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
Jesus is pointing out that these men were not open to God. He indicates that their hearts are far from him. And the main problem is that they have let of go the commandments and focused on traditions…rules of man.
Let’s review; we have crowds that approached Jesus to hear this teaching on God and how to have a right relationship with their creator. We know that the crowd is big, 5000 men plus women and children.
We don’t have a clue about everyone’s motives in the crowd. Some number of people had special needs for health concerns and demons.
Many of these people were automatically unclean because they were sick or disabled or because of life circumstances and choices. Many of the people in this first crowd were restricted from the normal restoration to cleanliness sacrificial offerings sometimes because of things beyond their control.
The religious community considered many of the people in that crowd to be sinners cursed and rejected by God. That is a hard punishment for a lame child or a gravely ill person.
I would guess that there were some number of skeptics that are just in the crowd to see the show. However, on that hills side, by the lake, the people came and sat in the sun after traveling 1 to 10 miles to be close to Jesus and what was happening where ever he went..
They were open or inquisitive and willing to spend time and energy to get close to this set of events, the miracles of healing and restoration.
They were so open to witnessing what was happening that they did not start heading home even as the day was ending.
-- Then we have the other group.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law are educated men, right with God by ritual and practice.
- They are careful about their actions and serious about adhering to their traditions.
- They have God and what was acceptable for themselves and for God all figured out and placed in a pretty box.
It seems that their reason for seeking Jesus on this occasion was about making sure that this rabbi was legit. That he taught the right things and kept the traditions as defined for generations.
But this teacher’s closest students failed to keep a simple cleanliness ritual and that is all they seem to see.
It is almost like, Got-ya. Your students messed up on the simplest home taught cleanliness practice. EXPLAIN THAT!!!
This group doesn’t seem very open to me.
They seem to be ignoring the miraculous and impossible things that should be clear signs of God’s presence and activity.
They are disqualifying the good because of a kind of oversight in their understanding of the Traditions that they choose to keep.
The main topic of last week and for the next few weeks is to encourage everyone in our church to grasp some basic principles of how God shapes and leads us as individuals and ultimately as a church. Basically, evaluating If we can hear/feel/see God’s leading.
A key component of allowing God to work is being open to what he is doing in and for and especially around us.
It is keeping an openness to your current understanding of God.
-- People that are open to God grow in understanding.
When I was really young, my dad traveled a lot as a salesman. He was pretty successful with his job. I remember looking forward to him coming home from the longer trips.
I can still recall the excitement that come over me when Mom would say daddy’s home. I ran to meet him with shouts and giggles. Sometimes he brought little surprise gifts.
At that time I knew daddy as daddy. He was an enforcer of the rules. He was the giver of gifts. He was the teacher of skills like how to ride a bike. He was one of the people that I wanted to watch me ride or dive into the pool or other activity.
I wanted attention and closeness. I wanted a problem solver and a teacher.
I was open to whatever offer of time and talent that he could share.
Then I was a teen ager…We won’t go there for today. Let’s just say that I wanted less attention and direction and correction. I wanted fewer rules.
As an adult, I have a renewed openness to learning what my dad is like. I see with a different vision. My life journey has given me a different perspective of the gifts my earthly father provided and still provides.
What I want to express is that because I have not decided that I know it all. I can communicate with my dad and I get to know him and my mother with a mature perspective.
I can see their humor and know that they have pain and fears. Because I am open to knowing them I have learned that they still have hopes and dreams and offer prayers to God for me and my family.
I have not limited what I know about my parents to my child experiences. I have accepted more responsibility and offer more help because I have a more mature perspective.
-- Folks, we all must be open to the fact that we don’t know everything about God. We will never know everything.
However, all too often we decide that we know what God would want to happen in our lives, in the lives of our children and in our church.
We use our human vision and limitation to set limits.
We decide what our gifts are and set in our limits resisting new experiences, responsibilities and ideas.
We close off exposure to new actions of God and miss seeing the miraculous and exciting.
We close off any new or different kinds of presence and movement.
- If we accept the image of God as the potter, the designer, we understand He shapes our lives and creates us and our church to be a human vessel designed for His uses.
The call for this week is for us to understand that we are vessels that are not sealed like a 2 liter bottle. We should not attempt to contain what we know and can depend on about God.
It seems to me that the idea of a vessel, a bottle a container shaped by God is a great visual. But a bottle with no opening can be pretty on the outside but it has little or no use except to collect dust.
People place limits on God for several reasons.
- One is they become satisfied with what they have. They understand a set of rules and expectations and find it easy to stay in the bottle or box and they believe that God is content to stay there as well.
- Some people close off the container to keep what they have fresh for as long as possible. They want to contain the carbonation and keep junk out of the bottle.
That is a great goal, but it cannot match reality.
An example, I have a 2 Liter Diet coke in my office. Until this morning it was sealed. I heard the normal his of carbon dioxide as I turned the cap. I did not look for a date because I know that it was purchased last Wednesday. But I know that the coke-a-cola company puts a date on the bottle. It had a date of April 5th 2010.
From their experience the product in the bottle will maintain its expected flavor until at least that date.
From my personal experience I know that the longer time as passed beyond the stated date the worse the product will taste.
It may still be carbonated; it may technically be safe to drink. However, the chemical reaction will turn the product bitter and unpleasant even though completely sealed.
We should be open to receive what God chooses to fill us with. With that filling comes a growing understanding about God and His direction and plan for our lives. It is also not just a constant filling. At some point we are to be poured out.
If like the prophets we are hearing the VOICE of God in and for our lives, we seek his vision for our lives and we are prepared to be used, filled and poured out for God because we are open and usable by God.
I hope that you will chose to be open. I f you are sealed ask to be broken and poured out and useful to God
All Glory be to God!
