“So I’m going to try two things just to get your juices flowing. So the first thing I want to do, we’re in Mark, we’re still in the first nine chapters, so we’re mostly in and around Galilee. And we’ve said in chapter 10, he goes from Galilee to Jerusalem, and then chapter 11, he’s in Jerusalem basically to the end.
So it’s got a nice geographical break up, nine chapters, a transition chapter, and then the final five chapters. And if you know Mark, you know that chapter 16 ends very abruptly at the resurrection. And they were afraid, that’s the last word of Mark’s gospel, which people like to change, so they wrote a whole other edition at the end.
The two things that I want to introduce just to get your juices flowing, the first thing I want to do is I want to say something about this word CLAIM. And we’ve talked about Jesus’ authority again and again. So what we’re going to confront today is something very interesting, and it’s kind of an interesting way to go about Mark’s gospel.”
“So one of the things that Mark is acutely trying to do, especially at the beginning of his gospel, is to give us an incredibly broad and deep sense of Jesus’ authority. And we’ve talked about this again and again and again. We’ve talked about his authority in chapter four and chapter five and into the beginning of chapter six.
And you’ve got these four stories. So four ends with the stilling of the storm. Five begins with the garrisoned demoniac.
Then you get the story of Jairus’ daughter at the end of chapter five, which is interrupted by the woman with the issue of blood. And she’s healed. And then at the end of chapter five, you get the raising of Jairus’ daughter.
So you have Jesus’ authority over nature, stilling of the storm, peace be still. Jesus’ authority over evil and demonic, the garrisoned demoniac. Jesus’ authority over sickness, which is the woman with the issue of blood.”
“And then you have Jesus’ authority over death itself with the raising of Jairus’ daughter. And the whole point is Jesus Christ is Lord. So when Matthew’s gospel ends, before the Great Commission, I point this out all the time, the Great Commission is, go therefore into all nations and baptize them and teach them all that I’ve commanded you.
You know that very well. But what is often left out is what he says before that, which is, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And you remember one of my favorite illustrations of the Lordship of Jesus is one of the great Dutch theologians of all time [Abraham Kuyper] who’s speaking at the Free University of Amsterdam, and it’s at a secular university.
And he says in the middle of this lecture, in this very secular place, he says, there is not one square inch of the whole of creation where God does not say, this is mine, this belongs to me. So one of the things about the image that Jesus is being given in Mark is, he has an authority and he makes a claim. And this is the thing about meeting Jesus…the Jesus that you meet in Mark’s Gospel is anything but safe, right? They don’t feel safe in the back of the boat, the Gerasene demoniac doesn’t feel safe, and Jairus doesn’t feel safe with his daughter getting ready to die and then she actually dies. So there’s this huge claim and it’s again and again, Jesus has claim over the, over the synagogue, he has claim over the, my father’s house is being made a den of robbers.
He has claim over the Old Testament scriptures. So Jesus Christ is Lord, but it’s not a neutral Lord. It’s Jesus Christ is king.
One of my favorite lines from the Book of Acts is, these people are proclaiming that, that there’s another king and that everything belongs to him. They’re, they’re proclaiming not that Caesar is king, but that Jesus is king. So they’re, they’re seditious.”
“That was one of the accusations of the early Christians, is these people are completely seditious and undermining the public order, because they’re proclaiming that somebody else, aside from our government, has ultimate authority. And that’s a constant theme. Now, here’s the thing about this morning’s text that’s so important is, what I want to do is just for a second, I want to combine this idea with a counter idea.
And the counter idea is this. So Jesus makes claim, Jesus has authority, Jesus Christ is Lord. So this is a positive affirmation, right?
Okay, now, here’s, this is us, okay? We don’t have any claim. So part of the power of what Mark is trying to portray is, not just that Jesus has a claim over absolutely everything, right, but that at the same time we do not have any claim….
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Jesus said to the Canaanite woman, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” -Matthew 15:28 #GospeloftheDay “Jesus and the Woman of Canaan” by Michael Angelo Immenraet (1673) #CatholicArt pic.twitter.com/F3FKNVXoNi
— Lady of Good Counsel (@ofgoodcounsel) August 7, 2019
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