The last couple of weeks we’ve been working at the inductive method in the Jesus Class. Observe. Interpret. Apply. We spent an hour or so looking at Mark chapter 6. Give it a read if you have a minute – here’s a link to the text:

Mark 6:1-32 Jesus rejected in his hometown. The Twelve sent out in mission. Flashback to John the Baptist’s execution!

The class did a great job coming up with questions that drew out the application issues from this text. What do we make of people being rejected for directly obeying Jesus? Was John the Baptist’s example of costly obedience relevant for our faith today? Here are a few samples of the kind of questions we collected from class:

1. Why do we insist on doing so many thing in isolation as Christians when Jesus set such a strategic pattern for us of sending people in pairs?
2. How could everything we do be improved by working in teams and pairs?
3. Has Jesus really empowered me to actually heal sick people today? Why or why not?
4. Am I actually more like the people in Jesus hometown than I want to admit? In what ways does familiarity with Jesus dull my belief in him?
5. How does my lack of faith affect God’s ability to work in my life and in the life of those around me?
6. Why do I struggle so much to be available to Jesus when he looks for someone to “send on assignment”?
7. What are the actual fears and excuses that prevent us from obeying?
8. Could I persevere in the face of actual persecution for my faith or would it shut me down? Explain.
9. Where am I putting my security other than in Jesus?
10. What would I be willing to give up in order to obey God?
11. What is Jesus asking you to sacrifice in order to spread the Gospel?
12. Why do I have such a hard time trusting what Jesus tells me?
13. Why is it that the people you grow up with are the ones most skeptical and hardest to connect with?
14. What might be preventing Jesus from doing miracles in my life?
15. Am I willing to do without creature comforts for the sake of the cause of Christ?
16. How can God’s path or plan for us coincide with the free will he gave us? Why does it ultimately matter whether or not we pray?
17. What would I do if people close to me reject me for trying to share my faith with them? How can I talk about my faith without unnecessarily offending?
18. Does worrying mean I have no faith?
19. What do I do if Christians around me aren’t helping me follow Jesus with my choices?
20. Would I be willing to risk everything in order to follow Jesus?
21. Is my view of Jesus too small?
22. What habits do I have that stand in the way of trusting Jesus?
23. How great would by life be if I really did hand it over to Jesus’ control?
24. What does it mean to be truly teachable?
25. Jesus told us to scatter the seed everywhere – why am I so afraid of throwing it out there to the “hard soil” people?
26. Who are you more comfortable sharing the Gospel with – close family and friends or mere acquaintances?
27. Can I trust Jesus with my financial issues?
28. Are there parts of my life Jesus can’t touch because of my total lack of faith?
29. Who do I identify with more: Herod – powerful, comfortable yet compromised by status; or John the Baptist – humble, pennyless yet boldly pointing people to Jesus and living right before God? Explain.

We’ve been talking at CCC about Jesus and Power. The claim that Jesus was divine gains more and more credibility the longer one looks at how he actually handled power. He was incredibly unique and exasperatingly unpredictable. Then and now.

In the Jesus class we’ve been churning through the opening chapters of Mark’s biographical witness-narrative of Jesus. No where is it clearer that Jesus was alarmingly powerful and absolutely brilliant in his style of using that power. Take Mark’s first literary sandwich. If you don’t know what a Mark sandwich is, here’s a great previous post to check out:

What’s a Mark Sandwich?

Mark is using the editorial cut almost like a screenplay to show us a very gripping scene of Jesus and his power. A scene about his family coming to take control of him, rapidly cuts to an argument Jesus has with the Jerusalem Teachers of the Law over his ability to cast out demons. Then cuts back to his family. Mark is showing us perhaps one of the most tense moments in the whole Gospel! And its all about power and authority.

Jesus’ family and the Jerusalem Jews have made the same mistake about Jesus. Both groups for different reasons assume they are in a position of authority over Jesus. Both are dangerously wrong about what is motivating Jesus. The family attributes his behavior to megalomania, thinking that he’s out of his mind. The teachers of the law actually have the audacity to implicate his power with Satan. That’s the last straw. Jesus goes ballistic. And tells a ballistic parable to confront their supreme ignorance and presumption. You’ve got to read it:

Jesus Has a Demon? Mark 3:20-35

Both groups are badly wrong about Jesus’ power. Both groups get a face-full of correction! The teachers of the law are warned that if they don’t change their mind about attributing Jesus’ power to Satan they risk permanent damnation! Yes you herd it right – Jesus meek and mild, not only with the authority to forgive sin, but with the authority to NEVER forgive sin! That’s not my idea of a tame, loving Jesus!

The family also gets a rude awakening when Jesus publicly redefines family. Family = whoever does God’s will. Jesus’ biological family actually thought he was insane! A more forgivable misjudgment than “Jesus you are demon possessed”. But nonetheless – if I were one of Jesus blood brothers that day, I would have felt pretty stupid for ever spreading the impression that Jesus was mentally unstable! Even his mom missed the boat on this one!

Watch out, people. This is not the Jesus of your childhood Sunday school class. This is Jesus, God of the universe. When you say something about him, better get it right! Don’t ever pretend Jesus is beneath your dignity or intelligence. You may regret it very badly!

We’ve been having a blast studying Mark’s biography of Jesus each week in Jesus Class. Last week we encountered the first of several examples of the Mark Sandwich. Mark tends to take a piece of one story and weave it into another in order to create a more interesting story line. Much the same thing happens all the time when you watch a movie that skillfully cuts one scene to another then flashes back to the first.

Here are a few helpful comments from gospels scholar R.T. France on the Sandwich:

“Mark’s gospel was designed for oral transmission – and for transmission as a continuous whole rather than for private study or silent reading. Various features of Mark’s style seem to reflect such a purpose notably his more expansive story telling manner… Such features make for a more memorable text, and make it easier for the listener, who does not have the option of stopping and turning back to refresh his or her memory, to keep the flow of the narrative in mind. The ‘sandwich’ technique is a well-tried device of the popular raconteur in order to hold the audience’s attention.”

“Mark is a master at the narrative art of sandwiching one story or scene within another (also called interpolation, intercalation, dovetailing, framing, etc). Most of Mark’s sandwiches are created by the interweaving of contemporary events in such a way that one helps to interpret the other. Notable examples are the enclosure of the scribal accusation that Jesus is in league with the devil within the story of his own family’s attempt to restrain him because they thought he was mad (Mk 3:21-35), the more complex interweaving of the destruction of the fig tree with the demonstration against the ‘fruitless temple’ (Mk 11:11-27), and the parallel scenes of the trial of Jesus and the ‘trial’ of Peter which are interwoven (Mk 14:53-15:1).”

“Not only does he enclose one story within another, but he likes to set up parallel scenes and move the spotlight successively between them. This is a proven narrative and dramatic technique, to maintain interest and to allow the reader/hearer to gain a wider perspective on the constituent elements of the story, placing one alongside another so that they become mutually illuminating.”

The Gospel of Mark (NIGTC) – by R. T. France (pp 9-10, 18-19).