Calling To Those On The Fringe
Author: Pastor Mike Gutzler
Last Sunday was our first step into the Gospel of Mark. We noted that the first line of Mark had one special word: good news. Good news here is also the same word for Gospel, but it has a greater significance. The word for gospel was more traditionally used in Mark’s context for a communication brought by a messenger coming from a successful victory battlefield to a high-ranking general.
Keeping this in mind as a first-time reader of the Gospel of Mark, what we hear next in Mark is very important. The victory message of good news is about Jesus’ victory, victory over: 1) the powers that suppress life in this world, 2) the powers of sin (or brokenness of relationship), and 3) the restriction of access to God’s kingdom. These are all significant changes of how God interacts with world, and Jesus will do them while also building people up and spending additional time in spiritual renewal.
Now, this week in chapter 2, we start to hear about the ways God brings the heavenly kingdom into the earthly realm – through the forgiveness of sins. The first story is about a paralyzed man. The cultural understanding of sickness or physical pain was associated with sin. This is why for his context Jesus associates the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of physical well-being as the same thing. With forgiveness comes healing.
In the second story, a tax collector who was probably shunned by society for his line of work is called into this new way God is working in the world. God is opening the circle and including the people who previously were considered “unclean.” Jesus’ action to include sinners helps us all understand that God’s love includes all people, not just a select few “religious elites.”
The final note on our selection of Mark’s Gospel from chapter two speaks to wineskins and cloth. Notice how Jesus does not simply get rid of the old and embrace the new. Rather, Jesus finds value in all aspects of life and brings them into the new kingdom community he is establishing.
Looking forward to the second full week of the new year, today is a great opportunity for us to consider where God is opening the circle to people on the fringe or on the edges of our community – or maybe in our hearts. Is God calling you to a moment of forgiveness from over the holiday season? Is God calling you to bring the heavenly kingdom into your world with a gesture of love?