A look at the gaps in the lectionary.
This week: the gap between Trinity Sunday and Proper 4B
The text: Mark 1:1-2:22
We return to Ordinary Time catching the story near its beginning. We recall that Mark’s gospel begins with a proclamation, then the baptism and temptation in the wilderness. Then the calling of the first disciples. And before we know it, he is bursting onto the scene.
The beginning of Jesus’s ministry in Mark is notable for its quick drama. Right after calling the first disciples, Jesus is exorcising a demon. Then he attends to Simon Peter and Andrew’s Mother-in-law and to many more in the community. And after that, he’s a on a preaching tour.
The action in Mark is fast-paced. But it is also notable. And not just because Jesus is a healer, because there were other healers. Or because he was a prophet, because there were other prophets. It is notable because it all feels different. There is an edge to Jesus’s ministry—and it reveals the edges of the existing practices.
And those edges start to cut right away as we turn the page to chapter two.
He heals a paralytic.
But he doesn’t just heal him. He forgives him. And it doesn’t say why or for what. It really doesn’t matter. The fact is that he does it and the “good” religious people think that’s not something he should be doing.
Why?
Because that’s something God does. Not some dude.
And Jesus responds by suggesting that it’s probably a whole lot harder to ask a person to walk than to seek forgiveness. But oh well. We can do that too. And BAM, the dude gets forgiveness and the ability to walk.
Jesus hangs with tax collectors.
Of course, Jesus isn’t done. He goes and hangs with some tax collectors. He even calls one to follow him, Levi.
Guess what the religious authorities think of that? You’re right! They don’t like it very much. In fact, they think the whole thing is sinful.
Jesus is like, who do you think needs God more than sinners?
Why aren’t your followers fasting?
Then the critics notice none of the disciples are fasting at the proper times. They question Jesus’s teaching and leadership. Clearly he’s doing something wrong if they aren’t fasting like they’re supposed to.
And Jesus shoots back that it seems silly to fast now when there is no need to because they’ll be pretty much only fasting once he’s gone.
[Did the disciples catch that one? Yikes!]
The table is set.
All of this critique of Jesus isn’t idle rules-lawyering. It is the substance of the revolutionary mindset that Jesus offers. And it is the natural response of people who don’t get the appeal.
It also sets the table for what we will cover this week about the Sabbath, which really is the granddaddy of commandments.
And our vantage point, from within the church is often to side with Jesus and to understand him. Or at least to give him the benefit of the doubt. Which is really the best policy, anyway.
But it is wise to note just how the repeated transgressive behavior of Jesus is bothering the rules-obsessed. And know exactly where it will get him in the end.