The Daily Office: 3rd Week of Lent

Mon. – Mark 5:21-43
Tue. – Mark 6:1-13
Wed. – Mark 6:13-29
Thurs. – Mark 6:30-46
Fri. – Mark 6:47-56
Sat. – Mark 7:1-23

There are two broad themes in this section of Mark's Gospel. One is the constant opposition that Jesus meets, which persists even in the face of the incredible power he displays. From his hometown neighbors to kings to the religious leaders; even his own disciples' "hearts were hardened" in the same way that Jesus's enemies hardened their hearts. How might such opposition play itself out today?

Can we be too parochial, so caught up in the small struggles of our little community that we fail to look up and see our connection to the wider world? Can we become too smug in the perceived superiority of our community that we look down on others too far away for us to see up close, to see that they really aren't that different from us? Can we, like Herod, be too caught up in ourselves, our needs, to do the right thing even when we know it? It's been said that the last seven words of the Creed are: "We have always done it this way." Are there religious traditions to which we are too attached? Traditions that are so dear to us that we they have blinded us to the simplicity of doing mercy?

The other theme is that of the "unclean" and the "defiled." It is important to note that in Jesus's time, these two concepts were not so much moral as ritual. To be "unclean" meant that you had somehow come into contact with God. That was especially true if you were bleeding, for the life that God gave every living thing was in the blood itself. The power of God was uncontrollable and dangerous. Those who came into contact with blood could not be allowed to have contact with the rest of the community. They were isolated and alone. To be "defiled" meant "to be made common," to no longer be holy, set apart by God for God's purposes.

In both cases, Jesus blows away the barriers to community that human beings have created. We need not fear the power of God. In the words of the hymn: "The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine." Whatever you fear to show God for fear of the flame, do not worry. God's fire will only warm, not burn. And indeed, the whole world is alive with the fire of God. There is no distinction between the holy and the common. God is waiting for you out there. Keep the eyes of your heart open wherever you go today, and all days.