Jesus' Counter-culture Mission

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them,

 “If any want to become my followers, 

let them deny themselves and 

take up their cross and follow me."

(from Mark 8:31-38)

Carrying the cross through village of Swanton, Vt. was an annual event.

The pastors and members of the village churches met on the green preparing to carry a wooden cross from church-to-church reading scriptures and prayers at each stop.

This procession portrays Jesus carrying the cross to his death on Golgotha thus ending his holy mission.

In the pain and tumult of our times, without searching the Scriptures, it’s hard to see God making things right.

If Jesus’ mission was suffering and dying to save us from the sins of the world, the violence following the Kansas City Chief’s victory parade indicates a misunderstood message.

The culture of the Kansas City Chief’s parade was violence coming from a broken society.

Jesus’ mission, I feel, was a counter-culture mission.

Jesus’ counter-culture mission is bringing peace into violence and wholeness into brokenness. (Isaiah 1:17) (Zechariah 7:9-10) (Deuteronomy 10:18)

Jesus’ faithfulness to establishing God’s counter-culture reign on earth, disrupted the established culture and led to his death on the cross.

When Jesus says to the crowd that one faithfully taking up this counter-culture cross may lose their life, but they will also gain it, (Mark 10:39) they probably knew of James’ and Peter’s martyrdom.

There will be a time, Jesus says when the faithful will re-gather as disciples and be empowered for the holy work of the counter-culture mission.

To be a follower of Jesus’ counter-culture mission, he says, is actually participating in this holy work.

Think about it: In what ways do you sometimes argue with Jesus’ priorities and values? Why? What helps you stop?

 

Chocolates and Temptation

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan;

and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

( from Mark 1:9-15)

I am unquestionably a chocolate lover.

That’s why Snowflakes Chocolates in Jericho, Vt. gets a huge order of truffles, Santa faces, angels, and nonpareils for Christmas.

It’s why I scan the baked goods at coffee time for chocolate goodies.

So, it may seem when I announce to the congregation that I’m giving up chocolate for Lent, it’s a big sacrifice.

Temptations follow the announcement as folks goad me by adding chocolate items to the refreshment table.

Will I or won’t I succumb to their temptations?

I am also unquestionably one who “searches the Scriptures”, as Wesley called it.

In the pain and tumult of our times, I am longing for God to set things right.

So, I search the scriptures looking beyond chocolate to a non-chocolate reality to holy disruption where God is setting things right.

My first indication of God setting things right is Jesus’ baptism.

The heavens are torn open; a Divine voice speaks; the Spirit descends immediately casting Jesus out into the wilderness to confront Satan’s temptations.

This is a forty-day, life-or-death struggle in the wilderness of vulnerability.

Another indication of God setting things right is Jesus’ struggle in the wilderness, where wild beasts show up and Angels minister to him.

Emerging unscathed from that test and struggle, Jesus begins preaching the gospel of God saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news”

Jesus is announcing God’s purposes in the coming reign: the healings, the freedom from bondage to evil, forgiveness, and the call to transformation.

As I long for God to set things right, I keep my eyes on Jesus as live under God's reign, envisioning that future.

Think About It: The voice from heaven calls Jesus “Beloved.” What does Jesus’ belovedness mean to you?

The Voice from the Cloud

Then a cloud overshadowed them,

and from the cloud there came a voice,

“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

(From Mark 9:2-9)

My mountaintop experience began when a good friend of mine, John, asked if I’d like to go with him on an overnight to the Lake of the Clouds hut on the Appalachian Trail.

Sure.

We drove up the Mt. Washington Toll Road, it’s own exciting adventure! 

A very dense cloud at the summit making the trail to the hut a challenge.

We began the 1.5-mile hike over a clouded, rocky trail arriving at the hut in about 45 minutes.

After spending the night among other hikers, we returned to the fogged in summit.

I’m not sure how we would have reacted if a voice came out of the wind and clouds, but I can guarantee you, we wouldn’t have pitched a tent!

It is no accident that this story takes place on a mountain.

This story takes place on a mountain top because ancient civilizations understood mountains as heaven and earth’s meeting place.

The Bible, understands mountains as places for epiphanies, like the stories Moses’ burning bush and Elijah's’ mighty wind.

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the mountaintop where his clothes turn dazzlingly white.

In this epiphany, Moses and Elijah are talking with Jesus.

Peter, James, and John hear a voice talking to them: “This is my Son the Beloved. Listen to him.”

The significance of this revelation is to reinforce the work of the disciples in the face of suffering and pain, or healings gone awry.

As Martha Simmons wrote, “where the sweet by and by meets the nasty here and now.”

For me this vision is a salvation story pointing to hope beyond today’s reality of pain and brokenness to a healed tomorrow.

Think about it: Peter, James and John saw Jesus on the mountain top. Where do you see Jesus?

"Being Raised Up By Jesus"

Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever,

and they told him about her at once.

He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.

Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

(from Mark 1:29-39 )

During a small group healing service, there was request to have a little boy’s bad cold healed.

The next morning, the person making the request called me asking, “has the cold gone away?

The expectation was that since God hears prayers and God answers prayers, the little boy would be healed by the next morning.

However, the prayer request and phone call missed the message.

Understanding this healing story begins in Mark 1:1; “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

In Mark’s healing stories, details matter.

It matters that Jesus takes the woman by the hand and he “raised her up”, because “raising up” makes this is a resurrection story.

It matters that the fever “leaves her”, just as the demons leave in of Mark’s stories.

It matters that, having been raised, she “serves” them, because to serve at a table is also to do ministry because “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve”

It matters that there are no individual healings in Mark, because the healings repair relationships.

She is a symbol of resurrection and an example of Christian ministry.

The Good News of Jesus Christ continues in this healing story because as we are released from our illness, we are free to carry on our service to Jesus.