I'm going to be
straight-up as we move into this next section. Not everyone will be like-minded
as it relates to verse 45. Theologians, scholars, clergy, people,… they're all
over the place. That's okay. Differing opinions and thoughts help us dig deep
in our understanding of Christ's teaching and message, and in our faith.
To the quick… the other
ten disciples are none too happy with James and John -- seeking positions of
power (which they themselves might have done had they jumped at the chance).
Another teaching moment arises.
It's intriguing Jesus
would incorporate "the Gentiles" in what he says. Yet the disciples
can certainly relate to "rulers lord it over them" and "great
ones are tyrants over them." How so?
Think back in history when
the nation of Israel had been destroyed by the Babylonian empire. Many people
were taken by force to Babylon. Israel experienced oppression under tyrants and
rulers who lorded it over them. Books of the Old Testament -- 2 Chronicles, 2 Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekial,
Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah -- deal
with the time leading up to the fall, the destruction of Jerusalem, the
Babylonian captivity, the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile.
Think back to what was
happening in the first century. Israel was experiencing oppression at the hands
of Rome.
Was there a correlation
between these two experiences? If interpreted through a religious lens of the
past, oppression happened because of Israel's unrighteousness in relation to
God.
Jesus then reiterates none
of them are to lord it over anyone. They are here to serve, not to be
served. Therein lies greatness.
It reminds me of Jeremiah 29:7,
when God says to those suffering under Babylonian rule, "Seek the peace
and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the
Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." [i]
God says, "'Be so
sacrificially loving that the people around you, who don't believe what you
believe, will soon be unable to imagine the place without you. They'll trust
you because they see that you're not only out for yourself, but out for them,
too. When they voluntarily begin to look up to you because of the
attractiveness of your service and love, you'll have real influence. It will be
an influence given to you by others, not taken by you from others.'" [ii]
An Aside…
In the March-April 2013
issue of New World Outlook magazine,
Thomas Kemper (the General Secretary of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries) wrote an insightful commentary titled "The Theology Behind
Disaster Relief, Recovery" of which I share a small portion.
John Wesley built into Methodism the conviction that
all people need the grace of God to be redeemed. This has special application
for church members who set out to do "good works." It is a reminder
that the helpers -- the funders and the cleanup teams -- are not superior in
divine favor to those being assisted. To follow Jesus in servanthood to others
is to be baptized in humility. …To us, disasters are opportunities for service,
inviting us to our highest levels of compassion and concern. The theology of
presence requires few words.
Beautifully stated and
applicable to that which Jesus spoke. "For the Son of Man came not to be
served but to serve,…"
"…and to give his life a ransom for many."
In the
"traditional" viewpoint, Jesus died for our sins. He shed his blood
to make a payment, a ransom. It was an atonement. And by his death, Jesus saved
humanity from eternal damnation.
In the books of the Old Testament,
blood was shed for the atonement of sins. This would be etched in the minds of
those living in first-century Israel. As Chapter 11 of MARK reveals, sacrifice and
blood were integral in regard to Temple practice.
In the central section of
MARK, three passion predictions have been provided: 8:31, 9:30-32, 10:32-34. In
these predictions, did Jesus say he had to die for the sins of the world? No. Jesus
will die in Jerusalem at the hands of whom? The "authorities." The
"chief priests, elders, and scribes." The arrow is pointed at whom?
On the authorities and… on the Temple.
Some will say though,
"Jesus gave the reason for his death after the third prediction. As a
ransom for many." Okay. Let's consider that.
If I were to take someone
who meant the world to you, kidnapped them, and if I told you money would be
required to free the captive, then the payment would be considered
"ransom." Yes? Let's look at Leviticus 25:51-52. Here indentured servants could buy out their redemption, their
freedom, from another person's ownership. What's the connection? The word
"lutron."
"The Greek word translated
as 'ransom' (lutron) is used in the
Bible not in the context of payment for sin, but to refer to payment made to
liberate captives (often from captivity in war) or slaves (often from debt
slavery). A lutron is a means of
liberation from bondage." [iii] I'll have more to add
about lutron later.
So, did Jesus describe his
death as "a ransom"? Yes. But to whom was the payment made? Well,
this is enlightening. "From Origen [of Alexandria] to Gregory of Nyssa to
Gregory the Great [among many others] to finally Peter the Lombard were
theories upon theories. Peter the Lombard brings this idea to its most
grotesque and repulsive. 'The Cross,' he said, 'was a mousetrap to catch the
devil, baited with the blood of Christ.'" [iv] Now that's cold theology!
The Cross was baited with the blood of Christ to trick the devil?!?
Then Anslem of Canterbury in
1097 stated this theory gave the devil too much power in the story. Jesus' life
wasn't paid as a ransom to the devil; it was paid to God. And the Protestant
Reformers ran with this theory. All of us have sinned against God and are
guilty. Only if the perfect sacrifice is made can we (and our sins) be
forgiven. That perfect sacrifice is the perfect human, Jesus. Thus, "Jesus
is the substitute who satisfied God's wrath by undergoing the punishment that
we all deserve." [v] "Only in the 11th
century did (the atonement sacrifice) come to dominate western Christian
theology." [vi]
So God requires blood?
The wrath of God, justice,
the payment of debt, punishment,… the ancients understood those ideas. This was
the framework from which they worked, from which they understood. Note however "sacrifice"
took on a different meaning for Jesus.
To serve means to sacrifice.
Those two go hand-in-hand. We give of ourselves for others. And Jesus states
this at the beginning of verse 45. He came to serve. Which means he came
to sacrifice of himself for others. To give his life in service to others. And
yes, he offered his life up as a gift to God. A lutron for many.
Jesus knew how this was
going to end if he continued on the path to Jerusalem. We are passionate for
causes; we sacrifice for causes. Jesus was passionate not just for causes but for
the kingdom of God, sharing the Good News with all. If he stopped here, on this
path, the message would die right there. Only if he saw it through to the end,
would the message continue to live and break through the Temple theology that
claimed it had a monopoly on God.
Jesus was willing to put
himself on the line so we could have direct access to God. That was in his
message of Good News. Jesus giving of himself, willing to sacrifice himself for
all of us, was an anti-Temple statement.
"For the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a means of
liberation for many."
Jesus was not only setting
free Israel from the bondage of the covenant and sin, but he was including
Gentiles among "the many." There
is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer
male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. [vii] What a liberating,
radical grace!
Wherever you are in the
thought process with verse 45, I'll share what William Barclay wrote, which I
believe puts us at the table together. "It cost the life of Jesus
to bring [humanity] back from their sin into the love of God. It means that the
cost of our salvation was the Cross of Christ. Beyond that we cannot go, and
beyond that we do not need to go. We know only that something happened on the
Cross which opened for us the way to God." [viii]
NEXT
The streets of Jericho;
blind faith; from beggar to disciple
[i]
Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV)
[ii]
Jesus The King, Keller -- p. 163
[iii]
"Jesus' Death: Ransom or Sacrifice?", Borg and Crossan
[iv]
The Gospel of Mark, Barclay -- pp. 258-259
[v]
Speaking Christian, Borg -- p. 98
[vi]
Jewish Annotated New Testament, p. 82
[vii]
Galatians 3:28 (NRSV)
[viii]
The Gospel of Mark, Barclay -- p. 259
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