Numbers 4-5, Psalm 41, Mark 15
Mark's Gospel has always been my favorite, so I concentrate on it today. There is such accelerated energy throughout it. It's as if Mark is so excited to tell the story that the words cannot come out of his mouth fast enough. It's like one run-on sentence connected by "and then," "immediately," and "at once." This energy comes alive in a performance of the Gospel done by Max McLean, produced by the Fellowship of the Performing Arts. To understand my emphasis today, I encourage you to experience this energetic presentation of Mark 15 (and links to the rest of Mark's Gospel) at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF8XvmyWxjo&list=UUBz5uJ-Bz7hrMV5M12Mqh7g&index=2
As we come to the completion of Jesus' mission in Mark 15 today, the accelerated way in which Mark shares the story with us continues -- except at one point. The time at which Pilate decides to release Barabbas instead of Jesus, there is a slowing down of the action, a tragedic pause in the Shakespearean sense, where the character (Pilate), with a potential for greatness, chooses the easy way out, and thereby goes down in history with the King Lears, MacBeths, and Hamlets of the world. They all had a potential for greatness, but their hubris, their excessive pride, gave them not only pause, but in the end prevented them from making the heroic decisions they could have made.
For me, it links so well with another potential hero that we heard about in church yesterday from Luke 13. Jesus is now the one who pauses. After he has set his face towards Jerusalem, now he overlooks that city and weeps, full knowing that the heroic choice that he is making, will not be made by many others.
We all have our moments of pause before the metaphorical angry crowds or Jerusalems before us. We stare straight into the face of the obstacles, painful confrontations that we must have with ourselves, our God, and with each other, the "speaking the truth in love" that we have put off for far too long, even the addictive behaviors that chain us before that crowd and that hillside. Yet the only way we will find the freedom of becoming our true selves is to ignore the crowd, journey from the hillside down the valley and into the city. Whatever that angry crowd or Jerusalem represents in your life today, I beg you to make a heroic choice. It is the only way we will be able to echo the psalmist's words, "You have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever" (Psalm 41: 12).
The Rev. Marty Zlatic
Rector, St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, Boynton Beach
Mark's Gospel has always been my favorite, so I concentrate on it today. There is such accelerated energy throughout it. It's as if Mark is so excited to tell the story that the words cannot come out of his mouth fast enough. It's like one run-on sentence connected by "and then," "immediately," and "at once." This energy comes alive in a performance of the Gospel done by Max McLean, produced by the Fellowship of the Performing Arts. To understand my emphasis today, I encourage you to experience this energetic presentation of Mark 15 (and links to the rest of Mark's Gospel) at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF8XvmyWxjo&list=UUBz5uJ-Bz7hrMV5M12Mqh7g&index=2
As we come to the completion of Jesus' mission in Mark 15 today, the accelerated way in which Mark shares the story with us continues -- except at one point. The time at which Pilate decides to release Barabbas instead of Jesus, there is a slowing down of the action, a tragedic pause in the Shakespearean sense, where the character (Pilate), with a potential for greatness, chooses the easy way out, and thereby goes down in history with the King Lears, MacBeths, and Hamlets of the world. They all had a potential for greatness, but their hubris, their excessive pride, gave them not only pause, but in the end prevented them from making the heroic decisions they could have made.
For me, it links so well with another potential hero that we heard about in church yesterday from Luke 13. Jesus is now the one who pauses. After he has set his face towards Jerusalem, now he overlooks that city and weeps, full knowing that the heroic choice that he is making, will not be made by many others.
We all have our moments of pause before the metaphorical angry crowds or Jerusalems before us. We stare straight into the face of the obstacles, painful confrontations that we must have with ourselves, our God, and with each other, the "speaking the truth in love" that we have put off for far too long, even the addictive behaviors that chain us before that crowd and that hillside. Yet the only way we will find the freedom of becoming our true selves is to ignore the crowd, journey from the hillside down the valley and into the city. Whatever that angry crowd or Jerusalem represents in your life today, I beg you to make a heroic choice. It is the only way we will be able to echo the psalmist's words, "You have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever" (Psalm 41: 12).
The Rev. Marty Zlatic
Rector, St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, Boynton Beach
RSS Feed