On the original ending of Mark

 Today we finished reading the gospel of Mark. I'm glad that we started with Mark instead of Matthew this year because even though Matthew is the first book of the New Testament listed, most scholars believe that Mark was the first gospel written. 

And it's the shortest. On that note, the ending of Mark is fascinating to me. Your Bible probably says something like this after chapter 16 verse 8:

"The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnessess do not have Mark 16:9-20".

Biblical scholars say that the oldest manuscripts we have of Mark end at verse 8, and the addition of what we have as verses 9-20 were probably added in the 2nd century, about 200 years later. Now of course I believe that these verses were all inspired by the Holy Spirit and intended to give us a clearer picture of Jesus resurrection, ascension, and mission for the Church, but today I was just pondering the original (oldest) ending of the Gospel of Mark.

"Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They saiud nothing to anyone, because they were afraid" (Mark 16:8)

Trembling, bewildered, silent, and fearful. This is how Mark ends the story of Jesus resurrection. Those aren't words we ususally use on Easter Sunday when we preach about this!

And yet, those were the feelings of the first followers of Jesus. And in historical context, those feelings made sense. 

But here is what I was thinking today, these women knew that Jesus was risen and they stilll felt this way. They knew where Jesus would be (Galilee), but they still felt this way. 

And to be honest, sometimes I do too. 

And yet in  spite of the feelings I have in my circumstances, Christ is still risen, and Christ has gone on ahead of me and is waiting for me. 

When you have those feelings, and I think we all will, remember that even though the oldest manuscripts of Mark ended there, there is more to the story, there is more to do. Even feeling bewildered or fearful we are still called to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15). 

Maybe you think your story has ended in a certain place, maybe like in verse 8 with bewilderment, fear, and trembling. But God has more to write about your story than that. Just because that's the way the story has ended for others in your family, does not mean that is the way it has to end for you. 

So, to use the Bible verse I asked our youth to memorize at Resurrection, let me end with these words from Jesus, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid, believe in God, believe also in me." (John 14:1)

Amen. 

Odin and Er

 

Many of us are on our 2nd consecutive (at least!) time of reading through the Bible in a year as part of our Bishop's Read Together initiative for 2023.

I hope that as you read,  some things in Gods Word are clearer to you, but I also hope that some things still make you stop and give pause.

Genesis has some of the greatest stories in the Old Testsment, and some of the hardest to understand as well.

In today's reading for example, let's think about how God kills people, because after all, that is the wording in our Bibles.

Genesis 38:7 "But Er, Judahs firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight, so the Lord put him to death."

That's all we know about Er, just that he was wicked. He was married to a woman named Tamar, who his father had arranged for him.  What was the degrading wickedness of Er that brought about his death? What did he do that was so awful that God killed  him? I wish I knew so that I had a heads up on what would make God that angry! But, all we have is this. He was wicked.

The next 2 verses recount Judah telling Odin, Er's brother, to sleep with Tamar so that she would get pregnant.

And while this sounds incredibly strange to our ears, this actually came from Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. 7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

The mandate was to ensure the propagation of the tribal name. Family was everything. And the family name was to die for. Humiliation would have come from a brother who did not fulfill the familial requirements. 

But Odin did not want to do this since the child would still be considered his brothers child by the family, so "he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight, so the Lord put him to death also".

2 brothers killed by God in 4 verses.  One for an unidentified wickedness, the other for not sleeping with his dead brothers widow. 

What do we do with these? I think most people skip over them, knowing that at some point the love of of God will return in another story, and we move past all this divine killing. But I think this is tragic to do, for Er and Odin, and for us. 

One thing I try to hold onto as I read hard passages like this is to view them through the lens of Jesus.  God has never changed,  God is love. Even in relation to Er and Odin. If you read one verse and it doesn't seem to fit with who God is and the nature and character of God, then don't force that verse into God, rather look a little harder for what we might learn about ourselves for a verse that says something like, The Lord killed him. 

I have said before that i take the Bible too seriously to take every word literally. I love the Bible in as much as it points me to the love of God. I love the Bible as it shows me my sin and how I can recieve forgiveness in Jesus name. I love the Bible as it shows me how to live with and love my neighbor through Jesus's teachings and actions. I spend time every day reading, studying, and praying through these sacred texts as they illuminate God's will for my life.

I believe wholeheartedly that the writer(s) of Genesis believed that Odin was struck down by God for not getting Tamar pregnant (which by the way led Tamar to pose as a town prostitute and seduce her father in law to sleeping with her, which apparently he did and never even realized it was her...and she became pregnant with twins!).

Perhaps Odin died, and the logical thought at the time was that this must have been because of what he didn't do. After all, that story would have definitely gotten around the family table by now! Life and death were viewed as direct results of God's hand and His will. If a person was born it was because God planned it, and if a person died it was because God took them. We don't see life and death quite that black and white anymore, do we? 

I think of all the funerals I have presided over, especially where an untimely or unexpected death had occurred. I never said the person died because they had sinned.  I never said that this loved one died because the Lord put them to death. And I never said that the Lord took them, or that the Lord needed them more than we did.

I never said those things because I simply don't believe them in relation to the God I know and love and am trying to follow in my day to day life. We live in a broken world. There is sin. There is disease. There are genetic health issues that are passed on to children, from fathers to sons. And people die. Just like my brother Chuck and my sister Charlene. Just like my mom and my father in law. Just like Odin and Er.

There is wickedness in the world. But there is also righteousness. There is pain in the world, but there is also hope.

And so I believe that God so loved the world long before He sent His only begotten Son (John 3), that God so loved the world before God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1), that God loved what He would create even before He created (John 1). And so I believe there was love for Odin and Er. Where are these 2 men today? Are they in the eternal presence of God or are they eternally separated from God? Only God knows, but I trust in His grace goodness, after all, that's all that has helped me make it this far in my life.

So keep reading,  keep studying, keep asking questions,  and keep close to the Lord of creation, the Lord of Scripture, and the Lord of your life. In Jesus name. 

At that time...

 I love reading the read through the Bible plans. There are so many, and some have worked better for me than others, but, to sound cliche, every time I do this I find something that hits me in a new way. 

Like today:

"At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord"- Genesis 4:26b

It's only 1/2 of a verse, but said a lot to me today. And part of what I heard this morning was taking the Scriptures in context. This half a verse sounds great, it sounds like something that would be on a t-shirt or coffee cup. I mean, it would make a great new year's hashtag, #callonthenameoftheLord

It sounds, well, hopefull. In fact I have heard that this is a revival verse. That prior to this, as Adam and Eve, and Cain all had recorded conversations with the Lord in Scripture, those were personal, and this verse was communal. This verse was pointing to the fact that a new way of worshipping the Lord was emerging, people calling on the name of the Lord in a new way for the first time. What a great new year verse!

But, then there is the sticky little issue of context. 

This sentence ends what our Bibles list as chapter 4. Chapter 4 is a hard chapter, it contains the first murder in human history, a brother kills a brother over jealousy and pride. Then that brother, Cain, is ostracized from the community, sent out alone with his family. And as that family grows there is another murderer listed in the geneology, Lamech, who is the first man recorded as having 2 wives, and Lamech killed a man for wounding man. 

Chapter 5 is a geneological insert into the story to get us to the birth of Noah, in whose lifetime humaninty had hit degrading lows, and a masive flood would almost bring the creation of the human race to extiction. 

"At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord". 

Hebraic commentators say that the verb "began" in that verse actually means "began to profane". 

At that time human beings began to profane the name of the Lord. That makes more sense, I think. This is not a verse speaking of revival, this is a verse hinting at how self centered mankind had become, turning away from God, profaning even the holy name of the Lord. Which will soon bring us to the flood. 

Now, I do understand some of these stories in the beginning of Genesis (particularly chapters 1-11) to be more instructive than historical. This is not a biology book or a history book. These are sacred stories set down to instruct us and reflect to us an image of ourselves, and more importantly an image of God. 

And yet I wonder if we are not called to redeem that verse. If "at that time" mankind began to profane the name of the Lord, perhaps now "is the time" that mankind began to "revere" the name of the Lord. I know that when we watch the news things can seem pretty bleak in the world, in fact sometimes I think that mankind has hit all new kinds of lows right now, but then, when I look for it, I see so much good. 

There is sin in the world, there is evil in the word, there is darkness in the world. And yet there is also grace in the world, there is love in the world, and there is light in the world. 

The Gospel of John, like Genesis, speaks to God's creation. And John says that "In him (Jesus) was life, and that life (zoe) was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not (can not, will not) overcome it" (John 1:5)

Later John says "the true light (Jesus) that gives light to every man was coming into the world" (1:9), and Jesus said that "You (plural, all of y'all who love and follow Jesus) are the light of the world...let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14a, 16b)

Yes, at this time, humanity revered the name of the Lord. That gives me hope, that in that revering that we are also doing. Doing what Jesus said for us to do: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visist the sick and imprisoned, take care of each other! And the doing will reflect the light, and that light stems from love, loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. 

Yes. At this time....