In the first century, the various Jewish groups were like college football teams, each rooting for their own team. But there was on problem: Jesus wasn’t on any of their teams!
—
(Click here to read the passage: Mark 3:1-35)
(Click here to start with part 1)
Off to College!
When I was a senior in high school, anticipating college, I applied for and received a scholarship.
It came from a local energy company. Instead of simply mailing a check, they decided to hold a very nice lunch and give me the scholarship in person.
To receive it, I had to answer one question, “Who was the mascot of my new school?”
The answer, of course, was Goldie the Gopher!
This marked a new identity for me. No longer was I going to be a Mt. Pleasant panther. I was now a golden gopher.
This transition, as it does for most college kids, got fully underway once I arrived on campus.
A new t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a baseball cap, and even a winter scarf – it was Minnesota, after all – entered my wardrobe, all in maroon and gold and all marked with a giant “M.”
My parents, like most, even bought some Minnesota gear for their closets.
These clothes, these colors, and the symbolic “M” all signaled who I was: a golden gopher. And it was clear to everyone who saw me.
In the first century, the Jews had their identity markers as well. They may not have had special colors for the football field, but they had ways of signaling who they were and what they stood for.
And, like any college sports fan on game day, they defended their identity markers with intensity.
But, there was one problem: Jesus wasn’t on their team.
The Sabbath Identity
Chapter three opens with Jesus in a synagogue, and it doesn’t take long before pressure is put on Jesus.
Right away there’s a man with a withered hand who asks for healing – on the sabbath! The Pharisees say such a thing isn’t permitted.
Tension builds as everyone watches to see if Jesus will heal this man.
Of course he does, but not without a snarky retort.
And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. (Mark 3:4 RSV)
The Saturday sabbath, you see, was a Jewish identity marker.
It was a national flag that spoke of freedom to come, of hope for the great Day of Rest when God would finally liberate Israel from pagan oppression. It looked back to creation of the world, and to the Exodus from Egypt, and it marked out those who kept it as God’s special people, God’s faithful people, God’s hoping people.[1]
By healing the man’s withered hand, Jesus directly challenges this identity marker.
But why?
What is Jesus hoping to accomplish?
And what does this mean for us today?
The Twelve Tribes Identity
Well, it doesn’t take long before Jesus is again challenging traditional Jewish identities.
After the sabbath incident, Jesus finds himself among a great crowd of followers. But Mark points out that there are 12 men who have a special place among this “Jesus movement.”
And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons: (Mark 3:14-15 RSV)
Many of us probably don’t think too much about it. The number 12 doesn’t hold much significance for us in the 21st century.
If anything, when we think of 12 disciples, we probably imagine Leonardo DaVinci’s famous Last Supper, with all 12 of them lined up beautifully on either side of Jesus.
But, at the time of Jesus, the number 12 meant a lot.
God’s chosen people, Israel, had been grouped into 12 tribes. But this was more than just an identity marker.
A number of the tribes had been lost to history when the Assyrians swooped down and conquered the northern kingdom.
The 12 tribes had become something of hope: representing restoration, a day when God remade his people and the tribes existed once more.
It seems, though, that Jesus is again challenging a national identity marker. Overriding and, perhaps, even replacing Jewish identity with something new.
But isn’t Jesus the Jewish Messiah? Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to be the cause of this national restoration?
Push Back!
It seems, at this point the story, the scribes from Jerusalem had had it.
They weren’t going to stand for Jesus attacking the sabbath and the 12 tribes. So, out comes the name-calling.
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Be-el’zebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” (Mark 3:22 RSV)
If Jesus doesn’t identify as Jewish in the way they did, he must be of Satan, the accuser that’s always up to no good.
The gloves have come off.
In their thinking, if Jesus was casting out demons, while at the same time challenging Jewish identity, he must be on the side of the enemy.
But Jesus says that ridiculous, illogical.
And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” (Mark 3:23-24 RSV)
What they don’t see is that Jesus has attacked their identities because they pointed to the wrong thing.
The scribes and Pharisees saw their identity in the sabbath and as members of a particular tribe as a national identity. It was a Jewish thing, something you were born into.
“Not so fast,” says Jesus. They haven’t quite understood.
Blood Ties
The final scene in chapter three brings it all home.
Jesus’ biological family shows up. If anything, all those identity symbols would suggest that they are, indeed, family.
It couldn’t be plainer. They all were wearing jerseys for the same team, if you will.
But, not quite.
And Jesus replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35 RSV)
Jesus has completely sliced through traditional identity boundaries.
No longer does an observance of the sabbath or blood-ties of a tribe make you a part of the in-crowd.
Today, we may not observe the sabbath or identify with a particular Jewish tribe, but we also have our own identity markers that keep us from Jesus.
Our Identities
There are things that make us Americans, or Iowans, or Mothers, or Fathers, or Grandparents, or sports fans, or company people…
We hold on to some of these identities so hard our knuckles turn white.
But Jesus’ challenge should ring in our ears as it did to those 1st century Jews.
Who is our mother, our brothers, or our sisters?
Do we seek, above all, to be people gathered around God’s Messiah? Or do we cast that aside to pick up a different banner?
Do we turn to the Messiah to recast ourselves as “Christians,” or will we ultimately challenge Jesus’ reorienting of our identity?
As readers of the Gospel of Mark, we’ve come to a fork in the road, and as we’ll see, it won’t be resolved easily.
But, by seeking communion with Christ, we can become one with the Messiah, take on his identity, and share in a resurrected life like his! And that’s good news!
P.S. Take on the Christian Identity with the Historic Orthodox Church!
I now invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of Christ with the Orthodox Church!
St. Elias the Prophet (419 N. Grandview Ave., Dubuque)
Saturdays: Great Vespers, 4 pm
Sundays: Orthros, 8:30 am; Divine Liturgy, 9:30 am
Or find your nearest Orthodox Church by clicking here
—
[1] N.T. Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), pg. 30.
P.P.S. The very top image is of Constantine taking on a new identity, as a Christian.