Becoming Mature Disciples   One goal for Christians is to become mature disciples. To become more like Jesus or to live as Paul describes it “in Christ” is a rich and fulfilling outcome. The reality is that for most of us we have barely begun on that journey. There are many parts of our lives that do not come under the Lordship of Christ, and for many of these we are either unaware or in denial about this. The areas we are unaware of are something we can afford to be patient about. If we continue to commit to growing as disciples, then these will come into awareness, and though it may be painful to deal with them, we can grow them, and with the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ, see this time as a significant and positive part of our Christian journey. The areas we are in denial about are where the real issues arise. Often we are in denial for a long time and so our justifications are well developed and our “quieting” of the voice of our conscience is well practiced. Many of these are areas that we believe are “ours”. It may be our use of power, or our command of our emotions, or our sexuality, or our family relationships or . . . or . . . These areas are often the major blockages to our maturity. Like the rich young ruler we may seem to have everything but know there is something lacking. And like the rich young ruler when we are confronted by Jesus, we can find we have constructed our own prison for, like him, we may find that those things we thought were under our control have in fact come to control us. One area of our lives that we seldom think of as needing to be under Christ’s Lordship is our emotions. We believe these are ours alone and yet they are very much part of our createdness. God knows and understands we are emotional beings. If we look at Psalm 22 we see the psalmist is emotionally all over the place, and yet he seeks to bring even his dark emotional place under the hand of God. To grow into Christian maturity we too need to bring our emotions under God’s control. This does not mean we shut them down, rather it means we know our emotions, hear what they are telling us about where we are, and then bring this before God to find God’s wisdom about how to act in an appropriate way. Then we will grow more and more in the imitation of Christ. … Continue reading →

Mark 10:17-31    The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. But sometimes the good news of Jesus sounds like bad news. Jesus is a teacher who tells us the truth and sometimes the truth hurts before it can heal. Fortunately for us, Jesus, the good teacher, continues to teach us, continues to make possible that even for people like us, faithful discipleship is possible. The question, put to Jesus by this man in Mark 10, is about a big, grand, difficult subject – “eternal life.”  Rather surprisingly, Jesus, the good teacher, demands that the man give up his great possessions and follow him. Jesus is inviting someone to be his disciple. But unlike the earlier call stories in Mark, this one ends with the recipient of the call turning away and rejecting Jesus. It is the only story Mark tells about somebody who refuses to follow Jesus; and for that reason alone we should sit up and take notice because it means that the reason this man used to excuse himself  may be the same reason that some of us do. Yet we note that the story doesn’t really end with the man’s grief and his rejection of Jesus’ call to follow him. It ends with Jesus’ affirmation of his disciples, those who have indeed left all and followed him. As we see throughout Mark’s gospel, the disciples are rarely portrayed positively. Today may be one of those rare moments when the disciples finally get Jesus’ point.  The story ends in affirmation and rejoicing.  Discipleship – following Jesus – is difficult and demanding. That’s the bad news. Yet the good news is that with God “all things are possible.” And therein is our hope. … Continue reading →

When I looked up the lectionary a few weeks ago and found that Mark 10: 2-16, the passage about divorce, was the Gospel reading, the irony was not lost on me given the current same sex marriage debate. Divorce was a hot topic of the day but rather than seek his counsel the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus into speaking against the teaching of Moses that they held as sacred; and Jesus did not disappoint them. Moses had said in Deuteronomy 24:1 that if a wife fell out of favour you could write a Bill of Divorce. In Mark, Jesus indicates that in effect Moses was trying to protect women who were regarded as just possessions against being easily discarded by men for any reason. He was introducing structure in that time, not issuing a permanently method for divorce. Jesus wanted those of his day to understand the context of Moses statement, that the joining in marriage was meant to be a lifelong bond and not something to be taken trivially. He goes further back to Genesis where the bond between husband and wife is to be stronger than between parents and children. In Mark’s time divorce, predominantly still only available to the man, could still be on trivial grounds. Jesus was restoring marriage by showing that God meant it to be a permanent bond which could not be broken by man’s laws and regulations.  There were no exceptions. But here again, in an object lesson those who just pluck versus out of the Bible out of context without interpreting them, Jesus had to explain Moses’ statement Furthermore, if you refer to the same story in Matthew 19: 3-9 Jesus does make an exception for adultery, since that has broken the bond and divorce is simply a consequence. This version is considered more accurate than the version in Mark. My focus is on “what God has joined together let no-one separate” Why would God join us together in marriage? It is not just for procreation but fulfils a universal human need to belong, as part of living life to the full. In attachment theory intimate relationships between human beings are what life revolves around and if denied anxiety and depression result. So, how do we know what God has joined together? We have all seen marriages which end in divorce where it seemed there was a mismatch right from the start. It seems convenient to suggest that it was not a marriage where God joined the couple together. However, we often making decisions without trying to discern God’s guidance. How do we approach deciding what God has joined together? Jesus gives us a clue in the second part of the reading where he puts the emphasis on children. Children are usually non-judgemental of others but simply trust people, they have humility and they show obedience. We are facing 2 important questions about “what God has joined together”. One is around same gender couples and the other is around the … Continue reading →