Mark 3:1-12
To have someone stand up and fight for you is an experience we all should experience sometime in our life.
Why? Because it is powerful! To have someone who is willing to put themselves at risk for our benefit is awe-inspiring. It touches in us a sense that all is not wrong with the world after all. When people have our back – to their own peril – it stirs feelings in us that we are loved, protected, valuable, and cared for. It satisfies – if not just momentarily – our thirst for justice. In truth, it rumors that God exists, is real, and is actually fighting for us through our friend.
In middle school I feared a bully. He was several grades above me. Proud. Nasty. Bratty. And just plain mean. Frequently he hurled either insults at me or snarls. Everyday I feared him and dreaded our next encounter. One day he commanded me to eat an old piece of chewing gum on the sidewalk and if I didn’t, he’d beat me up. And he would. So which is worse: chewing old gum or chewing your teeth? I picked it up and chewed it. He and his two henchmen – with eyes wild with excitement – laughed at and mocked me.
But one day was different.
Outside the school during break. There I was. There came they. There we stood. More threats, more jeering. More wondering what next. My stomach felt sick as the taunting began. I was younger in grade, more frail in frame, and befriended only by fear. And then came a sharp clap like that produced from a sudden gust of wind. A stand was taken. Not from me but from the brother of my oldest brother’s friend. Tom was scared himself but had seen my lot with these losers and decided enough was enough.
He stepped forward – at risk to himself – and rebuked my bully with solid, simple words.
Now, I wish I could tell you he began to beat them up and that it looked like a fight scene from a Bruce Lee movie (even better, a Chuck Norris movie). I wish I could tell you how I grew courage and shouted up and out for justice and fair treatment. I wish I could tell you something dramatic, romantic, or compelling. And maybe I can.
There was no fight. No reprisal. No repentance on their part. But what made this experience powerful for me was that a friend was willing to risk his reputation and safety to have my back and stand in for me in my vulnerable moment.
In a subtle way this experience illustrates an aspect of the Gospel. I’ve been reading Mark 3:1-12 and see in this section a scene when Jesus – at risk to himself – stands up to fight for a friend. The fight has several outcomes. The man with a withered hand is exposed in public and is healed. The healing event gives evil religious elites ground to plot Jesus’ death. Simultaneously does Jesus gain both fantastic popularity and fanatical opposition.
I guess what I saw in Tom that day was a glimpse of Jesus and a rumor that God is alive and both for us and enough for us in our time of need.
A few thoughts to spur us on for Sunday’s message on Mark 3. |