Mark 3:7-19b

Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, 'You are the Son of God!' But he sternly ordered them not to make him known. He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home;

Apostles... Those who are sent out to proclaim the message. Jesus has gained some notoriety and a considerable following. So much that the scriptures say the disciples had a boat ready for him. I think that this could be an escape route for Jesus. The sick and possessed were "pressing in on him" so that they could touch him. After the crowd scene, Jesus takes his disciples up a mountain, and he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles). The apostles were "sent out" and given authority to proclaim, heal, and cast out demons.

The twelve that he called apostles were sent out. The word "apostle" literally means to be sent. It's also essential that the ones closest to Jesus were those he sent. The scriptures even name them. It might be good to note that they will also become witnesses to Jesus' resurrection and glorious ascension, making them the first apostolic witnesses. So they are witnesses with authority sent by Jesus himself. 

In the church, we have a tradition that recognizes this apostolic authority in the office of the bishop. Through the "overseers" (Episkopos), apostolic authority is passed down in succession from a group of bishops (3) to new bishops. This action can be traced back to Simon (whom Jesus called Peter), the one to whom Jesus gave the "keys to the kingdom." ‎(Matthew 16:19 · ‎John 20:23). Through this apostolic authority, bishops exercise oversite of the church's work in their jurisdiction. 

Our challenge today is in reading this with modern eyes and trying to figure out the intent of Jesus. My thought is that bishops today should represent the mission of Christ that continues until his coming again. They are "sent out" to proclaim the power of Jesus to all corners of the earth to heal and cast out the demons of this world. That may have been Jesus' intent. Doing that is a way to further Christ and his mission to reconcile the world to God. When we are reconciling the world to God, we are doing the apostolic work and living in witness to the risen Christ. 

1 Corinthians 1:17-31 (NRSV)

First Sunday in Lent - Reflections on the Epistle Letters during Lent

"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

"We proclaim Christ crucified!" Jesus died, and through his death, we are the recipients of God's abundant favor. It is horrible to think that a man had to lose his life so that we might gain life, but if we think about it, that's how it works. I'm not going to go into a bunch of atonement theology in this short reflection, but rather delve into what it means for us to proclaim Christ crucified.

Wouldn't we much rather proclaim Christ risen? Wouldn't it be easier to explain the power of God through the risen Jesus? It probably would, but it wouldn't complete the story. The craziness of the cross makes resurrection that much more relevant. I think the fact is that we proclaim that Jesus endured pain and suffering in order to show the world what real sacrificial love looks like. That's the message. That's the wisdom. We need to remember that Jesus didn't do anything wrong and the powers and prejudices of this world tortured him and hung him on a Roman cross to die because they were afraid of him. Jesus challenged their authority and way of having a relationship with God and it freaked them out. So as foolish as it may be, we proclaim Christ crucified, and glory in the saving power of the cross.

I sense that the call to action from this scripture is to be bold in our proclamation. People that don't understand will scoff us, but that doesn't matter. We know different. We know of a God's love that stretched out arms on a cross to embrace the world. We know of a man named Jesus who died to show the world how to love completely.