The Gospel of Mark lifts up for us some features about Jesus that none of the other Gospels seem to understand. Our grasp of who Jesus was would be limited were it not for this wonderful, first document that gave us the story of his life.
There is some question in my mind whether there would have been a church or a future for Christianity had it not been for Mark's Gospel.
From the texts I have come to see two aspects of Mark's "Jesus" that speak to us.
First of all I think it tells us we may not know what were are doing but we are on a path and it has a destination and the destination is good; it leads to the eternal. If we don't know what we're doing we can keep our "eyes on the prize" and we can endure the hard times because we know something good awaits us. Mark believes the crucifixion, which was a humiliating event, was prelude to the resurrection and it was part of a plan.
We might question whether there are these kinds of "plans" for life, but religion is more an attitude than an answer and we can learn to trust life wherever it leads us to take us some place where we can bear our burdens and suffer our trials with confidence that God is with us.
Secondly, Mark speaks of a Jesus who tried to make changes in the world and when it appeared he had failed he actually had achieved his goal. Albert Schweitzer said it this way, "Here comes Jesus and in the knowledge that He is the coming Son of Man he lays hold of the wheel of the world to set it moving on that last revolution which is to bring all ordinary history to a close. It refused to turn, and He throws Himself upon it. Then it does turn; crushes Him. Instead of bringing in the eschatological conditions, He had destroyed them. The wheel rolls onward, and the mangled body of the one immeasurably great Man, who was strong enough to think of Himself as the spiritual ruled of human kind and to bend history to His purpose, is hanging upon it still. That is His victory and His reign."
We do more than we know we do as he did more than it looked he did. He shifted the "wheel of the world" just slightly and it can make all the difference in the world.
When we wonder what have we done with our lives we can take comfort in the fact that we have done more than we know and we are not called upon to do great things but little things that will result in greatness.
Do you ever feel lost on the path? Is there a destination to your life?
Do you ever sense you aren't accomplishing much with your life? Is there more you are doing than you realize?
If you have thoughts on these questions email me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with others on the blog click on the 'comments' box below.
If you would like a rough draft of the sermon let me know and I will send it to you by email.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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