Mark 2:13-22

Mark 2:13-22

Jesus does not make it about religion or sin or cultural expectations. The religious leaders do that. Jesus makes it about healing, about being the medicine/doctor who the sick need. Jesus is not about religion but rather about living. Religion says, “fast now, observe this rite, attend that meeting.” Jesus says, “celebrate now, have life and have it abundantly.”

And here we have a wonderful parable that sums up Jesus and his teachings. He will always be at odds with the Old Faith for he is new wine, which does not go into old wine skins. Jesus is new and only a new understanding of faith will contain Jesus. He does not fit onto an old cloth or teaching, it would be a bad fit and ultimately destructive. Not that the newness of Jesus supersedes the Old, only that it is different and requires a new perspective. The Old Faith cannot understand nor accept this newness. The new that is Jesus is not because he is novel, but rather because he is fresh, spirit inspired. When the spirit infuses faith old norms, understandings and traditions tend to fall away. Look for the spirit and faith to see the newness of Jesus. Is Jesus still new today or have we turned his life and teachings into an Old Faith?

Mark 1:40- 2:12

Mark 1:40-2:12

Jesus meets a man with leprosy who desired to be healed. The man knew Jesus’ ability to heal and yet after the healing did not follow Jesus words which instructed the man to follow the Jewish law at the Temple. Compassion leads to healing that should lead to obedience but instead the man spreads the word about Jesus. Jesus becomes a “faith healer” drawing crowds. Did the crowds understand the teachings that went with the healing?

The teachers of the Law question Jesus methods and motives. Healing and forgiveness is the realm of God. One can be a conduit through which God can heal, but forgive sins? Impossible. For Jesus, both are part of the word “repent.” The faith of the paralytic shows the desire to repent which is both forgiveness and healing. The teachers of the Law fail to understand the simple teaching of Jesus, as many others will. It is not about sin or sickness but about repentance which is turning, in faith, towards wholeness and healing. It is health in the most complete form possible.

If the teachers of the Law were to understand that the Law as a way of life bringing one to God then they would be less concerned about the Law and more about God. Today we still struggle with the same concept. It is not about right theology or even sin and shame or dogma, but about repentance as turning and walking with Jesus in health and wholeness. And that health and wholeness comes through the words of Jesus. Healing is the first step of repentance. But continuing on the journey of faith through compassion and obedience keeps one heading towards the Kingdom of God. Both the leprous man and the Teachers of the Law failed to grasp the full understanding of Jesus and repentance. Healing or forgiveness is just the beginning of faith, not the end.

Mark 1:14-39

Mark 1:14-39

The main character has been introduced, now the scene will be set and additional characters will be brought forward. The story is beginning to unfold with an immediacy that is peculiar to this Gospel.

Jesus preached a simple message, “The kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news.” What is the good news? That the kingdom of God is near?

Repent is the pivot point. To repent is to not only seek forgiveness for trespassing but to turn around and go a different way. It is as if Jesus is pointing towards the distant horizon and says “the kingdom of God is that way so turn around and go that way. Not only are you all heading the wrong way but you are trespassing on someone else’s lawn.” It just so happens that Jesus is also going that way and can show it to you. But you have to turn and follow him. Or at least turn to go the direction Jesus is pointing.

And some do, namely his first disciples. We are not sure why they followed him. All that we know is that Jesus called and they responded. This cast assembles around Jesus as support to his role as teacher, healer and guide towards the kingdom of God. And as they follow they see amazing things.

Jesus becomes the example of not only of the way to the kingdom but what a repentant heart looks like. A heart that is set on the Kingdom, which is near, is filled with compassion, which Jesus shows again and again. Jesus teaches with authority and heals.

On a Sabbath in a synagogue, Jesus encounters an evil spirit. This spirit knows Jesus identity. One would think that believers at church would recognize Jesus, but it is the evil spirit who does. Who, today, recognizes Jesus for who he truly is, believers or evil spirits? Encounters with the sick and evil spirits become a regular occurrence on the way towards the kingdom of God. His authority reassures the believers that Jesus knows what he is doing even if they do not yet know who Jesus is. They will find out in time the full cost of the way to the Kingdom of God. Jesus shows in word and action what it means to believe and follow.

People seek out Jesus because of his ability to heal them. Jesus seeks out solitary places to pray. Why do we seek Jesus? Do we also go to the solitary places?

Mark 1:1-13

Mark 1:1-13

The first thing that strikes me about this Gospel is the lack of a birth narrative: no manger, no angels or shepherds, no nativity scene at all. The first words are a quote from Isaiah, and that quote is not even about Jesus, but rather about John the Baptist. John is the forerunner to Jesus. I get the impression that the first reading audience already knew the story and these two characters. Perhaps they knew John and Jesus from first hand experience and therefore there is no need for a nativity or even a genealogy. There is not yet a need to establish a lineage or identity, it is safely assumed.

But the story of Jesus begins with a back-story, that of John the Baptist. He, John, is the one sent to prepare the way for Jesus and he did so through baptism in water. And the character of John is well known and well understood. He is one of those prophets living in the desert, you know the ones who “wore clothes made of camels hair, with leather belt about his waist, and he ate locust and wild honey” not the tame temple prophet who for a price would give you a nice safe prophetic utterance. No, John was a wild-man on the fringe of society, uncontrollable and far too honest for polite society. And yet a man like that could draw the crowds. He is a thorn in the side of the “institution” and yet a cult hero to the masses. Perhaps?

And then Jesus came and was baptized. God speaks in words and actions, a dove, the sign of peace, and words: “you are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” Peace, love, and pleasure* are the hallmarks of the God/Jesus relationship. And as John gave water so Jesus will give the spirit who passes the hallmarks of God onto the believers’ relationship: peace, love, and pleasure.

The path laid out in Isaiah the Prophet continues through John the Baptist to Jesus, but before Jesus can begin the journey he is ushered into the desert for forty days being tempted. This gospel does not extrapolate on what the temptations were only that it happened immediately after the baptism. That holds true for many believers still today, or for many who set out to do good works. Once one turns towards the Good it seems life, or the devil, steps in to put up blocks and temptations away from the path towards the Good. And yet if one looks closely one will see that the angels are ministering even in the midst of wild animals. Baptism prepares one for the life ahead, and angels are there to preserve the way in the wilderness. But only faith can carry one through to the end. Do you see the angels ministering in your desert experiences? Is life drawing you towards temptations that will undermine the life of peace, love and pleasure that you have set out on?

* A note on pleasure: In today’s culture of addiction and instant gratification pleasure is often confused with a sex, drugs and rock & roll life style. But here we see Jesus pleases God, that is, Jesus brings pleasure to God. It is not about self-pleasure and gratification, but about bringing pleasure, pleasing, others. It is asking the questions: how can I make those around me happy and healthy? I am pleased with myself when others are pleased with me. When I do a good job I know it because it has made some one else’s life easier, more meaningful and more pleasurable. As the Gospel of Mark unfolds we see the actions of Jesus in healing, comforting and teaching that aids others in a more fulfilling life, that is what brings pleasure to God. Jesus is faithful to his message of peace, love and compassion. That brings true pleasure to others, and to God.

Mark, First Words

I started my reading with the Gospel according to Mark for a number of reasons. I know that it was the earliest gospel account and served, somewhat, as an outline for Luke and Matthew. So I thought it would be a good warm up run and introduction to the “real” gospels. But, in truth, the actual reason was that I did not like this short, unadorned, unembellished, simple and boring book. I just wanted to get it out of the way, over and done.

But...

But as I worked my way through it and pondered its simplicity and succinctness I came to love this account of the life of Jesus. For all the reasons I shunned it, I now enjoyed it. It is self contained, consistent, simple and to the point. Mark holds together from beginning to end in ways the other gospels do not.

It tells a story, a story of faith being fulfilled by the outsider but missed by the insider. It is a challenge to perceived authority by true authority. It is the development of an ideal in tension with culture, religion and politics. It is a modern story of stereotypes, cultural norms and conflicts of the soul.

I find the Gospel according to Mark to be more than just a simple story, but rather a complex story of faith challenging my own perceived notions of authority, religiosity and faith. But I only found that truth by approaching it as an outsider, surprised by the Jesus of compassion.

Reflections on 2012 Readings

I made 2012 the year of the Gospels. I divided the year into quarters and studied one Gospel in each of the three-month quarters. I read each Gospel three times, once per month. In the first reading, I read it independently to let the book speak to me, as it stands alone. The second reading, I read it in conjunction with notes, commentary, and aids to deepen the experience. During the third reading, I reflected upon the first two readings allowing the spirit to speak inwardly as I worked towards understanding and meaning.

I learned much about the Gospels as literature, history, narrative, but mostly as books of faith. I attempted to keep my own academic past from intruding on my readings. I strove to approach the Gospels with open and new eyes. In that process, I found much that I had forgotten, much that I needed to learn and a story of Jesus that was new. Removing, as best as possible, the theological and ecclesiastical expectations allowed me to find a Jesus who was out of the ordinary and fresh.

This blog is an attempt to capture my thoughts, insights and reflections upon this new Jesus. My plan is to post two or three times weekly a short reflection upon a Gospel chapter or section. I will try not to lapse into academic jargon or wax philosophical which is my nature but rather to keep the posts reflective and simple.

I welcome comments and questions. I encourage an active readership. 

Coming soon, a whole new direction for this blog containing regular postings, a steady theme (with the occasional aside) and heartfelt introspection.

Art Show

October 5th 5-8 PM, I will be showing my newest art work at Trinity Episcopal Church across from Pocatello High School. If you are going to be around please stop by.

Meditations on Maintenance Book Cover

Guest writer Contributes a Poem: Altar

Altar

               Her trinkets and personal possessions scattered the

tattered chest

                Treasures brought back from her spiritual quest…

                Young Buddha heard the late night drums and the Ying Yang symbol draped her neck as she

wandered amidst songs to Hare Krishna

                Hippy Highway heard the gentle jingles from angels ‘round her ankle and the soothing

incense smells cradled her to sleep.

                And here I am enthralled by the story of her scattered altar

                This sister who I may have passed late at night looking for a warm fire and sweet sounds

of a lilting mandolin

                Who knew my heart was still floating freely in the magical bitter roots and an occasional, “We love you!” chorus

                As I vowed to nestle collected wares from my own spiritual adventure

                So sacred and divine as this carefully traded scarf that once adorned my dreaded hair whispers those memories

                Of the peace I longed for chanted in those rhythmic drums

                And soothing yoga over-looking the expansive valley

                As I delicately place the lotus and energetic rocks upon my tapestry of moons

and stars

                a top my own tattered chest that contently becomes the altar I bow to.

                                                                                                                                                                 

Copyright Heather Corbet 2006

New Sample for Memoirs of a Super Criminal

Here is a sample from my novel: Memoirs of a Super Criminal. This sample is not in the free sample down load, so it is a little extra something.

"There is just one more thing. I have to do this.” El Mag stated.

“One more thing? What thing? We are all set. We are in the clear. I have checked and double-checked. We are clear, or will be soon. It is over.” Dyna said exacerbated.

“It is not over, not yet. I learned something. And… and I did not tell you about it,” El Mag hung his head. “I did not want to keep it from you, but I did. I felt like I had to until we were clear, but now I have to deal with it.”

“With what? What the hell is it that you have been keeping from me?” Dyna was beginning to get mad.

“Armageddon. He has been hunting me. He wants to use me as an example. I am one of, no, the last one of, the old school of criminals. He has made it his mission to bring me down one way or another. He won’t stop until I am… well whatever he does to me.”

Concern creased the brow of Dyna. This was deep and he should have not kept it from her, but she tried to understand. “Why now? Why you and not Danny?”

“Why me? Because I have been at it for over thirty years. Danny is behind the scenes. If they caught him it would devastate the criminal community but the public would not care. But me? Thirty years of headlines. Armageddon wants to set an example. Eventually everyone gets caught. But I think I have it figured out. I can beat him.”

“You can beat him? All of a sudden you can beat him. No one can beat him. He will beat you and if you assault him then he will make sure you don’t get up. Ever!” Dyna had moved from mad to furious in seconds. She wanted to punch something, something big and hard.

“I know. But if I don’t then we will never have peace. Then all that we have done, our whole lives, is meaningless. I can do it.”

“Now you care about meaning. Now you want to stand on some principles.” Dyna nearly spat the words out.

“No, nothing like that. We have built a life together. A life that we wanted. I am not ready for that to end. I don’t want to go into hiding. I want to be clear of it all. We have the money to take care of what we have to. But that will not give us peace.”

“Our life is not about peace. Or meaning. You are right, we did create something out of the mainstream. We lived the life we wanted. And we almost lost it all. But we made it past that. Isn’t that enough? Let’s just go.”

“With Armageddon, there is no place to go. He will always be on the prowl. Hunting. I have to stand against him. I have to fight him for my life, our life, our way of living,” El Mag said, wanting Dyna to understand.

“Bullshit. Lets just go and he will always be busy with some criminal somewhere. You know how it is. Heroes are always sidetracked by the next crisis. They never follow up. Out of sight, out of mind. You always said that.”

“I know. So maybe he won’t get around to it. But, we will always have to live looking over our backs. I don’t want that life. I want to be free of it all.”

“Then fight him when he comes for you, for us. I will stand by your side and punch him until his head explodes.”

The passion in Dyna’s statements made El Mag laugh. She gave him that stern look, but then also smiled. She knew that he was determined. She read it in his eyes. They looked at each other for a few moments. They both knew it had to be this way. Not only for them to be free, but also for Armageddon, a sanctioned bully, to be taken down a notch.

“Ok. Ok. I assume you have a plan,” Dyna gave in.

Copyright 2011 David Corbet
Excerpt from Memoirs of a Super Criminal available on Kindle and Nook

On the Edge

I walk on the edge

of humanity

Masking my insanity

as normalcy.

Not giving in to

the whispering fears

Of voices in my head

            calling out "Don’t Fall."

I respond with a smile

and hold tighter to that edge.

I walk on the edge

of icy cliffs

Clinging with pickax

            as to life itself.

Not giving in to

the whispering fears

Of voices in my head

calling out "Don’t Fall."

I respond with a smile

and hold tighter to that edge.

I walk on the edge

of space

Sucking air in a helmet

            as the world spins below.

Not giving in to

the whispering fears

Of voices in my head

            calling out "Don’t Fall."

I respond with a smile

and hold tighter to that edge.

I walk on the edge

of words

Expressing without clarity

as I discover my rhythm.

Not giving in to

the whispering fears

Of voices in my head

calling out "Don’t Fall."

I respond with a smile

and release myself over the edge.


Poem is from "One Year in the Mountains"
Copyright David Corbet

Walking the Coast

The coast.

A beach, not the sandy vacation beach of suntans, bikinis and kids with sandcastles.

The beach with the cold water, rough rocks and seagulls that crap on everything and everyone, including the drift wood logs that some poor shmuck keeps trying to turn into bonfires. That beach, that coast.

A man walks, no, shuffles along. His feet prints are two long ruts dragged in the sand. Follow those ruts back and you will run out of time before you run out of rut.

On closer inspection it is evident that the man is old, aged, ancient and beyond. He moves one foot and then the other, and again and again and again. It is not a step as much as a plowing the fields, but no corn will grow here. He left the corn far behind and a long time ago. Maybe so long ago that is was not yet corn as we know it in the hundreds of varieties, but rather just the maize of the ancients. That is old, but not nearly as old as this poor individual who shuffles along. But don’t be deceived he is not the poor fool who tries to build bonfires out of water soaked logs. No, he is far wiser then that. He is the one who sees the future and the past and knows the prophecies, not those cheap bible house prophecies about Babylon and dragons and the end of it all with trumpets and hosannas, no the prophecies he knows are far more profound. They are the kind that the Farmers Almanac wishes they had. They are prophecies of knowing those things that no human mind should know. They are knowing the number of rain drops which fall in the Amazon every hour and the number of the grains of sands on the shores, which he is very thoroughly checking at this moment. The corn has been counted, the stars have been counted, the rain has been counted and now the sand will be counted. Good luck, ancient man. We await your verdict with apathy. 

Copyright Protected David Corbet 2012

Red With Delight

The tomato festival was a big hit with the local towns people. Of course they had never seen a tomato before, they had not even seen anything red before and to eat it was a pure satanic delight. For this was the land of the righteous and anything and everything that could be in some way related to the devil was strictly outlawed and abandoned centuries ago, including all shades of the color red. In fact the color wheels in High School art class had only two primaries and one secondary color, the color brown was nearly impossible to duplicate in the class, and orange and purple were relegate to nature alone. (In fact this lead to many disputes in later centuries about the exact nature of brown and some went so far as to hypothesizes a third primary that made orange and purple the two additional secondary colors which were often seen in nature but not in art. This line of reasoning then lead to an ironic twist, because those theorist were often burnt at the stake and as the red and orange flames rose up their feet it all began to make sense, this was one of the few times where fire (and red) were seen as a tool of righteousness and not one of the devil.)

But then one day a traveling sales man, with a surplus of tomatoes to move before they rotted in the trucks and docks of the co-op for which he worked, entered the town. He was a forward thinking and very modern type of man. The girls swooned at the sight of his black bolo hat. Women wanted him and men wanted to be him. He was slicker then a duck in a rain storm and all that other jazz which made him real cool. He could talk a good game and with the Bible in one hand and a plump tomato in another he was able to convince the great, great, great, great decedents of those original pietists that the tomato, although red, was still a creation by God and ordained as good, was great to eat and excellent to have with pasta (which had been rather stale of taste over the last few centuries). It brought much need vitamins and topped out a bacon and lettuce sandwich very well. 

The town nearly rioted because of the color red, some agreed with the salesman and wanted the tomatoes to pour into the town. Other, more zealous of tradition and right thinking and all that, people refused and wanted to run the man out of town. The frosting on the cake was the fact that a tomato began as green and turned yellow and then red by the rays of the sun. Here was the symbolic making of a theological shift. The trinity of colors of blue and yellow making green combined with the sun, the son, the light, the warmth of the heavens poured out to create this jewel. But others saw a different symbol, a crafty snake offering a tempting but forbidden fruit. The symbolism, either way, was too much. All wanted to partake. For to err, to fall, is human. It is the nature of the creature, even centuries of right living could not breed out the fact that humanity craved the passion of life, that which was forbidden. Now the full circle was complete: peace, warmth and passion; blue, yellow and red; the trinity was completed and every range of emotion and every shade of color became available to this imagine-less town. Riot was subdued but passion to created, to flourish, to build, to spring forth, was unleashed and the tomato festival captured that very essence. 

Copyright 2012 David Corbet