And the common grace of God
Proper 24B | Mark 10:35-45
For several weeks now, we’ve followed Jesus’s turn toward Jerusalem. His return to their land and people, bringing with him disciples and a growing crowd of followers. But something has been off. Not with Jesus, but with the disciples. Something has come between Jesus and them—a kind impenetrable field.
The simple answer seems to be about hubris. The disciples seem to be getting a bit full of themselves. That they themselves are special and their connection with Jesus makes them special.
This specialness isn’t the problem. Neither is their perception of specialness, exactly. It is something more…ephemeral. Like a confusion of order and purpose. As if their sense of specialness leads them to think something, not just about themselves, but about other people.
And that move: hubris leading to condescension: has made their healing powers vanish completely. They can’t heal the boy at the base of the mountain. Then they can’t prevent the person exorcizing demons. Their influence has vanished.
These cascading things, the specialness to hubris to condescension to powerlessness, don’t make the disciples bad. This is not an expression of sin exactly. It is humanness, a block of sorts. It is like they are on the path because they are following Jesus, but can’t see it. As if their vision is distorted. By power. By the way they think things ought to be—which is a reflection of the culture. …
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