Maybe I’ve been watching too much ncis. We’ve been streaming episodes in order. I like the mystery of the show and how the team relies on science, forensics, medical examination, serious computer skills and hacking to solve interesting cases. I like shows where they dig deeper for clues and try to see the whole picture. This week, I felt like I got to do some of that with the Gospel for today. Now I’m not going to lie, it would have been cooler if I got to fire a gun into a water tank and analyze the slugs under a microscope, analyze the ink on the page with a mass spectrometer, interrogate a few disciples, interview some witnesses, and break 6 levels of encryption on the ancient scrolls that were on a thumb drive that the medical examiner discovered under the wrappings of a two thousand year old mummy. But at least I get to use my imagination. I do enjoy what I do, and it is exciting when you read through the reading and one little thing catches your attention. You stop and pay attention to it and realize that there is more there than meets the eye at first glance. So you go to check it out and you stumble on the unexpected, and then as Sherlock Holmes would say, “The game is afoot.” And Sherlock actually said that, but I found as an aside in the investigation I found that Sherlock Holmes amazingly never said, “Elementary my dear Watson.” in any of the canonical Sherlock Holmes works. He did however say, “Elementary, It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction.” So, some passages have some of those little points that are overlooked because of cultural distance, traditions that have faded with time, not seeing the evidence of broader impact because we are looking at snippets, passages or pericopes instead of seeing the bigger picture and context within the entire gospel of the writer. You find specific words are chosen to tie things together and seemingly simple and unimportant occurrences or mentions have a very deep meaning on the bigger picture of what the author is trying to tell us. So I want to share with you what I have found so far in my investigation of this brief Gospel story. It was a dark and stormy night…no that’s no good, I a little too southern for that…There I was, minding my own business at our weekly pastor’s scripture study my friend Reggie said, “I’ve noticed that by the side of the road is where Jesus seems to meet us.” That was all it took. I replied, “Ah, yes. Your penchant for keen and astute observations is unsurpassed, my dear Reginald.” or something like that. So after the meeting I started to study the road, or that is the way it is referred to in this scripture and in Mark. As it turns out, HODON or the road, the way or the journey is a big deal in Mark. Also, let’s not forget that when Christianity was yet to be Christianity, back in the last part of that first century, followers of Jesus referred to the movement as “Followers of The Way”, They didn’t speak English so I would suppose that us could use one of the synonyms like road or journey. Hodon So as I followed the path or Hodon of the use of the word word Hodon I saw Mark bringing the in and creating interesting connections. First he starts his Gospel. Second verse of the first chapter. “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” Turns out that’s a pretty big heads up. Now the next three consecutive uses of the word forms of HODON span over seven chapters. That’s right, it’s only used once in chapters 2,6, and 8. Look into the microscope and see what it does when you consider the similarities in all three stories. 2:23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their journey his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 6:8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 8:3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the journey—and some of them have come from a great distance.” In the first Jesus points out how God fed His people and how he by extension cares for them on their path as he is the Lord over the Sabbath. In the second occurrence Jesus has the expectation that the communities along the path, who come to follow the path will care for the needs of the ones whom he sent out. In the third occurrence, we see that Jesus also has the reciprocal expectation. The people were following on the path and have needs, and Jesus expects his disciples to feed them. The really cool twist in this progression is that God, in Christ brings it full circle back to God making it possible for all to be fed through the offering of simple loaves and fish. This tells me that we are really on the right path or HODON when we say, “God’s Work, Our Hands.” We are part of the cycle of sustaining and being sustained. The next Hodon connection that I see involves this week’s Gospel and one from a few weeks ago. 10:17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 10:46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 10:52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. We see that both of these stories happen on the Hodon and seem to be sister stories or really awesome bookends. The first a man that has everything and the agency and an open path to approach Jesus does so. He asks what he needs to do to get eternal life. Jesus asks him to sell what he has and essentially participate in the cycle we talked about and follow him. We are told he goes away distraught because he had a lot of stuff. In the other bookend Hodon occurrence the man, Bartemeus, doesn’t have the agency or ability to approach Jesus. People are actually rebuffing this poor man and drowning out his cries and telling him to leave Jesus alone. Two people by the Hodon but vastly different means and circumstances. First thing to notice is that Jesus hears him and he calls out to the man. Now here is where the detective in me saw something that didn’t seem to belong in the story. So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you? A few words in there seemed like too much information. It’s gotta be a clue to something. Why do I need to know about his clothing situation? Why include that on precious parchment? I had to follow up on that lead. It turns out that the cloak served as a marker of designation as a beggar, possibly even issued by the government. That way people would be able to recognize officially designated beggars. This man was among the classes that had no other agency other than to rely on the mercy of others and the cloak made it possible to have any income at all. He is heard and called to Jesus and as he gets up he throws off his only security. Nothing but Jesus hearing him and calling him has happened and the cloak is discarded. In this culture we know that his blindness was seen as God’s judgement for sin and since this man was asking for mercy, he was acknowledging that Jesus had the authority to absolve him. But Jesus doesn’t mention sin, he simply tells the man that his faith has made him well. Jesus doesn’t ask this guy to follow him. He doesn’t have to, the guy just does, and he is remembered by name. Bartemeus is caught up in the Eucharistic moment. Eucharist means thankfulness and his thankfulness for being heard, called, made right or justified, and healed propelled this man to follow. From my investigation, I have concluded that Jesus hears us and wants us to all to be fed and has the expectation that we will participate in the cyclical process. The MO of a follower of the way or path, a Christian is to be propelled by thankfulness for God’s overflowing mercy, care, love and forgiveness to do God’s work, feeding, clothing, hearing, calling, proclaiming, healing, forgiving and welcoming with our hearts, mind, hands and all that we are. The verdict? We’re guilty of straying from the way of God, but the Good news is that in Christ the verdict has been set aside. By God’s grace we have been declared innocent. Rejoice heard us before we even cried out for mercy and he has made us right. Lets us be thankful, throw off our cloak and follow. Case Closed.
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