Jesus Offended Them

+AMDG+

When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astonished.

They said, "Where did this man get all this?

What kind of wisdom has been given to him?

What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,

the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?"

And they took offense at him.

-Mark 6:2-3

As I was reading Breathing Underwater, by Richard Rohr, I came across an interesting insight. The book is about combing the 12 Step program with the Gospels and he succeeds beautifully. He said that most of his assume that our thought process is logical and correct. That all the thoughts and ideas we connect are correct. We never question if there is a flaw in the process. It is an incredible insight which I want to point out here in the Gospel.

Jesus shared his amazing insights into the mystery of God, into His very mystery, to stress the point, GOD IS TEACHING YOU ABOUT GOD DIRECTLY! So not only does he do this with his words but all with his actions. And if you read the response of the people their reaction is very "off." It went from: 

WOW can you believe what He is saying and doing?!?!?

to

Wait, who is He?!?!?

to

Who the HELL does He think He is?!?!?

There is a flaw in the thought process here. They had no problem with what he actually said but were offended because HE said it. I think human beings are very funny. We are more affected by the source than by the actually words. For example if I put:

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

- The Buddha

Love they neighbor as thyself.

-Jesus

Love they neighbor as thyself.

-Charles Manson

Each one affects differently. Does that mean the message is not true? There was a moment when we read the words, then see the source and no matter what was said subconsciously we reject or accept the words as true or false. When you find yourself having a very negative reaction, question your thought pattern. You may be wrong or you may not be but if you miss out on Truth then you miss out on Love.

If you miss out on Truth then you miss out on Love.

If God is Truth and Love and Oneness and Life then all those things come from God no matter where we find them. Truth is truth no matter who says it! Here is a beautiful quote:

When you hear truth, accept it.

When you see love, rejoice in it.

When you are in love, breath in your Beloved.

When your love is returned, realize how close you really are with God.

And be grateful.

Mmmhhhhhmmmm Bacon!

+AMDG+

“Go home to your family and announce to them

all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

-Mark 5:19

I came to the realization recently that to bring people to God is not something you do by beating them up over the head with logic. You do not help people to know God by making them feel bad about life choices or the circumstances they are in. Since no one is superior to another, you do not use your discipleship of Jesus and lord it over them, pun intended. This is not what mercy is about and I do not believe that this is what faith sharing is either. 

I do believe though that in this passage is the heart of evangelism, or in sharing your relationship with God with others. In the parable of the man with many demons, here is a man whom others feared, that no one could subdue, that was self-destructive, was prone to hurting himself and Jesus healed him the same way he would heal anyone else. He did not discriminate against anyone who needed a healing. He took the man's many demons and put them into swine which then in turn ran off a cliff to their sudden demise. 

If that was me and I found all those pigs at the bottom of the cliff I would have thought, 

"Aww Yeah!! Bacon, Baby!

The man then wants to follow Jesus and Jesus tells him to “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Now many people would think this is bad because of the whole pity thing but I think that is just an ego trip and an ego trip never got anyone anywhere. Another way I hear this passage is:

"GO HOME and tell everyone 

all the WONDERFUL things that

GOD has DONE FOR YOU!"

My faith is always strengthened more when I hear of someone who is in  a situation that no could help them and the Lord came and changed everything. Listening to how they are a different person and sharing that with others is an incredible thing to witness. And the gears start turning and I start to think, what if I gave the Lord a little more of myself today, what could he do with that...