GOD UNDOMESTICATED (2 OF 52)
Scripture: Mark 1:1-10
This content is part of a series.
God Undomesticated (2 of 52)
Series: Discipleship Part Three
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 1:1-10
We like structure, security, and certainty. We like life to follow rules we know, anticipate, and understand. We like a world tamed to function according to our design. It gives us security, confidence, and openness to march forward without fear. When the uncivilized, untamed, and unexpected elements of life arise, we become anxious. We want a tamed world. We want God to be tamed, as well, but God does not submit to our expectations. What do we do when God strikes us as less than house-broken?
The Jews expected Messiah to arrive within Judaism's establishment. They considered their rules, rituals, and traditions as the sacred framework required for God to redeem from their enemies, the Romans who oppressed them. Messiah should come within those guidelines. Messiah would not mess with the safe structures of sacrifice, tradition, and carefully devised traditional interpretations of obedience to the code of Moses. After all, this had all been carefully designed to make sure God was pleased with the nation and thus amenable to their pleas for redemption and political sovereignty. The problem was, God didn't play by their rules.
Mark opens his good news about Jesus with a refrain from Isaiah. Isaiah spoke of Yahweh's messenger arriving to announce Messiah's coming from the wilderness, not the civilized structures of Judaism. God's messenger would come to Israel from the untamed wildness of the unsettled and uncultivated lands beyond the constraints of established society. Then Mark tells us John the Baptizer appeared on the scene in precisely that wilderness scene by the Jordan River. John arrived in the wild, preaching a message of repentance.
Repentance required acknowledging that the structures of Jewish religion were not really fulfilling God's design. John's call to repentance required a change of course. It required fulfilling Yahweh's deeper design for ...
Series: Discipleship Part Three
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 1:1-10
We like structure, security, and certainty. We like life to follow rules we know, anticipate, and understand. We like a world tamed to function according to our design. It gives us security, confidence, and openness to march forward without fear. When the uncivilized, untamed, and unexpected elements of life arise, we become anxious. We want a tamed world. We want God to be tamed, as well, but God does not submit to our expectations. What do we do when God strikes us as less than house-broken?
The Jews expected Messiah to arrive within Judaism's establishment. They considered their rules, rituals, and traditions as the sacred framework required for God to redeem from their enemies, the Romans who oppressed them. Messiah should come within those guidelines. Messiah would not mess with the safe structures of sacrifice, tradition, and carefully devised traditional interpretations of obedience to the code of Moses. After all, this had all been carefully designed to make sure God was pleased with the nation and thus amenable to their pleas for redemption and political sovereignty. The problem was, God didn't play by their rules.
Mark opens his good news about Jesus with a refrain from Isaiah. Isaiah spoke of Yahweh's messenger arriving to announce Messiah's coming from the wilderness, not the civilized structures of Judaism. God's messenger would come to Israel from the untamed wildness of the unsettled and uncultivated lands beyond the constraints of established society. Then Mark tells us John the Baptizer appeared on the scene in precisely that wilderness scene by the Jordan River. John arrived in the wild, preaching a message of repentance.
Repentance required acknowledging that the structures of Jewish religion were not really fulfilling God's design. John's call to repentance required a change of course. It required fulfilling Yahweh's deeper design for ...
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