Last Sunday, my pastor spoke on righteous indignation and based his talk on the book of Mark. One of the passages he read came from Mark & as I read it, I was struck with some thoughts about how this affected me in some of my past experiences & in my own life.–noun
1. (often used with a plural verb) the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons.
2. (used with a plural verb) persons of the highest class: Only the elite were there. –adjective
3. a group of persons exercising the major share of authority or influence within a larger group: the power elite of a major political party.
5. representing the most choice or select; best: an elite group of authors. Also, é·lite.[Origin: 1350–1400; ME elit a person elected to office <>e(s)lit ptp. of e(s)lire to choose; see elect]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
I remember how I used to watch people closely to see if someone would do something that I would consider to be inappropriate so I could react with an "Ah-ha! Then when it happened, I could pass my judgment upon them & expose their hypocracy.The Man with the Paralyzed Hand
1 Now He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a paralyzed hand.
2 In order to accuse Him, they were watching Him closely to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath.
3 He told the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stand before us.”
4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
5 After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, He told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
6 Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
[Mark 3] (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Just as the religious leaders then anticipated Jesus to violate the religious customs of His day, many of the "religious elite", as I once considered myself, still anticipate a similar violation of what is considered "sacred behavior" today. Jesus knew what the religious leaders were up to & intentionally asked the man with the paralyzed hand to come forward, publicly.
Can you imagine the thoughts racing through the disciples' minds? "Oh, no. Here He goes again. He's gonna really tick off the priests! He's not going to heal this guy on the Sabbath! This is going to be so embarrassing." I'm sure Jesus put the disciples in many an uncomfortable moment during His ministry. And as predicted, the religious leaders reacted by sneaking out to plot Jesus' demise.
Jesus, however, gave the Pharisees a question that no one was willing to answer. This angered Him all the more and only fueled His intention to derail the "religion" of the religious elite. Mark said what angered Him was the hardness of the hearts of the religious leaders. They were too proud to admit that they may be wrong in their believe of holiness. So, they sat silent in their pride.
I used to react that way, too, when I knew I was beat.
Nowadays, I see so many examples of how today's religious elite sit in judgment of fellow Believers especially. It is expected that in order for anyone to come to Christ in today's religious society one should first clean up their act and then they can approach the Throne of Grace. And if you are already one of the "chosen", you are scrutinized all the more & could face alienation by the church if you buck the system.
I am reminded of a song by Chris Christian, a contemporary Christian artist of the 1980s, titled, Why Are We First (To Kill Our Own Wounded?) which asks the question why do we, as Believers, shoot first & ask questions later when dealing with struggles from our own? Why do we plot to destroy a fellow Believer's spirit by condeming them before we understand the plight they are in?
This encounter with this man who had a paralized hand came in church. Back then, if you had a condition like this, you were considered cursed by God because of something you or your parents did. You were prevented from entering the santuary of the Believers until you went through a clensing. How is this different from someone who is known child molester, AIDS patient, practicing prostitute, active homosexual, or deadbeat dad today?
It seems Christians today want their sanctuaries to be safe havens from the very people who need to be in there to find hope for their hurting lives. We have no problem going to them on street corners & "ministering to them" because it may make us feel worthwhile & important...if not superior (elite) to their situation. We come as a knight in shining armor to resuce the perishing. That's all fine & good. But what if the perishing enter into our sanctuary? Well, we get more than a little uncomfortable.
And heaven forbid that someone reaches out to them by sitting with them, talking to them, or showing any sign of comradery with them. It now becomes a blight upon our "witness" because they can take our actions to mean that we approve of their behavior or that we endorse the lifestyle they are in. And when the religious elite see that you are associating with people like this, they begin to plot with the Herodians of our day to destroy you.
Just who were the Herodians? They were a political party among the Jews, supporters of the Herodian family, and therefore to some extent in opposition to the Roman government, and also the Pharisees who were in favor of purely religious theocracy. Sound familiar to any of the "big church" style of today's religious elite? When we start messin' with the religious theocracy in our society, we are just asking for trouble.
Yet, Jesus snubbed the noses of this bunch of religious elites & intentionally asked this man to stretch out his afflicted hand. And when he did, he did it as an act of faith - but he also implicated himself by doing this because he participated in the "crime" that Jesus committed by healing on the Sabbath. This man put more faith in Jesus than in the religious leaders of his day.
Now that's a thought.
What if all the Believers started following what Jesus wanted them (as individuals) to do instead of following the drivel from the religious elite? How would this affect your church? How would it affect all of Christianity? And more importantly, how would it affect the spread of the Gospel?
