Not just in words, but in what he did

While we can't effectively squeeze Jesus' words into simple teachings, we can address his patterns. Jesus purposely frames the context of every experience he has with people. The context of his encounters (at a meal, walking in a town, and talking to an audience) matters. 

We can find Jesus talking about forgiveness of sin for eternal life while he resets numerous hierarchies of power.  Jesus was constantly re-establishing the natural order of creation. 

Not just in words, but in what he did.

Image by Benjamin Davies

Not just in words, but in what he did

By John Pearring


https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020522.cfm
I Kings 3:4-13
Mark 6:30-34


And he began to teach them many things.

What are the "many things" that Jesus taught the vast crowds that followed him in his travels? I made a list. It's a ridiculous task. The gospels are so rich with teaching after teaching that we can't appropriately simplify what Jesus said. It's just too much stuff.

We might distill the many things into categories, generalizing his teachings into the subject matter. We end up, though, taking Jesus' words out of context. Literally, by extracting one statement after the other and packaging them together, we're removing the context.

It's like making liquor and wine. If you begin with just a few items — like a handful of different grains and some varieties of fruits — you'll end up with row after row of various concoctions of intoxicating product. Distilling Jesus' words is fraught with peril. We can become addicted to liquored spirits (Jesus' words) that we've distilled all by ourselves. Jesus is no longer talking to us in context. We end up only with the manufactured liquors (teachings) that we like and make us feel good.

We need another way to focus on the "many things" Jesus told the crowds. The context is essential. Rather than the teachings, let's review Jesus' contexts that lead up to Jesus' words.

Mark is a helpful gospel to begin this endeavor. He writes in blunt, concise sentences and seldom branches off with added details. I think Mark's approach represents well how Jesus spoke to newbies, folks who hadn't made any commitments to him. 

The folks in attendance at these large gatherings, I assume, included very few people who had already experienced one-on-one conversations with Jesus. So, his words had to apply to a general audience and highlight the primary purpose of his ministry. He also had to concentrate on attention-getting items. Interestingly, Mark doesn't always tell us what Jesus said. He tells us what Jesus did.

The first thing Jesus did with the crowd right after our reading today (Mk 6:35) tells us he was attentive and restorative. The group in Mark's gospel, 5,000 men, or at least 10,000 people, sat down hungry. Jesus proceeds to feed them. He gathers his disciples who've got nothing available. Jesus performs a miraculous, recruitment-oriented prayer and supplication to God. Everyone eats from the multiplication of a few loaves and fishes. 

Commentators seldom talk about the preparation of the meal that the people got. Wouldn't the two fish have already been smoked and cooked up for traveling, just like the bread? Jesus replicated ready-to-eat food from practically nothing. He didn't hand out fishing poles and build a bunch of baking ovens. 

Is Jesus consistent in his engagement with people? Well, the context for Jesus' teaching almost always involves his immediate care and concern for someone. He wants his followers, indeed, and thereby us, to know his love has particular elements. A short review of Jesus' meetings with either large or small groups of people tells us he is a master of crowd control.

Jesus is highly motivated for folks to recognize his authority. Amazingly, where Jesus' power comes from pops up in almost every context. Jesus repeatedly asks us to make up our minds about who he is. When Jesus finally gets some group's full attention — after a miracle or some shocking statement — Jesus usually zeroes in on marginalized folks by chastising people who abuse their authority. 

I've found that a consistent task of Jesus is to clear away a distraction or some folly at the outset of his teaching. That clearing away task seems part of the necessary context for establishing his authority and framing his teaching as valid and trustworthy. 

I believe it helps always to consider Jesus' teachings within its context. The context seems to be even more critical than specific teachings in Mark. Take the feeding of the five thousand, for instance.

The belly filling miracle of the fishes and loaves reveals that Jesus wants to meet our basic needs first. Repairing something or someone repeats in almost every miracle he does. His miracles are healings, feeding, raising from the dead, and calming storms. He went beyond just these physical needs in the same way. He challenged illogical thinking patterns, corrected the purpose of religious practices, and disabused stereotypes and systems that marginalized widows, orphans, the poor, the unclean, and the demonized.

While we can't effectively squeeze Jesus' words into simple teachings, we can address his patterns. Jesus purposely frames the context of every experience he has with people. The context of his encounters (at a meal, walking in a town, and talking to an audience) matters. 

At each encounter in the gospels, we can find Jesus talking about forgiveness of sin for eternal life while he resets numerous hierarchies of power. Every power comes from and is under God. Jesus was constantly re-establishing the natural order of creation. 

These statements might help to decipher some of what Jesus is teaching. Still, to capture the breadth of Jesus' encounters, we need to take each one as unique. That leaves us without the advantage of taking Jesus for granted. A daily dose of scripture, within prayer or liturgy, or even by itself, exposes the "many things" that Jesus wants to tell us. I'm not sure there's any other authentic way to experience his teaching.

The voice of Jesus within each setting, with us consciously putting ourselves in those places and with the people he's talking to, will make all the difference in understanding what Jesus wants to tell us. His teaching requires study, work, and commitment.  Jesus still approaches each of us with context in mind.

Once we’ve been engaged by Jesus, though, our relationship with him involves us being recognized by others as belonging to him now. As far as I’m concerned, that evangelization is not to displace Jesus, but to point to him. From him teaching alone, to the twelve, to the 500 at his resurrection, and the millions beyond. All authority is given by him. The indwelling of his Spirit is accomplished through him. Our eternal life is as subjects and kin to him. 

The context issue remains, and the scriptures secure the foundation of our Church. Jesus engages us in real life, not just the words. Mark did his thing for Jesus. We must do ours, in whatever way God prompts us.

Sounds like work, study, love, and commitment. And, it is. He will teach us many things, forever.

Using Format