Sometimes

As we have kept going through the gospel of Mark we see that there are more moments when the disciples do not fully get what Jesus is saying and doing.  We want to scream at them sometimes and get them on the right track of understanding Jesus and following him in a better way.  We can be certain that we would have done so much better.  And I will contend that we would have been the same as some portion of those around Jesus then.

We might have been like the disciples who have times of getting it, as when Peter says that Jesus is the Christ.  We would have had times of getting it wrong, as when Peter rebukes Jesus for saying that the Christ must day and rise again.  We would have times of looking blankly and not having a clue what he had just said and asking for a clearer explanation, as when they heard some of the parables.  There would have been moments when we would have had certainty of what was supposed to happen and we would have been absolutely wrong, as when the disciples are certain that Jesus is going to restore the kingdom to Israel.

I find that we still live in these ways of seeing Jesus.  We read the gospels and think we have it all figured out.  We know what Jesus would do if he were here today.  But I can find Christians, whether pastors, teachers, theologians, regular followers of Jesus, who all know what Jesus would do.  They can give reasons for why he would vote for a particular political party, and the crowds of those who know what Jesus would do would vote for each and every party.  They know how he would handle finances today.  With the spectrum of ideas about saving, giving and spending.  They know how he would handle poverty and the unhoused.  With a variety of conflicting responses.  We think we know what his international politics would be.  Yet we disagree on whether he would support military actions, which side he would support, who is in the right in our conflicts.  Look at how many wars have had people on each side claiming God on their side.  We believe we have it all figured out, how Jesus would act today.  Some of us must be wrong about some portions.  I think we are all wrong in at least some ways.

I would love to give the final answer on how we are supposed to see Jesus taking on each of the issues of the day.  I also don’t want the responsibility for the problems that would result from being the final authority.  I realize that I am also one of the ones who needs to see that I am wrong about some of these things.  Yet we are called to follow Jesus, even as we see that the way to follow Jesus is not fully agreed upon.

So we go back to the gospels, as well as the whole of the Bible.  We go back and we look again and again with these questions.  Sometimes holding to the same answers over and over.  Sometimes seeing that we wonder, we question, we adjust, we learn, we change.  We learn to live with some of the differences among us and focus on the goals we can work together on.  Loving neighbours, caring for God’s world, receiving grace from Jesus, being save in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  And even as we see those things we realize that how we do those things can bring us to those ways in which we are not in complete agreement.  Yet, we follow Jesus as best we can. 

It brings me to a quote from Brené Brown.  “People do the best they can with the resources they have at this time.”  Giving ourselves, and even more, others, the grace to follow Jesus as best we can as we are able at this time.  Making room for people to follow, even we don’t all agree on the way we follow.  Because we all come in with the knowledge that we will be the one who is wrong some of these times.  And then when we are right we can have the grace to be with those who have not come to the same conclusions we have.  And maybe, down the road somewhere, we will come to better understandings together.