Boundary Markers
Sunday March 3, 2024
Series: Mark Part 2 - Week 3, March 3, 2024 Scripture: Mark 7:1-5, Mark 7:6-8, Mark 7:19-23 ((NIV11)
Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions are just a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.
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Message Summary: Today we settle into the realm of conflict, new perspectives, and what it means to defile one’s heart.
Food rules - Mark 7:1-5. The Pharisees are concerned about Jesus and his disciples not following the rules, the tradition of the Elders (oral Torah, that was often seen as a necessary companion to the actual Torah, first five books of Moses). The concern is not about hygiene, but about identity. Religious rules often begin with good intentions but end up with unintended consequences.
One-two punch - Mark 7:6-7. Jesus respond to the Pharisees with the quote from the prophet Isaiah, from the time when Jerusalem fell to Assyria. He points out that it’s not rules that save people and cities. And then he goes on to rebuke the Pharisees in acting (“hypocrites”). Tradition and rules are meant to serve us and we’re meant to outgrow them and open ourselves up to new things.
A parable to fight with - Mark 7:19-23. If we think of purity laws as boundary markers, Jesus tells a parable to shift a boundary. Purity is a clear alignment of our love and action. The list of sins that Jesus gives is meant to speak to both, Jews (Ten Commandments) and Gentiles (Greco-Roman list of vices). The list addresses how we treat each other and reminds us that “gospel is only gospel when it’s good for all sides.”
Sacred Disruption: Jesus moves into Gentile territory. He heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician Woman and the man who could not hear or speak. Even more rules of defilement need to fall. These are doorway conversations for Jesus. Even Jesus first didn’t think he was for them. He needed to look them in the face and hear their stories for the shift in him to happen. The change of heart makes us pure. In Mark 7, God shows that every person who crosses our path has something to teach us. They are our sacred disruptions that help to make us whole.
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Connect: Today we’re talking about tradition and transformation. When you think about those two things in your own life, what prompts you toward tradition and rule-keeping, and what usually acts as a catalyst or inspiration for transformation for you?
Share: Reflect on the concern of the Pharisees about Jesus’ disciples not washing hands and how that concern was wrapped around identity. What do you think mattered to them and why? Share about some rules, spoken or unspoken, family rules or faith rules, that were also wrapped around identity, or prevented you from growing or hindered your ability to fully engage with others. What did it look like for you to reassess, challenge, walk away from these rules in a healthy and respectful manner? “Structures of obedience have unintended consequences. Instead of keeping us safe, some rules keep us from living. They deny us the hard work of forming an ethical rubric – one we can be proud to live by. Jesus challenges rules when they lose their way to love.”
Reflect: Reflect on Mark 7:19-23 and the parable on purity and defilement. What resonates with you in Jesus’ response to the Pharisees? How does he reinterpret purity? What are some “purity codes” that you are personally re-thinking or you think our wider culture is re-assessing? How does Bobbi’s definition of purity connect with you? “It helps to think of purity laws as boundary-markers. The actions that keep people close to their values. What Jesus does here is shift a boundary. Jesus says the true sight of impurity is not your hands, but your heart. And what he means by heart is the deep down place where our core commitments, truest intentions, and sturdiest of will resides. If you’re hung up on the word purity, I find it helpful to think about what it isn’t. We betray something pure when we deny our bonds of love, reverence for the divine, and our own inner wisdom. Purity is the clear alignment of love and action.”
Engage: Jesus' encounters with the Syrophoenician woman and the man who could not speak or hear were “doorway conversations” for Jesus. They challenged his own assumptions and had his own boundary/understanding of his calling shifted. Bobbi shared about her own experience of a doorway conversation that became a moment of personal transformation for her. Could you relate to those experiences of doorway conversations? What has been a “doorway conversation” in your life that challenged or transformed you? How did it change you?
Take away: What would you like to take away from today’s conversation? Or, think about a person who is currently your “sacred disruption” and pray for them, for yourself, and the work of God in your lives.
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Pray: We take a quiet moment With our minds And with the Spirit To consider rules we’ve followed Rules we’ve challenged And doorway conversations – places of transformation – we’ve been a part of. For all the ways the story of scripture still befriends us, We are grateful. For the ways Jesus both speaks to his time, and ours, We are grateful. For the creativity before us to address the needs of the world, We are determined and we are grateful. Spirit of the living God, Present with us now, Enter the places of our changing paradigms, our everyday worry, and even our desperation And heal us of all that harms us. Amen.
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CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 16
MUSIC: Curated by Rebecca Santos
Brooke Ligertwood - Desert Song
Commons Worship - Faithfully
Mission House - Your Eyes See Me
Cody Carnes - Firm FoundationSCRIPTURE REFLECTION LITURGY: Written by Scott Wall
On this third Sunday in Lent - perhaps we feel some seasonal fatigue. The lingering winter days. The intensity of Lenten practices. The longing for some change you can sense deep in your bones.
Historically, Lent has offered all who are worn out a moment of reckoning —where - on the path to Easter, we awaken to our patterns and affections…
And, on Sunday feast days like this, we’re reminded to relinquish all effort and weariness to receive the delights of each new day.
Which is why, as a practice of waking up and letting go, I’m going to offer the words of today’s lectionary Psalm (19) as prayer,
And I invite you to be still for a moment - to be receptive - and to let the ancient poet guide you on your Lenten journey.
Perhaps into a refreshing awareness of creation - or into unrestrained curiosity at what Spirit might be shaping in you - or, into the reprieve and settledness you need for the days to come.
Let us pray.
Loving God, The heavens proclaim your glory. The skies display your craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak, night after night they make you known. Speaking without a sound or word, Yet their message is heard throughout the earth.
God in Christ - Your instructions are perfect, reviving our weary souls. Your commandments are right and true, bringing joy to our heavy hearts. Your direction and commands are clear, giving insight for all the days we live.
Divine Spirit - How can we know all the sin present in us? Cleanse us from these hidden faults. Keep us from deliberate errors, and don’t let them control us. For with you we are free of guilt and shame.
So - in our worship and our play - in our rest and rigour - May the words of our mouthes and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer.
Amen.
