Marketplace Ministry Origins: A SOAP Study on Mark 6

November 5, 2023November 6, 2023Leave a comment

If you’re a longtime follower, you know it’s been a while since my last vocational post. Thus, I figured for today we’d travel back in time to 2016 when I first started to explore Jesus’ cleansing of the temple (Luke 19:45-48). To guide our discussion, I’ll once again we taking a SOAP Bible study approach to help us synchronize revelation.

Get ready, set…

Scripture: “When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.”

Observations: Taking a bird’s eye view at Mark 6, we soon realize there’s much going on in this passage. While author ‘Q’ is renowned for his truncated style, this doesn’t undermine the literal and figurative ground covered in this chapter.

After Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth, we note he is intentionally mobile starting in v. 7 where we find a Great Commission preview in the sending out of the 12 disciples. Verses later, we find a surprisingly long account of John the Baptist’s death (No offense, John, I think your 16 verses could have been cut in half and we would have been fine) followed by the feeding of the 5,000 and walking on water accounts (v. 30-52). Honestly, it’s almost like author ‘Q’ is creating this Gospel popery, an EP of Jesus’ greatest hits for future generations to share. For most, the chapter concludes in v. 52 once Jesus has calmed the storm; however, in terms of time lapse, there’s still over half the book to go.

Enter v. 53, where we find Jesus passing over into Gennesaret* and setting the stage for one of the most overlooked segments in Scripture (I.e. v. 54-56). To best understand the significance of this excerpt, we must first take note of the setting. Having crossed the Sea of Galilee from Bethsaida, we find our Ocean’s 13 crew in an exhausted state, more from past pitstops than the 9.8 km sail. Upon porting, we note the crowd instantly recognized him, which may be a subtle detail to some but bears emphasis when we zoom out.

For before Jesus’ presence could be seen, it was often first felt.
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Even when oral tradition and word of mouth were the only vehicles, the awareness of Christ’s authority kept increasing. Just imagine if social media existed 2,000 years ago. Jesus would have needed 12 bodyguards in addition to the 12 disciples!

Either way, with corporate cognizance ignited, the hustle put into rounding the sick and afflicted makes sense. After all, the Isaiah 53 prophecies were compelled to verify in light of the Messiah. No wonder there was such an initial reaction considering the anticipation was manifesting off the heels of past divinations.

Contrasting the comps of this passage, I can appreciate the conclusion in Matthew’s account:

“…and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.” (v. 36)

A safe and sound finale, it’s no surprise author ‘Q’ takes a similar approach lacing the climax and resolution with one swoop; however, while he maintains the same canon, we’re gifted a slight wrinkle in v. 56. See if you can find it…

“...And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.”

Pause. Did you catch that? Where did they lay the sick again? The marketplace, you say?

Indeed, from city to country, the social fulcrum was corporate Israel!

Ya’ll, that is crazy and completely mind-boggling. Just think if that were to happen today, how much culture shock this would cause on social and vocational levels. As much as the church would be expected to help in these situations, would it yield some responsibilities to non-religious epicenters?

While the answer there is a blog for another day, when we consider the ending of Mark 6, we must understand the temple and outer peripheries where marketplace extended were social hotspots. In fact, if you analyze the places Jesus roamed during His ministry, the temple/marketplace tandem topped the chart! As we transition into potential applications, one must wonder what today’s “marketplace” looks like…

Application: Outside the sanctuary, where would Jesus be hanging out if he came back today? Bars, clubs, cafes, and transport hubs come to mind. Per your comment adds below, I’m sure there are many others. Regardless, I can’t help but marvel knowing the workplace was at one point in history the nerve center for where Jesus did ‘business’. Put another way…

The brunt of Jesus’ labor occurred not in the synagogue, but in the highest concentrations of people and their transactions.
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This speaks to me on several fronts. For starters, the modern tendency is to endure work, be it a basic necessity or worse, a necessary evil, on route to finding Jesus anywhere else. We may reference Christ a few times throughout the day, mostly internal. But for the most part, we’re pressing through the office part of our day to get to the good stuff.

However, in Jesus’ time, the black and white lines of today didn’t apply as He constantly referenced the Father within His itinerary. In past posts, I’ve talked about the intentionality of Christ and how it manifests administratively, to planning, leadership development, and time management among other criteria. Interestingly, when you layer Mark 6 with Matthew 14 and Luke 9, we find the Spirit-yielding logistics of Jesus’ mission as the backbone of His greatest works. As much as we tout the miraculously, we must also acknowledge the leadership of His lordship from delegation to per diem.

Secondly, Jesus never advised His disciples outside of what He’d already established as best practice. Whatever He asked the disciples to do, He had already done and was doing alongside them. Could one argue Jesus was the great middle-manager in history? Absolutely. However, unlike some we may know in real life, Jesus did not direct apart from His directive. To that which Jesus was on mission, so were His disciples on co-mission. And the encouragement for us is two-fold:

Just as Jesus established the marketplace as a place of freedom where teachings and miracles occurred, so, too, did He empower His disciples to do the same in rural areas.
Just as Jesus intended the marketplace to serve as an apostolic arm, so, too, must we embrace this corporate call in current times.

Granted, I understand how thousands of years have made certain external factors a case of apples and oranges. Still, I can only imagine what could happen if more marketplace ministers today served as compassionate conduits of Christ’s desire to heal, as ambassadors reconciling others through the ministry of prayer and availability! Whatever changes in our midst starts from within and I implore you, my friends, to not segregate the sacred from secular at work but live your faith transparently. Do not literally hide God’s Word in your heart in so masking the evidence of sanctification. Rather, love on purpose so others may find your company as an extension of safety to where requests are exchanged and prayer has more runway.

I’m telling you, even a few mindful tweaks can have deep, far-reaching impact. Follow the Gospel model set forth by Jesus and His Spirit will awaken you as you yield and abide.

Prayer:

Footnotes

*The name Gennesaret is associated with the area mentioned in two NT references (Matthew 14:22; Mark 6:45). After feeding the 5,000, Jesus’ disciples crossed over the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida (6:45), then crossed back again (6:53) and came to land at Gennesaret. Sometimes, however, the name is not restricted to the district, for Luke speaks of the lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1), referring to the Sea of Galilee

Graphic creds: Tenor

Right Up My Aili: The Final Small Fry (Part 1)

July 23, 2023July 23, 2023Leave a comment

It’s another sultry evening in west Nash as I type this. I don’t speak on my behalf when I say I’m glad recent storms have finally subsided.

For most of you reading this, you know how much I love storms. When I’m in one, I’m one step closer to awe – one step closer to life making more sense. After all, the winds within are never far away.

Of course, you wouldn’t know it given the script of 2023’s first half, a stretch in which the theme of forced rest amidst evolving pursuits have re-emerged. While the in-house volume has emphatically increased, in several areas of life, Lys and I have been forced to mute the noise to maintain heading.

And so it is, I pen this post during the last normal weekend for the foreseeable future. Houston, start down the countdown. We’re less than six days away from the final small Fry making her arrival.

While much attention this year has been given to the Juby Journey book, occasionally, it helps to zoom out to 20,000 feet and refresh a different page. Personally, I find the practice not just helpful but vital – a necessity during such disorienting days.

This dichotomy, man. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt and likely will ever feel again.

On one hand, the grief of losing Juby last September has finally started to subside. Slowly but surely, Lys and I are getting there though as I’ve said before: You can’t ever quantity a journey through grief and its cycles. You can only paint a picture through watercolor language. Even then, you’re talking about a mere speck on a 10′ x 10′ canvas of emotions. We’re moving in the right direction – an oasis there, a ray of sun there. Maybe someday, we’ll be out of the woods for good.

On the other, you have the anticipation of Aili, a golden surprise in what has been the smoothest pregnancy by a wide margin. Such a sweet kiss from the Lord as part of a redemptive narrative unfolding. Who would have guessed it based on what happened two years ago around this time?

Still, when you lose a child, you’re never the same again. And you certainly feel the rift when joyous occasions are on the horizon. As Lys and I shared in our Vandy grief support group in April, when you go through something like what we did last year, an organic strengthening occurs when perseverance is compelled to a life on the lines, when hope is forced to the end of its rope. Eventually, there are moments when the despondency softens and you realize you’ve made strides in becoming the person you’ve always wanted to be.

But there is a cost, one tracing back to that same hope ironically enough. While endurance may have fortified your faith, your capacity to positively anticipate is broken, at least bent. And it’s here where the bizarre paradox starts to unveil. Yes, you’re grateful for the forging through fire. Still, you can’t help but wonder why so many shades of happiness are gone. Perhaps they’ve melded into scars and the only possible way to sense them is through the prelude of thanksgiving?

Whatever the case, while eager enthusiasm is much harder to come by, our desire to look up and receive fresh perspective remains at ease. Take it from the battle-tested: All those sermons about intentionality in referencing God, I’m telling you…they aren’t Sunday morning fluff. At some point, you grow up and realize there is no other way to find those morsels of encouragement. Sometimes, all you can do is pray. And that’s okay.

As for Lys and I, we’re doing what we’ve been doing for so long now – one day at a time, one hour at a time, keeping hearts transparent and lifelines secure. To be honest, I feel a tad guilty – I probably should be more excited about Aili’s arrival on Friday. The last time one of our own came into the world, there was so much chaos and hostility. Forgive me, Lord, I’m just a weak man walking on the sea. I believe in You and yet reserve my joy to seeing the evidence of health without compromise, your breath in her lungs as we pour out our praise. At this point, I don’t contend for normality but vibrancy in abundance. Hence, why Aili is the name we’re going with. In dark depths, when shadows are at their most opaque, there’s a bright, shining light in our midst reminding us He’s there looking out for us.

As for life itself, the internal knots will eventually unwind and streams once abandoned will be returned to. God knows what we’ve had to release in the short term and why. Certainly, where the help has and hasn’t occurred this year has been telling. Like a weather vane turning in slow motion, the signs aren’t lost on me. Glory to God, He speaks through and to voids, even ones unauthorized, to reach us with what only He can provide.

Yet, despite the mysteries and unknowns, what I can say is this: While the heart is weak and willing, as far as it be with us, we will relish the ride. Even as we pass through the turnstile of significant dates, August 21 and September 18, most notably, you can bet the joy set before Him, along with the cost, will be counted. Even though we feel trapped in a parallel universe, far removed from our intended plotline, our trust will remain anchored, our times in His hands.

We got this ’cause He had it first. May it be.

Until then, selah and know…

Graphic creds: Tenor; HD Wallpaper

Miracle in the Making: The Jubilee Journey (Part 9)

August 19, 2022May 4, 2024Leave a comment

One week into August…and we’re starting to hit those milestone anniversaries. Crazy how we’re already at the one-year mark from when the Juby Journey started, at least as we know it.

For those following our page updates, Juby has been oscillating on her paralytic the past 48 hours netting in a positive direction. Honestly, given the dire position she was in a few weeks ago, I’ll take baby step progress any way we can get it. Yet, while the arrow is a mild point up at the moment, I can’t help but feel I’m riding a similar line spiritually speaking.

In a sense, I feel so hollow, so numb…it’s like I’m threading the needle between supernatural protection and self-preservation. On one hand, it’s not hard for me to routinely release Juby into God’s hands and anchor surrender in yielded trust; on the other, the depressive thoughts continue to mount, the slope ever more slippery as the need for thought captivation increases.

From the ‘God, am I somehow the hold up to Juby being fully healed’ to ‘I wish I could go back to student pastoring again…somewhere far away from here’…the thought captivity meter is basically in whack a mole’ mode. And I wish there was an off button.

Still, every hour is one at a time laced with opportunities to say ‘no’ to fear and ‘yes’ to higher alternatives. From upticking K-LOVE radio play to binge watching posthumous footage of Joy Dawson, there are many ways to punch Satan in the face these days.

But then there’s last Sunday when Lys had the opportunity to share the Word at The Gate Church in Franklin.

Listening to her speak, I couldn’t quench the goosebumps as she delivered a message similar to one I shared with LEGACYouth six years ago during an ‘Intentionality of Jesus’ series.

Past and present infused, there I was in Matthew 14:22-33, storybooked next to Jesus ahead of his second Sea of Galilee cameo.

Six chapters earlier (Matthew 8:23-27), Jesus had demonstrated His power over the water in the boat; now He was about to manifest His power, patience, and Immanuel presence on the water outside the boat. You talk about poetic symmetry in motion. Here was the Son of God who used His voice to quiet the waves, who proceeded to miraculously feed the 5,000, who had already previewed His identity to the disciples…yet hadn’t employed His move strategic maneuver. At least until v. 23 in which Jesus retreats to pray following a massive ministerial stretch and learning his cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed. Aware of the weather conditions, Jesus then calls notable audible in v. 25:

“…He came to them.”

Now, for most reading this, these four words are perhaps anecdotal to the passage’s climax in v. 33 when the disciples acknowledge Jesus’ identity. But to this guy, these words hit close to home in a way I couldn’t possibly understand outside this current season.

‘Cause truth is: The disciples didn’t call out to Jesus to come to them; rather Jesus made the first move, calling out to them so they could call back and respond accordingly. Almost a complete reversal of Matthew 8, Jesus isn’t arbitrarily prayer-walking around waiting for something to happen. Conversely, He is resetting into the Father and planting himself, albeit in distance, to make His presence known. How many times have we sensed the faint fragrance of Christ and like Peter couldn’t resist the urge to confirm its realness?

Granted, we should respect Peter in this story for breaking physics through child-like faith alone. For he knew He couldn’t control the elements yet understood His calling in the moment…get out of the boat and draw near to Jesus…cyclone be darned. Through hell or high water, Peter knew what mattered most was where he was going and who he was going to; hence, why he had no problem doing what he deemed most sensible when he lost visual: He cried out to Jesus for a supernatural, warp-speed extension of the hand ever reaching into the chaos…

…met with the grasp of saving grace.

‘Oh, you of little faith. Why did you doubt?’ (v. 32).

Not a reprimand, mind you, but a reminder: I’m with you always and was there from the beginning. Don’t ever think my hand is too short to save.

Back in the NICU, I continue to marvel at this little life. As one who feels small often, I can resonate to a certain extent. But strangely, I couldn’t care less…because like Peter, if Jesus confesses His proximity and in response, I ask Him to ask me to believe the impossible…heck, yes, sign me up for that as long as I have breath. No matter how long Juby lives, I don’t want to ask Jesus to save her, to save me, to save my family…if I’m not willing to walk on water amidst the neighboring halls praying without ceasing. I don’t want to ask Jesus to help me if I’m not willing to press into the Father…if I don’t make vertical reliance a priority over a given moment or assignment.

After all, the Son of God is with me…and comes to me. May our faith, like Peter, understand what’s most important and progress correspondingly…

Selah.

Cover photo creds: ImageVine

Miracle in the Making: The Jubilee Journey (Part 8)

July 26, 2022Leave a comment

So lately, I’ve been basking in the early Psalms…

…soaking in security metaphors relative to God’s sovereignty.

No question, this journey is wearing me out. Five days to one month to one year. Like the text on Evy’s new ‘Sleeping Beauty’ t-shirt, ‘I can’t even’…

From driving to work without a modicum of ‘I can’t do this today’ to imaging life a year from now, the writing on the wall is a tattoo on the heart: I can’t because I shouldn’t…but I can because He will just as He always has.

For Lys and I, we’ve been overwhelmed by basic math in recent days wondering why Juby has coded seven times in five weeks not to mention a pair of baggings the past five days alone. We wish we had the answers though we’re learning the freedom of anticipating them in our day-to-day interactions. After all, if our faith is to mature, there must be a catalyst, often a challenging one, compelling our perseverance to discover God in a fresh way.

Perhaps this is why we’re often confused and discouraged but also confident and encouraged at the same time. As for any NICU family leaning into God, not relinquishing their hope, there almost has to be an uncomfortable friction between the emotional and spiritual where in between, perpetual paradoxes are broken down.

For instance, when I hold Juby’s hand, I’m reminded as she clings to my finger, so too must my hope, my trust, my devotion also cling to Jesus. Just like Caeden, Evy, and Milo at her age, she squeezes whatever she can get her hands on and doesn’t let go until I pry it loose. Sometimes, I forget how desperate she must feel, wishing the lines running across her body were gone yet oblivious to the fact this isn’t how a first-year body was meant to function.

Obviously, I know where she’s at and what she’s enduring is short-term within the grand scheme. By God’s strength, she will eventually auto-correct through these setbacks be it six months or six years.

Still, I suppose if there’s a head scratch for me, it comes back to what must I do apart from believing God is who He says He is. As this adventure has taught me, God is glorified in our suffering as we hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering and boast of it firmly until the end (Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 4:14). However, as I’m also finding, this doesn’t exactly simplify the pathway to touching His robe. In my case, while embracing stillness has been a perk to the load-bearing, I’ve also noted it can keep me idle when God is calling me to motion.

It’s like I’m content to contend…to put one foot in front of the other…but struggle to believe I can get to Jesus in my weakness. And so, on my dark days, I stay where I’m at anchoring in worship and His Word though ashamed I didn’t try harder to make that contact. On brighter days, I sense that slow motion surrender though in the wrestling still wonder, ‘Jesus, can you slow down a little? I know you’re up to something amazing but we just need more of you right now.’

Again, I don’t say this to draw empathy. Rather I say this because I’m desperate…not only to see Juby healed while operating free of fear to whatever intimacy is required…but also to know how the Father responds when any part of us, well, codes! Be it a physical code, a sin/stronghold code, a generational and/or word curse code. Who knows…for most of us, it’s probably a combination of things.

As always, time will eventually stir my pen to capture findings to my curiosities, among them why only one ‘how long’ reference in Psalms actually ties to sorrow.

For now, I bid this post and you, my friends, a fond adieu. This man needs rest and a charge to His best.

Tomorrow, we live to see another day. I will pre-rejoice and be glad in it.

Selah.