Mark 6: 1-6 Subverting Our Sense of Place

In today's Gospel, Jesus returned to his native place (which we'll assume to be Nazareth) and taught in the synagogue. Those who listened to him were astonished and while they recognized his wisdom and probably heard of his wondrous deeds, they took offense at him. The commentary in Matthew chapter 13 verse 54 says that the Nazarenes probably found Jesus to be pretentious. A carpenter suddenly speaking with authority in the synagogue.

Elsewhere, I have written that there are two kinds of what we Filipinos call "yabang" roughly translated in English as arrogance or pretension. One kind is when you claim more about yourself than you really are. But a second sense is when a person speaks even when his social position does not permit him to speak given prevailing social norms. A person, as it were, who does not know his place.

I think it is the second sense that riles his fellow Nazarenes. It seems they were amazed by Jesus' wisdom and his wondrous deeds. But they still took offense because he was a carpenter and the son of Mary and not the son of someone like Zaccheus or Nicodemus. In other words, it wasn't what Jesus said that made them cringe but who he was and his audacity to claim to have the authority to preach (with authority). They probably thought of Jesus as an embarrassment for not knowing his place.

But if there is anything about Jesus' ministry, it is that it there are several instances when he subverts the prevailing sense of place. This is one such instance, a carpenter preaching in the synagogue. Those who are first who will be last and those who are last who will be first. A God-man who washes the feet of his disciples.

Mark 5: 21-43: Living Water

Last Tuesday, while lecturing on capabilities and social exclusion, I said I always found it curious that when Jesus healed people, he almost always touched them. I found it curious because he was God after all and he could heal without touching.

The case of the centurion's servant shows this clearly. The servant was nowhere near Jesus. My students also pointed out to me that the other person Jesus "healed" from a distance was Lazarus.

In today's Gospel there are two healings and both involve touching. The woman with hemorrhage touched Jesus' cloak and she was healed. And Jesus took Jairus' daughter by the hand and she was raised from the dead.

I think it was the story of the woman with hemorrhage that opened up a new way of looking at the Gospels for me. By bleeding constantly for twelve years, she remained unclean and could not worship God in his temple. By touching Jesus, she made Jesus ritually unclean and that is why she was afraid that Jesus might get mad at her.

Then I realized from there that by touching people, Jesus was saying that if you are not allowed to touch God, then God will touch you (or allow himself to be touched) and restore you to full standing in the community. For me, that was the moment when I saw the entire Gospel as a Gospel of inclusion.

If we think of baptism as a way of cleansing ourselves for worship, a full body detoxification, as it were, then maybe this is one sense in which Jesus claims to be living water. Touching (and believing in) him heals us physically, socially, spiritually, cleanses us and restores our standing in many ways.