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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

September 12, 2022

Invitatory

Send our your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

Reading - Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

“Why does this generation ask for a sign?” This passage immediately follows Mark’s telling of Jesus feeding the four thousand (different from the feeding of the five thousand.) Was that not sign enough? Was the miracle of turning a meager offering of seven loaves and a few small fish into plenty not sufficient to prove Jesus’s divinity? Apparently not.

Mark’s Gospel is characterized by swiftness - it is action-packed, moving quickly - breathlessly, at times, to the Cross. It is also characterized by a Jesus who does not tout his identity. In contrast to John, replete with “I am” statements that reveal Jesus’s identity, in Mark Jesus keeps his identity secret. He wants to show who he is rather than tell. The first chapter of this Gospel drops its reader right into action: Jesus is announced, John baptizes him, and he begins his ministry. For the next eight chapters, his divinity is shown through his work of healing and teaching, but not through his own self-identification. In fact, in chapter 9, immediately following today’s passage, Jesus is transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John, and they hear the voice of God proclaim that Jesus is his Son, the Beloved. But after this, Jesus tells his disciples to tell no one of what they have seen until after he is raised.

Why all this secrecy? Again, Jesus is showing, not telling. And I think this is what he means when he tells the Pharisees “no sign will be given to this generation.” That isn’t really what he means, because his entire life is a sign. The miracles he does, his teaching, his preaching - these are the signs the Pharisees want; they just don’t recognize them. This may be how we most often encounter divinity, too. In my call story, I never heard the voice of God or felt a tap on my shoulder that showed me ordination was the right path forward for me. Instead, I had to recognize the voices of friends and mentors as carriers of God’s call, and had to understand that their encouragement through word and deed was God’s tap on my shoulder. God does not always make Himself known to us through explicit words and instructions. Part of our Christian responsibility is to listen to and observe the world knowing that God is always trying to reach us. God is constantly trying to give us a sign.

So, we should model behavior similar to that of Jesus: telling people that they should go to church is not as effective as showing them that you live differently because of your faith. Living outwardly, considering others before yourself and constantly seeking God - that is how we can best exemplify the Christian life. Mark’s Jesus can be our guide: let’s not tell everyone we’re Christians; let’s show them.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy Name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

    as we forgive those

        who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

    and the power, and the glory

   for ever and ever. Amen.