Day 9: The two-way street of grace (Mark 1:32-39)
Today’s Passage: Mark 1:32-39
Sometimes looking at individual pieces can unlock deep mysteries. Sometimes looking at the pieces connected can give a rich picture.
This is especially true when reading the Bible.
In today’s reflection I have linked together two bits of the story that are often dealt with separately: Jesus healing many—and Jesus going off to pray.
In these scenes I see what I call “the two-way street of grace”. One way is God’s grace that flows to us.
God’s grace, God’s love, is always flowing to us.
Our beating hearts, our every breath, is a grace from God.
The other way is how we each respond to that grace. Sometimes we call it obedience. Other times we call it love. Jesus linked the two when he said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” (John 14:15)
After reading how Peter’s mother is healed, some folks have scratched their heads that moments after recovering from being ill, she gets up and serves Jesus. It is her response to grace, by offering grace. Yes, we might call it obedience. Yet, to see that her actions flow from a heart of gratitude, leads me to call it grace. It is why I believe Jesus links obedience and love—it is all about motives.
It is easy to miss this and other moments of grace in the Gospel. After all, at this early point in Mark’s gospel, he is laying out exactly who Jesus is by chronicling his acts of authority and power. Mark does a good job. It is natural to focus on these mighty works of Jesus.
Yet I do not believe that Jesus’ motive is to show his power. His motive is God’s motive of grace.
He healed out of love for the sufferer. He cast out demons because they had no right to occupy and spoil human lives. He taught in parables because these, like the healings and the exorcisms, required a response of humble faith. The disciples could no more understand that in their day than we can in ours. It is part of God’s foolishness, as Paul described it (1 Cor. 1:18–31). It is Mark’s version of ‘it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith’ (Eph. 2:8). It is not the number of the healings and exorcisms, but their meaning, which matters.
So too the scene with Jesus praying. It is the “other way of grace”. Jesus is responding to the Father’s grace. It is a hard idea to write about. Jesus is God. To describe him as “responding” to the Father is a bit tricky when my mind is in a “hierarchical mode” of thinking. But when I think of the love relationship between Son and Father, then the fog lifts and I clearly see this two-way street of grace. The Beloved Son, early in the morning, praying, responding, staying connected to the Father.