The Gospel of Marks use of pistis (faith) should deconstruct everything we think we know to be true of faith. Consider this: time after time, the Gospel praises the pistis of those who boldly take direct action into their own hands, whether it be the friends who lowered the paralytic into the roof, Jairus and his daughter, the Syro-Phoenician woman, and let us not forget the woman who suffered from hemorrhaging who literally risked her own life by going out in public to grab onto Jesus cloak. Contrast the praise/ healing of these people--who courageously put themselves at risk--with the cowardice of the Disciples in Mark 4:37-40 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so cowardly? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples action EXACTLY portrays the popular notion of faith in Christianity today: they woke Jesus up and asked him to save them from the storm. But when Jesus woke up, what did he say? He said that they had no faith! He asked why they were so cowardly! Faith in Mark, as demonstrated in Jesus time and again, is that we must act. We must speak boldly. We must re imagine faith!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:26:04 +0000
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