Jordan Rice

JORDAN RICE SAYS TAKE MY BROTHER FIRST
This blog provides a meditation on the revised common lectionary readings along with a headline from world news
ISAIAH 42: 10-17
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 The Lord goes forth like a soldier,
like a warrior he stirs up his fury;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labour,
I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind
by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—
those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
‘You are our gods.’
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“The Lord goes forth like a soldier”. Just as the warrior winds himself up for battle, so God readies himself to break into the history of empires to secure the release of his people. But the next image is even more striking: God is like a woman in childbirth crying out in labour. Thus God gives birth to the future. These images are powerful acts of the prophetic imagination. Christian readers will apply the images to Jesus who battles fiercely against the evil that imprisons people, and suffers the birth pains of God’s kingdom. The experience of being guided by this astonishing God is doubly alienating: those he leads are as blind, and the path is unknown although the goal is light and life. Those who restrict their discipleship to the repetition of sacred patterns and devotional certainties avoid sharing the creativity of God and opt for safety. Today, Jordan Rice, who died because he put his brother first, reminds me what it’s like to “go forth like a soldier.”
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Mark 2:1-12
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. 4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ 6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 8At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? 10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— 11‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ 12And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’

Jesus treats the paralysed man and his friends as one: “when he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic.” The assumption of the scribes is that it’s easy to say “Your sins are forgiven” although nobody should say these words. Jesus knows that the forgiveness of sin and the healing of paralysis are equally signs of God’s goodness which he is able to give. But no one should assume that this creative authority was effortless. Matthew comments on Jesus’ healings, “He himself bore our diseases.” Jesus didn’t shout or cry in labour but he battled against evil and gave birth to God’s children.