Changing our Worldview; Changing our World 2
A Study of Mark Week 2
14 Now
after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of
God, and saying, “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in
the good news.”
When we sold my parent’s home, I ended up with the bookshelves and most of the books on them. I have been reading them to decide which ones to keep and which to throw away. The latest is one that my grandfather had as a psychology textbook. His name and an address is on the inside. I didn’t know he took a course in psychology in Indiana in 1920 or shortly after. That is the date of publication. I was surprised by how much they knew back then. Some of the things that I was taught at university as recent and current research, were already in this book! I wasn’t surprised by the assumed racism I found. I have discovered that in books written 100 years ago, it was pervasive and accepted as normal and right. My grandfather had a habit of writing his comments in the margins of the books he read. The conclusion of this book is “the self is the goal of all egoistic instincts, it is the centre of nearly all our joys and sorrows…its exaltation is the object of most of our activity.” In the margin, my grandfather wrote “The exaltation of Christ’s teaching motivates the true Christian. Somewhere everyone finds ideals which are more valuable than life itself.” So even 100 years ago, he knew that the values of his culture expressed in academia were at odds with the gospel.
The value of the self, of self-care, of individual fulfillment and freedom stand against the gospel call to love and serve others. The pandemic has reminded us of how interconnected we are; of how our individual freedoms need to be tempered by care for others. Individual rights cannot be that highest value which is “more valuable than life itself.”
Mark begins his gospel with John the Baptist who called for repentance and forgiveness. With our value of individualism, we usually assume that the forgiveness of sins refers to individual moral failures but what if it meant social, economic and political sins? Jesus took up the call to repent where John left off, after John had been put in prison. Did Jesus know that the authorities would try to silence him as well? Jesus took the message one step further: repent and believe the good news. Our repentance, our willingness to change our ways, our values, is good news! The reign of God is near if only we will live it.
How do you or can you put others before your self? How can you encourage others to do the same?
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