23.04 | That His Name Be Known
Mark 6:7-29
‘So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known.’
Mark 6:12-14a
The Lord of the Rings is a big deal in our house. We love the movies and the books, meaning Middle Earth language and stories and names and quotes feature often in our home.
Part of the beauty of Tolkien’s narrative is how he wove together this world where the good guys are just so deeply good—honouring, humble, funny, courageous, wise, and creative. And the enemies are so evil—brutal and coarse and controlling and cruel. The juxtaposition of these is even more stark as the reader (or viewer) gets to know and love the central heroes of the story: hobbits. Small, simple, gardeners and farmers. The Lord of the Rings is a story of how the quiet power of friendship and humility and honour and simplicity carries a strength that ultimately proves greater than the power and brutality of its enemy.
The New Testament gives us a very stark picture of the world. The picture is of two kingdoms: the kingdom of darkness, and the Kingdom of light—one ultimately under the sovereignty and values of hell and the other the rule and reign of heaven. The values of these two competing kingdoms are often described—between chaos and peace, Empire and Kingdom, darkness and light, fear and love. All things find their origin in either one or the other. The authors of the New Testament will often give us, implicitly or explicitly, a juxtaposition of these kingdoms. Today is one such instance.
One takes place in a palace. It is a place of corruption, fear, control and death. It is the kind of place where the powerful act in fear of their reputation, compromised and corrupt. It is the kind of place where superstition replaces faith, truth is covered up, and rich food and palatial surroundings are but a gilt veneer on a culture of fear. It is the kind of place that, when confronted with the truth of its corruption, beheads its prophets.
The other takes place in the streets and villages, with twelve young men showing up in pairs, with simple clothing and no material resources. They carry nothing but a hiking staff and a message of the inbreaking reign of God. And yet, there is a power on their lives that is drawn from the authority of the name of their rabbi, that sends the forces of hell scampering away, and brings healing to every kind of sickness. There is no showmanship, no wealth, no control on display here. Just a raw display of the power and love of God, carried by messengers of humility whose lives have no greater aim than to point to their King Jesus.
Two kingdoms.
One of fear and power and control and corruption.
One of simplicity and humility and power and holiness.
One brings death.
The other brings life.
We face these same choices every day. Not for where we are positioned (for the Bible says that we have been already transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus1), but from where we live from. From the values of the kingdom of darkness, aiming to be spectacular and wealthy, but living in schemes of fear and control and avoiding the truths that would confront us. Or to walk in the joyful humility of those who have cast aside the empty values of the world, and live from His goodness towards His goodness, that His reign may supplant all darkness in our basic humility and fiery love, with one single goal and outcome before us: that Jesus’ name become known.
Reflect:
Hold the image of the two kingdoms before you—the corrupt courts of Herod, and the simplicity and power of the apostles.
Where do the lure of the courts of Herod try and lure your heart into fear today?
How might your day lean further towards the example of the disciples?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
Your Way is light;
It is power;
And life;
And liberty;
And healing.
How stunningly beautiful it is!
Yet the world around me—
With all its pressure and noise and clamour for my attention—
Can lead my heart astray.
Into these places,
Where I lose sight of your Way,
Revive me.
Awaken me again to the simplicity and beauty of your Way
That my life may too be clothed with your power,
That through me the darkness may flee
Wounded lives may become whole
And the Name of Jesus may become known.
In your Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Judges 20-21 | Proverbs 13:7-11
e.g. Colossians 1:13