Today’s author is Prince of Peace’s Intentional Interim, Pr. Steve Sylvester.
“One of the scribes came near and heard [Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees] disputing with one another…” Mark 12:28
There’s a refrain from a song of a few decades ago that has the following lyrics for the refrain:
God is watching us, God is watching us
God is watching us from a distance
“From a Distance” is a lovely song. The words, however, are… problematic. The clockwinder/dispassionate God of the Enlightenment is almost completely antithetical to the God of the Exodus who heard the cries of people in pain and came down to deliver them, the God who rended the Temple curtain when Jesus breathed his last on the cross. The God of the scriptural story is a God of compassion, compassion being an acute awareness of the distress of another paired with the desire to address that distress. Pain is not felt “from a distance,” and pain is not alleviated at arm’s length.
Sprinkled throughout the Gospels is Jesus’ claim that “the kingdom of heaven is near.” Jesus was proclaiming the immanence of God, the closeness of God to the creation God loved. The idea of a once-removed God was foreign to Hebrew understanding, and it is certainly at odds with the God revealed in Jesus who “was conceived by the Holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried,” who throughout his life laughed and cried, made friends, ate and drank, scuffed knees and breathed in everything that it means to be human.
In emphasizing the nearness of God, Jesus preached the need of those who follow him to collapse the distance we so often maintain from each other in so many ways. Perhaps the best example of this is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite came upon a suffering man, saw him and passed by on the other side of the road, giving him a wide berth as they went on about their business. The Samaritan, however, was moved with compassion and went to the man. Once near to the man, the Samaritan could not ignore his suffering, so he addressed his needs.
It may not seem so at first glance, but the opening of Sunday’s reading from Mark, the scribe heard Jesus and religious leaders arguing over points of faith. Instead of standing at a distance, he “came near.” And having come near, he asked a question of fundamental importance. Jesus’ answer to the man’s question has enlightened and guided us for two millennia, and all because a man who heard “from a distance” made the decision to come near and engage Jesus.
Community is not the result of physical proximity. Coming near, a willingness to vulnerably engage others, is the beginning of the “ties that bind.” We follow Jesus by dropping our guard and bringing our true selves into contact with others. In my time with you, I have experienced your unguardedness, your willingness to openly engage. It has been a true gift, and I thank you for it. Don’t change that. Continue to to be open and unguarded, even when it feels clumsy and, of course, vulnerable. Like the Good Samaritan and the scribe in Mark’s Gospel, continue to follow the One who comes near.