How Low Can You Go?

I've been reading Mark in my quiet times lately, and appropriately enough for the week leading up to Easter, I've been in chapter 15. Mark tends to be short and to the point, and even in his account of this last week of Jesus' life, he's very economical with his words. What caught my attention this week was his decription of the two thieves on the crosses next to Jesus'. Just two verses (27, 31):

   And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

   Even those who were crucified with him were reviling him.

That's it. No mention of what they said. Nothing about how one of them pleaded with Jesus and how He promised him entrance into His Kingdom that very day. Just: they flanked Him in crucifixion and mocked Him in the process. That promise Jesus gave the one is pretty important, but Mark skips right over it! (Mark is also the one who leaves the Gospel narrative hanging in suspense, so apparently he didn't have the same need of closure that I do.)

I'm intrigued by this minimalist treatment of the thieves. Mark could have written more, but didn't. So I assume he wants us to focus on what little he did write: two robbers, while being crucified, reviled Jesus. Two dying robbers mocking Jesus along with the rest.

In this paragraph, Mark is careful to note that the chief priests and the experts in the Law mocked Jesus. Those who passed by mocked Him. In the previous paragraph, the soldiers mocked Him. And these two robbers being crucified.

In other words, Jesus was mocked, not merely rejected, by the religious authorities, by the military authorities, and by the general population. And these two robbers being crucified. He was mocked by not only the establishment, but also by the lowest of the low!

You can't get much lower than a convicted felon presently suffering a languishing death penalty, publicly displayed for full humiliation. They were rejects, mere rubbish to be disposed of. Those who society rejected rejected Jesus. How low can you go?!?

Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus, who died for our sin in a way that required Him to be utterly rejected, even by the lowest of the low.

I'm stunned by how complete His rejection had to be, so that His resurrection would be that much more victorious. I suspect Mark left out part of the story to focus us on that very point.

D17 Part 3: Gospel-saturated Discipleship

Paul has a mess on his hands with those Corinthians. The people who claim to follow Christ ... to be disciples ... are taking advantage of the poor in their own congregation, in-fighting, and committing indecent acts against each other. Things were such a mess that Paul had to write them at least four times (only two of those letters have been preserved), send emissaries, and even revisit them personally.

His goal was never to merely adjust their behavior. Paul was always about their discipleship - the quality and strength of their following of Jesus. He taught and encouraged them to cling to the Gospel and let it fill their minds. If they would remain focused on the Gospel, the behavioral issues will largely take care of themselves. By all means, stop doing that stupid thing now, but in the long run, drown yourself in the Gospel for real change.

In 1 Corinthians 15, as he's discipling these believers through his letter to them, he states it plainly: "Now I want to make it clear to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand ... for I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received -- that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (emphasis added). I've got to make it clear to you what is of first importance - Jesus and what He did. Everything about my discipleship of you hinges on this.

This leads us to the third of our 17 truths about discipleship that we have been considering these last several weeks (the "D17"):

Discipleship must be Gospel-saturated (1 Cor 15:1-11).

The process of cultivating one another to become fully formed followers of Jesus must be drenched with the Gospel. We cannot intend to disciple one another without basing everything on who Jesus is, what He did and said while in the flesh, and everything He accomplished on the Cross. Specifically, the books of the Bible we typically call "The Gospels" must be our foundational texts ... moreso than other books of the Bible. The story in the Old Testament is vital. Paul's letters are indispensable. The rest of the New Testament is crucial. But the Gospels are our primary text for discipleship - because in them, Jesus most directly teaches and models discipleship with His followers.

We can even turn the noun "gospel" into a verb - we can "gospel one another." Especially for those who already follow Jesus, we need to continually gospel one another - to keep reminding and encouraging one another based on Jesus' words and actions. We all need the Gospel to continually saturate every aspect of our lives. This is because the Gospel is bigger than just "getting saved." The Gospel does contain the message of receiving eternal life through the forgiveness of sins. But the Gospel also includes walking in obedience, thinking more like Jesus, surrendering more to Jesus, and seeing how the Gospel affects ... and should rule over ... every nook and cranny of our lives.

I took part in an internet-based reading plan where we read through all of the Gospels in a week. We were supposed do that six weeks in a row, but I managed only the first week. Even with that, reading large passages each day, the sweep of the Gospel opened up in surprising new ways. Now, I'm spending time each day reading smaller passages, but staying strictly within the Gospels until I've read them several times through.

I suggest making a goal that you read through (or listen to) all four Gospels at least three times through before going on to study other books of the Bible. Large passages, small passages, in a week or in a month, whatever plan will best keep you on task. (By the way, just three chapters a day gets you through all four Gospels in a month.) Then think about the question, "What is the Gospel about in full?"

Furthermore, consider the idea of "gospeling one another." Paul said in Romans 1 that he was eager to preach the Gospel to the church at Rome - but they were already believers. So, Paul wanted to "gospel" them even though they were already saved. He wanted to see the Gospel apply to more and more of their lives by "gospeling" them. Rather than trying to fix each other's behavior, let's gospel one another instead.

The phrase "Discipleship is Gospel-saturated" comes from Caesar Kalinowski.