{"id":22348,"date":"2020-05-13T12:02:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T17:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=22348"},"modified":"2020-05-13T12:02:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T17:02:10","slug":"stacking-the-deck-against-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/stacking-the-deck-against-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Stacking the Deck Against Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n

If there is anything we should take away from reading through the gospels this year, it is a deeper understanding of the skill with which the Evangelists crafted their narratives. Nothing in any of the gospels is there just because Jesus did it. As John observes in John 21:25, all four writers had a nearly limitless amount of material to choose from. From this great mass of teachings and stories, each selected the small portion that best suited their purposes and those of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jesus heals the man with unclean spirits named Legion Luke 8:29-30<\/p><\/div>\n

This recognition should inform our understanding of the story of Jesus casting out the legion of demons in Mark 5:1-20. This is a story that many of us can remember learning about as children, jokes about pork soup, and all. Even a surface reading leaves us awed by the supernatural power of Jesus.<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s much more going on here than merely that. This isn\u2019t only a story about Jesus’ power. It\u2019s a story about Jesus\u2019 power in the midst of uncleanness. Practically everything in the narrative except Jesus and His disciples is unclean. It takes place in the region of the Gerasenes \u2014 an unclean, Gentile people. The man (presumably a Gentile himself) has an unclean spirit. He lives in the tombs \u2014 in an unclean place (Numbers 19:16). The legion enters into a herd of swine, unclean animals. Even the pigs die an unclean death (for a couple of different reasons provided in Leviticus 17:10-16).<\/p>\n

To put things another way, this is a story in which everything has been ritually defiled. This fact pattern is as hostile to the Son of God on earth as it possibly can be. However, even with the deck stacked against Jesus, He still triumphs. The demons are banished, the unclean animals are destroyed, the demon-possessed man is freed, the power of God is demonstrated among the nations, and the good news of the kingdom is proclaimed to the Gentiles.<\/p>\n

To the Jews of Jesus\u2019 day, Mark\u2019s account would have read like a horror story, and the victory of God would have been shocking. As Haggai points out in Haggai 2:10-14, the unclean can defile the clean, but the clean cannot consecrate the unclean. However, the power of Jesus was so unprecedented, so overwhelming, that it rewrote the old rules.<\/p>\n

For us, then, this narrative is extraordinarily hopeful. We know the defilement of sin all too well. We understand what it is like to feel unclean to the very core of our being. Indeed, some feel their sinfulness so strongly that they doubt that even Christ can help.<\/p>\n

This is nonsense, and, among other things, Mark 5:1-20 is recorded to prove that it is nonsense. No matter how dramatically we have stacked the deck against Jesus in our own lives, if we come to Him, He will be able to cleanse and save. Nothing can stand against the purifying power of His grace. It will scour away all the uncleanness in our lives. Then, like the demon-possessed man, clothed in Christ, renewed in our minds, we will be able to proclaim to everyone what the Lord has done for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Matthew W. Bassford If there is anything we should take away from reading through the gospels this year, it is a deeper understanding of the skill with which the Evangelists crafted their narratives. Nothing in any of the gospels is there just because Jesus did it. As John observes in John 21:25, all four…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1571,606,202],"class_list":["post-22348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-forgiveness","tag-gospels","tag-uncleanness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-gospels-not-historical-because-they-are-theological-documents\/","url_meta":{"origin":22348,"position":0},"title":"Are the gospels not historical because they are theological documents?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I just saw your study on Jesus being rejected at Nazareth after teaching in the synagogue. I am currently in a graduate-level course before I start my grad studies. I've been looking at your studies for quite some time since I became Christian, and I appreciate your loyalty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-it-take-35-40-years-to-write-the-gospels\/","url_meta":{"origin":22348,"position":1},"title":"Why did it take 35-40 years to write the Gospels?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was the reason for John, Mark, Luke, and Matthew writing their gospels? Why did it take 35-40 years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to begin to write the gospels or the rest of the New Testament? Answer: As for the purpose of the gospel accounts, see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-four-faces-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":22348,"position":2},"title":"What are the four faces of Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the four faces of Jesus? And how are they related to the present-day church? Answer: The phrase is not used in the Bible, but it is how some modern writers refer to the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each gospel is addressed to a different\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26999,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-gnostics\/","url_meta":{"origin":22348,"position":3},"title":"Who Are the Gnostics?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry In recent years a strong interest has arisen in \"alternative\" religions, and Gnosticism has received interest as an \"alternative\" to \"orthodox Christianity\". The recent success of Dan Brown's novel\u00a0The Da Vinci Code\u00a0has popularized this trend. The book speaks regarding \"over eighty gospels\" that were not chosen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56576,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gospels-and-the-covenants\/","url_meta":{"origin":22348,"position":4},"title":"The Gospels and the Covenants","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger Blackwelder It has been observed that the traditional divisions we use to describe the Bible are inaccurate. Genesis through Malachi are called the Old Testament or Old Covenant. Matthew through Revelation are called the New Testament or New Covenant. The titles are problematic for at least two reasons:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61057,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-four-gospels\/","url_meta":{"origin":22348,"position":5},"title":"Why Four Gospels?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Shane Carrington \"Take your child to work day.\" What a great idea! How many young people see Dad as a father, yard-mower, car-washer, and neighbor, but never see him in his role as employee? Truthfully, we all take on different jobs that say many things about who we are.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}