Wayland Mennonite Church

03/31/2024

HE IS RISEN!

03/29/2024

Mark 15:16-39

Jesus has suffered and died. It turns out this is exactly what he has been preparing the disciples for and yet, we get the sense that Jesus is alone. Although some of his followers are keeping watch from a safe distance, Jesus has some very specific characters near him in his final moments.
Soldiers. The soldiers who represent the power of Rome. In Rome’s eyes, this all looks foolish. They mock Jesus’ claims to power and authority. They mock the very notion that there could be any more powerful than Rome. In their world, Jesus has demonstrated weakness.
Simon from Cyrene. An unassuming character who somehow was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Remember how Jesus told the disciples to “carry their cross”? Now, this man who perhaps has no idea about any of this story is literally carrying Jesus’ cross.
Two rebels. Crucified with Jesus, it appears that despite not initiating insurrection, Jesus is being treated as though he did. Some manuscripts include more conversation about these two in verse 28.
Priests and teachers. Representing the Jewish people, they also mock Jesus’ power. They have failed to understand what God has been doing, despite being so familiar with the Law. Their focus on literal interpretation and legalities have blinded them from what God is actually doing in their midst.
Ultimately, Jesus feels alone. In his crying out to God, Jesus expresses abandonment. Throughout this whole gospel we have followed Jesus’ emotive agency. Here, as Jesus dies, he is feeling helpless and alone. No one is coming to save him.

03/28/2024

Mark 14:22-42

The Passover Feast has come. Jesus and his disciples, like all Jews in Jerusalem, have gathered for the meal where they remember the deliverance of God’s people from the oppression of slavery. The meal they are having together is a scripted meal of unleavened bread and bitter foods. And lots of wine. They partake to retell and remember the story of their beginnings. They remember how God delivered them and promises to continue to deliver them. One can imagine that here in Jerusalem during this time period, they felt a need for deliverance. The Jewish people were oppressed by the Roman occupation. They exercised some autonomy, but only under the shadow of Rome. They watched and waited for God to show up again and deliver God’s people from the oppression of occupation.
Some around Jesus expected this as well. Some within this movement thought that Jesus was going to accomplish a revolution. But it would seem that all the disciples have failed to recognize the weight of this moment.
Breaking and sharing the bread and the wine is not an unusual moment. This is part of the scripted meal. What is not scripted is Jesus using this time to declare again, directly, that he will be killed. The bread is a reminder of his broken body and the wine the blood of the covenant. But this covenant is different. The covenant that this meal celebrates is God’s promise to deliver God’s people. The new covenant is that this is accomplished, not through divine intervention in political forces, but in the way of Jesus’ movement; the way of humility, sacrifice and peace. God is making a new covenant that fulfills the old. God is at work delivering God’s people, although to the powers of Rome, it looks like failure.

03/27/2024

Mark 14:1-11

Here, we get an intimate moment within the Jesus movement. At their lodgings in Bethany, Jesus is reclining with his disciples at the table. We don’t know much about this woman and so it becomes difficult for us if we were to try to qualify this incident. We can’t say whether she is rich or poor. We can’t say what her reputation is. We don’t know if she is a stranger or a trusted part of this group. We don’t know if she realizes the significance in what she has done. But something about this sets off the disciples. They articulate it as a concern about wasting what could be given to the poor, but it’s hard to tell if that’s really why they are upset. We might dig deeper into the disciples’ intentions with the question; what is at stake for them? I have to wonder if there is a status problem pervasive within this group. There have been some stories where it is explicitly stated, but maybe it’s a similar concern that’s undergirding their indignance in this situation. Whoever this woman is, she has performed an action of anointing that is typically reserved for a religious leader of status. The disciples might see this as an act of elevating herself. Jesus seems to pick up on this tension in his reaction to the disciples. He called them out for “bothering her.” They have obviously targeted her in what they are saying. But Jesus sees this as an act of humility. Not only could this be interpreted as anointing, but of preparation for burial. This is not to be interpreted as an act of status, but of servanthood.
Jesus intentionally lifts up this moment and this woman as understanding something that the disciples haven’t caught onto yet. They still think there is power to be gained. But Jesus’ way identifies the power that already exists and is highlighting the power that this act of humility has displayed.

03/26/2024

Mark 13:9-23

Jesus’ warnings about what is to come have become more and more distressing. While this passage is sometimes taken to have eschatological meaning, it has been a recurring theme throughout the book of Mark. Jesus has, many times, warned his disciples about the cost of following him. This movement is going to go through trials. Those who chose to follow Jesus shouldn’t expect an easy path with the gratification of miracles, but rather challenges with what it really means to be walking with Jesus. Jesus’ movement challenges the powers and endangers those who follow it. Jesus is not starting a revolt like some would like to see, but a movement of sacrifice. Jesus prepares his followers that, when the time comes, they can’t prepare themselves to fight, but should be ready to flee.
I wonder if we can imagine a world in which people seem eager for fighting and glorify the idea of violent overthrow of the powers. This was common in Jesus’ world. Mark is probably written late enough that the Jewish revolt leading to the destruction of the temple has already occurred and the writer of Mark is writing with such events in mind. Many times, Jewish sects would rise up in violence against the Romans. The Roman retribution would be disastrous for all the people of Judea. In the midst of these revolts, the writer of Mark reiterates the way of Jesus; that the powers cannot be overthrown with violence, but that the powers should be subverted and challenged. Jesus wants this movement to show that the powers of violence and force are no powers at all, but that true power comes from humility and sacrifice; things that are often perceived as weakness.

03/25/2024

Mark 11:12-33

Jesus will be spending this week in and out of Jerusalem, staying in the nearby village of Bethany. Other gospels have the chronology of this week a little different, but Mark writes these incidents in a way that draws out Jesus’ own feelings and emotions. He starts hungry. He gets upset at a tree and curses it. He enters the temple (maybe a little hangry by this point) and drives out those who are “buying and selling” - those who are taking advantage of common people’s desire to offer sacrifices.
For many near to Jesus, this could be the initiation of a violent revolt. But Jesus turns this moment of tension into a time for teaching. He calls out the injustice he sees, upsets the chief priests and teachers of the law, but not enough to give them immediate reason to kill him. In Mark’s telling, Jesus does not act violently against people, but literally upends the system.
We’re told that Jesus and his disciples leave the city for the night. Perhaps this quells the tension that his more violent followers are anticipating. Perhaps Jesus knows that staying in the city is becoming less and less safe.
But the next day, they return. The authorities have prepared their response. They’re going to trap Jesus in the Law by forcing him to declare his authority. This would get him in trouble. This time, he upends the argument. He turns the question back to them and identifies himself as a continuation of John the Baptist’s movement. This is a touchy subject for those in Jerusalem. John was a popular teacher executed by the Romans. The priests and teachers didn’t know how to talk about him because they couldn’t risk unbalancing the system by taking a side.
The power of the priests and teachers of the law is held by appeasing the common folks revolutionary tendencies, but maintaining plausible deniability in the eyes of the Romans when things go sideways. They dangle the Law as an unattainable goal for the people while being hypocrites themselves.
Jesus offers a different model of what it looks like to be the faithful people of God. Jesus’ movement brings people from the margins of society into the center. He sees a world in which faithfulness to God is manifested by the care for others. Lifting up the lowly and bringing down the proud. Acts of injustice and people taking advantage of others are met with righteous anger.

11/17/2022

Food Pantry will be open on Wednesday, November 23 instead of Thursday next week

11/10/2022

Congratulations WACO on making it to the championship!
Wayland Mennonite will be streaming the game on our big screen. All are welcome!

05/30/2022

https://anabaptistworld.org/delegates-repeal-membership-guidelines-pass-lgbtq-affirming-resolution/

Mennonite Church USA delegates on May 29 in Kansas City, Mo., repealed the denomination’s Membership Guidelines, a 20-year-old document that prohibits pastors from officiating same-sex marriages, and approved a wide-ranging statement affirming LGBTQ inclusion and confessing that exclusion has caus...

01/02/2022

Church is cancelled for January 2. Stay home and stay warm and safe.

12/12/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mahC9m-cw0