Chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark ended with the story of the healing of the Leper. It is a story that all of us can appreciate because we all have been sick. And we understand that anyone could end up in that situation: through no fault of our own at the mercy of a faceless, arbitrary, deadly enemy. I don’t know anyone who would not shout “Praise the Lord” at the outcome of that story. But chapter 2 is going to raise the bar: It is going to challenge some of our assumptions… about “no fault of our own” and the “facelessness” of the enemy.

Whenever the opportunity presents itself to recommend to someone where to begin reading the Bible, my first answer is the Gospel according to John. It is deep, it is thought provoking, it is challenging, it is eye-opening… because it is not just the story of the Life of Jesus but also a detailed presentation of how that Life fits into God’s original and still unfolding plan for us. However, in terms of getting acquainted with the story of Jesus, for the first time, probably the easiest route is the Gospel according to Mark.

If Jesus had a habit of giving us unexpected answers, we would expect the same to be true of His Father. We could also expect that to be challenging. As we said last time, the unexpected answers are the hallmark of the Socratic teaching style: Make every answer indirect. The point of that teaching style is all about the “Teacher” vanishing from the picture to force the student to face the question on his own. But how can an infinite God take Himself “out of the picture”?

If I answer your question directly, do you really know the answer? This is one of the great quandaries that haunt the dedicated Teacher. You’ve known someone like that in your life: A person that is wise, that is patient, that – you know – loves to teach; probably always ready with encouragement and an answer. But have you ever thought how much trepidation there may be behind that answer?

Yes, the subject seems to be the same as the one last time. But the scenario is completely different. Last time it was one of Jesus’ enemies asking the question, trying to trap him. This time it is one of Jesus’ closest friends pleading for some way to make sense of it all.

Today we continue the series about Jesus replying to questions with unexpected answers. In this series we have seen that, often, there is an unspoken motivating question behind the spoken one. In this case it is: Why is this fair?