Devotion for the Twenty-Ninth Day of Lent (LCMS Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Brother Edward from Babylon 5: Passing Through Gethsemane (1995)

Image = A Screen Capture I Took Via PowerDVD

Exodus and Mark, Part II:  To Flee Or Not to Flee; That is the Question

MARCH 27, 2023

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Exodus 2:1-22

Psalm 119:73-80 (Morning)

Psalms 121 and 6 (Evening)

Mark 14:32-52

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Some Related Posts:

Babylon 5:  Passing Through Gethsemane:

http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/babylon-5-passing-through-gethsemane-1995/

Prayer:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/prayer-for-monday-in-the-fifth-week-of-lent/

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Before I get to my main point I desire to share an interesting feature of the Gospel of Mark as a literary composition.  In 14:52 a young man flees Gethsemane naked.  Yet, in 16:5, a young man wearing a white robe sits in the empty tomb.  I had not noticed the juxtaposition of these two verses until I watched Professor Luke Timothy Johnson’s Jesus and the Gospels course from The Teaching Company.  Is the young man in Chapter 14 the young man in Chapter 16?  And what the significance, if any, of two mentions of a young man in relation to the death (before it and after it) of our Lord?  The Gospel of Mark is a brilliant composition, so I wonder about this matter, which does not seem accidental to me.

Now for my main point….

Moses, by Exodus 2:11-15, had come to identify as a Hebrew.  I wonder what would have happened had he not fled.  Later in the Book of Exodus he walks into the royal palace and confronts the next Pharaoh.  He (Moses) was no less a murderer than he was in Chapter 2.  And, later, he was also a fugitive.  Exodus 4:19 not withstanding, did not the Egyptians keep records?  Was there a statute of limitations on murder?  My counter-factual wondering aside, Moses did flee.  And it was a wise decision.

Jesus did not have to remain at Gethsemane.  Authorities would have apprehended then killed him eventually, but it did not have to be at that place and time.  But he stayed voluntarily.

Babylon 5 (1994-1998) is one of my favorite science fiction series.  In one episode, Passing Through Gethsemane (1995),  Brother Edward, a Roman Catholic monk on the space station, explains (when asked) the core of his faith to two aliens.  He explains that Christ did not have remain at Gethsemane.  Edward wondered if he would have had the same courage.

There is a time to remain in a difficult situation for the sake of others.  And there is a time to leave and live to fight another day, so to speak.  In military terms, there is no shame in a tactical retreat.  But may we know when to remain, when to advance, and when to retreat.  May we listen then obey when God tells us the proper course of action.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 29, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST U.S. PRESBYTERIAN BOOK OF CONFESSIONS, 1967

THE FEAST OF JIRI TRANOVSKY, HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS LUKE KIRBY, THOMAS COTTAM, WILLIAM FILBY, AND LAURENCE RICHARDSON, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/exodus-and-mark-part-ii-to-flee-or-not-to-flee-that-is-the-question/

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