The Far Side

The Far Side--February 6, 2019

“They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.” [Mark 5:1]

This is not just a footnote about geography, by the way—it is a foretaste of grace.

In what might otherwise seem like a throwaway line from Mark, just a sentence to connect one story to the next, there is really a lot going on.  Jesus has led his disciples by boat across the Sea of Galilee to the other side of the sea… that is, to the Gentile side of the sea.  Jesus has gone out of his way to enter into the territory of outsiders, or foreigners, of people excluded from the nation of Israel.

Jesus takes his followers to the far side of the sea intentionally, letting his movement spread beyond the confines of his home country.  The geography is important here, then.  The Sea of Galilee wasn’t a little pond or resort lake surrounded on all sides by good, upstanding Jewish communities full of good, upstanding Jewish people.  Part of the surrounding country was Jewish, but the far side was foreigner territory, you know, full of them people.  Galilee always had a reputation for being a sort of border-crossing area—Isaiah calls it “Galilee of the Gentiles,” in fact.  And by definition, “the Gentiles” were anybody who wasn’t Jewish, anybody who didn’t observe the covenant and keep the commandments and worship the right God in the right Temple with the right sacrifices. “Gentiles” is a nice way of saying “heathen,” “pagans,” or “the Other.”  The Gentiles are the ones who worship all those false gods and live corrupt lives and eat unclean food and all that.  In fact, if you went out where Jesus went and started associating with those Gentiles out there on the far side of the sea, you yourself would be made unclean. 

And, yet that is precisely what Jesus did.  That is precisely what Jesus risked.  That is precisely what Jesus still does.  Like I say, this sentence is not merely a footnote of geography, but a foretaste of grace.  This action is a tip-off of what Jesus’ whole life and ministry is all about:  going out beyond where it is “safe” to the outsiders, to the foreigner, the stranger, the "other" in order to draw in close those who were far away. And he is willing to risk being made unclean—even to be nailed to a Gentile cross—in order to bring us into the presence of the living God.

That is deeply good news for us, if we can recognize ourselves as “outsiders” to whom Jesus has come.  Jesus, apparently, is not afraid of the rumors that will be whispered when he crosses boundaries to go out to those people.  Jesus, apparently, is more interested in coming close to us than keeping his reputation as a respectable religious figure intact. Jesus, apparently, is just plain more concerned with us than the costs and risks and penalties of being made unclean to be with us. For us, who in all honesty are a grubby bunch of mess-ups—even on our good days!—it is Gospel good news to know that Jesus is always crossing over out of the safe and comfortable shores to the far side of the sea… for us. No matter the lengths it takes to get to us, or the cost he pays once he has put his foot on “this guilty sod” (as one song puts it), Jesus is always coming over to the other side, our side, to be with us, strangers, outsiders, sinners, and general messes that we are.

Now, that is also deeply troubling news, too, if we also have the insight to recognize ourselves in the place of the disciples on the boat.  They got brought along for the ride, and they might not have realized what they were all getting themselves into when they pushed off the pier.  They started in safe territory. They started their voyage at a pier they knew, with people who were already like them, and in a place that was officially approved by their religion.  And now Jesus has taken them to… the other side of the sea.  Now they are going to be made unclean by going where Jesus goes.  Now they are going to be taking risks into places that respectable religious folk “just don’t go…” because they have been brought along for the ride with Jesus.  I’ll bet they didn’t know just what the cost would be when they shoved off and stepped into the boat earlier that day.

You know, it’s funny—for centuries, Christians have used the symbol of a boat as a metaphor for the church.  Like the ark from Noah’s day, you wanted to be “on the boat” (in the church) rather than “lost at sea.”  It was always used as a cozy image, as if being on the boat—in the Church—was a way of staying out of danger. Makes it seem like it’s a pretty tame, easy, and comfortable thing to be a follower of Jesus. But in the actual stories from the Gospels where Jesus and his followers actually get in a real boat, he’s always whisking them off into some new, strange, even risky place.  He takes them along for the ride to the far side of the sea, beyond comfort zones, beyond their circles of social respectability, and beyond their prejudices, even though they have barely traveled twenty miles.  You can stay within county lines and still be taken by Jesus to the far side of the sea.  You can stay within view of your familiar homestead and still be led by Jesus to cross boundaries and into the lives of people you never expected. What an adventure we are in for, we followers of Jesus… who have also found ourselves as outsiders who have been welcomed in by Jesus, too.

O good Lord, come to us in all our messiness, and yet lead us further where you will, for wherever you are is the best possible place for us to be.