The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

guest post by Matt Dunlap

Hey friends. Today we have a guest post from my friend Matt Dunlap. Matt is a big fan of the Gospel of Mark and brings some profound insights to the table. He has a blog where he shares various thoughts from some of Mark’s stories and he’s given me permission to lift a few of them to share here on the What If Project Blog.

Be sure to check out Matt’s blog and subscribe. We’ll be sharing 2 or 3 posts in the next month, here's the first one: The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.

Enjoy!

• Glenn || SUPPORT THE PROJECT

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BIO (from Matt’s website):

I still love (most of) the bible

I didn't grow up in a religious home.  Mom did teach me about Jesus, though.  I believed in him at an early age.  When I grew up, I followed a pretty girl to church.  I started to learn more about Jesus and the bible.  I wanted to serve him as best I could.  I read a lot, then I read some more.  I loved to study "God's Word."  When 9/11 happened, I started asking questions.  Like many people, I got online and started learning about other religions.  One day the Mormon missionaries knocked on my door.  I invited them in, to teach them about my "true" Jesus.  I was still learning.  I was confronted with difficult questions about my own faith.  I stood strong, feeling closer to Jesus than ever. 

Then life happened.

Doubts arose.

Maybe God wasn't really there.

Maybe I was alone, all along, and the bible was just a human book.  I quit looking at it, for several years...

Then one day I picked it up again, looking for reasons not to believe.  I found some, then found some more.  Things look different when you take a new perspective.  Yet something unexpected happened.  One of the books I had largely ignored in the past began to pique my interest:

"The gospel according to Mark."

Within the pages of this blog are the musings of a blind man, trying to make sense of Mark's gospel.  Thanks for stopping by.

• Matt

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In the Gospel of Mark, many of the characters never fully understand Jesus and his message. The author gives clues to help the reader understand Jesus and his mission, but most of the characters, including Jesus’ closest followers just don’t get it. In Mark’s story, Jesus often speaks in parables, which the disciples don't understand. It seems as though he is confusing them on purpose (see 4:11-12) even though they have been invited to follow him. All of Jesus’ followers abandon him when the going gets tough. In the end he is abandoned by everyone. The crowds turn on him. He is forsaken by God. The disciples have run away, denying him, leaving him to die alone. Have any of them understood what has happened?

To follow Jesus is a difficult task (chapter 8:34-35). In the gospel of Mark, whenever Jesus uses the word “gospel,” the surrounding text draws a picture of some sort of self sacrifice, suffering, even to the point of death. His followers are told to deny themselves and pick up their cross (8:34).

In the story of the rich man (10:17-28) we are told that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples hear this, they are “amazed” and ask “then who can be saved?” Jesus has told the rich man to sell everything, give the money to the poor and follow Jesus. The rich man walks away sad because he had great wealth. And we are left to assume that this is the end of the rich man’s story. The poor guy is doomed. A camel, through the eye of a needle? Seriously Jesus? But Jesus tells those standing by that “all things are possible with God!”

Fast forward to the last week of Jesus’ life… We are told about a mysterious naked guy who runs away when Jesus is arrested:

Mark 14:51-52: “A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.”

Who is this guy? Let’s go back to the rich man in chapter ten - Maybe, after all, the rich man did as Jesus told him? Yes, I’d like to think that the rich man and the naked guy are one and the same (the linen garment would imply that the naked guy is wealthy). The rich man did it! He did what Jesus told him to do! Well... Almost… He gave away everything, apparently even the shirt off his back, and followed Jesus, ALMOST, all the way to the cross, but he didn’t quite make it. To save his life, he had to lose it (Mark 8:35) but just like the rest of the gang, he failed. Shucks. Maybe NOT ALL things are possible with God after all?

We have been told that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The rich man has shown us that it is easier to give away your possessions, to give up life as you know it, than it is to give up YOUR LIFE. Would any one of us be able to give up life as we know it and follow Jesus all the way to the cross? Am I like the rich man? Are you like the rich man? Could you lose your life, for Jesus and the gospel, to save it?

Hope remains: (10:45) "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The message: All things are possible with God.

Only once in the Gospel of Mark is it directly stated that Jesus loved a person. And that person is: the rich man.