Cutting Room Floor: Infused Emotion
So Sunday morning I preached on Mark 4:35-41 and my messaged go through a lot of editing these days. Since we plan out the series weeks in advance, I get to read and re-read the passage many times, I get to dive into commentaries and read other sermons (because of the preaching schedule we work here, I "off weeks" as well, so I can devote more time to study and preparation than I used to).
So one thing that often means is that I have to cut out whole sections of the message that, while good, relevant, possibly even important - if they aren't core to the message, I do my best to excise them (though sometimes I confess I hold on to ideas from earlier drafts just because I like the ideas...sigh, I'm a work in progress).
Anyway, all that is a prelude to this (which will probably be shorter than the prelude):
Reading the passage in Mark and the disciples, as one of my friends put it, "Calling Jesus out" about sleeping while the boat seems to be sinking got me thinking.
What emotion do you read their question with?
Mark says they were afraid.
Do you read it as angry? Bitter? Hopeless? Despairing? Sarcastic?
I wonder, does it matter? I know the disciples were emotional, it says so - afraid. But how do we express that in our reading of the passage? I think it says something about who we are, about, maybe, where our hearts are. Because angry is different than afraid, though in our culture today you might not know that. Sarcastic is very different from afraid.
And how about Jesus' response to them? Is HE mad? I don't think so - though this would only be speculation since there is absolutely nothing about his emotional state mentioned - YET I hear people read it as if Jesus wants to take their heads off - or he's frustrated with them - or whatever. Again...does this say more about US and our perceptions of Jesus, about how we view our relationship with him, than it does about our Savior himself?
Just some thoughts. God made us emotional beings - they are built right in. I'm just curious how we express them - and how we reflect them onto God sometimes...
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