Mark 4.22 There is nothing hid except to be made
manifest.
Matthew and Luke revise this verse to say that things now hidden
will one day be revealed. That’s a
comfort. This day, near the end of a
work week, at the end of winter, we’re eager to part the gray curtains of daily
cares and seasonal gloom to get a look at the first weekend of Spring!
But Mark’s phrase implies something more
complicated, that hiding the truth, as in a story or metaphor, can help us to see
it more objectively. Emily Dickinson meant something like this when
she wrote “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” A different slant gives a
different perspective. Today’s Old
Testament reading illustrates how this can work: Joseph could have skipped to the bottom line,
saying, “Actually, I’m your brother Joseph, and I forgive you for leaving me to
die all those years ago.” Instead, he hides his
identity and puts his brothers through a charade. When they have to tell their father a second
time that he’s to lose his youngest son, their guilt literally hits home. Would the brothers have arrived at sincere
repentance if Joseph had skipped straight to the bottom line?
Yet our culture seems to be more and more defined by bottom
lines, bumper stickers, and data points.
These are all denials of perspective. Our discourse suffers when we forget that every data point is the tip
of an iceberg.
St. James’ is not a church for skipping to the bottom
line. We take our time, we allow for
silence, we don’t omit prayers or hymn verses, and worship is more than
receiving a message. For these forty
days, we bury our alleluias, and we enter into Jesus’ story through the arts of
liturgy and music. And so we do all year
long, to make God’s Salvation history our own.
Psalms [70], 71; 74 Gen. 42.29-38 1 Cor. 6.12-30 Mark 4.21-34
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