Today's readings are Genesis 29.1-30 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+29.1-30 ) and Mark 9.14-32 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+9.14-32 ).
At the very beginning of our reading in Mark today we see that there is an argument going on. The scribes seem to be arguing either with the disciples or with a crowd of people who are around or with a father who brought a child to Jesus and the disciples. We don't know the exact content of the argument. But notice it does not appear to be an argument between the disciples and the father.
What kind of arguments happen around the Church? We are committed to doctrinal purity. Fine. Whose version of doctrinal purity? When there is a controversy, when one group of believers is acting in a way that another group doesn't quite agree with, look how we react. All too often we over-react in one of two ways. We may decide that doctrine is a secondary matter so we don't pursue an understanding of Scripture in which we can say one thing is definitively right and another is definitively wrong. On the other end of the spectrume we may pursue such a rigid theology, making issues in which historically many believing Christians have disagreed and proven their points of view well using Scripture into issues which divide us to the point of proclaiming someone a heretic.
What is Jesus' response to the argument which is raging when he arrives? He heals the child. End of agrument. What are those arguments we are going to engage in today? What happens to those arguments when we see Jesus actively at work, saving and preserving his people?
Lord, work among your people today. Let us be one in you. "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church." Amen.
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