Thoughts on the Road II

In the second chapter of Mark's gospel there are some important instructions on how we go about proclaiming of the gospel. In this chapter we find the story of the crippled man whom Jesus both forgave his sins and restored his health. Then Jesus calls Matthew. Matthew does what new believers in Africa nearly always do: in their excitement over the new thing that is happening to them, they eagerly introduce their family and friends to this Jesus who they are so attracted to.
Matthew's celebration gives Jesus' opponents the opportunity to expose why they think Jesus is a fraud. But He seizes it as an occasion to teach about true righteousness.
For the scribes the righteousness formula was: repent + ceremonies + obey their laws. The folly of all that is, there is no transforming new life within, there is no living relationship with God and there is no compassion for the neighbor. Following their formula there is none of the newness that Jesus talks about in verses 21 & 22.
In West Africa some evangelicals have expectations much like those of the scribes: The sinner must 1) publicly repent, 2) cut relationships with the sinners and 3) obey church rules. If you are able to do this formula and maintain the expectations, then we can baptize you and you will become one of us. And, don't forget, even if you are successful at doing all this, we will always be there to police you.
In contrast to this, Tim Geddert in his commentary on Mark says- "Jesus offers forgiveness without ceremonies, he offers fellowship with people who have neither publicly acknowledged their sinfulness nor visibly cleaned up their lives. He calls people to follow him, and in so doing their lives are transformed". Authentic righteousness has to do with right relationships with Jesus, right relationships with others who are accepting Jesus and right relationships with God.
In the W. Africa communities where we have outreach this is the model we are using and it is bearing fruit. Part of the reason why we have a long list of invitations from villages to come and share the gospel has to do with using this mode of evangelism. There are villages where some of evangelicals have been asked to leave, but for us the door is wide open. And it's no surprise; people who wish to hear the gospel are not asking to be insulted. They have no desire for pharisaic confrontation. They value a gentle, supportive offer for a relationship with God, something far better than their current knowledge and relationship with Him.