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{"id":58825,"date":"2015-09-04T04:29:29","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T09:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=58825"},"modified":"2015-09-02T13:30:36","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T18:30:36","slug":"the-thelo-fellow-by-john-frye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2015\/09\/04\/the-thelo-fellow-by-john-frye\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thelo Fellow (by John Frye)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"Screen$ <\/a>Meet thel<\/em>\u014d<\/em>\u00a0(Greek\u00a0\u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9<\/em>) because he\u2019s an interesting fellow. But don\u2019t think for a minute that he is a mellow fellow. He\u2019s hot, pulsating with energy. We meet thel<\/em>\u014d<\/em>in Mark 1:41 thanks to Jesus. Thel<\/em>\u014d<\/em> shows up in a culturally explosive episode where a living dead man, a walking corpse races to Jesus, falls down pleading for Jesus to heal him of his skin disease (Mark 1:40-45). A deplorable disease where the skin peels and falls off.<\/p>\n

Jewish law required that lepers both visually and verbally make themselves known to well (clean) people. Lepers had to appear unkempt (their hair) and they had to yell \u201cUnclean!\u201dwhen in the presence of the well (Leviticus 13:45-46). We meet a leper who throws legal rules and cultural mores to the wind and blatantly runs into the midst of a group of people and dives at Jesus\u2019feet. Wonderful words about Jesus had been flying around Galilee like sparrows. Jesus of Nazareth heals the sick. In the presence of some very jittery disciples, the leper cries to Jesus, \u201cIf you are willing, you are able to make me clean.\u201dThe leper knows Jesus has the power; but does Jesus have the heart, the will to act? Before Mark tells us what Jesus says and does, he tells us how Jesus feels.<\/p>\n

For multiple reasons I take the less documented, but harder reading that Jesus got very angry <\/em>Mark 1:41). Speculations concern what was Jesus angry (not compassionate) about. Here, right before him, is a creation of God (an Eikon) ravaged by a disease that literally separates a person from all life was meant to be. The leper\u2019s body is betraying him; his disease isolates him from family and community; and the religious conclusion was that God had cursed him. Cut off\u2014from himself, from others, and from God. A walking dead man. I believe this incarnate example of the devastation of sin really pissed (may I write that?) Jesus off. It\u2019s in this agitated, \u201cI-can\u2019t-believe-this-is-happening\u201dcontext we meet thel<\/em>\u014d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am willing\u201d(\u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9<\/em>). Jesus says it. Not sweetly, not gently. Aggressive power and burning intention come against all that sin and Satan attempt against God\u2019s creatures. Kingdom of God stuff explodes into reality. \u201cImmediately he was cured!\u201dJudaism of the day said that only God could heal a leper and raise the dead. Jesus did more than just Messiah things; he did God things.<\/p>\n

I want a God who gets so angry at sin and its effects that he roars into action. At some point, Christus Victor <\/em>charges theEnemy lines with wild abandon, forgetting all religious and cultural restraints, for the sake of one pleading victim. Jesus, against all convention, touched the leper! Gutsy. Real gutsy. We have a God-in-Jesus, who is not just all-powerful, but who is a thel<\/em>\u014d<\/em> fellow.<\/p>\n

There is a creation dignity for us to be a \u201cI am willing\u201dkind of people. With the abilities we have, the experiences we\u2019ve racked up, the knowledge and wisdom we\u2019ve learned, let\u2019s engage the brokenness of our world. We see dead men and women walking all around us. Anger is a very appropriate emotion and certainly is a driving energy for the kingdom of God\u2019s new world words and new world deeds. All the while remembering that as passionate as anger can be, when it combines with the obedience of faith, it expresses itself as love. Eikons are \u201cI am willing\u201dpeople. Be angry and do not sin.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"