In the Courtyard by the Fire

A few months ago - maybe last year sometime - I took a class from BeADisciple called Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes.  One of the Bible study methods we explore was an Ignatian Method.  At the time, I wrote a post about it here.

This morning, I spent some times reading from Rachel Billups' book, An Unlikely Lent. I'm on the second chapter; it focuses on the servant girl who accuses Peter of following Jesus. As I read that chapter, the Ignatian Method came to mind. There are a few questions in that method that I think can "take us into" the scripture. 

For this exploration, I'm reading Mark 14:66-72

Picture the scene....What is the setting? Who are the people in the scene? What can be seen, heard, or smelled in the scene?  It's helpful to read Mark 14's previous verses. Peter has followed Jesus to the courtyard of the high priest. While Jesus is on trial in front of the chief priests, elders, and scribes, Peter is in the courtyard, sitting near the fire with the guards. I imagine it is the time of day that is still night but poised on the edge of sunrise. The light would have been inadequate to make out details, but just beginning to hint at the day to come. The fire would have cast shadows around the courtyard.

Peter would be able to hear the guards talking and the conversations of anyone else who enters into the courtyard. Were they talking about what was going on? Was Jesus well known enough for their to be speculation among those gathered regarding what was happening? Could they hear the questioning? Jesus' answer of "I am"? Could they hear blows striking as they beat Jesus? What about when they condemned him to death?

The courtyard would have been full of the scent of the burning fire and of the men around it. I imagine they could have smelled the fear as Peter sat with them, sweating and afraid.  This man of action probably couldn't have set very still - his feet would have been shuffling and his hands would have been moving around each other and across his beard, clothes, and hair.

And when the servant approached him, and asked him if he were a follower of Jesus, would he have sprung guiltily to his feet? Or tried to maintain calmness by staying in his place by the fire? All those around him would have heard the question and his answer. Unless he had a "poker face" I think he would have looked startled and afraid.

As I write this, I am sitting in my living room, and I can hear a rooster outside. (The neighborhood rooster crows all the time - just annoying). They are not quiet birds, so that crow would have been loud and unmistakable. Peter would have remembered what Jesus told him about his betrayal. His fear would have been compounded now by the guilt that was just under the surface as he started to cry - maybe now leaving the fire to hide.

Ignatian Reading

 Earlier, I posted a reflection of my devotional reading of the Luke passage for my class using Lectio Divina.  Another type of devotional reading we were asked to do was to read the post Ignatian Style.  I actually found that one to be more fruitful for me.

I read through the chosen passage, Luke 18:18-25. As I read, I noticed a couple of things I had missed before. This passage is also in Matthew (19:16-22) and Mark (10:17-31), and I think I was hearing those in my head when I read the Luke passage previously.  In Mark, the passage says, “Jesus loved him…” and in both Matthew and Mark, the young man leaves the scene, sad, before Jesus talks about the rich entering the kingdom, and how with God, all things are possible.  In Luke, there is nothing that says the man leaves, and Jesus tells HIM how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

When I pictured the scene, I saw it as Jesus, the disciples, and others seated on the ground (a cleared area, maybe sand) around a fire, talking.  I entered the scene as one of the people in the circle, listening to the young man and Jesus talking. I would have smelled the fire and the people around me, heard the crackling of the fire, Jesus and the man talking as well as the people around me whispering to each other. I would have seen Jesus and the man as well as the others, maybe not as clearly as I could have in the day because of the smoke from the fire. The light would have helped to illuminate the scene.  (I have no idea why I pictured it at night).

As I thought about the scene, I wondered how the people were reacting. I wondered if they would have resented the Ruler who felt sad about selling what he owned, but they don’t seem to be resentful.  By their questions, they seem to be defending the young man, maybe because they don’t like this reversal of the world – they don’t want to sell what they have, either. They think they are obedient; after all, they are following Jesus. They see in the young man part of themselves – the fear of letting go of what they own, the selfishness of not wanting to do what Jesus asks.  And they are disbelieving – how is this even possible. They don’t seem to be comforted by the idea that with God, all things are possible.

The thoughts in the third paragraph above are what I shared with God in prayer at the end of the time using this method.