Life is never simple. There's always all kinds of things going on. There are individual agendas, there are hidden motives, there are particular unpredictable events. Diverse things occur simultaneously. Life happens quickly and can be quite confusing. We have all seen that most recently with this incident with the boy Elian.

Consider all the issues that play into that situation. First there is the issue of father and son, what import does family have, what rights? There is the issue of the relatives who want their nephew to grow up in a free political environment. There is the political issue, the mayor who doesn't want violence. The justice department who wants the whole thing behind them but really doesn't want to look bad yet can't obviously have its authority questioned. There is the challenge of the crowds and the fear of mob action and of voting power. There is the whole legal scenario. What courts deal with this? What laws come into play? There is the international scene: What is the U.S. relationship to Cuba to be; as a separate nation of the world; as an adversary.

Consider what is happening in the mind of the child Elian.

It just gets so complicated, so confusing. Nothing is simple. Nothing is as it appears to be on the surface.

The evangelist Mark who wrote the gospel which we read a good part of today has never been considered a literary giant. Literary giants are able to capture our attention and direct it to only the most important issues, the questions that want concentration. But Mark is no literary giant. He tells us the story and he tells it well. But the story is complex and intricate and unnerving. Only by carefully sorting it all out can we come to terms with what is going on here and even then we don't understand it all because this is real life and real life is very complicated.

When you were a kid did you ever play those picture games where you had to find an odd assortment of shapes in amongst the picture. Well our lesson is somewhat like that. I found ten different story lines going on all at the same time perhaps you can find more.

Superficially it almost seems as if Mark wants to be journalistically neutral.
Very carefully Mark chronicles the movements of Jesus. He wants to tell us just where Jesus was and where he went. Jesus was in Bethany then Jerusalem, then to the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and then was arrested. Jesus was taken to the court of the High Priest, then to Pilate's palace where Pilate sentenced him. The soldiers torment him in the palace and then lead him out to Golgotha where he was crucified and died.
That is what happened and Mark wants us to be clear on the facts but there is so much more.

What about all those individuals who we meet only once but whose lives were touched by Jesus in those last two days. What did Jesus death mean to the woman who anointed him with oil? How was the young disciple who ran away naked in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested going to live the rest of his life? Could Barabbas the murderer and thief live with the knowledge that his life was spared only at the expense of Jesus who was innocent? What did Jesus' last walk to Golgotha mean to Simon of Cyrene who was compelled to carry the cross? How was that scene imprinted on the memory of his children Alexander and Rufus?

More than these minor characters, Mark guides us into seeing intensely pivotal moments in the lives of those who are closest to Jesus. How devastated and guilty was Peter as the cock crowed three times and he realized his denial of Jesus. What underlying motives were working as Judas betrayed Jesus?

Let us not under estimate the political complexities at play in our text, the motives of the religious authorities, the tenuous nature of Pilate's place trying to keep a lid on possible rebellion, the fear of mob violence. Very, very real complex issues are at stake here.

Finally, we analyze deeply Jesus' words throughout the events that occur. What is going through the mind of Jesus? Is there fear? Is there doubt? Do Jesus' last words indicate final acceptance? The intensity of emotion is hard to fathom.

How easy it is for us to get lost in Mark's story, to get caught up in the drama, the human intensity of all the players and their parts, because that's real life. Real life is complicated, confusing, messy.

How easy it is to forget that amidst all the characters and all the events of Mark's narrative, the one story that outstrips them all is God's story. The story God keeps trying to get through to us again and again and again. The story that says that even and especially in the midst of real life, God will spare no expense, including the life and suffering of his own Son to communicate God's great love for us.