PRACTICE
Center The Leadership Of The Marginalized
As we learn to embrace the truth that relationships across lines of difference are what fuels meaningful change, we focus this week on a practice that reflects Jesus’ way and priorities.
Watch the video HERE.
GOSPEL
John 11:1-45 (NRSV)
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him.
DISCUSSION
Small Group Reflection Questions for March 26 - April 1
• This peacemaking practice is paired with the peacemaking principle that authentic relationships across lines of difference fuel transformation. This gospel text features one of the most notable examples of Jesus as a friend. He weeps for the death of his friend Lazarus and for the grief of his friends Mary and Martha. It may sound cliche, but as God in human form, Jesus’ friendships are truly across a great line of difference. Consider how God becoming human and befriending real people is a move toward peacemaking. What does that bring up for you?
• In becoming human, Jesus was born into relative obscurity and poverty, into a marginalized community that lived under great oppression. He performed many of his miracles on the poor, sick and outcast. He dined with sinners and tax collectors. He raised a man from the dead who everyone had given up on. Fast forwarding ahead, the news of his resurrection was revealed first to women, whose voices were rarely listened to. Jesus entrusted the gospel to the leadership of the marginalized. How did centering the marginalized — and placing his own life within an oppressed community — affect Jesus’ message at the time? How do you think it has affected his message — and its reception among different groups — today?
• Why do you think that authentic relationships across lines of difference is the principle behind centering the leadership of the marginalized? How do the two go hand in hand?
• Who are the marginalized people in your neighborhood? Can you imagine a way to foster authentic relationships within that group? Discuss together what that might look like and how you might go about doing that. Do you know of organizations who are led by the marginalized within your neighborhood?
Access the full small group guide HERE.
POEMS
“I chose this poem thinking about the story of Lazarus’ resurrection, as well as the death, new life, and redefinition it requires to build authentic relationships across lines of difference, as well as to center the leadership of the marginalized when that has not historically been done in spaces we’ve been in.” - Drew Jackson
IN THE AGE TO COME
There will be no edges, but curves.
Clean lines pointing only forward.
—Tracy K. Smith, “SCI-FI”
Every relationship redefined.
Definition is no fixed thing;
it changes
with the ages, eons, epochs.
We cannot
bring our well-defined boxes
with us where we are going.
Like coffins
they are meant for death.
Everything ahead of us
is alive.
Poem taken from Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way (InterVarsity Press)
Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Poetry HERE.
SONG
This week we focus on a song called “He Looks Down Low” written by Paul Zach, a collaborating artist with the Good Shepherd Collective. It is a powerful vision of a God who centers the leadership and wisdom of the marginalized.
Listen to the Good Shepherd Collective song HERE.
ASSIGNMENT
This week, find a way to hear the leadership of the marginalized in your neighborhood. They are speaking somewhere — find out where and listen. This may be on a blog, an Instagram, a TikTok, a community board, or even fliers around the neighborhood. What are they saying? What are their concerns? Frustrations? Needs? What are they calling on people to do?
Next week is Holy Week and we will not be getting together as small groups. Instead we will be meeting as a church on Wednesday night for a meal and a chance to debrief. Bring your findings to the larger group as we will discuss together what we’ve learned and experienced throughout Lent — and what we want to do next.