Whiplash!

The summer of 1991 was a big one for me. It was the summer between 6th and 7th grade and so I was heading off to Jr. High in the fall. I became obsessed with the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which aligned with my huge crush on Kevin Coster, and resulted in my poor parents having to hear the Bryan Adams song from the movie, “Everything I Do…I Do it for You” played on a loop for weeks on end. But the biggest of big moments for me in the summer of 1991 came when I realized that I was finally tall enough to ride the ShockWave roller coaster at Six Flags Great America, our local amusement park. I was kind of a short kid growing up, so for several years, I was the only one in our pre-teen friend group who was not tall enough to ride this new roller coaster after its launch in 1988, which was even hyped by commercials on TV across Chicagoland.

Now, the Shock Wave was a 170 foot tall coaster reaching speeds of 65 miles per hour. When it opened in 1988 it was the world’s tallest and fastest looping roller coaster with a record-breaking seven inversions, three vertical loops, a boomerang and two regular corkscrews – all technical language that describes lots of flipping around! For the first three summers of its operation, I didn’t meet the cutoff height and had to find something else to do while my friends would ride. Alas, in the blessed summer of ‘91, I had grown just enough and it was finally my time to experience the ShockWave for myself!

So, I rode it. I looped around the seven inversions and as I exited the ride with my friends, they turned to me and said, “Well? What did you think? Awesome, right?” And I squealed, “Well, yes! Definitely awesome!” But here’s the thing... As awesome as it was, I kind of hated it too. Sure, there was the thrill of finally getting to ride this record-setting coaster. And it was fast. And there was a lot of turning upside down, which led to lots and lots of screaming. Fun times. But, here’s what they didn’t tell you. Riding the ShockWave was rather painful! There were a lot of abrupt turns at high speeds, and especially for shorter riders, that meant that your head would slam back and forth between the sides of the overhead restraint. It felt like some cruel physics lesson where an object in motion stays in motion, but that object in motion is my head between two hard, rubber objects over my shoulders. And the cruel twist was in 1991, all the tweens were wearing some kind of large dangly earring that added to the pain of my head slamming back and forth.

So, like, yes!! Awesome! Thrilling! All the things! But also, awful! Painful! Please don’t make me do it again! And I did ride it again, at least twice every time we would go to the park over the next several years. Each time I would brace myself, stiffen my neck, move my earrings to my pockets for a few minutes and hope for the best.

Now, here is the funny part. I did a little research on this roller coaster and I was laughing out loud at what I found. The Shock Wave closed in 2002 and I found these words written on a roller coaster review website: “Shockwave was plagued with some operational issues throughout its lifetime. Due to the speed and stress from the train negotiating the first vertical loop, a track fracture developed and needed attention on a regular basis in order to remain safe for operation. The wheels for the ride were expensive and wore out quickly according to ride operators, which required a vigilant crew and frequent 10-15 minute closures for maintenance staff to be dispatched to change them out. Shockwave also gained a reputation as a rough ride. A sharp turn located after the third vertical loop and before the mid-course brake run was most notable, often resulting in unprepared riders smashing their heads on the restraints.”

I have never felt so vindicated in my life! It wasn’t just me!! Everyone was in pain on this roller coaster but apparently none of us talked about it! We only talked about the thrill of this record-setting roller coaster ride. This juxtaposition of a most thrilling experience coinciding with a miserable one is what comes to mind for me as I read our lectionary text from Mark today. (Mark 1:9-15)

The experience of reading this rather small snippet of text can only be described as one thing – whiplash! Diving into this on the first Sunday of Lent is not so different from my preteen head bobbling back and forth between the hard restraints on the ShockWave. This text is HUGE, and weird, and confusing and it feels like so much action should not be squeezed into so few lines.

Jesus is baptized by John, and the Spirit of God appears to him and says “You are my son!” – a bold reminder for the readers of who Jesus is. Rejoice! But, then the text says the Spirit immediately drives him out into the wilderness, and the Greek word used here, “ekballo” is not the normal verb used when you would talk about sending someone out. It’s a more spiritually violent word. It’s the same word used when we read about casting out demons. So here we have God descending and calling Jesus a beloved son and the very next verse has the spirit of God casting Jesus out into the wilderness with absolutely no explanation. Like that ride on the ShockWave – thrilling and awesome AND yikes, not great, all at once. Total biblical whiplash!

Then the author of Mark references the 40 days in the wilderness where Jesus is tempted by Satan and was with wild beasts. There are no details filled in here on either of those things in this Gospel – we’re just supposed to know that these very important things happened and the significance of them. And then we are back for another round of whiplash! In the very same sentence we hear that John has been arrested, BAD, Jesus comes to Galilee proclaiming the GOOD News that the Kingdom of Good has come near and to repent and believe. We learn of the arrest of this very important person, John the Baptist, who was arguably the first person aside from Mary to recognize Jesus as the Son of God when he flips inside Elizabeth’s womb during a visit with pregnant Mary. We don’t know if it’s this particular arrest but we do know that an arrest eventually will lead to the execution of John. This arrest is troubling news. And yet, in the very same sentence comes the HUGE news, the news that people of God have been waiting for – that the Kingdom of God is near. The time has come! In the same sentence – this devastating and earth-shatteringly positive news! Whiplash, indeed!

So what are we to make of this wild, short textual ride in the Gospel of Mark that feels a bit like a ride on a roller coaster as we begin this 2024 Lenten journey? Well, for me, this whiplash text has been a reminder about how my own hopes and expectations about how the world around me will operate can sometimes set me up for disappointment and failure. I admit that when I hear good news, I want good news to be stand alone, not served up with a side of bad and distressing news. I think like so many in this world, I am highly conditioned to focus in on the bad, so much so that if the good news doesn’t arrive pristine and untainted and with no other distractions, I’m likely to miss it because I am so focused on the bad news that tagged along.

I mean, surely if the appointed time that people of God have been waiting on for a very long time has come as Jesus is announcing, it’s a big deal. It’s enough news to stand alone, right? One could imagine this news would cause the world around this announcement to stop, or begin transforming or something! What are we to make that the Good News of the arrival of the Kingdom is mixed together with an announcement of Jesus being cast out into wilderness to be tested alongside wild beasts and John’s arrest? How is all this other bad stuff going on if the Kingdom has drawn near? That’s not how it’s supposed to work!

But it is how the world works. It is how the story of God set within this world works. The Good News and the bad things are happening at the same time. Side by side. As the theme song from one of my favorite shows from the 80s went, “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have….the facts of life.” You take them both – the good and the bad coexist throughout this world. And the story of God is no different.

This week we saw a prime example of how the good is served up along with the bad when six days ago in the streets of Kansas City, a million proud fans gathered to cheer on their Super Bowl champions suffered the terror of a mass shooting, where 23 people were shot. One of the fans died and many of the injured were children. These and so many other news headlines we read are overwhelmingly bad, scary and horrific. Even if there is one positive or hopeful news story on our screens, it’s hard to see it or to focus on it very long with all the other negative stories that steal the spotlight.

As Kate Bowler puts it in her newest book Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day, “These are terrible days. These are beautiful days. Somehow both realities feel inseparable in our minds now. We have the sense that something bad might happen, and has already happened. When we read the headlines, we do not shake our heads. We nod. Yes, we think. Of course that would happen.”

The fact that Jesus is announcing that the Kingdom of God has come near in the Gospel of Mark, the oldest gospel, in the midst of all of these other, not-so-positive things happening offers us a challenging reminder. It says to us that even Good News of this magnitude can be lost - can be missed if we don’t pay attention, or if our attention shifts and lands strongly on the negative. In that world, and in our world today, it is a radical and faithful act to elevate the Good News and the good news and not let the bad news lessen its goodness. We live in a culture that feeds and thrives on negativity. Joy is defiant. Good is counter-cultural.  

As we begin this Lenten journey toward the mystery of Maundy Thursday, the sadness of Good Friday and the thrilling joy of Easter Morning, I can assure you that, like my ride on the ShockWave, our heads are going to get jolted and batted around between the restraints a little in the next six weeks. The question I have for you is whether those head bops are going to lessen the thrill of it all for you? Will they make the Good News quieter, smaller or less joyful and good for you?

This is my challenge to all of us during Lent in 2024. We know there will be noise. We know there will be bad news all aroud us. Life is a whole lot of whiplash! Without ignoring the realities of the world in which we inhabit, the world that is God’s, how can we focus, elevate and experience the Good News this year? How can we endure a few head bumps and still fully claim the thrill, the joy and the elation of Good News of resurrection?

Amen.