Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?...[T]hose who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,/they shall mount up with wings like eagles,/they shall run and not be weary,/they shall walk and not faint.” “And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” You may be seated.
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Today we meet Jesus after a very full Sabbath in Capernaum. For starters, he’d had an eventful time in the synagogue. He’d preached, and then had a tangle with a demon when he exorcised that demon from a man right there in the synagogue. From the synagogue he went directly with four of his disciples—Simon, Andrew, James, and John—to Andrew and Simon’s house. There they found Simon and Andrew’s mother sick with a fever. Not surprisingly after what they had seen in the synagogue, they immediately tell Jesus about their sick mother. Jesus goes to her and heals her. Somewhat ironically, before Jesus can call it day, bearing in mind that for Hebrews a day ends with sundown, the people of Capernaum came to Simon and Andrew’s house after sundown seeking Jesus for more. And it’s not just some people, as in a handful or so, but as the scriptures says “the whole city.” So the whole city came Simon and Andrew’s door bringing to Jesus those who were sick or demon possessed. And Jesus, being a good guy in his Jesus-y way, healed and exorcised many of them. Then, the next morning, Jesus gets up early, so early that it’s still dark, and he gives the slip to his disciples. He finds a secluded place—“a deserted place” as the text says—and prays. For those of us who are more introverted, we can identify with Jesus seeking solitude in a solitary place after his previous day of heavy lifting. But that solitude doesn’t last for long, because when Simon and the other disciples notice he is gone, they go out searching for him, and they find him. But do they leave him alone, undisturbed in his prayer? No. They tell him, even at this early hour of the day, that everyone—the whole city of Capernaum—is out looking for him, with the clear implication that all those people are still wanting more from him—more miracles, more healings, more exorcisms, needing him. But Jesus he doesn’t give a direct reply to their statement. Almost as if he’s heedless of the crowd that’s hunting him, he says to the disciples, “Let’s go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that’s what I came to do.”
I think it’s easy to hear Jesus’ words as a rebuke to his thick-headed disciples who don’t quite understand his mission. But there’s another way to hear these words: these are words of excitement, of joy. This s not a judgmental Jesus, but a happy, eager Jesus who is thrilled about the good news he’s preaching. He can hardly wait to preach to as many people as possible because what he has to say is so wonderful that he can hardly contain himself.
And his message is great. We can hear him say: “The kingdom of God is breaking in upon you at this very moment. The time we’ve all been waiting for is happening right now. God is on the move. And as I live and breathe, even as I speak, God is coming among you…on your behalf. So turn. Believe this great news.”
How wonderful these words must have sounded to a people who generations earlier had returned from a horrific exile and rebuilt their lives and Temple, only to fall under the heel of successive foreign powers—a people who quite understandably could have thought, “Despite all our efforts, our condition seems to be hidden from God. God seems to disregard the injustices we suffer.” And yet, God comes to them in the flesh to say, “I’m here. Your condition is not hidden from me. I do not disregard the injustices inflicted on you.” And we know this because God himself came in the man Jesus. Throughout his ministry Jesus taught about the kingdom, often in parables, sometimes in conflicts with the powers that be, and above all in his crucifixion, and resurrection. Even the reconciliation effected by his death on the cross and triumphal resurrection proclaimed the good news that God is on the move on behalf of all people. This is the God who pays heed—as Isaiah says, who pays so much attention to every facet of the creation that he knows the name of each of the billions and billions of stars. This is the God who does not run out of steam, who does not grow weary or faint, who does not give up on the human race. And Jesus message? In today’s language we can hear it: “God is on the move. Here’s your chance. The kingdom is happening. Right relationship is happening. Be part of it. God wants you to be part of it because it is so good. It is for you and you and you, and all those people out there.”
Now, Jesus’ preaching did not strike a number of his contemporaries as good news. Some heard it as a direct challenge to Roman rule, as subversion. Some heard it as a direct challenge to the way the Jewish establishment maintained itself in relation to the Roman overlords. Some heard it as a direct challenge to a social order which prized wealth and political power for security and personal gain over the welfare of all. To such people, Jesus’ great good news sounded like judgment—at it was. They didn’t want change. As they saw it, they had it good enough as it was. But to thousands of others, when they heard his message, when they listened to his teachings, when they witnessed his healings and exorcisms, they heard the good news that God was in their midst. God had not forgotten them and was bringing them into his kingdom, a kingdom that had both temporal and eternal dimensions.
Do we see our lives with beset with difficulties just as those first century people of Palestine did? Yes. We see an economic order that is out of order. We even see this on the international scale. Do we see countries overthrowing repressive regimes only to sink into bitter, violent civil war over power? Yes. Do we see the gap between the rich and non-rich widening in our own country so much so that those who used to be in the middle are fast becoming part of a lower class increasingly ignored and unheard by those who govern? Yes. Do we see among our fellow Americans and Virginians a growing unwillingness to take care of each other? Yes. Just this week, UVA’s President Sullivan told the general assembly that as far as raising money for the university goes, the hardest thing to get people to contribute to is financial aid. A few weeks ago in a Republican presidential debate we heard members of the audience yell “Let him die” in reference to the hypothetical question of what to action to take in relation to a man who chooses not to buy insurance because it is too expensive and then winds up in a car accident.
But these are not causes for discouragement or despair because God’s proclamation is of good news. He is not proclaiming the Great Oppression or the Great Recession, but the Great Transformation. The kingdom of God is upon us. Righteousness is possible. God has come among us, as one of us, to make it possible to live into a right relationship with him and our fellow human beings. God calls us to this new life. God calls us with an invitation to enter into the new life that brings joy. This new life will not look exactly like the life we’ve had before. After all, it is new. And this new life is not just for some. “Behold,” God says, “I make all things new.” // The good news is that God is on the move, enlisting us in his kingdom of love, equity, generosity, of courage, of communion with him in the joy of new life, now and into eternity.
The very fact that you are here today indicates that you have heard the call of God (even if in a muffled way), that you have glimpsed the reality he holds out for us as kingdom people, that you are hungry for this newness and more of this newness. And, you are ready to join with God in the great transformation, opening the floodgates to it, as our baptismal covenant says, proclaiming it by word and deed.
Does this mean you have to go out and preach on a street corner? I’m not ruling this out for anyone—because all things are possible with God—though I think the likelihood of street corner preaching being the style of anyone here today is remote. What it does mean is for each one of us to find a way to tell our story of how God has moved and is moving in our lives. It means that as a congregation we must find ways to tell about this great good news that brings such amazing new life, so amazing that it continues beyond the grave. It means giving voice to the ways that the joy of the good news has already grabbed us, and broadcasting this good news among those who haven’t heard it or who have only partially heard it. And believe me, there are vast numbers of people outside of this building even here in Charlottesville who have not heard the good news, who have not been introduced to the joy of the kingdom. [It means activism—perhaps even political activism—on behalf of the poor and almost poor; on behalf of the bullied and marginalized; on behalf of the addicted and those who cannot help themselves; even on behalf of the environment.] Will it take work? Yes. Will it take strenuous work? It will take as much as you can muster. But remember, this is God’s work: “those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” The kingdom of God is upon us. Let your joy be known. Have courage. Have faith. Tell the story, and spread the good news. Amen.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 13:41
