Sunday, March 17, 2024

Sermon; Lent 5B; John 12:20-33

Some Greeks want to see Jesus, so they reach out to Philip.  “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  Philip then goes to Andrew, and they both go tell Jesus.  And then Jesus begins talking about his impending death.  At first blush, this seems odd at best.  Telling them that, no, he was sorry, he had a full calendar and couldn’t see them would have made sense.  But the response Jesus gives just makes you scratch your head.  This would be like Monica telling me there was someone in the office to see me, and I replied, “It’s time for the snow to fall.  For if one flake falls, no one pays attention; but if many snowflakes fall, they create a new heart and allow people to share resources.”  What?

As I’ve said, and as you and many others have noticed, the Gospel of John is . . . different.  There are different time stamps.  There is a different feel.  There are different focal points.  And it often seems like Jesus is thinking and talking on one level, while everyone else is thinking and talking on another level, as is the case today.  The unnamed Greeks, Philip, and Andrew are talking about seeing Jesus like we would probably talk about seeing a person we’ve wanted to meet for a long time.  Jesus is somewhere else.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

If you want to see Jesus, look here.

In the Lenten devotional, Living Well Through Lent, there was a section called, “Forgiveness and Letting Go.”  This particular section reminded us that in order to practice forgiveness we need to let go of control, resentment, self-righteousness, and other things that create a barrier to forgiveness.  When we work on forgiveness, we are really working on changing our heart.  Change and growth often (always?) require letting go of what was.  We let go of some things and we take on other things.

The author mentioned an old joke, “I want to grow, but I don’t want to change.”  Another way of saying that is, “I want our church to grow, but I don’t want to give up my pew.”

In the context of forgiveness, we let go.  We let go of control and resentment, we let go of being controlled by the hurt and pain done to us.  We let go of what was and become a new person.

In the context of the Church, we also evaluate, or reevaluate, who we are and what we want to accomplish.  There are some things which we will choose to continue, but there are probably some things of which we need to let go.  We need to face the, “We’ve never done it that way before,” and the, “We’ve always done it that way,” arguments.  Sometimes it’s okay to continue that way, but sometimes not.

All of everything I’ve been speaking of is about change.  We change through our ability to forgive.  We change in order to find new ways to minister.  Our baptism changed us.  Our Lenten disciplines change us.  Christ’s death and resurrection changed him.  It also changed the world.  It should change us.

The Greeks who wanted to see Jesus wanted to see the superstar of their day.  They wanted to see the man who changed water into wine.  They wanted to see the man who raised the dead to life.  They wanted to see the man who made the lame walk and the one who fed the 5000.  But those things are only a part of who Jesus is.  Jesus is also the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, the eternal Word, who sits at the Father’s right hand.  He is God incarnate.  If you want to see Jesus, you not only look for prophet, healer, and miracle worker, but you also need to look for him who died, was buried, rose again, and ascended to heaven.  If you want to see Jesus, find the grain that falls to earth and dies.

The grain falls to earth, dies, is changed, and rises in a new form, bringing forth much fruit.  Likewise, for us to see Jesus completely, we must also allow parts of ourselves to die so that we may be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory.

Those who love their life will lose it.  Maybe this is a recognition that those who love their life in Christ Jesus are willing to lose those parts of their lives that keep them separated from God. 

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

You wish to see Jesus?  Very well.  What part of your life are you willing to let fall to the earth?  What part of your life are you willing to lose, to let die, and to change, in order to see Jesus?

Amen. 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Sermon; Lent 4B 2024; John 3:14-21

Today’s gospel story comes from the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.  The first part of that conversation is the whole “born from above” or “born again” thing.  And then Jesus begins referencing his crucifixion and the purpose of his incarnation.  As sort of an explanation for his crucifixion, he recalls the story of Moses and the infestation of poisonous serpents among the Israelites, which we heard earlier.

First off, let me just say that the story of the poisonous serpents is one of the most, if not the most, bizarre stories in the Bible.  The people complain about Moses and God, God sends poisonous serpents that bit and killed the Israelites, they said sorry, God tells Moses to craft a bronze serpent on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bit will live.  It’s a weird story.

And it will continue to be weird because I’m not going to talk about this story.  Neither am I going to talk about the similarities of the crucifixion with Jesus being raised up on a cross to give life like the bronze serpent was raised up on a pole to give life.  Instead, I want to talk about why Jesus came into the world.  According to John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  Additionally, God did not send the Son to condemn the world.

I want to go back to the temptation story from Luke.  In that story, Jesus was faced with three temptations:  stones to bread, bowing down to Satan, and jumping from the top of the temple.  The second one had an important detail in it; any ideas what that was?  It was that all the kingdoms of the world had been given over to Satan for him to do with as he pleased.  This is one of the places where we get the idea that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, or the idea that we are IN the world, not OF the world.  Or any number of other theologies that state the world is a bad place and we just need to get to heaven to be okay.

Seeing the world as a bad or evil place ruled by Satan will lead to other problems, not the least of which is religious fanaticism.  Religion, any religion, can find fault with anything.  Religious fanatics will then use their religion to stamp out, dominate, and demonize people and ideas they don’t like.

Everything from the fight to keep slavery, to laws that keep women under control, to prohibition, to book bans, to Jim Jones, to the Jewish and Native American holocausts, and more are driven by the belief that the world is evil and we must exert our religious authority to wipe it out.  People spend a whole lot of time condemning things and people they don’t like.

Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly things that need to be condemned – child abuse, human trafficking, spousal abuse, and animal abuse are at the top of that list.  This is not a free-for-all.  But not everything you don’t like is evil.

Which brings me back to the temptation of Christ.  Satan said all the kingdoms of the world had been given to him.  But whose were they to begin with?  In the beginning, God created.  When you get right down to it, everything belongs to God.  Jesus had no need to receive them from Satan because they were/are his all along.  And if they are God’s, do they need to be condemned?  The Gospel of John says, “No.”

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.

Granted, John does use condemnation language, but we must be careful when looking at it.  For John, condemnation is a refusal to accept the gift of new life found in Jesus.  If a person accepts that gift, they will receive the gift of eternal life, the bread of heaven, and living water as presented in Christ.  If a person refuses that gift, then they remain on the outside, in the outer darkness so to speak, and they have condemned themselves to death.  John’s condemnation is the self-condemnation of refusing the gift Christ offers.  They have chosen darkness over light.

That condemnation doesn’t come from God or the Son – “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world” – and it certainly doesn’t, and shouldn’t, come from us.

If Jesus himself didn’t come to condemn the world, what makes anyone else think it’s our job to condemn others?  It’s almost like some people think they have been given authority to rule over the world.  But the only one who said he would grant that authority was Satan.  So . . . who are those people who are busy condemning others really following?

We are not here to wield earthly power.  We are not here to force other people to bend or bow to our religious interpretations.  We are not here to create a theocracy.  And we are certainly not here to condemn others. 

What we are here to do is to offer the love of God as exemplified in Christ to the world around us in thought, word, and deed.

We offer the love of God in thought – how we think about people shapes how we speak and act toward them.

We offer the love of God in our words – how we speak to and about people shapes how others see how God shapes us.

We offer the love of God in our actions – how we act toward others speaks volumes about how we see them as people of God.

For us here at Saint Luke’s, we do these things through our interactions in the Community, through our acts of Compassion, through our faithful Contemplation, and through our involvement in the Culture.

If we are followers of Christ, then we are not called to condemn people.  Neither are we called to preach a message of turn or burn.  But like Christ, we are called to love sacrificially and be the light that points to the way of life.  Christ did not come to condemn the world.  What makes anyone else think it’s their job to do so?

Amen.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Sermon; Lent 2B; Mark 8:31-38

Last week on the first Sunday in Lent we heard Mark’s version of Jesus in the wilderness and his encounter with Satan.  I know people don’t like it when I do this, but . . . what do you remember about that gospel passage and/or the sermon?

Primarily looking for:  Satan never left, and/or Jesus was tempted all his life.

In Jesus we have the perfect example of what a perfect relationship with God looks like.  This includes (among other things) regular prayer, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, freeing those in bondage, and treating minorities as equals.  It includes prioritizing kingdom goals over and above worldly goals.  It means recognizing that the world will want to silence you by any means necessary, up to and including death.  Jesus knew this was where his path would lead, and he understood the cross was part of his divine destiny.

He understands this from the beginning. So he knew his destiny didn’t include turning rocks to bread, leaping from the top of the temple, or to bow down to Satan in exchange for worldly power.  Just because he COULD do those things doesn’t mean he needed to do them.  And, as I said last week, his temptations didn’t end in the wilderness, they kept coming for the rest of his life, just like us.  We see this in today’s gospel.

Today’s gospel passage is preceded by the feeding of the 4000, an encounter with Pharisees, trying to teach the DUH-sciples, healing a blind man, and asking the twelve, “Who do people say that I am?”  It’s here where today’s passage takes place.

After Peter acknowledges him as the Messiah, Jesus gives the first of his passion predictions.  He lets the disciples in on where his divine destiny will lead – to the cross.  Peter, however, takes issue with this.

One of the things that makes Peter so appealing is his relatability to us.  He’s impetuous.  He’s determined.  He’s earnest.  And he often has a short-term thought process.

When he rebukes Jesus for talking about his death and resurrection, it’s because Peter cannot yet see what Jesus is all about.  It’s because Peter wants something different.  Peter, like a lot of people then and far too many people today, wanted a militaristic, power-wielding, mighty conqueror.  He wanted a Messiah who would crush his enemies and install the right people as powerful overlords.  And in order to accomplish his version of a new world order, Peter takes on the role of Satan.

That name, Satan, isn’t a proper noun, but is an adjective.  It doesn’t name the devil, but describes the role of the adversary, someone who is opposed to.  We see a little of this today when someone says, “Let me play devil’s advocate.”

So Peter takes on the role of adversary. 

And in that role he tries to tempt Jesus to go down a different path.  The path Peter pushes is, in effect, the same one Jesus faced in the wilderness:  to become politically powerful and use his influence to get people to revolt in his name.

How many times did Jesus bang his head on a wall and wonder if this was all worth it?  How many times after hearing an adoring crowd cry out for him did he think about using his power to establish a larger following?  The temptation to both quit and become great are very real.  Temptation never left Jesus.  Temptation never leaves us.

When Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!” he is not saying Peter is the devil incarnate.  He is recognizing that Peter is playing the role of the adversary.  He is recognizing that Peter is tempting him to change paths.  What path is Peter tempting him to take?  The path of worldly power.

Get behind me, Satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.

Jesus is not banishing Peter.  He is not evicting him from the group.  Jesus isn’t even accusing Peter of Satanic thoughts.  What Jesus IS doing is pointing out that Peter is, at that moment, consumed by human thoughts.  He is accused of putting human goals over and above kingdom goals.  And this, quite honestly, is the same rebuke we also need to hear.  The command to, “Get behind me” is a command to both Peter and us that we are to follow Christ, not to lead him where we want him to go.

This is always the temptation we face:  To turn Christ into our follower, to lead Christ to places we desire, to equate worldly power with the goals of God.

The challenge we face is to submit our will to the will of Christ, to allow Christ to lead us, and to strive for kingdom goals not worldly goals.

This story, and this season of Lent, reminds us that the path of discipleship involves self-denial, servanthood, and carrying the cross of Christ.

May we never confuse personal ambition with Christian discipleship.

Amen.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Sermon; Lent 1B; Mark 1:9-15

In the synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – Jesus has a wilderness experience where he is tempted by Satan/the devil.  John doesn’t have a wilderness temptation story because he has a completely different viewpoint; but the other three do.

The three gospels agree that Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days after his baptism. They also agree that he was tempted during that time.  Matthew and Luke tell us he fasted during those forty days, Mark does not.  Matthew says Jesus was tempted to turn stones to bread, prove he was God’s Son by jumping off the temple, and to receive ultimate earthly power by worshiping the devil.  Luke reverses the second and third.  Mark just tells us Jesus was tempted by Satan.  And in both Matthew and Luke, we are told the devil left Jesus after his temptations failed.  Luke gives us a foreshadowing of things to come when he says, “he departed from him until an opportune time.”  Bum buh buh bummmm.

Mark, however, doesn’t mention the devil departing.  This is why the temptation story in this gospel is my favorite temptation story:  because the devil and temptation never leave Jesus.

In the other two gospels it’s easy to rationalize away or poo-poo the temptations.  Turning rocks into bread is just a magic trick designed to make you popular.  Throwing yourself off the top of the temple is just stupid, because we all know God doesn’t work that way.  And bowing down to the devil in order to gain ultimate worldly power – well, let’s just say that some people are better at not doing that than others.  But that’s it.  That’s all there is and then Jesus isn’t bothered again and goes through the rest of the gospel story being Jesus.

But in Mark, the devil never leaves him.  He is tempted every day until his death; not just with those big three from Matthew and Luke, but with other everyday temptations.  This makes the line from today’s Proper Preface, “He lived as one of us, yet without sin,” that much more meaningful.

One of the reasons for the Incarnation was so we could have an example of godly living to which we could relate.  Jesus embodied a perfect relationship between God and man.  I cannot attain that level of perfection, nobody can.  But I take some comfort in knowing that the fully human part of Jesus faced the same daily temptations as I do.

There are places where Jesus tells demons and those whom he has healed to remain silent.  I’m tempted to tell everyone I know to spread the word about how wonderful I am.  But spreading the good news of the kingdom shouldn’t be driven by popularity.

In the gospel of Mark, the disciples are often portrayed negatively or as not getting it.  I have a friend who is fond of saying, “They’re called DUH-sciples for a reason.”  How many times was Jesus tempted to yell at them, call them names, or outright fire them because of their lack of understanding?

What were his temptations when everyone but the people of his hometown believed him?  What were his temptations when his fame was such that everyone wanted a piece of him?  Was he tempted to be snarky during the feeding of the 4000?  What were his temptations at being asked ridiculous questions?  What were his temptations before Pilate or while on the cross?  The list can go on.

The doctrine of Jesus being fully human and fully divine can be hard to grasp, and even hard to accept.  I’ve pointed out to people places in Scripture where I think Jesus made a mistake, and boy, people don’t like that.  But mistakes are not sins.  And if we’re going to proclaim Jesus as fully human and fully divine, then there are probably times he made mistakes as a fully human being.  Which then leads me to think Mark was right:  the devil never left Jesus and continued to tempt him throughout his ministry.

That sentence in the Proper Preface comes from Hebrews 4:15 which says, “we have [a high priest] who in every respect has been tested (tempted) as we are, yet without sin.”  In short, the author of Hebrews puts forth the full nature of Christ – fully human, fully divine, high priest chosen by God, tempted in every way as we are and yet without sin.

So, what can we say about Jesus?  We can say he was fully human.  We can say he made mistakes.  We can say he was tempted every day of his life.  But if we stop there we aren’t seeing the whole picture.  To get the whole picture we also need to pair the fully human person with the divinity of the Second Person of the Godhead.

He made mistakes, but he learned to be better.  He was tempted, but he saw how that would separate him from God.  His humanity saw the world as it was, his divinity saw the world as it should be.  His human side submitted to his divine side, and his divine side was willing to become a servant.

In Lent we are asked to make a right beginning.  What if our right beginning was to incorporate all of Jesus into our lives?  Let us recognize our temptations as that which separate us from God.  Let us begin to see the brokenness of the world around us and work to fill that brokenness with the healing divinity of God’s presence.  Let us put aside our selfish and fragile egos in favor of proclaiming the kingdom of God and serving those whom the world has harmed.

We are in the wilderness with Jesus being tempted every step of the way, like he was.  Let us then make a right beginning and never tire of fighting temptation and sin as we work for kingdom goals.

Amen.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Sermon; Ash Wednesday 2024

Like it or not, we live in a world of social media.  Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Mastodon, and I don't know what all else, is happily taking in the lives we give them.  Photos of our kids and grandkids, pictures and snippets of us and our spouse, along with images of everything from our vacations to restaurant meals, all grace one or more of these social media accounts.  Some of these posts are fun, some are intentionally deceptive, and some are designed for self-promotion. 

Some posts are because you want to share the beauty and experience of a place you know most people won’t get to.  I have a friend who was recently in India and she posted some amazing photos during her trip.  Several years ago, Joelene and I took a group of high schoolers from Maryland over to the Oregon coast, and we posted pictures for people to see what they were doing in that beautiful part of the world.  Others are constantly posting photos or videos of themselves and their partner or spouse.  For some people, social media posts are all about the clicks or the likes or how many comments they can generate.  Regardless of the reason, we ultimately post pictures because we want people to see them; otherwise, why bother to post pictures?

 

Now there's nothing wrong with doing this.  Joelene and I have done it, and there are several people here who have also done it.  But, when it comes to posting pictures of you and your partner or spouse, I ran across something a while ago that basically said, “Couples who post lots of pictures on social media tend to be less happy than couples who don't.”

 

This, of course, is a generalization and doesn't account for all couples, but the point it was making was that social media couples are busy spending their time trying to look happy, while couples who post fewer pictures of themselves tend to be happier because they are busy spending their time actually working on their relationship and living their lives.  In other words, they are too busy living their lives to continually post pictures.


What does posting pictures of you and your partner/spouse, or not posting, have to do with Lent? Maybe nothing.  Maybe everything.

 

In Lent we are called to a season of self-examination and repentance, prayer, fasting, and self-denial. Lent is a highly introspective and highly personal season.  It's a season where we look to place God where God belongs in our lives – first.  It's a time we replace overeating with fasting to remind us of those who don't have enough.  It’s a time we cut back on our consumption and give what we would have spent on ourselves to those in need.  It's a time we replace gathering up with giving away.  It's a time we replace social media or computer games with reading and meditating on God's holy word.  It’s a time we recognize how and where we’ve sinned against God and others and work towards repentance and forgiveness.  It's a time we replace self-centered desires with God-centered activities.

 

Lent is a time we focus on our relationship with God.  It is a time to return to the Lord, rending our hearts and not our clothing, as Joel reminds us.  It's a time we follow Jesus' admonition to focus on doing things in secret so that only God sees what we are doing.  Lent isn't about showing off our piety to others; it's about deepening our relationship with God, and that is generally something that is done behind the scenes.

 

Which brings me back to those social media couples who continuously post their happy photos.  If the report I mentioned is correct, that couples who post lots of pictures are less happy than those who don't, then I think there's a corollary between that and Ash Wednesday/Lent.

 

Joel says to return to the Lord, and to rend our hearts not our clothing.  In Joel’s time, you could publicly show off your piety by tearing your clothing.  It advertised to others that you were doing something for God.  It was also a form of self-promotion that said, “Look at how pious I am.”

 

Joel tells us to rend our hearts, not our clothing, because what we do is not only between us and God, but tearing our clothing doesn’t actually lead us to change our lives.  Jesus tells us to practice our piety before God in secret, not before others publicly, for the same reason.

 

The look-at-me culture of social media is not a new phenomenon, it goes back to the time of Joel and Jesus.  Trying to convince other people, the public in general, or your social media followers, that you're happy doesn't lead to happiness.  What leads to happiness is to work on the relationship with your partner or spouse. . . or God . . . behind the scenes.  Spending quality time on your relationship through conversation, mutually satisfying activities, and prayer leads to a strong, healthy relationship and, ultimately, happiness.

 

This Lent, don't proclaim to the world what pious acts you're performing.  Instead, work on them in secret, changing your heart over time, and drawing ever closer to God.

 

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 

Amen.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Sermon; Epiphany Last 2024; Mark 9:2-9

Today is the Last Sunday after the Epiphany.  The whole season of Epiphany is based in revelation and manifestation.  From the wisemen to his baptism to the calling of the disciples to the demons recognizing who he is, this season is designed to open our eyes to who Jesus is and how we can manifest him in our own lives.  And it culminates today with the Transfiguration.

In this story today Jesus takes three of his closest disciples up the mountain where he is transfigured, meets with Moses and Elijah, everyone is overshadowed by a cloud, and they all hear a voice saying, “This is my Son, listen to him.”  My question in all of this has always been, “How did they know it was Moses and Elijah?” because I’m sure Moses didn’t look like Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments.  Maybe they each had one of those, “HELLO!  My Name Is:_________” stickers attached to their clothes.  But probably not.

Either way, Jesus is seen talking with Moses and Elijah, and Peter interrupts to say, “This is great!  We should put up three tents, one for each of you.”  I don’t know how long Peter thought they were going to be there, but however long he thought, he was wrong.

There are two things in particular I want you to notice about this story.

The first is that you can’t stay on the mountain.  I’m sure we’ve all had at least one mountaintop experience; an experience so holy, so moving, so special that we say, “If only I could stay here for ever.”  But reality is that we can’t stay there for ever.

We don’t hear this in today’s gospel passage, but if you read the rest of the chapter, it’s clear that Jesus has work to do.  First he heals a young boy from an unclean spirit.  Following that he talks to his disciples about being a childlike servant to everyone.  The chapter closes out with a discussion on the dangers of exclusivity and a warning about being a stumbling block to others. 

The message is clear – we cannot stay in a safe, comfortable place worshiping the Lord.  We need to get off our mountain, proclaim the good news, and serve those in need.

The second is Jesus’ connection to Moses and Elijah.  Moses was the great lawgiver.  He also went up a mountain, was overshadowed by the holy presence of God, and experienced a transfiguration of sorts as he had to cover his face before the Israelites.  Elijah is counted as the greatest prophet of Israel, remaining faithful to God while everyone else deserted him in favor of popular public opinion.  Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets.

For us Christians, we hold that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  In Matthew, Jesus says he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.  In both Matthew and Luke, he says the Law and the Prophets were until John came, and he is now here to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.  In Luke, he says that he is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  And in John, Philip declares to Nathanael that they have found him of whom the Law and the Prophets wrote.  For us, Jesus is intimately connected to the Law and the Prophets.

The mistake Peter made – and it’s easy to say this with 2000 years of hindsight – but the mistake Peter made was in keeping them separate.  “Let’s make three dwelling places – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

On one hand, this makes perfect sense.  Three of the greatest figures of the faith are gathered together, so why not offer to give each of them their own VIP tent?  For us Christians, however, this is the wrong way to look at it.

As I said earlier, for us Christians, we hold that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  In him and through him all things are fulfilled.  The embodiment of the Law and the Prophets is found in him and through him.  He is inseparable from the rest.  This is why making three tents is the wrong approach – because Christ contains all.

What does Peter’s response to seeing Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mountain and wanting to build three tents have to do with us today?  Just this:  we are still behaving like Peter.

Like Peter wanted to separate Jesus from Moses and Elijah, from the Law and the Prophets, we also tend to separate Jesus from particular areas of our lives.

On Sunday we proclaim Jesus as part of the Triune Godhead.  We state that through him all things were made.  Our baptismal promises and covenant state that we will renounce Satan, evil powers that corrupt and destroy God’s creation, and sinful desires that separate us from God.  We promise to continue in the life of the Church, repent, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to strive for justice and peace.

And then, Monday through Saturday, we slander those whom we dislike, excuse our own bad behavior because “they” deserved it, pursue our own desires over the needs of others, and generally do what we want because all that Sunday stuff really isn’t applicable in the world today.

We do exactly what Peter wanted to do – we put Jesus in a separate tent from the rest of our lives.  We compartmentalize Sunday behavior and expectations from how we live Monday through Saturday.

The story of the Transfiguration isn’t just about seeing the glory of Jesus revealed up on a mountain.  The story of the Transfiguration is also about us.  How are we being changed?  How are our lives being transfigured in such a way that we reveal Christ to the world around us?  Are we listening to Jesus on a daily basis, or are we only listening on Sundays?

Jesus is the Beloved Son, Second Person of the Trinity – listen to him, every day.

Amen.

Sunday, February 04, 2024

Sermon; Epiphany 5B; Mark 1:29-39

The Season of Epiphany is a season of revelation and manifestation.  All of our gospel readings during this season are geared to revealing who Jesus is and making that known.

Today the revelation of who Jesus is is found in one particular spot.  You could say that Jesus is revealed in the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law and those of the whole city who were brought to him.  But those healings don’t necessarily reveal Jesus to be the Son of God.  Among other things, faith healers were common in that day and age, as well as the fact that both Peter and Paul healed people, and they weren’t/aren’t the Son of God.

The revelation of who Jesus is actually comes from the demons:  “he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.”  Jesus is revealed as the Son of God not to those around him or those whom he heals, but to the readers of Mark’s gospel.  The question becomes, why do the readers get to know who Jesus is through demons, but not those around him?  There are a few answers.

The first is that we readers already know the story (or stories, if you include the other gospels).  Sticking with Mark, we already know about the baptism and voice from heaven.  We already know about his many healings.  We already know about the calming of the sea.  We already know about the Resurrection.  We know all that stuff, so it’s no surprise to read that demons know who he is.

For the people of his day, however, it was not yet time.  As Jesus says over in the Gospel of John, “My hour has not yet come.”  Jesus has a mission to get to, as evidenced by telling his disciples he needed to go to the neighboring town.  He could not afford to have demons jumping the gun and announcing who he was.

Another reason he didn’t allow the demons to speak was because, even though they knew who he was, they are still demons, and you really can’t trust demons.  In the original “Bedazzled” movie, Dudley Moore’s character is in love with a co-worker, although she doesn’t know that.  In his attempt to at least get a date, he makes a pact with the devil, who grants him seven wishes. 

In one of those wishes, Dudley asks that he and the woman of his dreams be together in the country, away from all distractions, with no other men around, so there would be no competition, surrounded by children, because he wanted a big family with her.  The devil grants his wish by making them both nuns in a rural convent that takes in orphans.

Or think about Eve and the serpent.  The serpent begins by asking a false question:  “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  He eventually convinces her she won’t die, her eyes will be opened, and she will be like God, knowing good from evil.  Theologian Walter Brueggemann posits that the conversation between Eve and the serpent is about moving the goalposts.  That is, God presents a GIVEN (don’t eat from the tree), which is turned into an OPTION (it’s really not all that bad).  This was a way to get around what is clearly stated.  In today’s terms, we might call it rationalizing bad behavior.

In both these examples, the antagonist uses what is desired or known as the starting point, but quickly finds ways to undermine the original intent.  As one ancient Church father said:  The demons make use of the truth as a kind of bait.  And as both Augustine and Athanasius pointed out, confessing Jesus as Son of God and the Holy One of God is meaningless if not done in love.  So allowing the demons to speak would have opened up a whole new can of worms which Jesus wasn’t quite ready to deal with.

This is important for us as we work to reveal Christ in this Season of Epiphany and as we work to make 2024 an Epiphany year.

It’s important because we must always remember that love is the foundation of everything God-related.  Love God.  Love your neighbor.  How we treat the disenfranchised, the alien, the hungry, homeless, and sick should all be based in love.  As John says, “Those who say, ‘I love God’ and hate others are liars.”  And that list goes on.

Just because you know who Jesus is does not mean that you love and follow him.  This certainly applies to the demons, but it also applies to others as well.  One big “for instance” comes from those who passionately quote scenes from Revelation that depict Jesus coming as a military conqueror striking down nations and stamping out those who oppose him with fury and wrath.  They delight not only in portraying Jesus as their conquering hero, but they delight in watching the bloody destruction of their enemies.  This is not only a selected misreading of Revelation, it also totally ignores and marginalizes God’s message of love.

Viewing Jesus this way allows one to ignore his mandate to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger and alien.  It allows one to ignore his example of not judging others for who they are.  It allows one to ignore his mandate to love, not condemn.  It allows one to make an idol founded upon your own biases and hatreds rather than following and acting upon the actual teachings and examples of Jesus.

The demons know who Jesus was, but they weren’t/aren’t interested in proclaiming and following his loving example.  The demons were/are only interested in proclaiming a Jesus whom they can control and use to manipulate others.

Plenty of people know who Jesus is.  Plenty of people also try to use Jesus to gain power, to control people, to rule over people, and to punish people.  Those, quite frankly, are demonic actions that have no basis in the knowledge and love of God.  Additionally, those demonic words and actions should be silenced as the demons themselves were silenced.

We are in the Season of Epiphany.  We are in the season of revelation and manifestation.  May we work to reveal Christ to the world in a way that doesn’t batter people with a vengeful and vindictive lord, but shelters them from storms of all kinds.  And then, here in this safe and loving space, may they learn the truth of Christ, gaining the strength to go and do likewise.

Amen.