Epiphany and the Season After - Year B -- 2003
Indexed by Date. Sermons for Epiphany Year B
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8: 1-13
Mark 1: 21-28
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20 Epiphany and the Season After - Year B -- 2003
Indexed by Date. Sermons for Epiphany Year B
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8: 1-13
Mark 1: 21-28
Picture this: you are driving along and behind you, seemingly out of nowhere, appears a large white vehicle with flashing red lights. You are required to pull off the road to allow the vehicle to pass. That is authority.
A group of grade 5 children are left alone in their classroom by their teacher and they begin to throw paper airplanes at one another. Then, all of a sudden, as if a wave has overtaken the class, it falls silent, for the six- foot four, 275 pound janitor has walked into the room. That too is authority.
Generally speaking, our culture has a love-hate relationship with authority; those who have it want it, and those over whom it is exercised, don't want it! The new ‘Firearms Registry' is a case in point. Various groups, including the police associations have applauded it, while others have slammed it as an unnecessary infringement on their freedoms.
As children grow up they usually demand more and more freedom from the authority of parents and teachers. Part of growing, however, is also learning how to cope with and respond to authority. As we mature, we learn to judge and interpret things and we accord authority only to those things which deserve it.
The internet is a case in point. I am sure I could find a web site which advocates a diet of chocolate and diet-Coke, or one which outlines the dangers of Aspartame. It is quite likely that I could find a site outlining an eating plan for alleviating the symptoms of Celiac or Crohn's Diseases or a site with recipes for a ‘heart friendly' diet, but if they are not endorsed by someone or some group with medical or dietary expertise, such sites are best taken with a grain of salt, or discounted altogether!
We all know that if we see something in the supermarket tabloids, we grant it less authority than if we read it in the Times & Transcript, (our local newspaper) or if we see it with our own eyes! We have all been taught to doubt those things which seem unreasonable. We have been taught that any advertising claims that seem "too good to be true", probably are and that something offered for ‘free' probably isn't really! In other words, there's almost always a catch. I receive at least 2 e-mails a week from people claiming to be distressed foreign dignitaries, or from the families of deposed or recently assassinated government officials, who are looking to hide their assets from invading armies or despotic dictators. I am offered a chance to help them get several million dollars out of the country, for a reward of 25% or so, of this money! All that I have to do, is to KEEP IT A SECRET and send them my bank account # and other relevant information so that they can put the money in my bank account.
Today is an important day in the secular calendar; it is Groundhog Day. Looks like we'll (Have another six weeks of winter)(like spring is just around the corner). But wait, is this "THE" correct time for that furry little rodent to venture out and look for his shadow; or is it noon, or some other time. Groundhog day gets a lot of press but I wouldn't put away my snow shovels or take off my studded tires based on his predictions! It gives a little excitement to the middle of winter, but, the little rodent doesn't have much real authority, as far as I am concerned.
In once way or another, today's biblical passages are all about authority. In our passage from the book of Deuteronomy we have heard Moses speaking of God's promise to send another prophet who will speak God's word. Moses' words emphasize the importance of recognizing the authority of this prophet and following the teachings.
While we have left Moses at the end of his ministry, the passage from Mark's gospel joins Jesus near the beginning of his ministry. As Mark begins his gospel he is intent on depicting Jesus as the teacher with authority; the one with the ultimate authority from God. Why, even the demons obey him, and in that culture, only God was more powerful than the demons which caused all kinds of illnesses and disrupted the lives of people.
Yet, in his epistle to the church in Corinth, Paul cautions his readers that the authority of knowledge must be tempered by love. While the specifics of the situation to which he refers are hard to understand today, the general idea is not. What we need to know is that most of the meat offered for sale in Corinth had been used in some form of pagan ritual. To eat it could have been seen, as participating in some way in the worship of these pagan gods. Some people in the church, particularly those who had been Christians for a long time, didn't worry about this since they believed that such gods were false gods anyway and they had no intention of worshipping this god. They were just eating food! For them, it went without saying that since offering meat to a false god could not possibly it in any way, it was therefore perfectly fine to eat the meat. However, some people, mostly newer Christians, believed that to eat such food, would compromise their Christian beliefs. They reasoned that it might lead to other more obvious forms of idol worship. They insisted on eating only vegetables since in this pagan city there was no meat available which was not tainted by pagan rituals. However, the problem occurred when they observed the more mature Christians participating in these questionable activities and they were distressed. As Paul outlines, the issue was NOT actually the eating of meat offered to idols, or that vegetarianism was the ‘way to go', but rather, the health of the whole community and their responsibility to those who were unsure of their faith and the limits of Christian expression. Paul argues for the importance of placing the requirements of ‘love' over the freedom given by ‘knowledge'.
What does this mean today? One of the most contentious issues, over time, in the church has been the issue of change. Some of you will remember the questions: Does a woman have to wear a hat to church? Or, can she wear slacks? Or, do men have to wear suits and ties. Or, can we change something that was dedicated as a memorial? And, what are appropriate roles for men and women in the church? When it comes to choosing members of certain committees, what about divorced people or common-law couples? Some of these issues were resolved long ago for most people. The question remains though. Is this passage telling us that those opposed to change, or those seeking to keep strict rules, should always ‘get their way', because of deeply held feelings such as ‘we've never done it that way before', or ‘my Daddy always told me that such and such was wrong'? Does it mean that the minute any issue becomes contentious, it is dropped? No, I don't think so. I think that eventually, in the community in Corinth, the issues changed and the eating of meat became a non-issue because the offering of meat to idols before it was sold was it was seen as irrelevant to Christian faith expression. It became a non issue and the faith of the community grew and matured. What it says to me is that the community is just that, a community, where each member cares as much for the thoughts and feelings of others, and the health of the whole body as that member cares for ‘getting his or her own way'
When we look at the authority of Jesus, as reported in the gospel, it was used for the purpose of bringing the person healed, and the wider community into a closer relationship with God. The demons exercised by Jesus can be seen as symbols of anything that seeks to supplant the power of God and the importance of faith in our lives. There are many temptations to place other things before the things of faith, and tradition can becomes as much a false god as can the latest fad.
What is important is that love be fully lived out. Now that is not a synonym for like, it is a way of bing which seeks the best for the other person. When we live in a community which actively and consciously works to see that all of the members can achieve their God-willed potential, then we will be a truly Christian community.
The demons who possessed the man in the gospel story knew who Jesus was but that is a long way from living under his authority. We may recognize the teachings of the faith but it is not until we seek to truly live by them and to truly love one another that we will truly live by Jesus' authority as a prophet and as saviour and guide.
The question for us is: are we living by powers and systems which can neve bring us what God intends for us, or are we willing to live in the way of Jesus of Nazareth? If so we, and this community is promised life and not only just a life which is little more than living and breathing, but ‘life in all of its abundance'. Who is left when the authorities of the world have let us down.
Who says? The one who has come from God to give us life says, that's who!
The choice is ours.
Amen.
Isaiah 40: 21-31
Psalm 147: 1-11, 20c
1 Corinthians 9: 16-23
Mark 1: 29-39
One day a young girl found the egg of a golden eagle and took it to the chicken coop on her family's farm. One of the hens sat on it, keeping it warm until, at last, it hatched. The baby eagle found itself amidst the chicks and imitating the mother hen, followed their lead; clucking and pecking and only flapping his wings occasionally. Despite the fact that the physical differences between himself and the chicks became more and more noticeable he never entertained any notion that he might belong elsewhere. He never dared to set his wings free. One day a golden eagle saw this young eagle in the chicken yard, scratching in the dirt and clucking like a chicken. The majestic eagle swooped down and landed near him and said "Why are you pecking here in the dust when you could be soaring with the eagles?" The young eagle laughed saying, "You must be crazy. I'm a chicken. This is all I've ever known and this is all there is." Unlike the swan in the story "The Ugly Duckling", this baby eagle never realized his full potential because all of his hopes were limited to what he saw around him; the baby eagle stayed in the barnyard for the rest of his life.
The 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah is a turning point in that prophetic work as it marks a turning point in their history as a people. The writer of this section of Isaiah, writes to a people in exile and begins with these words:
"Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." The passage is written to a people in exile and in despair. This passage challenges the people to look beyond what is around them and to believe that God is acting to save them. Despite what they have always believed, despite what they may have been told, their God is not limited to Israel. This God's power was as real and alive as it was when they lived in peace and prosperity in Jerusalem.
This section of Isaiah is set up like a series of disputes; problems and solutions. Isaiah answers the protests of the people by saying that God and God's power is much more than the sum total of human experience, the sum total of their experience. You see, their experience was once of defeat and exile. They had been there for many years, for enough years to be fully enveloped by despair and hopelessness. No doubt they believed that God had abandoned them, that God was back in the ruins of their once beautiful city.
This Isaiah is a prophet of hope. This Isaiah has been called to proclaim Good News; the news that God was acting to save and to restore the chosen people. In this, and other passages, Isaiah challenges the people to look forward in hope; he utters the prophetic message that God is indeed with them and that God will continue to be with them.
Isaiah tells them that when they fully realize this they will be freed from the limits of their human experience, they will be able to live in true faithfulness. This chapter ends with one of the most beautiful images in the whole Bible. It is an image of power and beauty, a picture of trust and hope: " but those who wait for 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." From despair to majestic hope in just a few verses!
There's a cynical but humorous poster that has this caption: "It is hard to soar with eagles when you run with a bunch of turkeys." While it may not say much for the relationships in an office where such a poster is displayed it is quite true. Our idea of what is possible tends to be limited by the goals we set for ourselves, by what we believe to be possible.
The whole problem that the people of Israel has was they had lost their hope. They had lost their perspective, they came to believe that this terrible life of exile was all that there was and all that there ever would be.
Eagles are majestic and magnificent birds> Have you ever watched one in flight? Have you ever watched how one can swoop down, flying ever so gracefully, with powerful, even, strokes and then reach out its talons and pick up its prey, either dead or alive, it does not seem to matter, and then ascend back into the skies without even faltering in its stride.
Apparently when eagles are teaching their young to fly they have a very interesting way of assisting them. The adults are able to fly under their flapping and faltering fledglings and create updrafts with their enormous and mature wings so that the young eagles will be held up and supported until they can learn the art of creating and using the air currents on their own.
One day a young mother took her very young son, a budding piano student, to the concert of a world famous pianist. After they were seated the mother saw someone she knew and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of a professional concert hall, the young boy wandered off. Eventually he found his way to a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE" and since he couldn't read, he went through it. The moter, catching up on old news, did not notice that her son was gone. Soon though the houselights dimmed, signalling that the concert was about to begin. The mother found her way back to her seat only to discover, to her horror, that her son was missing. Suddenly the curtains opened and there on the stage, in the centre of the dancing spotlights, and sitting on the piano bench in front of the impressive Steinway, was her son. Oblivious to the fact that every eye in the house was focussed on him, he began to pluck out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" with one finger. At that moment the great pianist made his entrance, walked quietly over to the piano and sat down beside the child. He whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then, leaning over, he reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right had reached around the boy and he added a running obligato. Together, the elderly master and the very young novice transformed what could have become a very frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was totally and completely mesmerized. From Aha! A preaching resource published by Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC, Canada
This is not a message about ignoring our troubles, or about sitting around doing nothing and waiting for God to rescue us, it is about keeping things in perspective. It is about realizing that as humans we have only finite knowledge, only a little bit of the information that is available to be learned and that we need to focus on the words of faith and hope that we find in the scriptures and the words of faith and hope that come to us through the work of the Spirit in our lives. We need to focus on them and by faith, live them into being.
We may wonder, in all honesty, how one can soar with the eagles when we have worries and concerns. When we have health limitations and financial frustrations, unruly teenagers or marital discord we may sometimes find it difficult to imagine a day when we look forward to getting out of bed, let alone soaring with the eagles. It is understandable that we might dismiss this passage, and others like it ans say, "soaring with the eagles is for those whose lives are in order." "Soaring with the eagles is for someone else".
NO! This is a message of certain hope WITHIN and IN SPITE OF and BECAUSE of all of the stuff that goes on in all of our lives from time to time, and for some of us far more than we think we deserve.
The message of Isaiah in this passage, and the message of the gospel is that our God cares for us. It is that God wishes life and health and happiness for us. Our God wishes that we will know the joy of soaring in faith wit the ease and majesty of the eagle. Our God comes to us with this message of hope, firmly grounded in the love God has for all creation, and proved to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. We are offered life in his name. Let us chose life!
Amen
2 Kings 5: 1-14
Psalm 30
1 Corinthians 9: 24-37
Mark 1: 40-45
The English teacher at the local Junior High had just finished a unit on ‘reading and comprehension'. The next day he announced that they would have a timed pop quiz. The students groaned. They groaned even louder when they saw what it was that he handed out. It was 3 pages long and was single spaced. The teacher announced that they would have 10 minutes to complete the test. At the top of the test paper were the words: "READ EVERYTHING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING." The last "question" was, "Write your name at the top of the test, complete questions one and two and turn your paper over. It became obvious to the teacher that most of the students had not read the whole test before beginning because # 5 required that they say the answer out loud, # 7 required that they stand up and turn around and #30 required that they count out loud from 100 backward to 0 by tens. Some of the students did these things! Obviously the quiz was much simpler than it first appeared to be and it definitely required that one read the entire test first. What looked, initially, to be a waste of time ended up being the key to finishing the test correctly and on time.
The story of Naaman and Elisha read today from the book of 2 Kings, has all the makings of a prize winning short story. It is well told, giving enough detail for us to be able to picture the characters and events in our minds but leaving just enough to the imagination for it to speak beyond its original context and appeal to generations of readers.
Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram. Aram was a nation more powerful than Israel and had, in fact, recently defeated Israel in battle. As the commander, Naaman was a man of wealth and status, but he had a problem, a BIG problem. Naaman's problem was that he had leprosy. This ‘leprosy' was not likely what we know today as Hansen's Disease, a disfiguring illness which destroys nerve endings and eventually causes great disfigurement of the face and the hands and feet through injuries and infections. Taking into account the descriptions of the symptoms of this disease in other parts of the Bible, it is likely that he had some form of skin condition such as psoriasis or eczema. Regardless of the exact nature of his leprosy it likely to have received similar attention as it did in Israel. In that time and place, the leprosy sufferer was made an outcast. Anyone who touched him would become unclean and he could not carry on his normal work, social and family responsibilities. You could say that it had the potential to ruin his life, or at the very least, severely cramp his style. In a time of looming war or continuing unrest a country could not do without its general or lieutenant-general. So despite his uniform, his medals, his wealth, he was hopelessly lost, unless, he found a cure!
In this story a slave-girl, recently captured on one of the raids of the defeated Israel, tells her mistress, Naaman's wife, that he could be healed if he went to the prophet of Israel. In order to begin the diplomatic process, Naaman visited the king who sent him off with his blessing and a large number of gifts, as was the custom when negotiations of a touchy diplomatic nature were undertaken. There was a great deal at stake here; he needed his commander to be able to function. We are told that Naaman and his entourage travelled to Israel. However, we quickly discover that Naaman has not listened to the message of his wife's slave. Instead of going to the house of the prophet he went to the king's palace. When he is informed who is waiting to see him, he king is most upset.
Why? Well, look at it this way! A king, of a defeated nation, thankful that the war was over and that peace had returned - is visited by the commander of the victorious army, bearing expensive gifts. It would be obvious that he was looking for a favour; but what a favour! The task was impossible. It was not within his power to give him what he wanted. The only logical conclusion was that this army commander was setting him up; that he was looking for a pretext for anther war. Understandably, the King was beside himself with anxiety!
Meanwhile the great man of God hears of this (as prophets in the Bible always do) and sends a message to the king, "send him to me".
Now we have the dramatic twist. Naaman arrives at the home of the prophet, no doubt a simple dwelling, with his entourage and his gifts and he is greeted, not with a trumpet fanfare and a red carpet, not even by the prophet himself but by a mere servant. There is no bowing and scraping. There are no sappy speeches. There are no expensive gifts in return. Nothing! Nada! Naaman is told to wash in the Jordan, not just once, but seven times!
Naaman is offended and he tells the servant so! Surely there would have been some hocus-pocus. Surely there would be some hand waving and some magic words. Surely he, Naaman, commander of the army of Aram would deserve a personal audience with the prophet, a mere prophet! Who does he think he is? He is a prophet in a defeated country too! Surely he would be too afraid to do anything else. Besides, the rivers of Damascus are surely better than the Jordan. Naaman almost went away in a huff and un-healed until the wisdom of complying is impressed upon him by one of his servants. The servant reasons with his master, " "If he had told you that you should do something difficult you would have done it! So why not do this, it is simple enough". Naaman did go and he was made clean; transformed from having skin which was discoloured, scaly and ugly, to skin which was as soft and smooth as a baby's bum! The lectionary ends here but that's not all of the story. It is worth reading, and contains more drama and more surprises!
What does this passage say to us, all these thousands of years removed from ancient Israel and the politics of their war with Aram?
One of Naaman's biggest problems was that he had predetermined exactly what it was that was going to happen. He had lots of assumptions. Even though he had been told that he had to go and see the prophet in order to be healed he went to the king, not just for permission to travel in his land so that he could see the prophet, but for the healing itself. He also had such a firm notion of what Elisha would do that he could not accept the simplicity of it all. Perhaps he thought that Elisha would ‘put on the dog' for him, he was after all the commander of the army of Aram! Seems to me though that Elisha had Naaman's number! He offered him healing, but healing with a lesson in the surprising ways in which this God moves and acts. This God was not and is not confined to acting in any one way. This God heals foreigner and Israelite alike. This God heals friend and foe alike. This God healed in both the simple and the dramatic.
It was the dramatic that Naaman expected and it was the dramatic that he wanted. How many times do we pray to God asking for what we want and telling God how it is that we want this to take place. And when we expect the actions of God in one way we may just miss what God is doing in other ways.
These cold days I have had a bit more time to work at the jigsaw puzzles that I have been looking at longingly since the fall. In most every puzzle construction I will hit a block; I will come to the point where I could swear that the piece I am looking for is just NOT THERE. I conclude that there is nothing left in the box of the shape and size and colour that I need. However, on only one occasion in the last 10 or more years of doing puzzles, has there actually been a piece missing. Once I have hit such a block, in order to complete the puzzle, I have to look at things differently, try a few pieces here and there till one fits, or go away for a while and take a break.
Sometimes in the life of faith we need to look at things with fresh eyes, change our assumptions about what we are looking for and open ourselves to the ways in which God just might be trying to surprise us.
Naaman wanted the hocus-pocus ; he wanted the bowing and scraping, and he didn't get that . What he did receive was what he needed. What he needed was an experience of the healing power of the living God. When we allow God's power and grace to come to us without allowing our assumptions or our preconceived notions to get in the way we will be much more likely to experience God's power and presence. God doesn't operate by our agenda; God continues to act in marvellous and unexpected ways; in God's own time. The story of Naaman is one of the many in the Bible which call us to let down our guard, and open our eyes, hearts and souls to the ways in which God is acting and loving and healing.
The same applies to the ways in which we might be called to serve God. We may be like Naaman and think that the only things that are important are the difficult things. Since we can't do any of those things, we regard as difficult, we throw up our hands and do nothing. Or we fail to see the things we actually can do as important. We may think that because we can't preach, or play the organ, or sing in the choir, that what we do for the church is not important, but that is not the case. There are many tasks that may be just as important, if not more so - such as shovelling the snow, turning on the heat or fixing the broken plumbing. We can't all be with people in the midst of difficult times but some can cook and offer gifts of babysitting or elder-care that are just as valuable and just as needed in the midst of a crisis.
We can't all be prophets but in this passage there were 2 people who have received little recognition: the girl and the servant. These people steered Naaman in the right direction. The girl told him that healing could be found by visiting the prophet of Samaria. The servant laid it on the line for Naaman and told him to try what it was that the prophet suggested. Their encouragement and their witness to the power of God was invaluable to Naaman in his search for healing.
So in conclusion this passage shows us a God who wishes healing and wholeness for all. Yet we cannot limit this God's actions for this God will often act in surprising and unexpected ways. This God calls us all to follow and to serve in the ways in which we can, for we never know which of our actions will be actions of healing and grace. We never know which actions or words of ours will point someone to the power and grace of God. We never know! That's ok though. God does!
Amen.
Isaiah 43: 18-25
Psalm 41
2 Corinthians 1: 18-22
Mark 2: 1-12
A group of frogs was travelling through a wooded area when two of the frogs fell into a deep pit. All of the other frogs gathered around to watch as the two frogs tried to jump out of the pit. When they realized how deep the pit was, and how futile their efforts to jump out seemed, they all shouted out and told the two frogs that they were as good as dead.
The two frogs ignored the comments of their companions and tried with all of their might to jump out of the pit. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs stopped trying to jump out and gave up. He sat down, gave up, and died. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Over and over again he jumped and each time he fell just short of his goal.
Once again, the crowd of frogs on the top yelled at him to give up and die. He jumped harder and harder and finally he made it out. He laid on the ground at the top of the hole, panting and wheezing. They all said to him, "Didn't you hear us tell you it was no use? Weren't you listening?" It was then that they realized that he was deaf. He had assumed that all of the time they were shouting at him they were encouraging him and telling him to "never give up". In fact, he knew that he never could have escaped without their support and encouragement!!
Today's gospel story is one of those I remember from my childhood ‘Bible Story' books. I can see the pictures in my mind of a frail man being let down on ropes tied to his stretcher through a hole in the roof of the house in which Jesus is teaching.
Like most of the stories about the people healed by Jesus' miracles, we don't know anything about this man. We don't know what caused his paralysis. It might have been as a result of an injury that he could no longer move; we do not know. What we can surmise is that this man would have been rendered destitute by his condition and would thus have been unable to support his family. What we do know is that he had tremendously supportive and persistent friends. For them to carry their friend to see Jesus was one thing, and perhaps not all that uncommon, but for them to chop through a roof constructed of multi layers of mud and straw, was quite another! Their persistent actions are equated with strong faith as they sought healing and wholeness for their friend.
It is a fantastic story. I wish I had been there. It reminds me of the day a co- worker of mine came to work with a story about a bunch of teens who had been stopped by the police for dangerous driving. Apparently the car was absolutely stuffed full of young people who had arms and legs hanging out of the windows but that wasn't all there was to it! There was a chair strapped on the roof of the car and another teen was sitting in the chair. Asked by the police officer why he was riding on the roof, in a Lazy Boy, he replied simply, ‘Well officer, we were all on our way to the beach and there was no room for me inside the car!"
I suppose if someone had confronted the paralyzed man and his four companions and asked them, "Why did you chop through the roof?" they would have replied, "We came to see Jesus and we couldn't get in the door, so we went through the roof! What would you expect us to do?"
We all know that riding on the roof of a car is a very dangerous, and crazy, and outlandish thing to do. Perhaps in their teenaged and naive exuberance they felt that the end justified the means. We also know that chopping through a roof was not a guarantee of healing. It was not exactly the ‘neighbourly' thing to do either! We know that at the end of the day someone was going to have to fix the roof and that someone was going to have to pay the bill. Their actions would have caused great inconvenience for the owner of the house. Yet, the man and his four companions saw no other way to get what they wanted and needed, an audience with the preachers and healer, Jesus of Nazareth. The risk was worth it.
Sequoia trees are rather unusual trees. Their roots do not grow very deep at all and a single tree could easily be toppled by a strong wind. But, sequoia trees always grow in groves and their roots are intertwined. If a wind is determined to topple a sequoia tree then that wind has to topple all of the trees in the grove. There is strength in the sheer number of trees and not in the strength of any one individual tree.
Determination in the face of adversity seems to be a recurring theme in the gospels. There was the story of the persistent widow, there was the encounter between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, there was the story of Zacchaeus who had to climb a tree in order to see Jesus and, in today's reading, the story of the paralyzed man with the persistent friends.
As always, the point of this story is more than the miracle, the point is always more than the miracle. Jesus is never presented as a mere miracle worker, as if miracles were the point in and of themselves. As the gospel of Mark progresses the author wants us to know who this Jesus is, and that his ministry operates under the direct authority of God. The gospels don't merely tell a story, they proclaim the good news that in Jesus one can encounter the very power of God. The gospels answer questions such as, who is this Jesus? And what authority does he have? The gospels also warn the reader that not everyone is happy with the answers to this question. Jesus authority and Jesus identity cause controversy and thus danger, both for Jesus and for those who choose to follow him.
You see, the gospel story has progressed from introducing Jesus as the one who was proclaimed by John the baptizer, telling us who he was, telling us what his authority was and then warning people that this did not mean that he was going to be welcomed with open arms in any and all circumstances. You see, as we read the gospels and struggle with what this means for our own living, that Jesus was not crucified because he inspired lovely feelings and lofty thoughts, he was crucified because of incidents like today's healing. Part and parcel of this healing was the ‘forgiveness of sin' he offered to the man he had healed. Now all of the religious leaders knew that only God could forgive sin so for Jesus to claim to forgive sin meant that he claimed a connection to the power of God that many found blasphemous.
The problem was though, that as the people listened to Jesus teachings and as they experienced this power, they came to believe that he did in fact have an intimate connection to the power of God that could not be explained away. So even as we are becoming more and more aware of Jesus' true identity we are encountering opposition and the seeds of the controversy that will see him nailed to the cross.
What then does this all have to say to us? FIRST of all this passage talks about the persistence that is sometimes necessary for healing to take place. Some have received this cure, this change of circumstances, this direct ‘yes' to a persistent prayer! Of course, healing and cure are not always the same thing. Many generations of faithful people have sought a cure from disease or the solving of a particular problem, through persistent prayer, hard work and following all of their doctor's or counsellor's advice, and ended up not being cured; not having the problems solved, but what many do discover is that healing has indeed come, without the cure. Healing has come in a change of priorities; healing has come in a renewed sense of the holy; healing has come in a deep sense of peace and an appreciation for the gifts of God. While it is hard not to regard this as a failure of prayer or a lack of God's care or presence generations of faithful people have been able to know God's unfailing presence and care even in the midst of horrible circumstances that did not ‘go away' or change. Generations of Christians were able to grow in faith as they struggled with these circumstances and events.
The SECOND thing that is obvious to me in this passage is the importance of community. The man could not have come to Jesus and could not have received healing without his friends who were prepared to do some hard work, to risk embarrassment, and even the cost of a new roof and a night or two in jail for break and enter with property damage! Sometimes it is our friends who encourage us to continue on our faith journey, to continue to seek healing, to put one foot in front of the other when the going is very difficult.
Sometimes the help that friends give is not always seen as supportive or welcome, at least initially. I was talking to a parishioner one day about his experience in AA. He told me that one day his wife, his boss and some of his colleagues went to his office and confronted him about his drinking. They assured him that they were doing this because they cared deeply about him and about what he was doing to himself, to his career, and to his relationships. They listed all of the ways in which their lives and his had been affected by his drinking and told him that he needed to ask for help. It must have been a very uncomfortable encounter for him, but it was as a result of this intentional confrontation that he realized the gravity of his problem, and agreed to go to a residential program.
On another occasion I was talking with a colleague who was going to be involved in such a confrontation later that afternoon. In that case however the person did not hear what was being shouted and said and presented and, as far as I know, continued to drink. Even though all ‘12 Step' programs will tell you that no once can make someone else change the support of the group is absolutely essential to recovery.
The THIRD thing in this passage is, of course, the importance of faith and trust in Jesus. The importance of this faith is made even more poignant when the person of faith realizes that a life of following Jesus may create problems as well as solve them. Being Christian should never be promoted as a way to ‘win friends and influence people'. It is a commitment to follow in the way of God and to know the presence of God in and through Jesus the Christ, despite the opposition and difficulties that might come along. In the midst of it all, those who follow are promised life - full, abundant and eternal. They are promised that they will know the truth and that this truth will free them from the bonds of sin.
So as we approach the end of this season of light we know who this Jesus is. He is the Son of God, the very power and essence of God dwells in him. We now have to decide: are we scandalized or do we believe. And if we believe are we prepared to journey with him to the cross?
Amen.