This month, we have been walking with Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Pastor Shirley reminded us of the gift of our baptism as beloved of God, called to care for others. Last week, Pastor Kevin invited us to not just follow Jesus, but to go with Jesus in catching others in the act of fishing. Quickly, we have moved from baptism to action.
The Gospel of Mark is not only the shortest of the gospels at 678 verses, it is then quickest of the gospels. Everything happens immediately! 27 times the word occurs in only 16 chapters. 35% of the times in the whole BIBLE. In Mark, Jesus is moving. There is work to be done. Gospel to be shared. Lives to be changed. Love to be shared. Kingdom to come on earth as it is on heaven. Immediately.
I can recall it was a fall evening about six years ago, unique that all of us were home. Steve and I were making dinner together. A much younger Alisabeth and Felicity were playing together on the kitchen floor, when there was a knock at the back-kitchen door. That is when I noticed how dark it had gotten. Late fall evenings can get dark quickly. We had been so absorbed in the ordinary noises: sautéing on the stovetop, children chatter and Legos clicking on the floor, chopping vegetables on the counter, that we almost missed the knock on the door.
When we looked up, a young man stood at the storm door with a hooded sweatshirt and his hands in his pockets. Desperation and distress seeped through the windows. There, the parsonage was across from the church sharing the parking lot. There was no doubt in that community where the pastor lived. He stood at the door in an uncompromising way looking in at our ordinary night making me terribly uncomfortable. As I went to the door, I closed it behind me as I caught Steve’s eye. He moved the girls into a different space, turned down heat from the pan on the stove, and kept an eye on our exchange.
Pastor! He whispered. I need to get to New York. I need to get to Maine. I need money.
I looked around. Taking it all in. There was no car anywhere around. We lived in a remote community with one road in. We were the only church in town. I walked through scenario after scenario of how this unfold. Fear after fear flashed before my eyes. It felt like hours.
Pastor! He whispered after I had not yet responded. Doesn’t God help people? You help people! Wouldn’t you help me?
I began to inquire about his situation gently to no avail. When the usual methods and questions did not work, I motioned to Steve, who had been watching from the window. We agreed Steve would get him a sandwich; I would give him $20; Steve would drive him to the next town to continue his journey there.
The moments from their departure until Steve’s return drug on. I prayed with focus and fervor. Uncomfortable drug into outright fear and horror as my mind concocted dreadful scenarios. But in the end, the drop off was uneventful, even dotted with minor gratitude.
We often find ourselves hoping there are no uncomfortable moments. There are no uncomfortable encounters. There is no evil in the world. There is no suffering. There is no pain. There is no heartache. Our gospel lesson today and our life experiences, friends, teach us and confirm something quite different from our best hopes. When we follow Jesus, we encounter places and people and experiences of uncomfortability, evil, suffering, pain, and heartache. We live in a world that is not yet the kingdom of heaven on earth. There are many things in this world that keep us from abundant life and the fullest realization of God’s kingdom here.
Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath teaching when spirit of evil found him. There was healing work to be done. There was teaching to be done. We do not hear Jesus debate with the theological premise or squabble over the understanding of evil. Amid his teaching, he proclaims seven words: “Be Silent! And Come out of him!” The man was released from that which had held him back. Who was this man? The man could have been someone from outside the community of faith. Someone who had never set foot in the synagogue before. But it seems just as likely that it was a regular. It was someone who knew the place the place well. Someone who grew up there. One of the congregation. Who came to hear Jesus and was hoping to be healed?
Imagine coming to the synagogue, the church and hoping for your life to be changed!
God’s presence and power is known in the most real and life-transforming way!
Notice, it was never the person who was evil. It was never the one who made the others in the synagogue uncomfortable, who was to be cast out. Rather, it was that in him that kept him from the fullness of God cast out. This is a hard line to draw and distinction to make. In short hand, we often lose the distinction and find ourselves pointing fingers at each other. Also, please don’t lose sight of the restoration of the man who appeared disturbed at the top of the gospel lesson. His division from the community was restored with the expulsion of the spirit. Following Jesus is living uncomfortable places bringing peace and pointing to God’s presence, even there. But this ending sounds very neat and tidy. You and I are still actively living most of our stories – they are not yet, neat and tidy.
I enjoy the TV series, Call the Midwife, you ever see that one? Based in 1950s East End London, midwife nurses provide public health calls and clinic to one of the poorest neighborhood. The sisters of Nonatous House and lay nurses, alike find themselves in uncomfortable places of life and death, poverty and healthcare, disability, and social change. Together, midwifes and doctors navigate the greyest of situations medically and morally. Well trained nurses must swallow their gag reflex to dress open war wounds, sometimes physically and often emotionally, as well as deliver babies in all kinds of situations. One early episode finds a new young midwife nurse negotiating a harrowing delivery by herself. The mother, who speaks no English, has just had a frightening concussion is delivering 10 weeks early, her 25th pregnancy. Similar themes can be found in MASH, Grey’s Anatomy, ER, Chicago Hope, and others: where medical professionals rush into the most uncomfortable situations to seek to change, save, and transform lives. Ordinary people struggling with and against their impulse to avoid the challenge all together. No story ends neat and tidy, not even on TV.
This is where Jesus finds us. Jesus finds us wishing that we didn’t hear our cousin say she wasn’t sure how to cover both propane delivery and car inspection. Jesus finds us not sure how to tiptoe into conversations about addiction and the impacts on families that are no longer happening somewhere else (although they were never really happening somewhere else). Jesus finds wishing to avoid the whole thing all together and not sure what to do with the movement in our souls from the Holy Spirit.
Following Jesus is moving beyond the comfortable and jumping in with both feet. Embracing awkward silence in the name of compassion and hesitation in the name of empathy. Listening for the word of God in challenging situations and then sharing it, even when it is not well received. Prophets are not always well received.
The lesson from Deuteronomy inspired the disciples of Jesus’ day and stirs us today. After having seen God, in the time of Moses, the people were terrified. They begged that God would speak to them through the prophets. God, loving God’s people, promised to give God’s words to prophets. As we live a life in which we see suffering and pain, heartache and evil, sin that separates us from God, we find ourselves asking, “where is God in the midst of all of this? When it is uncomfortable to the point of unfair, painful to the point of almost breaking, where is God?” The prophets whisper the truth “Your God is here. God has always been here. As you doubt, distrust, and despair, God is here.”
So, walking with Jesus, what are you and I called to do? We are called to be bring God’s peace in the uncomfortable place that find us, even those that are still in progress. We are called to point to God, who is already present. God has never left! We are called to follow Jesus, even our voices falter, our knees shake, and we are not sure how God is working out God’s kingdom here on earth. God is still calling us to point to where we see God, not to run and hide, hoping that there was never any uncomfortable places to begin with, but rather transforming. Uncomfortablity into restoration.
This is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
Old Testament Lesson: Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.’ Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.’
Gospel Lesson: Mark 1: 21-28
They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, January 28th ~ Saturday, February 3rd
Sunday: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.” Deuteronomy 18:15. Who should I listen to? Where shall I turn? God says to listen for the prophet that God has raised up. Listen for the voice that sounds like God’s ways.
Monday: “This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” Deuteronomy 18: 16. The people, gathered with Moses thought it would be too much to hear God themselves. They wanted someone to speak on behalf of God. Make it plain for them. Who do you turn to hear the voice of God?
Tuesday: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.” Deuteronomy 18: 18. A prophet seeks to speak the word of God to the people of God in a particular time. Pray for the prophets you turn to for God’s voice.
Wednesday: “They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Mark 1: 21- 22. The authority and teaching of Jesus was never doubted. All who heard him knew that there was something about him. Prayerfully listen to those voices you hear. Where is God speaking to you?
Thursday: “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’” Mark 1: 23- 24. Houses of worship are for all people. Over time we have sometimes wished that places of worship were arks of safety from the world. Jesus healed a man and a community who lived in openness and uncomfortability for the sake of healing. Prayerfully consider how God is calling to think differently on this.
Friday: “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” Mark 1: 25-26. Pause today to pray for those in the midst of healing, in need of healing, and seek healing. Jesus is the Great Healer and uses the hands of physicians, words of therapist, medications of psychiatrists, kindness of friends, and much more that God has developed to bring about ultimate healing.
Saturday: “At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.” Mark 1: 28 Jesus was known by his acts. Acts of healing and kindness. Acts of saving and redeeming. Word spread that he changed lives. What word spreads about how you live your life?