Living The Gospel

Mark 1: 14-28

Roger Lynn

June 5, 2016

(click here for the audio of this sermon)

Jesus arrives on the scene with an amazing message. Amazing in its power and amazing in its simplicity. “The active presence of God is here, now, in the very midst of us, and this is good news!” It is good news because the God who is present is the God of love and grace. It was, and is, a radically inclusive, universal message. And it was, and is, a message which is shared and received one individual at a time.

One of the problems which Jesus faced when he proclaimed this powerful message was that he encountered people who thought they already knew what it meant for God to be in their midst, and they thought they already knew what the person bearing such a message would be like. They had, after all, been watching and waiting for the coming of God’s Messiah for a very long time and they were certain that their particular version of the “truth” was the only one.

But apparently Jesus had other ideas about what it all meant and how best to communicate the message. He didn’t want to be labeled and he didn’t want to be put in a box. Every time someone seeks to hang the “messiah” label on him, he tells them to be quiet. Sometimes he isn’t even very nice about it. “Shut up!” would be a reasonable translation of what he says to the unclean spirit who declares him to be the Holy One of God. Why would he do this? Why would he engage in this business which scholars refer to as the “messianic secret”? I suspect that at least part of the reason was because Jesus understood something about the ways in which labels tend to limit our understanding rather than expand it.

2,000 years later we often join the ranks of those who think a label can be placed on all things holy and sacred, and thus keep them  safely within our control. I am convinced that such labels often keep us from seeing the truth which Jesus would have us see. Such labels can lead us to believe that we already know what to expect. Such labels can serve to put the focus exclusively on Jesus, rather than on the God to whom Jesus is pointing us – much like paying attention to the finger rather than the moon to which the finger is pointing. And such labels, if we are not very, very careful, can even paint a picture of an imperialist God who acts in the world with indiscriminate force and power. In contrast, Jesus seems to have chosen to share his message of love and hope in a different way than with such labels.

What we find, over and over again, is that Jesus chooses the path of less talk and more compassionate living. “Shut up!” he says to the unclean spirit. And then, immediately, he heals the man. The “teaching” which Jesus engages in is one in which God’s love is brought to bear in very concrete, practical, personal terms. People are healed of their brokenness. Lives are transformed. That is what it means to say that the reign of God is at hand. That is the reality to which Jesus seeks to lead us.

All too often we still fall into the trap of talking too much. We sometimes find ourselves using lots of words to describe what we believe and why we believe it – lots of words to separate ourselves from those “other” people who believe something different – lots of words to talk “about” what we believe. And sometimes we don’t get around to translating those words into the actual living of our lives. Imagine what it might look like if people could tell what we believe just by observing the ways in which we live out our lives? What if instead of talking about being Christian we actually followed Christ down the path of faithful living – seeking to heal the brokenness of our world, seeking to welcome the stranger, seeking to accept the marginalized, seeking to love the unlovely? What would people understand about God if the only Bible they ever saw was the one they saw revealed in our living? Of course all of this is already true, at least in part. In the brief time I’ve been with you I can already see this reality reflected in this congregation in a wide variety of powerful and amazing ways. You have declared yourself to be officially open and affirming – welcoming people who all too often experience rejection. You help to feed and clothe the hungry and the homeless in our community. You provide space for a community garden, which includes several plots to grow food which is donated to Food Share. You open your doors and your hearts to community groups who meet here. In these and so many other ways you seek to embody justice, compassion and the presence of God. And it is a challenge which is always worth keeping before us as we seek to grow ever more richly into the fullness of being followers of Christ’s way.

“Come, follow me!” Jesus says to us. He doesn’t say, “Let me tell you why you should believe that I am the Holy One of God.” He doesn’t say, “Go and tell everyone you meet that I am God’s anointed one.” He says, “Believe in the good news that God is right here in the midst of us! Follow where I will lead you and I will show you how to live fully into that reality.” And when we choose to follow him down that path, what we find is not a lot of talk. What we find is a life filled with active living that reaches out to touch the lives of those around us with nothing less than the amazing love of God. This is not a life which somehow earns us a ticket into God’s good graces. This is a life which puts us in touch with our truest, best self – the self we were created to be – the self which is already connected to the God of love because God is always and forever right here in the midst of us. 

“Come, follow me!” Jesus says to us. Will we stop talking long enough to listen? Will we stop talking long enough to follow?