Sermon: Yes: the Gospel of the Kingdom
image: Healing Peter's Mother-in-law, from a 11th century manuscript from the Abbes Hitda von Meschede
Mark 1:29-39
After Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the Gospel there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel ... .
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Yes, the guys are tired and hungry from a busy day in the synagogue, but the story of healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law so she can get up from her sickbed to cook supper and serve the men of the house has lost its flavor, is no longer tasty or tasteful!
And as today’s gospel means to teach us (this is Epiphany Season, you know, you are meant to get an epiphany out of this gospel!), Jesus did not come to heal anyway. Yes, he heals compassionately when he’s there,
but he did not come to heal,
that’s not what Jesus came out to do.
And by the way, just as Jesus says “You will always have the poor, but you only have me for a Time” - - today he’s finding out that he will always have the sick and needy, and if he cannot escape their crowding, frantic grabbing clutching, he’ll never do what he came for.
I am intrigued when Jesus wearies of us, leaves town before dawn to avoid the crowds and pray, that when his disciples come find him and say, “Where have you been? Everybody’s looking for you!”, Jesus says “Exactly! Let’s go on to neighboring towns, that I may proclaim the gospel there also; because that is what I came out to do.”
We’re reading Mark’s gospel, are you paying attention? Do you remember the Gospel two weeks ago? Mark 1:14, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God”. Mark does not waste words, and Mark is not telling a lovely story for the ages, or so you can have an impressive family Bible on the coffee table in your living room, Mark is talking to you personally. I’m dead serious, Mark is TALKING TO YOU PERSONALLY. And if you’re paying attention and having an epiphany (which is what the Epiphany Season is all about), you realize, that again today, Mark makes Jesus’ purpose clear.
God bless all poor, sick, needy and sinners, (and all of us are all of those things) but Jesus did NOT come to heal them - - there are 7.8 BILLION of us but only one Jesus walking the earth, and that Two Thousand Years ago - -
Yes, Jesus heals the sick,
but Jesus did NOT come to heal the clamoring mobs or the next person in line.
Yes, Jesus forgives sinners, but
Jesus did NOT come to forgive your sins.
Yes, Jesus feeds five thousand, but
Jesus did NOT come to feed the multitudes.
Yes, Jesus calms storms at sea, but
Jesus did NOT come to calm storms.
Yes, Jesus raised Lazarus, Talitha and others, but Jesus did NOT come to raise the dead.
Jesus came to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Jesus came to call us back to the divine image in which we are created, and from which we have strayed so distant.
At Genesis One, God creates us in God’s image. But by Genesis chapter Six, God laments we are so wicked he’s sorry he created us. And so God calls Noah “the one righteous man” to be saved, sends the flood to drown every living thing and start over with a new creation.
But starting anew does NOT work as God hopes, and so,
“Again and again you called us to return. Through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous Law, and in the fullness of time you sent your only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your Law, to open for us the way of freedom and peace” - - BUT
like the Owner of the Vineyard who sends his Son, thinking “They’ll respect my Son”, we do not respect Jesus, we crucify him. As Jesus dies on the Cross, the earth quakes with the trembling rage of God the Father, but God has the victory, gets the best of us, by loving us anyway. How so? By raising Jesus from the dead and sending him straight back to us so the Gospel prevails and we must still confront the fact of why Jesus came - - to proclaim the kingdom of God, which is not “pie in the sky” as many preach, “but the kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth and we do not see it”.
Just as Mark paints Jesus’ friends too dense to see who Jesus is, we also cannot see, fathom, grasp, realize, perceive, understand, that Here we are! We are there! THIS is the kingdom of God: Jesus came to open the door, to invite us in, to welcome us - -
“Come and Go with me
to my Father’s house
It’s a big, big house,
with lots and lots of room”,
and you do not get there by dying and going to heaven. You get there by living the Way of the Cross as your way of life.
This week in an on-line magazine, an excerpt* caught my eye and my heart - -
lyrical, almost ethereal, it’s about lift, LIFT, titled “The Small Lift”, it goes like this:
"Our job while here is threefold.
First, like a mountain that is steadfast in meeting the elements, we are called to face the wear of time, so we can reflect and endure the truth revealed. Some say this is doing nothing. If so, it is a noble nothing that in time reveals everything.
Second, like a river that is relentless in how it carves its path to the sea, we are called to bring what is true into the world. Some say this is our vigilance for justice. If so, it’s a noble doing that in time honors everything.
And third, like a tireless seeker who finds God in the smallest pebble, we are called to care for everything in our way. Some say this is impossible. If so, this is the noblest errand of all, to go nowhere like a mountain, and everywhere like a river, until we turn nothing into everything with the small lift that some call Love."
It’s Epiphany Season: you need to realize, Christian, that the Gospel is not for you.
The Gospel calls you.
The Gospel asks “Will you?”
The Gospel demands of you.
But like “The Small Lift”, the Gospel’s only demand Is Love. Human kindness in Jesus' Name.
Jesus came to call us into the Father’s kingdom: There’s only Love in the kingdom.
Love and Sacrifice for others,
no hatred, no resentment,
no divisiveness, no lying, no envy,
no jealousy, no anger. LOVE.
No fighting, no violence,
no “white supremacy”,
no Christians hating Muslims and Jews.
No Reds hating Blues, no Blues hating Reds.
No bad-mouthing, no manipulation,
ONLY LOVE in the kingdom.
Love God, Love Neighbor:
justice and peace for all people, and
dignity for every living soul.
Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom of God.
The kingdom is The Way,
the Way of Becoming,
of Becoming what Jesus is.
You do not die to get there,
you step into the Way of the Cross
as your way of life on this earth - -
as in your Baptismal Covenant you promised.
Yes, you promised!
How are you doing?
I’ll bet - you’re doing way better than you thought,
and the kingdom is very near you.
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Sermon/homily in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida on Epiphany 5, Sunday, 7 February 2021, the Rev Tom Weller (Retired), Priest Associate.
* Mark Nebo, “The Small Lift”, an excerpt from his book in progress, The Long Walk Through Time. 1 Feb 2021 in patheos - an online magazine “hosting the conversation on faith”