Sermon for January 31

The reading

Mark 6:1-29

He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence* at him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’

  

For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod* had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

The message

Last week, we shared the story of Jesus’ very publically healing a woman who was sick for 12 years and then quietly restoring life to Jarius’s daughter.  In both cases, Jesus knew something that the crowds, Jaruis and his family and even Jesus own closest followers did not realize.  On the way to help Jaruis daughter, a sick woman who lost everything due to her illness, sneaks up and with the faith that Jesus can heal her, touches him. Immediately she is made well.  Jesus knew that power had left him, that someone in the crowd touched him with such faith and that person was made well.  Jesus knew God’s power was strong in whoever touched him, which turned out to be a poor, ill woman.  When Jesus stops, even his own disciples think its ridiculous to ask “who touched me” in such a chaotic scene.  God’s power came though, God was there and Jesus saw it when no one else could.  This was a teaching moment.  Jesus wanted the crowd to see God acting in the world through people of faith.  Jesus is not in a hurry to get to Jarius daughter before she dies.  Contrary to everyone’s belief that healing was possible but dead was dead, Jesus knew that God has power over everything, including the ability to restore life.

This week our reading starts right after Jarius’ daughter is very quietly healed. Now, Jesus knowledge gets him in trouble.  Jesus returns home to the place he grew up, to where he was known as Jesus, the son of mary and joseph, a carpenter like his father and a good but ordinary child and then a good but again ordinary adult.  The people wondered how could God act through someone so ordinary, common and unexceptional, someone just like them.  They could not see it and they could not believe it. Jesus knew that God works through everyone, that God is present with the poor and suffering, that God hears the cries of all people.  That is what today’s reading reveals to us, Jesus approach to the world is very different from what people are used to, especially from people with religious or political power.  Today, the story of John the Baptist illustrates Jesus approach to the world, where people trust in God and act accordingly.  Meanwhile, the story of King Herod, shows us the traditional, frightening view of the world, where people trust in themselves, wealth and power. That’s the world view that made all the trouble back then and still does today.      

Like Jesus, John the Baptist also recognized things that no one else did.  Most people aware of the Jewish scriptures, traditions and history of God’s interaction with the world knew the messiah was coming, but John understood the signs that Jesus was doing, he knew Jesus was not just some magician, charismatic speaker, celebrity, wise teacher or sideshow attraction. John saw things differently.  John knew that Jesus was the long expected Messiah, the one who would restore the world.   The work and life of John the Baptist is in the background of much of Jesus ministry, after all John was the one who started some years before Jesus, announcing  “repent for the kingdom of God has come near” and calling people back to a faith that offered hope, comfort, joy and forced change in their lives.   John also knew that there were two different ways of life, one centered around God, truth, inclusion and faith and one centered around things of the world, power, status, wealth and exclusivity.  John knew you could not be totally in both places.  You could not really experience God’s gifts of joy if you are anxious about maintaining your wealth, power or status.  John’s life is ascetic, a word used to describe someone who lives in the middle of the wilderness, eats whatever he can find, rejects all of the comforts of life and uses this sacrifice, this elimination of distractions, to fully place themselves in a spiritual, unapologetically truthful, God centered life experience.   

Herod, on the other hand is an example of the ways of the world, someone who cares about their own wealth and power.  Herod is a sort of King, in power simply because of his family line and the whim of the Roman empire.  Herod might be king but he constantly acts out of fear and weakness.  He is afraid of everything. If the crowds protest to Rome about him, the empire’s authorities will replace Herod just to keep them quiet, if the leaders of the community around Herod complain, again, the Roman authorities will replace Herod just to keep them quiet. At first, Herod does not kill John the Baptist because he was afraid of John’s followers, the crowds of 1000’s who proclaimed John prophet. Later, Herod, did not keep John alive because he was afraid of his guests, the rich and powerful decision makers of the community.  Make no mistake, Herod makes this mess himself, promising a young girl anything she wants, up to half his kingdom is a ridiculous, foolish, arrogant, even delusional move.  Herod makes this promise because he is desperate to show how rich, important and powerful he is. Herod is even afraid of a dead John the Baptist, believing that he was raised from the dead (and assuming he would not be happy with Herod having him murdered).  Herod makes his decisions out of fear and concern for other people’s opinions.   

In contrast to Herod’s fear, Jesus follows John’s model of a God centered life.  Jesus sends his disciples out with basically nothing to depend on other than God’s word, the call to repentance, and promise of new life.  Here, we have common, unknown, powerless people doing amazing things.  Now the focus is not on any pair of disciples, the focus is on God’s power and God’s ability to work through anyone, anywhere.  They are pointing to God.

No one is going to notice them, no one is going to suspect that they are carrying the power of God to act in the world.  Their actions will shock, amaze and teach that God acts in the world in unexpected ways and through unexpected people.  The great signs of power that Jesus has taught and empowered his followers to perform take people by surprise.  People are left with 2 feelings: 1: a sense of awe and wonder at what God can do and 2: a sense of awe and wonder,  at how such ordinary people could do such amazing things.  Today’s reading shows us 2 sides of life. We have Herod’s trust in himself, which creates fear, greed and bad decisions. In contrast, we have John the Baptist, Jesus and the pairs of his followers whose bold trust in God, leads them to do great things.  We are asked to figure out which people we want to be.  MLK: The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.

Sermon for January 24th, 2016

The Reading

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

The message

I would like to start this morning with a few words on where we are in Mark’s Gospel.  At this time, we have read through the first five chapters.  The rapid movement from place to place, problem to problem and need to need continues from chapter to chapter.  The immediate and urgent pace of Jesus ministry continues from chapter to chapter.  So far Jesus has suddenly appeared as a force in the religious, social and political world of the 1^st century.  Over the matter of a few weeks, Jesus goes from being a very common and normal carpenter to a sort of celebrity that everyone wants to see, hear and talk about.  Jesus has healed the sick, exorcised demons,  restored the dead to life, performed miracles and signs of power like calming the storm and taught about God with an incredible, shocking authority.  Jesus has gathered a small, committed following. He is also being followed by large crowds of curious, excited and hopeful people as well as doubters, detractors and people looking to silence him.  So far, no one is quite sure who Jesus is, where his authority comes from or what exactly he is doing.  All they know is something amazing, scary, and powerful is going on.

The primary ways that Jesus communicates with everyone at this time is parables and miracles. During my time at seminary, I took a course that focused on the miracles that Jesus performed and the parables he shared to teach people about God, God’s love for the world and God’s vision for our life together.  Miracles served as a way to restore life, welcome the excluded, show God’s power to act in the world and God’s willingness to answer faithful prayer.  Parables served to teach people deep, world altering things with everyday language and common, but timeless examples (like the growth of seeds or the care for a hurt person).   Parables also required explanation and a perspective of faith and trust to understand them. One unique aspect of this class on miracles and parables was that we would spend a lot of time in small groups, researching, preparing and acting out the stories.  This allowed us to get a better sense of the character’s thoughts, emotions and feelings as well as the movement of the stories.  When we looked at the healing of Jarius’ daughter in class, we included some things that were not obviously stated in the text.  

My group focused on the idea that Jarius was in a great hurry. After all, he had waited to the last minute to reach out to Jesus.  His daughter was at the point of death which means he tried everything and everyone else first in order to restore her to health. He did not turn to Jesus when his daughter was first sick or even during her decline. Turning to Jesus was a last hope after all else failed.  Once he makes contact with Jesus, Jarius wants to get home before his daughter dies.  People at the time knew there could be healings but there was no way a person could bring the dead back to life. Few people ever claimed to have that power and they were all seen as frauds.  No one thought it was possible.  This was a race against time, it was urgent for Jesus to get there as soon as possible.  As anxious and eager as Jarius is, there were a few obstacles in the way of a quick return home, well more than a few.  There was a large crowd all around Jesus, slowing things down, reaching out to him, speaking to him, seeking healing, or just trying to get a glimpse of him.  I’m sure Jarius was upset and complaining, why is Jesus going so slowly. Perhaps he was even yelling at the crowd to move out of the way, letting them know their petty problems and curiosity could wait, his daughter was at the point of death and Jesus was their last hope. 

Jarius is stuck in traffic during one of the most important moments of his life, one with an uncertain but unmovable deadline.  I imagine how frustrated Jarius feels when Jesus completely stops because someone touched him.  Here, the leader of the synagogue, an important and powerful figure in the community, is left waiting while Jesus seeks out and talks with a poor, sick and sneaky woman. Even Jesus disciples critically note the ridiculous nature of Jesus pause.  “You see the crowd pressing in on you, you see the chaos here, how can you say “who touched me”. On the surface, the disciples make a good point, dozens of people probably touched Jesus in the past minute. Even after the woman is healed, Jarius probably thought “come on, you were sick for 12 years, what’s another day, you could have waited”. Perhaps by this point, Jarius is wondering if Jesus even cares about his daughter, or if Jesus even has the power to help, maybe he’s stalling because he cannot help.  

For this story to make sense, we need to realize that Jesus knows things that the crowd, the religious authorities, Jarius, even Jesus closest disciples do not.  Jesus knows that someone in the crowd had such deep faith, she was healed. At this point, Jesus has to stop. He needs to make sure this woman is at peace, to make sure she knows that she did not steal a healing, like a thief getting something they do not deserve, and that she is truly well.  Jesus also wants to make sure this long suffering woman and the people she talks to do not think that he is some sort of magic, healing rock that you can simply touch in the right spot at the right time and be made well.  Jesus is not magical, he is teaching and showing people God’s compassion and response to our needs. It is not some sort of magic energy that Jesus emits that heals this woman, it is faith in God and trust in God’s power that matters, that makes her well, that can make anyone well.       

Jesus also knows that if Jarius’ daughter is barely hanging on to life, recovering or even dead, he can still help her.  God acts in God’s time. God’s power is not limited to a few people, certain situations or particular places.  There is no limit of 10 healings a day, no need to be within 7 feet of Jesus, there is no priority for the rich and powerful and there is nothing that God cannot heal.  God’s grace is abundant, there is enough to heal the sick woman and Jarius daughter and everyone else.  There is enough to forgive your sins, heal your sickness.  

For us today, this story shows the abundance of God’s grace, inviting us to be patient, that there is hope even when things are hopeless,  there is plenty of room in God’s kingdom, room for me, you, the person next to you, the woman down the street, and the child in another place.   When we talk about God’s grace, we are not dealing with a limited resource here.

Finally, I just wanted to note that Jesus does downplay the restoration of life.  He takes a limited number of people with him, he insists that the child is not dead but rather simply sleeping, he orders everyone to keep this quiet, and he tells them to give her something to eat (its not that the newly resurrected are really hungry, to eat food was an indication that she was not a ghost, illusion or spirit, that she is truly alive and well).  Although it is obvious what happened, Jesus sticks with the story that she was sleeping.  God’s love would not be fully revealed in deeds of power, in healing the sick, restoring the paralyzed or even raising the dead.  God’s love would be fully revealed through Jesus death and resurrection. 

  

Sermon for January 17, 2016

The reading

 

Mark 4

Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.  He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.  Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”  And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.  And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret[a] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;  in order that

‘they may indeed look, but not perceive,

    and may indeed listen, but not understand;

so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.  But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.  And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”  And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.  For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,  and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.  The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.  But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;  yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples

The message

 

 Towards the end of Summer in 2009, I had my first visit to St Jacobus and my first meeting with the call committee, the group of church members entrusted with the responsibility to review, interview and recommend a candidate for the job of pastor at their church.   Even though I grew up in Brooklyn and had spent most of my life living in New York, I had only been to Queens twice before, once for a Mets game at Shea Stadium, when it was still called Shea Stadium and once leading a camp field trip to the Hall of Science in Flushing Meadow.  Right before this first meeting, Adrienne and Emma took for a walking tour of the neighborhood. We went down Broadway, past Elmhurst Hospital, across to 37^th Ave for a quick lunch at one of the Columbian Restaurants and then back to church.  For me, this tour was an important part of my decision to accept the call here.  To see if you fit someplace, you have to know where that place is. During this time, I saw some of the local businesses, restaurants, people, churches, schools and problems like graffiti, dumping, drugs and poverty.  I saw the gathering places, parks, transportation centers and great religious and cultural diversity of this neighborhood.  I was introduced to the community around the church and school building because that was the area I would start to call our neighborhood, our mission field and our community, it was the place I would be working as a sower of God’s word in and teaching you to be sowers of God’s word

 

This morning, with the parable of the sower, Jesus is doing exactly what Adrienne and Emma did about 7 years ago, introducing people to their communities, to the place they will work as sowers of God’s word in.  At this point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has already started his public ministry; he has taught, healed, calmed the sea and performed other signs of faith and power.  He called a small, deeply committed following and gathered very large crowds of interested and curious people.  My first tour was specific to a 10 or so block radius around St Jacobus but Jesus is more general, trying to teach a diverse group of fisherman and tax collectors in the 1^st century Middle East as well as the billions of Christians that will come in the centuries after.  My first trip around St Jacobus focused on the people and places around us at the time while Jesus parable of the sower focused on the psychological character of people, on the things that do not really change.  Just like seeds still grow the same way and they need good dirt, water, sunlight and care, people still react to the message of God’s love with doubt, rejection, weakening commitment, acceptance but then turning to other things or deep, faithful, and lasting joy. 

Jesus description of our mission field, the place where we are called to be sowers of God’s word still makes sense today. We can pause to ask ourselves if our church is good soil or a thorny patch that’s almost there but yields nothing.  We can get personal and wonder if our homes are good soil or rocky ground that does not produce lasting growth.   The truth is, there are parts of each place in our community and lives, people who react to God’s word like seeds on the stony path, rocky ground, thorny patch or good soil.   

This morning, I would like to look at life in the field, how we can serve, minister to and walk with people in each of these sections of earth, how we can encourage growth and express God’s word with joy.  For any of this to work, we need to know who we are talking to. Believe me, every politician and elected official, advertiser, manufacturer of a product, charity, or sales person does their research.  Customer information is a valuable commodity and sales pitches, commercials, and campaigns are all built around using the research and telling people what they want to hear.  We have it easier than all of them though, we do not need to change our message, we do not need to tweak or down right lie about our product or actions, we tell everyone the same thing, that they are loved by God.          

First, there are those on the stone path, where there is no nourishment and no real chance that God’s word will take hold of their lives.  These are the people who are deeply committed to their atheist faith, who think of church with terrible memories of exclusion and racism, who cannot understand or forgive the awful history of what the church has done in Jesus name.   God does not dismiss anyone, God does not give up on any of us.  In last week’s reading, just days before today’s lesson Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’.  Growing up at my grandmother’s house, there was a large yard and my brother and I always tried to maintain a stone path between the house and garage, every year we would put down and adjust plastic, tar paper, rocks and slate to keep the grass from growing on the path and every year weeds found a way to grow.  In this section of the field, on the stony path, we care for the seeds by trying to move them.  Now, we can try to do that by kicking, screaming and pushing but I think it is easier to let God’s word work. To be consist and committed to living out a faith that announces God’s joy and love, to let them see that and walk over. 

Next, we have the people living on the rocky ground.  These are the people who visit a few times, who tell me things like “if I went to church, I’d go to yours”, who fit these new catergories of “spiritual but not religious” or “no religious affilation”, People who believe in God and pray but reject the organized church as they think it exists. These are the people for whom church is truly boring, where it does not answer their questions, address their fears and provide them an encounter with the powerful, living and loving God. In this community, again, it is easier to let God’s work.  Here it is our job to clear some of the rocks away.  Now, clearing rocks away is not fun. When I was in High School, we used to clear the rocks away before every football game. Twenty players would line up and walk the length of the field, tossing the rocks outside of the field of play.  By the time you got through 80 yards or so against the cold ground, you had enough clearing rocks. Somehow every week, there would be more rocks though (which is amazing since rocks do not grow). To clear the rocks means conversation, patience, listening, and invitation. It also means expressing our faith, telling people what we believe and how that makes us feel and live.

Then we have the people living amid the thorns, the people who hear the word but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. That should sound familiar to all of us, since we have all been there.  Whenever I go hiking with people, we always run into a thorny section.  The person in front of the group usually is the first to notice the thorns (since they get stuck by them). They warn all of us, point them out and help stamp them down.  Here, that is our work, to pray for each other, to help one another face burdens, to expose, confront and help remove the things that separate us from truly experiencing God’s love. Finally, we have the people living in the good soil.  Here, it is our work to lift up and celebrate , to share their stories, to inspire others and help keep them there.

This is how we work as sower’s of God’s word, by offering others an understanding, patient and unapologetic presentation of our faith through word and deed.         

Sermon for January 10

The reading 

Mark 2:1-22

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.

The message

Last week, we started a journey through Mark’s Gospel that will take us from now until Easter, when we celebrate the great, central moment of our faith, that Christ is Risen from the dead.  In Mark one miracle, lesson, healing or exorcism happens right after another, Jesus and his disciples finish one thing and immediately move on to the next.  The religious, social and political world is being taken over by this unstoppable, unrelenting, aggressive movement of faith, power, and love.  

In the second chapter of Mark,  after just a few days of teaching and healing, Jesus is already calling deeply committed followers who will fail, misunderstand and fold under pressure but will be forgiven, encouraged and walk with him until the end of the their lives.  Jesus is already causing news, fueling rumors that he is the Messiah and gathering great, curious and excited crowds.  Jesus is already confronting the religious authorities, getting to the heart of what faith lived out looks like. Jesus is already receiving a lot of negative attention from a group of scared leaders trying all sorts of different traps and tricks to expose Jesus as a fraud and keep things the way they are.

As we travel through Mark together, there are very few things that Jesus keeps the way they are. Virtually every aspect of faith, tradition or social life is criticized for not being part of God’s vision for the world.  Systemic inequalities like exclusion, poverty, racism, violence and abuse   are all condemned.  Today, we experience a group of 5 desperate people trying to get in touch with Jesus.  They are people of deep faith and they trust that getting to Jesus will heal the paralyzed man.  Due to the huge crowds, they cannot even get close enough to call out “Jesus help us” or get noticed. Just waiting around outside until the crowds move and space opens up or pleading with each person around them to make way would not work, so they climb up to the roof of the house, carry the paralyzed man up dig a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was staying and lower the man in.  This act of faith along with the loud, noisy mess obviously got Jesus attention. 

It should also get our attention, we have to think about what was so special there that such a great crowd showed up and so powerful that a group of otherwise good people destroy part of someone’s home to get close enough to it.  Jesus was offering new life. To be paralyzed at the time meant to be outside, excluded and dependent on begging and other people to survive.  It’s not just in the healing of illness and restoration of mobility that Jesus brings new life.  Jesus brings new life, brings people into the right relationship with God, brings a great comfort and peace to anxious hearts by announcing the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus does not stop there, after all, this is Mark’s Gospel. Jesus immediately moves on to a new way of showing people the sort of new, unburdened life God offers, or better yet forces on us.   Jesus goes out and in front of this huge crowd, invites Levi the tax collector to follow him. Keep in mind, tax collectors weren’t exactly the most popular people or the most ethical. They earned their living collecting oppressive taxes on behalf of the Roman empire and taking a share for their work.  That whole crowd probably wanted Jesus to treat Levi and his booth like the roof, ripping them apart.  Instead, Jesus invites him to follow.  Jesus does not avoid the many tax-collectors and sinners, he eats a very public, open dinner with them, showing them new life, life no longer burdened by exclusion and sin.  Jesus is criticized for this meal by the religious authorities and gives them a simple answer with consequences that tear through traditional beliefs about who God cares for: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’ Here is new life, no longer burdened by that nasty, nagging sense of us not being good enough for God to care for, or that God is punishing us for us sins.

Immediately after this encounter, Jesus and his followers are criticized for not fasting. Again Jesus simple response tears through traditional beliefs, questioning the purpose of fasting and revealing what God is doing in the world. The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.  New lives, no longer burdened by fasting for no particular purpose or burdened by religious ritual that do not point to any clear hope or joy. 

Just like the friends of the paralyzed man dig through the mud and wood of the roof so the sunlight and God’s healing power can shine in, Jesus digs through all the garbage we surround social life and faith with so that God’s love, light  and new life can shine through.  Annie Dillard, an author and writer about faith, summarizes the danger, power and transformative nature of Jesus with a reflection on what happens at church. 

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return”

This morning, Jesus presides over a time of healing and teaching where people need those crash helmets, life preservers, seat belts and signal flares.  Jesus announces the forgiveness of sins and heals a paralyzed man, in both cases, showing us God’s compassion, understanding, patience and power to give new life, life no longer burdened by anything.

This morning, our reading invites us to be aware of the new life God gives to us, to think seriously about the things we experience here and to act seriously with our new life.