Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany February 1, 2015
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
Great are the deeds of the LORD! *
His work is full of majesty and splendor, *
and his righteousness endures for ever.
Last weekend I was privileged to be able to attend a conference on Creating a Common Good offered at Trinity Episcopal Church Wall Street at their annual Institute. I had read about the speakers, received a book from one of the presenters, and looked forward to participating in this amazing gathering for many months. But the closer I drew to attending, the more the news of the day crowded in and it seemed that the issues we were about to face and wrestle with were so insidious and so entrenched in our current economy and culture that the problem seemed overwhelming.
On the first night, we heard from The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Reverend Justin Welby and from Cornel West, a prolific author, speaker, teacher, and activist. Both were incredibly inspiring, calling us to love our neighbor with a radical love in the way of our rabbi and Savior Jesus Christ.
Cornel West, speaking in the way of a Black preacher called us all as Christians to take on the promise we make at our baptism that we will be “faithful unto death” to love God and love our neighbor. The next day we listened to talks from Archbishop Welby, Barbara Ehrenreich, Robert Reich and others who described the growing inequality of our times that has grown exponentially since 2007 resulting in millions of people suffering either in poverty or teetering on the edge of the precipice of financial devastation.
And this situation stains us all. All of us are complicit in this. At this conference, Rachel Held Evans an author and blogger, said that we participate in a society where everything is for sale—even our own self worth– and we too often turn a blind eye when we buy much more than we need–and even want– and fail to see or listen to our brothers and sisters who suffer, often in the shadows, in an economy where the wages they earn, despite the number of jobs they hold, do not allow them basic human dignity.
On the third day, we heard from a group of people who offered specific ideas for how we can participate in loving our brothers and sisters and work to create a world where the good of all becomes our guide. We gathered in small groups to talk about what we had heard and with a partner, we were asked to talk about the obstacles we face and one thing we would commit to doing when we left the conference.
I immediately confessed that one of my obstacles is that I see the problem as so large—so overwhelming—that any contribution I could make I feared would be so puny and insignificant that I am in danger of becoming paralyzed to act.
Do you ever feel this way? Even on issues that strike deeply into your heart—do you sometimes fail to take the first step because you feel that your efforts are doomed to fail?
This is where the Gospel speaks to me this morning.
We hear the story after Jesus has come from being baptized, where he is proclaimed to be the “Beloved Son”, then driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he faces off against Satan, after which he calls his first disciples. He enters a synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath and begins to teach. The scripture tells us that he teaches in such a way that the people gathered are astounded by his authority.
And then he sees a man who is causing a ruckus. In our modern churches, one of the ushers would probably help the person to the back of the building and perhaps after caring for him, send him away. But in this story when this man who we are told is “filled with an unclean spirit” calls out to Jesus saying, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Jesus stops him and calls to the spirit that is holding him hostage, ordering the demon to come out and be silent. What is Mark trying to tell us about Jesus in this story?
This is the very first story of Jesus’ ministry in Mark’s Gospel. In this Gospel, I believe Mark shows from the outset that Jesus’ words and actions will cause conflict. Jesus will not proclaim a gospel that goes down easy. It is not sanitized so that it can be safely received.
Rather Jesus proclaims a militant love that will threaten other forces that claim authority over people’s lives. And these forces will know that they will certainly lose in the face of this “Holy One of God” so conflict will be inevitable.
In this passage Jesus has begun to live out the words of his first very short sermon, that we hear earlier in this chapter of Mark (1:15)
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Jesus stands boldly against all forces that stand between us and the love of God. Through his actions, Jesus clearly proclaims that the kingdom of God is near—we are to turn to God and believe. Jesus stands beside us as we take great risks for the good news–God’s unending love. Jesus shows his authority not only in words, which Mark does not share in this passage, but in his very actions.
Jesus has come to free us from those obstacles that prevent us from participating fully in the kingdom of God, standing in direct opposition to anything that robs us of the joy and the love for which we were all created. Jesus has come to oppose all forces that keep the children of God from the abundant life God desires for each one of us.
We will be spending time in Mark’s Gospel this year and from the beginning we feel the urgency of Jesus’ revelation of God in the world. The time is now. God is here. Let nothing keep us from this love, this hope, this joy.
Mark begins with the heavens being torn open at Jesus’ baptism. Jesus is marked as God’s beloved, the One who is ultimately pleasing to God. But in this story, Jesus sees one who is possessed by something that keeps him from hearing God’s words and following God’s call to join the work of the kingdom. Jesus rebukes this evil and calls it out. Jesus will not allow anyone to be separated from God’s love. He exhorts by directly confronting the stumbling block in this man’s life to turn to God and believe. God is here.
It can be so hard to turn loose of those things that can prevent us from trusting in God’s love. It comes to us without our even knowing it. My feeling of being inadequate for the task just bubbles up without me calling it out or even being aware until it has taken over my thoughts and my heart.
Like the “unclean spirit” our fears of the known and the unknown, our stubborn resistance to giving up our own efforts to control, our pride, our prejudices, our belief that if we know enough, understand clearly, this “knowledge” will get us through, can lay claim to us and prevent us from loving radically and believing boldly that God is here–that God’s power is complete. That nothing can separate from God’s love.
But as the apostle Paul reminds the church in Corinth, “knowledge only puffs us up—making us believe that we are somehow masters of our destiny—that we are self made rulers of our lives. As Paul says, it is love that builds up. When we love, we enter into a boundless freedom that liberates us to know true joy and fully experience the love of God that is without end. “Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.”
These obstacles like the “unclean spirit” can keep us from hearing God’s call in our lives and freeing us to respond as God’s beloved children who have already been given everything we need to proclaim God’s love to the world. God has given us the peace that allows us to take each step in faith. God in Jesus stands beside us rebuking those things that are diametrically opposed to what God intends for us. Those things that curse rather than bless; those things that tear down rather than build up; those voices that disparage rather than encourage; those actions that sow hate, rather than promote love; those things that can keep us separated rather than bring, us together. To any powers that prevent us from the abundance of life promised to us by God—Jesus is out to overturn. “Be silent and come out of him (her)!”
In my doubt and fear, I forgot. I lost track of the idea that nothing is impossible with God, as Sarah learns when she laughs at the possibility of having a child in her advanced age. I forgot that Jesus is with me every step of the way when I act in love. That does not always make entering into enormous issues easy, but Jesus continues to free us, removing fears and cleansing spirits that can block the work that calls to us. Sometimes it can be a dramatic event as is described in our story from the Gospel. We all know of people who have had vivid and sudden encounters with grace and mercy. And sometimes the road to opening our hearts and minds takes time and people who will accompany us. Sometimes it is not a single moment, but the steady revealing of opportunities to love and serve others, the invitation of a group of faithful friends that grows into a mission, a seed that is planted in a Bible study or a book group that opens us to hear the voice of love. God is always at work opening our lives, releasing hearts, calling out those spirits that can keep us locked up and prevent us from fully embracing the love God offers us and intends us to share with all.
On my last day at the conference, I was sharing breakfast with another participant when a woman approached me and gave me her card. She works with an organization called “All Our Children” that is based in Boston and seeks to bring Episcopal Churches and schools together in a partnership to support the learning of every child. I pledged to learn more about organizations such as “All Our Children.” I pledged to continue to learn about the needs of the people in our part of the Berkshires, meeting with agencies and schools. I pledged to pray and listen and to share what I learn with you so that together we can participate in the “militant love, the radical gentleness, and the subversive tenderness”[1] that Jesus, whose amazing authority shows us in love. Nothing is impossible with God. All we need to do is ask and Jesus will heal us. He only needs to say the truth, to speak the word.
However we recognize or understand “unclean spirits” today, the message of the Gospel is that Jesus is Lord. He will release us from all that binds us, all that blocks us from proclaiming and living out God’s love. And He will empower us to live a new life in service and praise to God.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] Cornel West. Keynote Address, Creating a Common Good. Trinity Institute. January, 2015.