Fellowship Reformed Church of Holland

Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Mark 8:27-9:8

Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Mark 8:27-9:8

Preaching: Janelle Koolhaas
Text: Mark 6:1-29

Last week we heard the stories of how Jesus healed a woman who had suffered with sickness for 12 years. We heard how Jesus healed Jairus’s young daughter. He had shown that his loving kindness and power would break down the usual categories… wealth, poverty, righteous status, ceremonial uncleanliness, social acceptance… and even life and death.  Jesus had been preaching to crowds all over the countryside, ministering healing, declaring the forgiveness of sins, … saying and doing the most amazing things.

There was a hint back in chapter 3, a foreshadowing, that there place, at least, where Jesus identity as teacher and healer was not sitting so well.  Instead of being pleased, the folks back home—namely his mother and siblings, were trying quietly usher him out of the spotlight before he got himself into trouble.   They were so alarmed by Jesus, they worried he had taken leave of his senses.

Today through Mark’s telling of the Gospel we are invited to listen in to 3 insights, if you wish, of when faith does not come easily, and the message of the gospel is resisted.  Let’s listen:

6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.2 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! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense[b] at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 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.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’[c] name had become known. Some were[d]saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

17 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[e] had married her. 18 For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20 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;[f] and yet he liked to listen to him. 21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22 When his daughter Herodias[g] 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.” 23 And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 24 She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” 25 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.”26 The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s[h] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

[This is the word of the Lord.]

Peoples Reaction/Response to Jesus

We know that Mark likes to have us sprint from one event/story to the next in quick steps, but he chooses the accounts with intentionality, nothing is coincidental or sloppy. So why did Mark put these 3 windows into frustration, resistance and martyrdom in such close succession?

Mark is making sure we have perspective. Mark is laying out the course of events to lead up to Christ’s crucifixion, for one. But far more than that, far more than sobering foreshadowing of the cross, Mark is making it clear that the gospel—hearing it, telling it, or living it—is no easy, glamorous, or without great cost—as one might be persuaded if we only heard of signs and wonderings and hearts ripe for faith! 

Neither Jesus, nor Mark, wants us to make the mistake that believing the gospel and living it out will be easy or cheap!  Don’t get me wrong, there is so much hope and invitation in the gospel—with real truth and power to make it effective and gripping—but also to make people rebel or take offense, or worse.

Even Jesus was doubted, questioned, and snubbed and had to weigh the value of demonstrating and declaring who he was in his town where no one could imagine him different than themselves.  And even though Jesus power wasn’t contingent on folks’ response, we do see here that he did not feel it wise or worthwhile to demonstrate his power, when it seemed so hard for folks to believe. 

I recall when I was 16, coming back from a mission trip to Argentina, on fire for Christ, and now grappling with the beginnings of a desire to give my life to God for ministry, but afraid to show it to friends who would think I thought I was better than them.  At school, my non Christian friends couldn’t understand the impact my summer of experiencing Christ’s power had had on me—some tried and didn’t get it, and some listened, and then said I was a “holy roller” and acted like I was bizarre.  At church, I feared more of the same; how could even my few Christian peers take seriously what I had witnessed and seen?  I was certain I was changed, and called… but I was terrified of how people might make fun of, or just not take me seriously. I dared to join the worship team, but had to sing with my eyes shut, not because I was so moved by the Spirit, but because I was terrified of making eye contact with other youth group members!

But besides just being so familiar a voice,  what was so striking about Jesus’ teaching? What were listeners reacting to?

 Notice that we don’t hear words that expose any untruth of Jesus teaching as much as we hear incredulity about who is teaching.  We don’t hear them saying his words are foolish o untrue—we hear than unwilling to believe that this hometown boy could be the bearer of such wisdom—and maybe that he would have the nerve to try to teach them something about God, much less about themselves.

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! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense[b] at him.

If we listen between their words, we might hear between the insults things that sound familiar too:

• Contentment
• Self satisfaction (that their lives and experience do not warrant anyone to call them out)
• That’s easier to criticize someone else than to be vulnerable to a message, a call, a reproach from Scripture or the Holy Spirit speaking through someone else…that we don’t want to hear.

….If we take a closer look in the original language, Mark says that Jesus family and neighbors in his home town “took offense at him”.   The original word is “scandalizo”, which most literally means, “they stumbled over him”—and over his message. +++  Jesus wasn’t so much “being offensive”, as he was saying things that tripped them up, that couldn’t be swallowed, as we would say. 

That is a pretty apt description of what sometimes happened when , Jesus, the disciples, and John, preached REPENTANCE.  Repentance marks a turning, a rerouting of one’s course away from sin and evil, and towards the Christ and his righteousness/purity.That can be a hard message to hear, “a lot to swallow”, or easily stumble over, and it takes courage to respond.  It forces one to surrender control, and the self assurance that we are alright.

And so I think that is exactly what Jesus wants to dispel as he trains his messengers!   In the next part, we hear that Jesus gave them spiritual authority, and ordered them to go out and minister to the people.  The disciples anointed the sick, cured diseases and cast out spirits. And they were to teach the same message of turning from sin, according to Jesus instructions. They were not allowed to take provisions. They would be about their ministry completely vulnerable and dependant on each other, on God’s Spirit.  If clinging to control and dogged self assurance were stumbling blocks to fully transformed lives… then once again, we see Jesus defying logic by preparing his disciples to ONLY BE ABLE TO RELY ON HIM.

Is there  a lesson that for us?  That in order to challenge others to take steps, even risks to follow Christ and be transformed, we have to demonstrate a corresponding vulnerability?  We are more accustomed to packing lists, agendas, and scout-like preparedness—but Jesus is challenging his disciples to carry the message with as little to rely on besides God’s power and authority as possible.  Just like those who repent, they were called to set out on a new path without the ease or distraction of taking parts of their old life with them.

The thing about a repentence message (and even a call to serve God in new ways)  is that it is so easy to get tripped up, offended by, or scared off from the idea of what we’ll have to give up, or get into.  We fear humiliation, we fear it will be too hard to change…we fear theshame or failingbeing dragged into the light for all to see…

But what if a CALL TO REPENTENCE was recognizedas being invited into freedom? What is it about us humans that focus so much on ourselves and what we don’t want to turn from, and fail to see all that to which we are invited once we cast off the things that separate us from God?   Believing and following Christ requires an emptying, to be sure, but also a promise to be filled!

John the Baptist Rebukes the King

We’ve said that a call to repentence puts people on the defensive and calls into question how they think of themselves. It requires us ask questions we don’t want to ask, just as John asked of the reshuffling of wives of the royal family.

In the third part of today’s passage, we learn the horrifying story of how John the Baptist died—the short version is that it was revenge for calling outthe fact that Herod had taken his own living brother’s wife for his own.

Notice, that John was a threat because he called into question the morality, the identity of the king to do whatever he wanted, or marry whoever he desired… John preached turning from sin and the fear of the God of Righteousness.  In fact, he even was intrigue and fascinated by John’s teachings, and Herod secretly revered him. Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed;[f] and yet he liked to listen to him. 

But as I wrestled with what to say about it, these questions came to mind for us:

Why do we resist or run from repentance?  What are you/we offended by that God says to us that causes us to dig in our heels and go no further? To stop listening because it’s uncomfortable , even though we sense that God is speaking?

Conclusion:

Friends, let’s not get caught either trying to hang on to things that keep us from closeness to Christ. Whatever that may be!   And when the Holy Spirit prompts us and shows us what we are clinging to, let us be sure to hear the invitation and not get stuck in fear of changing, or fear of failing! And when God calls us to obey in new and risky ways, let us rely on him and not be held back by worry.   In ALL things, we can TRUST the one who is calling us, changing us, sending us!

Preaching: Janelle Koolhaas
Text: Mark 6:1-29

Last week we heard the stories of how Jesus healed a woman who had suffered with sickness for 12 years. We heard how Jesus healed Jairus’s young daughter. He had shown that his loving kindness and power would break down the usual categories… wealth, poverty, righteous status, ceremonial uncleanliness, social acceptance… and even life and death.  Jesus had been preaching to crowds all over the countryside, ministering healing, declaring the forgiveness of sins, … saying and doing the most amazing things.

There was a hint back in chapter 3, a foreshadowing, that there place, at least, where Jesus identity as teacher and healer was not sitting so well.  Instead of being pleased, the folks back home—namely his mother and siblings, were trying quietly usher him out of the spotlight before he got himself into trouble.   They were so alarmed by Jesus, they worried he had taken leave of his senses.

Today through Mark’s telling of the Gospel we are invited to listen in to 3 insights, if you wish, of when faith does not come easily, and the message of the gospel is resisted.  Let’s listen:

6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.2 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! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense[b] at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 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.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’[c] name had become known. Some were[d]saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

17 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[e] had married her. 18 For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20 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;[f] and yet he liked to listen to him. 21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22 When his daughter Herodias[g] 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.” 23 And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 24 She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” 25 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.”26 The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s[h] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

[This is the word of the Lord.]

Peoples Reaction/Response to Jesus

We know that Mark likes to have us sprint from one event/story to the next in quick steps, but he chooses the accounts with intentionality, nothing is coincidental or sloppy. So why did Mark put these 3 windows into frustration, resistance and martyrdom in such close succession?

Mark is making sure we have perspective. Mark is laying out the course of events to lead up to Christ’s crucifixion, for one. But far more than that, far more than sobering foreshadowing of the cross, Mark is making it clear that the gospel—hearing it, telling it, or living it—is no easy, glamorous, or without great cost—as one might be persuaded if we only heard of signs and wonderings and hearts ripe for faith! 

Neither Jesus, nor Mark, wants us to make the mistake that believing the gospel and living it out will be easy or cheap!  Don’t get me wrong, there is so much hope and invitation in the gospel—with real truth and power to make it effective and gripping—but also to make people rebel or take offense, or worse.

Even Jesus was doubted, questioned, and snubbed and had to weigh the value of demonstrating and declaring who he was in his town where no one could imagine him different than themselves.  And even though Jesus power wasn’t contingent on folks’ response, we do see here that he did not feel it wise or worthwhile to demonstrate his power, when it seemed so hard for folks to believe. 

I recall when I was 16, coming back from a mission trip to Argentina, on fire for Christ, and now grappling with the beginnings of a desire to give my life to God for ministry, but afraid to show it to friends who would think I thought I was better than them.  At school, my non Christian friends couldn’t understand the impact my summer of experiencing Christ’s power had had on me—some tried and didn’t get it, and some listened, and then said I was a “holy roller” and acted like I was bizarre.  At church, I feared more of the same; how could even my few Christian peers take seriously what I had witnessed and seen?  I was certain I was changed, and called… but I was terrified of how people might make fun of, or just not take me seriously. I dared to join the worship team, but had to sing with my eyes shut, not because I was so moved by the Spirit, but because I was terrified of making eye contact with other youth group members!

But besides just being so familiar a voice,  what was so striking about Jesus’ teaching? What were listeners reacting to?

 Notice that we don’t hear words that expose any untruth of Jesus teaching as much as we hear incredulity about who is teaching.  We don’t hear them saying his words are foolish o untrue—we hear than unwilling to believe that this hometown boy could be the bearer of such wisdom—and maybe that he would have the nerve to try to teach them something about God, much less about themselves.

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! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense[b] at him.

If we listen between their words, we might hear between the insults things that sound familiar too:

• Contentment
• Self satisfaction (that their lives and experience do not warrant anyone to call them out)
• That’s easier to criticize someone else than to be vulnerable to a message, a call, a reproach from Scripture or the Holy Spirit speaking through someone else…that we don’t want to hear.

….If we take a closer look in the original language, Mark says that Jesus family and neighbors in his home town “took offense at him”.   The original word is “scandalizo”, which most literally means, “they stumbled over him”—and over his message. +++  Jesus wasn’t so much “being offensive”, as he was saying things that tripped them up, that couldn’t be swallowed, as we would say. 

That is a pretty apt description of what sometimes happened when , Jesus, the disciples, and John, preached REPENTANCE.  Repentance marks a turning, a rerouting of one’s course away from sin and evil, and towards the Christ and his righteousness/purity.That can be a hard message to hear, “a lot to swallow”, or easily stumble over, and it takes courage to respond.  It forces one to surrender control, and the self assurance that we are alright.

And so I think that is exactly what Jesus wants to dispel as he trains his messengers!   In the next part, we hear that Jesus gave them spiritual authority, and ordered them to go out and minister to the people.  The disciples anointed the sick, cured diseases and cast out spirits. And they were to teach the same message of turning from sin, according to Jesus instructions. They were not allowed to take provisions. They would be about their ministry completely vulnerable and dependant on each other, on God’s Spirit.  If clinging to control and dogged self assurance were stumbling blocks to fully transformed lives… then once again, we see Jesus defying logic by preparing his disciples to ONLY BE ABLE TO RELY ON HIM.

Is there  a lesson that for us?  That in order to challenge others to take steps, even risks to follow Christ and be transformed, we have to demonstrate a corresponding vulnerability?  We are more accustomed to packing lists, agendas, and scout-like preparedness—but Jesus is challenging his disciples to carry the message with as little to rely on besides God’s power and authority as possible.  Just like those who repent, they were called to set out on a new path without the ease or distraction of taking parts of their old life with them.

The thing about a repentence message (and even a call to serve God in new ways)  is that it is so easy to get tripped up, offended by, or scared off from the idea of what we’ll have to give up, or get into.  We fear humiliation, we fear it will be too hard to change…we fear theshame or failingbeing dragged into the light for all to see…

But what if a CALL TO REPENTENCE was recognizedas being invited into freedom? What is it about us humans that focus so much on ourselves and what we don’t want to turn from, and fail to see all that to which we are invited once we cast off the things that separate us from God?   Believing and following Christ requires an emptying, to be sure, but also a promise to be filled!

John the Baptist Rebukes the King

We’ve said that a call to repentence puts people on the defensive and calls into question how they think of themselves. It requires us ask questions we don’t want to ask, just as John asked of the reshuffling of wives of the royal family.

In the third part of today’s passage, we learn the horrifying story of how John the Baptist died—the short version is that it was revenge for calling outthe fact that Herod had taken his own living brother’s wife for his own.

Notice, that John was a threat because he called into question the morality, the identity of the king to do whatever he wanted, or marry whoever he desired… John preached turning from sin and the fear of the God of Righteousness.  In fact, he even was intrigue and fascinated by John’s teachings, and Herod secretly revered him. Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed;[f] and yet he liked to listen to him. 

But as I wrestled with what to say about it, these questions came to mind for us:

Why do we resist or run from repentance?  What are you/we offended by that God says to us that causes us to dig in our heels and go no further? To stop listening because it’s uncomfortable , even though we sense that God is speaking?

Conclusion:

Friends, let’s not get caught either trying to hang on to things that keep us from closeness to Christ. Whatever that may be!   And when the Holy Spirit prompts us and shows us what we are clinging to, let us be sure to hear the invitation and not get stuck in fear of changing, or fear of failing! And when God calls us to obey in new and risky ways, let us rely on him and not be held back by worry.   In ALL things, we can TRUST the one who is calling us, changing us, sending us!

Preaching: Marijke Strong
Text: Mark 5:21-40

MARK 5:21-43

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat[f] to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 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.” 24 So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35 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?” 36 But overhearing[g] what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 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. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

*Where do we feel stuck, hopeless, afraid, think it is impossible, where have we been told "you can't"? The invitation is for us to reach out and rise up, because Christ first reached out and rose up for us…..

GOD’S STORY, OUR STORY: REACH OUT AND RISE UP

THE SWALLOW – INCARNATION

If you go to the Prado Museum in Florence, walk up the marble staircase, duck through the entryway and turn left, you will find yourself in room 56B, right across from a massive altarpiece from the monastery of San Dominico. In the center of the altarpiece is a painting of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her she will bear a son. It is The Annunciation by Fra Angelico. Have you seen this painting? Gabriel’s visit to Mary was a popular image in Renaissance art but this piece is different than the rest.

First, the scene was usually indoors, with Mary on a fancy throne. Severe and removed. Angelico brought it outdoors into the world. Also, most painters focused in on the two figures.  Angelico pulled out away from them and widened his lens to show the bigger salvation story. In the top left is the Garden of Eden. He is taking us back to the beginning, to the reason Christ would be sent to be born of Mary. The Fall. And look at this: just as Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, the hand of God emerges from on high, reaching out to send the Holy Spirit slanting across the frame and across time toward Mary, just at the point that she says, “Let it be with me according to your Word.”

It’s an amazing piece. People always crowd around at the museum. But there is one detail not everyone notices: a small bird. Not the dove of the Holy Spirit but a different kind of bird. A swallow. We know nothing in Renaissance art is without meaning. So why a swallow? These are shy, independent birds that flit and streak through the summer sky in the evening. They often build their nest with mud. Sometimes they come among people and build in the eaves of houses.

Around the time of the Renaissance (before much was known about migration patterns) it was commonly believed that when winter approached and swallows disappeared from cities, they flew to nearby lakes and ponds to burrow down in the mud and hibernate until Spring. Because of this mysterious movement of coming down out of the skies into the mud, the swallow became a symbol of the incarnation of Christ. So Fra Angelico put that bird in his painting as a message: he’s saying that from the very beginning, God meant to send Christ to earth, as Eugene Peterson says, to “take on flesh and move into the neighborhood.” Jesus was sent to be with and among the people he would save. To build his nest in the mud.

JAIRUS AND THE WOMAN – SPEAKING OUT AND REACHING OUT

Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood saw this firsthand. These are two people from very different stations in life. Jairus was a leader of the synagogue, an elected position so he must have been a respected and prominent person. But in this story we find him powerless. I think it’s Homer who said “death is the great leveler.” It makes everyone equal. Jairus had discovered that respect and prominence were useless when it came to his daughter’s health. She was sick to the point of death and he could not fix it. He was stuck. So he abandoned dignity, cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and begged for healing. “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!”

Let’s put this in context: Jesus had become a public figure by this time because of his teaching and healing, so he was constantly surrounded by crowds clamoring for attention and he had these disciples with him who always wanted to protect him. He had just come across the lake on a boat. He was probably tired. Jesus could have easily kept on his way, flitting above the needs of the crowd saying, “I’m sorry, my time has not yet come.” But this is incarnation: he stopped and came down into the mud and the mess of the moment. I imagine him stooping over the man to lift him up, looking him in the eye. “I will come with you.”

In his book, Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen asks, “What if our interruptions are in fact opportunities…?” What if they are invitations to “a movement toward, a deeper engagement….” What if we saw interruptions as “occasions for a conversion of heart… which creates the inner space where a compassionate solidarity with our fellow human beings becomes possible”?

I wonder. What if the entire life of Jesus was one interruption after another? Jairus interrupted Jesus on the road, and no sooner had he turned to go with him (he couldn’t even take two steps!), than someone else came forward. This person was as different from Jairus as you could get. It was a woman. She seemed alone. She had suffered hemorrhages for many years, which made her “unclean” and untouchable in the eyes of her people. She was also poor because she had spent all her money on doctors. She was about as low on the scale as Jairus was high.

And yet, they had something important in common. They felt powerless. Stuck. Maybe you know what that feels like. They had come to the end of their rope and there was nothing they could do. Nothing except reach out to Jesus. I imagine this woman standing on the edge of the crowd, alone. And then she saw him. She had a wild idea. How could she get to him and touch him without contaminating the entire group? It was crazy. But she saw Jesus. And before she knew what she was doing she was pushing through, “don’t hold me back! I know what he can do.” She could see the back of his head. She was reaching out. Maybe she was so bold as to think that she would put her hand on his sleeve. She was rehearsing what would happen: he would turn to her, she would smile.

But just as her fingers brushed the edge of his robe he was jerked away in the chaos. A shudder ran through her body. Disappointment. And then wonder. Something was different. She could feel it. The pain was gone. The shame was gone. She felt good for the first time in years.  She thought about slipping away home, but Jesus stopped. And it happened again. He could have kept going, flitting above the needs of the crowd. But this is incarnation: he came down into the moment. He found her. And she fell on her knees to explain that when she saw him her heart lifted up out of the shame and loneliness and reached out to him. And then something happened in her body, and then something happened in her heart. I think he smiled as he lifted her up: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Do you remember two weeks ago Pastor Brian talked about the difference between healing and cure? This was both. The woman was made well inside and out. What should have happened was that her touch should have contaminated Jesus. Not only did it not contaminate him, but his touch made her clean. It healed her body and her soul. And then Jesus sent her out to share what she had received.  “Go in peace,” meant, “Be a person of peace. Make peace.” You have been restored… now make restoration.

THE LITTLE GIRL – RISING UP

We could probably end here. But Jairus is still waiting. While Jesus was speaking with the woman, some people came to tell him it was too late. Their words seem callous: “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Ah, Jairus. Can you imagine his stomach sinking? What is it like to hope and then lose hope? The crowd is in chaos. They’re swirling around the woman. She’s laughing and talking. The disciples look impatient. And Jairus stands empty handed. Surely Jesus had forgotten him. But this is incarnation: Jesus came down into the moment. He turned to Jairus, looked him in the eye and said, “Don’t be afraid.”

Then he took three of his friends and went with Jairus to his home. I imagine it was a quiet walk. But as they got closer to the house they heard an uproar of weeping. It was so loud that when they got there Jesus had to raise his voice: “Why are you crying? The girl is sleeping.” He’s always telling a different story, isn’t he? And then he sent them away and took the girl’s parents and his disciples into the room where her body lay. She was so small; only 12 years old. You know he should not have touched her. A dead body was also unclean. But he took her by the hand and spoke the words that would give her life, “Talitha Cum.”

This phrase is usually translated from Aramaic to mean, “little girl, get up!” Talitha is a pet name for a child. In Dutch it might be “liefje.” Little dear one. But the Hebrew root of the word is “little lamb.” It’s the same word used by Isaiah when he prophesied about a new heaven and earth, when the former things will pass away, “and you will be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating, for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight…. no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime... Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb [the little lamb!] shall feed together… They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.”

This is a vision of the shalom that God intended back in the Garden of Eden, and it is the reason that even in the moment of the Fall God was reaching out to send Christ to be born of Mary. It is the reason Jesus came down to “build his nest in the mud.” He came to be with and among the people he would save so that he could restore all things to God’s design. “Little lamb, get up,” he said.

You’re probably not surprised to know the Aramaic word for “get up,” has a deeper meaning too. Its root is the Hebrew for “rise up.” As in the invitation from God through Isaiah, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60) As in the conversation Jesus had with Martha about Lazarus, “your brother will rise again.” (John 11) As in the words of Paul, who said, “everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it [is written], “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph 5)

What Jesus said was not what parents say when they knock on their child’s door before the bus comes. It wasn’t, “Hey, it’s time to get up!” What he really said really was, “Little lamb, you whom I cherish, for whom I have great redemptive plans… rise up from the dead, rise up to new life. This is why I came down to you. I am making all things new.” And what do you think happened? I think that girl felt herself pulled upward, out of darkness and into the light. Out of heaviness and immobility into freedom and movement. Her eyes opened and she got up. She rose up. She started walking around.

OUR CALL – TO REACH OUT AND RISE UP

 “Do you not know,” Paul said, “That all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6)

It’s what we were created for. Do you feel it? I do. And I see it in you. Fellowship is a church of people who are walking in newness of life. I want to tell you, on a personal note, that it has been my honor to walk with you these four years. It was not easy to answer the call back to Canada, for a number of reasons. One is that I love you. We have followed Christ together. And I’ll miss you like crazy. You have loved me with glad and generous hearts, welcomed me into the family, and taught me how to be a pastor. I am deeply grateful.

Another reason it was not easy to answer the call back to Canada is that I have my own ways of getting stuck. Maybe we all do. Mine is fear. There’s a quotation by the author Annie Dillard that has haunted me for years. She says, “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? …Ushers [at church] 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.”

If I am honest, I love the idea that God is wildly and powerfully beyond our understanding, drawing us out into new life. But I get stuck by the thought that God might draw us out to where we can never return. I am afraid. What if God reaches out his hand to me, and I say “yes” and take it, and he draws me up and out into new and beautiful things that are beyond my systems of control? What if it’s lonely there? What if God asks me to do things I don’t want to do? What if I’m not good enough? What if I have to open myself up in uncomfortable ways? What if I have to let go of possessions? What if I have to leave my friends and family, my country? What if I have to leave you? And what if after I say “yes” to God, I am never able return to life as I know it now? I hold back because of fear. Everyone gets stuck by something.

But this is incarnation. Christ comes down into the mud and mess of our lives. He reaches out to us. “Little lamb, rise up,” he says. That is the invitation… to you, to me, to us as a church. He is drawing us outward. Pulling us upward, out of darkness and into the light. Out of heaviness and immobility into freedom and movement and life. You know, there is another reason Renaissance artists used the swallow as a symbol in their paintings of Christ. Because they believed that when swallows suddenly returned to civilization in the Spring, they had burst up and out of the mud, just as Christ burst up and out of the tomb. He who came down to be with us, who reached out to us and walked among us, also died and went down to the grave for us so that when he burst forth and rose to new life we would rise too.

It makes me think of the poet Maya Angelou: “I rise, I rise, I rise.” That’s how we are to live. We are the resurrection people. Do you hear it? The ones who, no matter how uncertain or stuck we feel, are invited by Christ to speak out, to reach out and rise up in the Spirit. And then we are sent out (“Go in peace”) to live a resurrection life, to join with Christ as he restores all things to God’s design. To live in such a way that our lives are a sign of the One who makes all things new.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Preaching: Marijke Strong
Text: Mark 5:21-40

MARK 5:21-43

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat[f] to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 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.” 24 So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35 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?” 36 But overhearing[g] what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 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. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

*Where do we feel stuck, hopeless, afraid, think it is impossible, where have we been told "you can't"? The invitation is for us to reach out and rise up, because Christ first reached out and rose up for us…..

GOD’S STORY, OUR STORY: REACH OUT AND RISE UP

THE SWALLOW – INCARNATION

If you go to the Prado Museum in Florence, walk up the marble staircase, duck through the entryway and turn left, you will find yourself in room 56B, right across from a massive altarpiece from the monastery of San Dominico. In the center of the altarpiece is a painting of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her she will bear a son. It is The Annunciation by Fra Angelico. Have you seen this painting? Gabriel’s visit to Mary was a popular image in Renaissance art but this piece is different than the rest.

First, the scene was usually indoors, with Mary on a fancy throne. Severe and removed. Angelico brought it outdoors into the world. Also, most painters focused in on the two figures.  Angelico pulled out away from them and widened his lens to show the bigger salvation story. In the top left is the Garden of Eden. He is taking us back to the beginning, to the reason Christ would be sent to be born of Mary. The Fall. And look at this: just as Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, the hand of God emerges from on high, reaching out to send the Holy Spirit slanting across the frame and across time toward Mary, just at the point that she says, “Let it be with me according to your Word.”

It’s an amazing piece. People always crowd around at the museum. But there is one detail not everyone notices: a small bird. Not the dove of the Holy Spirit but a different kind of bird. A swallow. We know nothing in Renaissance art is without meaning. So why a swallow? These are shy, independent birds that flit and streak through the summer sky in the evening. They often build their nest with mud. Sometimes they come among people and build in the eaves of houses.

Around the time of the Renaissance (before much was known about migration patterns) it was commonly believed that when winter approached and swallows disappeared from cities, they flew to nearby lakes and ponds to burrow down in the mud and hibernate until Spring. Because of this mysterious movement of coming down out of the skies into the mud, the swallow became a symbol of the incarnation of Christ. So Fra Angelico put that bird in his painting as a message: he’s saying that from the very beginning, God meant to send Christ to earth, as Eugene Peterson says, to “take on flesh and move into the neighborhood.” Jesus was sent to be with and among the people he would save. To build his nest in the mud.

JAIRUS AND THE WOMAN – SPEAKING OUT AND REACHING OUT

Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood saw this firsthand. These are two people from very different stations in life. Jairus was a leader of the synagogue, an elected position so he must have been a respected and prominent person. But in this story we find him powerless. I think it’s Homer who said “death is the great leveler.” It makes everyone equal. Jairus had discovered that respect and prominence were useless when it came to his daughter’s health. She was sick to the point of death and he could not fix it. He was stuck. So he abandoned dignity, cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and begged for healing. “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!”

Let’s put this in context: Jesus had become a public figure by this time because of his teaching and healing, so he was constantly surrounded by crowds clamoring for attention and he had these disciples with him who always wanted to protect him. He had just come across the lake on a boat. He was probably tired. Jesus could have easily kept on his way, flitting above the needs of the crowd saying, “I’m sorry, my time has not yet come.” But this is incarnation: he stopped and came down into the mud and the mess of the moment. I imagine him stooping over the man to lift him up, looking him in the eye. “I will come with you.”

In his book, Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen asks, “What if our interruptions are in fact opportunities…?” What if they are invitations to “a movement toward, a deeper engagement….” What if we saw interruptions as “occasions for a conversion of heart… which creates the inner space where a compassionate solidarity with our fellow human beings becomes possible”?

I wonder. What if the entire life of Jesus was one interruption after another? Jairus interrupted Jesus on the road, and no sooner had he turned to go with him (he couldn’t even take two steps!), than someone else came forward. This person was as different from Jairus as you could get. It was a woman. She seemed alone. She had suffered hemorrhages for many years, which made her “unclean” and untouchable in the eyes of her people. She was also poor because she had spent all her money on doctors. She was about as low on the scale as Jairus was high.

And yet, they had something important in common. They felt powerless. Stuck. Maybe you know what that feels like. They had come to the end of their rope and there was nothing they could do. Nothing except reach out to Jesus. I imagine this woman standing on the edge of the crowd, alone. And then she saw him. She had a wild idea. How could she get to him and touch him without contaminating the entire group? It was crazy. But she saw Jesus. And before she knew what she was doing she was pushing through, “don’t hold me back! I know what he can do.” She could see the back of his head. She was reaching out. Maybe she was so bold as to think that she would put her hand on his sleeve. She was rehearsing what would happen: he would turn to her, she would smile.

But just as her fingers brushed the edge of his robe he was jerked away in the chaos. A shudder ran through her body. Disappointment. And then wonder. Something was different. She could feel it. The pain was gone. The shame was gone. She felt good for the first time in years.  She thought about slipping away home, but Jesus stopped. And it happened again. He could have kept going, flitting above the needs of the crowd. But this is incarnation: he came down into the moment. He found her. And she fell on her knees to explain that when she saw him her heart lifted up out of the shame and loneliness and reached out to him. And then something happened in her body, and then something happened in her heart. I think he smiled as he lifted her up: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Do you remember two weeks ago Pastor Brian talked about the difference between healing and cure? This was both. The woman was made well inside and out. What should have happened was that her touch should have contaminated Jesus. Not only did it not contaminate him, but his touch made her clean. It healed her body and her soul. And then Jesus sent her out to share what she had received.  “Go in peace,” meant, “Be a person of peace. Make peace.” You have been restored… now make restoration.

THE LITTLE GIRL – RISING UP

We could probably end here. But Jairus is still waiting. While Jesus was speaking with the woman, some people came to tell him it was too late. Their words seem callous: “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Ah, Jairus. Can you imagine his stomach sinking? What is it like to hope and then lose hope? The crowd is in chaos. They’re swirling around the woman. She’s laughing and talking. The disciples look impatient. And Jairus stands empty handed. Surely Jesus had forgotten him. But this is incarnation: Jesus came down into the moment. He turned to Jairus, looked him in the eye and said, “Don’t be afraid.”

Then he took three of his friends and went with Jairus to his home. I imagine it was a quiet walk. But as they got closer to the house they heard an uproar of weeping. It was so loud that when they got there Jesus had to raise his voice: “Why are you crying? The girl is sleeping.” He’s always telling a different story, isn’t he? And then he sent them away and took the girl’s parents and his disciples into the room where her body lay. She was so small; only 12 years old. You know he should not have touched her. A dead body was also unclean. But he took her by the hand and spoke the words that would give her life, “Talitha Cum.”

This phrase is usually translated from Aramaic to mean, “little girl, get up!” Talitha is a pet name for a child. In Dutch it might be “liefje.” Little dear one. But the Hebrew root of the word is “little lamb.” It’s the same word used by Isaiah when he prophesied about a new heaven and earth, when the former things will pass away, “and you will be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating, for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight…. no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime... Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb [the little lamb!] shall feed together… They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.”

This is a vision of the shalom that God intended back in the Garden of Eden, and it is the reason that even in the moment of the Fall God was reaching out to send Christ to be born of Mary. It is the reason Jesus came down to “build his nest in the mud.” He came to be with and among the people he would save so that he could restore all things to God’s design. “Little lamb, get up,” he said.

You’re probably not surprised to know the Aramaic word for “get up,” has a deeper meaning too. Its root is the Hebrew for “rise up.” As in the invitation from God through Isaiah, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60) As in the conversation Jesus had with Martha about Lazarus, “your brother will rise again.” (John 11) As in the words of Paul, who said, “everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it [is written], “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph 5)

What Jesus said was not what parents say when they knock on their child’s door before the bus comes. It wasn’t, “Hey, it’s time to get up!” What he really said really was, “Little lamb, you whom I cherish, for whom I have great redemptive plans… rise up from the dead, rise up to new life. This is why I came down to you. I am making all things new.” And what do you think happened? I think that girl felt herself pulled upward, out of darkness and into the light. Out of heaviness and immobility into freedom and movement. Her eyes opened and she got up. She rose up. She started walking around.

OUR CALL – TO REACH OUT AND RISE UP

 “Do you not know,” Paul said, “That all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6)

It’s what we were created for. Do you feel it? I do. And I see it in you. Fellowship is a church of people who are walking in newness of life. I want to tell you, on a personal note, that it has been my honor to walk with you these four years. It was not easy to answer the call back to Canada, for a number of reasons. One is that I love you. We have followed Christ together. And I’ll miss you like crazy. You have loved me with glad and generous hearts, welcomed me into the family, and taught me how to be a pastor. I am deeply grateful.

Another reason it was not easy to answer the call back to Canada is that I have my own ways of getting stuck. Maybe we all do. Mine is fear. There’s a quotation by the author Annie Dillard that has haunted me for years. She says, “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? …Ushers [at church] 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.”

If I am honest, I love the idea that God is wildly and powerfully beyond our understanding, drawing us out into new life. But I get stuck by the thought that God might draw us out to where we can never return. I am afraid. What if God reaches out his hand to me, and I say “yes” and take it, and he draws me up and out into new and beautiful things that are beyond my systems of control? What if it’s lonely there? What if God asks me to do things I don’t want to do? What if I’m not good enough? What if I have to open myself up in uncomfortable ways? What if I have to let go of possessions? What if I have to leave my friends and family, my country? What if I have to leave you? And what if after I say “yes” to God, I am never able return to life as I know it now? I hold back because of fear. Everyone gets stuck by something.

But this is incarnation. Christ comes down into the mud and mess of our lives. He reaches out to us. “Little lamb, rise up,” he says. That is the invitation… to you, to me, to us as a church. He is drawing us outward. Pulling us upward, out of darkness and into the light. Out of heaviness and immobility into freedom and movement and life. You know, there is another reason Renaissance artists used the swallow as a symbol in their paintings of Christ. Because they believed that when swallows suddenly returned to civilization in the Spring, they had burst up and out of the mud, just as Christ burst up and out of the tomb. He who came down to be with us, who reached out to us and walked among us, also died and went down to the grave for us so that when he burst forth and rose to new life we would rise too.

It makes me think of the poet Maya Angelou: “I rise, I rise, I rise.” That’s how we are to live. We are the resurrection people. Do you hear it? The ones who, no matter how uncertain or stuck we feel, are invited by Christ to speak out, to reach out and rise up in the Spirit. And then we are sent out (“Go in peace”) to live a resurrection life, to join with Christ as he restores all things to God’s design. To live in such a way that our lives are a sign of the One who makes all things new.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Mark 4:1-34

I.                    Introduction          

1. Jesus came announcing that the Kingdom of God is at hand—that the long-awaited time of God’s salvation for his people and the whole world had arrived in Jesus—here and now!  It was the stuff of revolution—God turning the world upside down.  Jesus didn’t just announce this—he he showed us through his miraculous signs of casting out demons and healing the sick.  We’ve experienced Jesus as both a preacher and a healer.
2. Today, we experience Jesus as a teacher.   He is a rabbi, after all, and a rabbi teaches his students.  How does Jesus teach about the kingdom of God?  Through parables.

II.                 What Are Parables?

A.    Stories and comparisons that connect with ordinary, everyday life. 

B.     The word “parable” means “something that is placed alongside something else for the purpose of clarification.” This is Jesus preferred way of teaching about the kingdom of God.  “There was a father with two sons…” “A Samaritan was traveling on a road…”  “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like…”

C.     Parables connect with ordinary life—but there is also an element of surprise in them.  They have a way of catching us off guard, knocking us off balance, and help us “see” in a new way.  Parables draw us in order to evoke something in us and call us to respond. 

III.               What’s Jesus saying in this cluster of Parables we just heard?

A.    Ordinary images of a farmer sowing seed.  And lighting a common house lamp.  And a tiny mustard seed that grows into the greatest of all shrubs.  There’s nothing big and sensational about these stories.  They’re so ordinary! 

B.     The meaning is not obvious.  Jesus says, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”  In fact, this command to “listen” comes up 10 times in these thirty-some verses.  The crowd seems to be listening, but they do not understand what the parables mean. 

C.     The disciples don’t quite understand either.  When they are alone with Jesus, they ask him about the parables.  He says to them, “To you has been given the secret (or mystery) 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 maybe not turn again and be forgiven.”

D.    What’s Jesus saying here? He’s saying that he is the Messiah that Israel (and the whole world) has been waiting for, and he is bringing God’s kingdom—this revolution in which heaven is invading earth.  But it’s not obvious because it’s not what the world expects!  He will be a different kind of Messiah, and his kingdom will look different than all the kingdoms of the world (like we’ve seen already).  He will not come with his guns blazing, with fireworks and fanfare. 

E.     This revolution that he is bringing is coming in small, quiet, humble ways that will eventually change everything.  His work is like the quiet work of a farmer extravagantly sowing seed everywhere he goes.   Much of it, maybe even a majority of it, will fall on soil where it doesn’t take root—but some of it will fall on good soil and produce an abundant harvest—more than we can even imagine!

IV.               Let Everyone with Ears to Hear, Listen!

A.    The disciples still aren’t clear what he means, so they need Jesus to explain the parable (aren’t you glad they didn’t understand?  Doesn’t make us feel so bad for our own confusion, right?). 

B.     Jesus identifies himself with the sower and the seed is God’s Word—Jesus’ message about God’s kingdom. 

C.     And Jesus is talking about the conditions of different hearts and how that message will be received.  The first soil is the hardened heart—where the seed falls on the path but Satan (the powers of darkness in the world) come snatch it up and so it doesn’t burrow into the soil.  Soil two is the shallow heart—the rocky ground—where Jesus’ message is received with joy at first, but when troubles come, the heart backs off.  The third soil is the cluttered heart, where the seed starts to grow, but because of worry and the pressures and temptations of the world, the seed gets choked and fails to yield fruit.  The fourth and final soil, however, represents the open heart; “they heard the word, accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred fold.” 

D.    Which of these four different soils represent the condition of our own hearts, we are prompted to ask?  How are we responding to God’s Word?

E.     Remember that key command of Jesus: “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!”  What’s interesting to note in the first three soils is that they all “hear” the Word, but it is a kind of hearing where it goes in one ear and out the other.  There is a different Greek word used for “hear” in the good soil—it is an ongoing hearing—listening intently—not just once but all the time—and then receiving the word and allowing it to bear fruit.  It is a hearing that leads to heeding God’s word—to yielding to the Word and obeying it.

F.     So God’s kingdom, God’s revolution, is breaking in now—and Jesus tells us that the primary place it breaks in is in the place of our own hearts.  Jesus produces fruit in us as we stand under his word—yield to it.  Here’s the thing: the different types of soil don’t just represent the condition of the heart of four different kinds of people.  These four types of soil are part of the terrain of every human heart!  And so we pray that God’s Spirit would continue to cultivate the conditions of our heart so that we might more and more be receptive to his Word!

V.                 Discipleship is about a relationship with Jesus Christ- being with him and sent by him.

A.    We can only understand Jesus’ parables and produce fruit if we are in relationship with him.  That’s one of the most important things Mark wants us to see here. We can only hear, understand and obey Jesus’word, which means find ourselves in God’s Story, by being with Jesus. 

B.     To be a disciple is to be an apprentice, a student, to follow Jesus and learn from him.  This is an ongoing journey of growth. And often God is working grow and transformation in us in small and quiet ways, but they are profound never the less!

VI.               The Mystery is made known to us SO THAT we can share it with the world!

A.    Jesus makes the mystery of the kingdom known to us as disciples (hear, receive, bear fruit).  But it’s not just for us!  He then calls us—sends us into the world—to share this mystery with others.  Lesslie Newbigin:  the gospel is an “open secret”

B.     Parable of the lamp—don’t hide it under a bushel.  Let it shine.

C.     Parable of the mustard seed—God’s work of transformation works in us in order to work through us…in small, ordinary ways that, by God’s power, will have a big impact. 

D.    And as we grow into the character of Christ, daily choosing to surrender our hearts (all the soils) to him, Christ’s power works through us.  Not necessary in big, explosive sorts of ways.  But in small ways that make a big difference.   Mother Teresa: “Don’t attempt big things for God; do small things with great love.”

VII.            A Word to Confirmation Students

A.    Students, hasn’t it been ordinary people who have done small acts with great love that have impacted you—and this moment today when you will be confirmed?  People who have had a faithful and loving presence in your life?  Whom God has used to plant seeds in your heart, nurture those seeds, and help begin to bring them to harvest?

B.     Today is confirmation—what is being confirmed?  Who?  You are being confirmed.  But this is about God’s faithfulness—God’s power at work in you.  You are being confirmed into God’s family, marked by the waters of baptism.  You are being confirmed as one who belongs to Jesus.  You are being confirmed on this journey of discipleship.  This isn’t the end, in many ways it’s just the beginning.  And you are being confirmed to join God in his mission.  Yes, God has plans and purposes for you.  But it’s not about you having to figure out how to really make your life count and do something big for God.  It’s about you embracing your identity in Jesus, and growing every day as a disciple.  It’s about being open to how God wants to use you—your ordinary life—in extraordinary ways through the way you love others and use your gifts.

C.     Oswald Chambers – “No matter what you do, where you go, who you are with…be absolutely His!”

D.    Heidelberg Catechism: “You are not your own but belong to God in Christ—body and soul, in life and death…because you belong to him, the Holy Spirit makes you whole heartedly ready and willing to serve him!”  

Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Mark 4:1-34

I.                    Introduction          

1. Jesus came announcing that the Kingdom of God is at hand—that the long-awaited time of God’s salvation for his people and the whole world had arrived in Jesus—here and now!  It was the stuff of revolution—God turning the world upside down.  Jesus didn’t just announce this—he he showed us through his miraculous signs of casting out demons and healing the sick.  We’ve experienced Jesus as both a preacher and a healer.
2. Today, we experience Jesus as a teacher.   He is a rabbi, after all, and a rabbi teaches his students.  How does Jesus teach about the kingdom of God?  Through parables.

II.                 What Are Parables?

A.    Stories and comparisons that connect with ordinary, everyday life. 

B.     The word “parable” means “something that is placed alongside something else for the purpose of clarification.” This is Jesus preferred way of teaching about the kingdom of God.  “There was a father with two sons…” “A Samaritan was traveling on a road…”  “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like…”

C.     Parables connect with ordinary life—but there is also an element of surprise in them.  They have a way of catching us off guard, knocking us off balance, and help us “see” in a new way.  Parables draw us in order to evoke something in us and call us to respond. 

III.               What’s Jesus saying in this cluster of Parables we just heard?

A.    Ordinary images of a farmer sowing seed.  And lighting a common house lamp.  And a tiny mustard seed that grows into the greatest of all shrubs.  There’s nothing big and sensational about these stories.  They’re so ordinary! 

B.     The meaning is not obvious.  Jesus says, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”  In fact, this command to “listen” comes up 10 times in these thirty-some verses.  The crowd seems to be listening, but they do not understand what the parables mean. 

C.     The disciples don’t quite understand either.  When they are alone with Jesus, they ask him about the parables.  He says to them, “To you has been given the secret (or mystery) 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 maybe not turn again and be forgiven.”

D.    What’s Jesus saying here? He’s saying that he is the Messiah that Israel (and the whole world) has been waiting for, and he is bringing God’s kingdom—this revolution in which heaven is invading earth.  But it’s not obvious because it’s not what the world expects!  He will be a different kind of Messiah, and his kingdom will look different than all the kingdoms of the world (like we’ve seen already).  He will not come with his guns blazing, with fireworks and fanfare. 

E.     This revolution that he is bringing is coming in small, quiet, humble ways that will eventually change everything.  His work is like the quiet work of a farmer extravagantly sowing seed everywhere he goes.   Much of it, maybe even a majority of it, will fall on soil where it doesn’t take root—but some of it will fall on good soil and produce an abundant harvest—more than we can even imagine!

IV.               Let Everyone with Ears to Hear, Listen!

A.    The disciples still aren’t clear what he means, so they need Jesus to explain the parable (aren’t you glad they didn’t understand?  Doesn’t make us feel so bad for our own confusion, right?). 

B.     Jesus identifies himself with the sower and the seed is God’s Word—Jesus’ message about God’s kingdom. 

C.     And Jesus is talking about the conditions of different hearts and how that message will be received.  The first soil is the hardened heart—where the seed falls on the path but Satan (the powers of darkness in the world) come snatch it up and so it doesn’t burrow into the soil.  Soil two is the shallow heart—the rocky ground—where Jesus’ message is received with joy at first, but when troubles come, the heart backs off.  The third soil is the cluttered heart, where the seed starts to grow, but because of worry and the pressures and temptations of the world, the seed gets choked and fails to yield fruit.  The fourth and final soil, however, represents the open heart; “they heard the word, accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred fold.” 

D.    Which of these four different soils represent the condition of our own hearts, we are prompted to ask?  How are we responding to God’s Word?

E.     Remember that key command of Jesus: “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!”  What’s interesting to note in the first three soils is that they all “hear” the Word, but it is a kind of hearing where it goes in one ear and out the other.  There is a different Greek word used for “hear” in the good soil—it is an ongoing hearing—listening intently—not just once but all the time—and then receiving the word and allowing it to bear fruit.  It is a hearing that leads to heeding God’s word—to yielding to the Word and obeying it.

F.     So God’s kingdom, God’s revolution, is breaking in now—and Jesus tells us that the primary place it breaks in is in the place of our own hearts.  Jesus produces fruit in us as we stand under his word—yield to it.  Here’s the thing: the different types of soil don’t just represent the condition of the heart of four different kinds of people.  These four types of soil are part of the terrain of every human heart!  And so we pray that God’s Spirit would continue to cultivate the conditions of our heart so that we might more and more be receptive to his Word!

V.                 Discipleship is about a relationship with Jesus Christ- being with him and sent by him.

A.    We can only understand Jesus’ parables and produce fruit if we are in relationship with him.  That’s one of the most important things Mark wants us to see here. We can only hear, understand and obey Jesus’word, which means find ourselves in God’s Story, by being with Jesus. 

B.     To be a disciple is to be an apprentice, a student, to follow Jesus and learn from him.  This is an ongoing journey of growth. And often God is working grow and transformation in us in small and quiet ways, but they are profound never the less!

VI.               The Mystery is made known to us SO THAT we can share it with the world!

A.    Jesus makes the mystery of the kingdom known to us as disciples (hear, receive, bear fruit).  But it’s not just for us!  He then calls us—sends us into the world—to share this mystery with others.  Lesslie Newbigin:  the gospel is an “open secret”

B.     Parable of the lamp—don’t hide it under a bushel.  Let it shine.

C.     Parable of the mustard seed—God’s work of transformation works in us in order to work through us…in small, ordinary ways that, by God’s power, will have a big impact. 

D.    And as we grow into the character of Christ, daily choosing to surrender our hearts (all the soils) to him, Christ’s power works through us.  Not necessary in big, explosive sorts of ways.  But in small ways that make a big difference.   Mother Teresa: “Don’t attempt big things for God; do small things with great love.”

VII.            A Word to Confirmation Students

A.    Students, hasn’t it been ordinary people who have done small acts with great love that have impacted you—and this moment today when you will be confirmed?  People who have had a faithful and loving presence in your life?  Whom God has used to plant seeds in your heart, nurture those seeds, and help begin to bring them to harvest?

B.     Today is confirmation—what is being confirmed?  Who?  You are being confirmed.  But this is about God’s faithfulness—God’s power at work in you.  You are being confirmed into God’s family, marked by the waters of baptism.  You are being confirmed as one who belongs to Jesus.  You are being confirmed on this journey of discipleship.  This isn’t the end, in many ways it’s just the beginning.  And you are being confirmed to join God in his mission.  Yes, God has plans and purposes for you.  But it’s not about you having to figure out how to really make your life count and do something big for God.  It’s about you embracing your identity in Jesus, and growing every day as a disciple.  It’s about being open to how God wants to use you—your ordinary life—in extraordinary ways through the way you love others and use your gifts.

C.     Oswald Chambers – “No matter what you do, where you go, who you are with…be absolutely His!”

D.    Heidelberg Catechism: “You are not your own but belong to God in Christ—body and soul, in life and death…because you belong to him, the Holy Spirit makes you whole heartedly ready and willing to serve him!”  

Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Mark 1:40-2:12

“Let us go on to the neighboring towns,” Jesus says to his disciples, “so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” (1:38)

What message did Jesus come to proclaim?  We talked about it last Sunday.  The urgent and “breaking news” that God’s kingdom (or reign) was at hand-- it had finally arrived!  And people could enter and receive this kingdom by turning around and switching the “scripts” of their lives (“Repent and believe in me!”).  In other words, they were invited to step into a new story—God’s Story-- by becoming a follower of Jesus.

Jesus not only announced this kingdom.  He also demonstrated it by performing miracles.  We see him do two miracles in our story today—heal a man with leprosy and also a paralytic who was lowered through the roof by his friends.   In a way, Jesus’ miracles are enacted sermons.  They are signs of God’s kingdom, windows into the future of what God intends to do for all creation when his kingdom comes in its completion.  A preview, really, of that glorious day when, in the words of Revelation:

“Death will be no more;
Morning and crying and pain will be no more,
For the first things have passed away…
See, I make all things new “ (Rev.21:4).

Jesus also performs these miracles to reveal his true identity—he is the Son of God, the one to whom God has given authority and power to defeat all rival powers in the spiritual and physical realm and to bring God’s restoration to the whole world.  These miracles are evidence of his authority and power.

The miracles are important and should grab our attention, but they are not the main focus.  It’s what Jesus’ says that is the main focus of the passage we heard this morning.  After all, it is not what he does that upsets the religious authorities (the scribes), but what he says that so deeply offends them.

What did he say that was so offensive?  After the friends of this paralyzed man, so determined to bring him to Jesus, lower him down through the roof, Mark writes: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  That’s it right there—that’s what sets the scribes off:  “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  The friends brought the paralytic to be healed from his physical affliction.  Jesus turns around and forgives him of his sins.

Mark goes on: 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?”  And the scribes are exactly right.  Forgiveness of sins was exclusively God’s right.  No one else could do this.  There were plenty of Jewish healers around, but none of them claimed the authority to forgive sins.  To do so was a violation of the first commandment!  Only God can forgive sins.

And Mark wants us to see here that this is exactly what Jesus is claiming.  He is the Son of God, God in the flesh.  While it is true that in the narrative structure of the story, Jesus wants to keep his identity hidden, Mark wants to make Jesus’ identity clear.  This is the one who not only has the authority and power to overcome the evil forces and physical illnesses but he is the One who overcomes the greatest enemy of all: sin.  Jesus is God in the flesh who has come to bring God’s healing power of forgiveness.

One of the biggest ironies in this story is that the leper and the paralytic—whose outward physical affliction was an indication in the ancient world view that they were being punished for sin or the sin of their parents’—end up being the ones who are forgiven and healed; and the ones who outwardly think they are fine (the scribes) turn out to be the ones who are most severely sick and in need of forgiveness and healing.   Augustine rightly pointed out that the ones most in need of healing in this story are the scribes, for they suffer from an inward “leprosy of the heart,” an inward “paralysis of the soul.”

In other places in the gospel, Jesus exposes this ancient assumption that sickness and disease are a consequence of individual sin.  But he does connect physical healing here with sin.  Why?  Because the deepest malady we all face, every single one of us, is the malady of sin.  None of us is immune; we all are infected.  Jesus reveals that at the root of all the world’s brokenness and problems is this issue of sin. 

To be born into a sinful world, born into a sinful condition as we all are, means that things are not the way they are supposed to be.  There is disease and sickness, mental illness and emotional brokenness, addiction and depression, suffering and pain in all its forms.  Jesus wants to heal all of that.  He wants to heal us as whole persons.  But to do so—to heal body and soul conjointly-- he must get at the root of the problem, which is sin itself.  And so he announces that he has the authority to forgive us of our sins.  Later he would say, “The Son of Man has come to be ransom for many, for the forgiveness of their sins.”  Ultimately, he would accomplish this in his greatest display of power—suffering on our behalf on a Roman cross.

John Van Gorp’s life was turned upside down when, at 36 years old, he was diagnosed with cancer.  For the next several months he would find himself driving back and forth to the hospital, spending hours in a brown leather recliner with bags of chemo being pumped into his body.

One Sunday morning in church, about midway through John’s treatments, we were celebrating the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  John’s wife, Anna, was perched up in the balcony with the choir.  John sat on the main floor in his usual spot next to his three children, his head bald and his body swollen from all the chemo.   Mitchell, the youngest who was 3 years old at the time, was sitting there playing with his John Deere tractors.  We had already shared in the bread.  Next we passed the tray of grape juice.  When it came to John, he gingerly took a little cup out and passed it on to the next person.  Mitchell stopped what he was doing and looked intently at the little cup clutched between his dad’s thick fingers.  He crawled up on the pew next to his dad and whispered in John’s ear: “Daddy, is that the blood that’s going to make you all better?”

When John told me about this after the worship service, he explained that it was in that moment, when his son asked him that question, he knew that no matter what happened, whether he beat the cancer or not, everything was going to be okay.  “As I drank that juice,” he said, “it hit me that Jesus’ blood was really shed for me and that somehow it’s all going to turn out all right.  So I pulled Mitchell close, held him in my arms and said: ‘That’s right, buddy, Jesus’ blood is going to make Daddy all better.  Jesus’ blood makes all of us all better.”

How did the prophet Isaiah say it so long ago?  Here it is: “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases….He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed by our iniquities; he bore the punishment so that we might become whole; and by his wounds, we are healed” (53:4,5).

By his wounds we are healed.  Hear the good news today: Jesus’ blood has the power to forgive us all our sins.  He is the Great Physician who has the power to heal and restore us all—to make us well, body and soul.

That includes you.  Whatever your brokenness today, whatever your wounds, whatever your affliction.  Jesus is the Great Physician who can heal you.  “If you choose,” said the man with leprosy, “You can make me clean.”  And Jesus said, “I do choose.  Be made clean.”

Jesus not only is able to heal you, but he chooses to do so.  Healing may not come in the way we expect or even think we want.  It reminds me of a story of a man who had acquired a life-threatening illness and who was bitter and angry inside—angry at God, angry at his family, angry at the world.  One day his wife dragged him to church, and the pastor was offering prayers for healing.  Reluctantly, he went forward and was prayed over.

Several months later, his wife called the pastor and told him that her husband had passed away.  The pastor said he was sorry, and thought back to the prayers of healing for the man, thinking to himself a lot of good that did.

The woman said, “You don’t understand.  When my husband walked into church Sunday, he was a bitter man, angry with God.  And the angrier he got with God, the meaner he was to everyone around him.  But after you prayed for him, something was different.  He was a different person.  It’s like he finally was able to let go of his bitterness.  The last four months have been some of the best days of our whole marriage.  We talked, we laughed.  We even sang hymns together.”  She paused, and then said, “Pastor, my husband wasn’t cured, but he was healed.”

While Jesus did choose to physically cure some while he walked on earth, there were many he did not cure.  Remember that the main point of his healing was to point to God’s Kingdom and give us a preview of what he will one day to for us all who put our trust in him.  Jesus may not choose to cure us on this side of the grave, but he does offer us healing at the deep level of the soul right now.  He offers us forgiveness, which is the one thing that will eventually lead to our complete healing.

And this healing is not just for us personally or us as faith community; it is healing for the whole world.  Jesus heals us so that we might be a community that embodies his forgiveness and healing for others.  I love these words by 20th century missionary Lesslie Newbigin:

“The whole congregation is called to be a healed and healing fellowship, in which the healing love of God is ever at work to bind up the wounds of its members.  And beyond this, the healing work is to spread beyond the congregation into the community around it….Whoever touches the Church—even in the most tenuous fashion, even in the midst of all the bustle and press of our business—should find that he has touched the source of healing.  The healing that we receive here…is given for the sake of all our neighbors.” (The Good Shepherd, pp.72-3).

What if this was really the case?  That we, Fellowship Church, were seen as a healed and healing community?  That all who touch us (and all the people we touch) would discover that they have touched the source of healing, Jesus himself?

It begins with us being healed ourselves.  So let me ask you: what kind of healing do you need today?  Maybe you need physical healing, but Jesus our Great Physician doesn’t stop there.  He offers spiritual healing, emotional healing, mental healing.  Maybe you are in a relationship that is badly wounded and needs healing.  Maybe you need to be healed of baggage in your past or painful memories.  Maybe you need to be healed of shame and guilt.  Maybe you need to be healed of a grudge that you’ve been holding onto for much too long, and it’s become like leprosy of the heart, paralysis of the soul. 

Whatever kind of healing you need, Jesus is the one alone who can forgive your sins and make you whole.  Jesus is the one who brings us back into right relationship with God, and makes us clean, transforms us into a new creation.  Put your faith—your trust and confidence—in him.

We’re going to create some space this morning to seek Christ’s healing presence.  There will be several stations around the sanctuary where elders and pastors will be standing by to offer prayers of healing with oil.  You may come and receive prayer on your own behalf, for whatever healing you stand in need of.  You also may come on behalf of someone else, like the paralytic’s friends came on behalf of him.  It is a powerful lesson about the nature of faith when Jesus chooses to heal the paralytic not necessarily because of his own faith but the faith of his friends!  So come on behalf of someone who may not even be here today.

“If you choose, you can make me clean,” the leper said.  Jesus stretched out his hand and said to him, “I do choose; be made well!”  He stretches out his hand and says the same thing to us.  So come, and know that by his wounds, healing is now possible for us all—indeed, for the whole world!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Mark 1:40-2:12

“Let us go on to the neighboring towns,” Jesus says to his disciples, “so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” (1:38)

What message did Jesus come to proclaim?  We talked about it last Sunday.  The urgent and “breaking news” that God’s kingdom (or reign) was at hand-- it had finally arrived!  And people could enter and receive this kingdom by turning around and switching the “scripts” of their lives (“Repent and believe in me!”).  In other words, they were invited to step into a new story—God’s Story-- by becoming a follower of Jesus.

Jesus not only announced this kingdom.  He also demonstrated it by performing miracles.  We see him do two miracles in our story today—heal a man with leprosy and also a paralytic who was lowered through the roof by his friends.   In a way, Jesus’ miracles are enacted sermons.  They are signs of God’s kingdom, windows into the future of what God intends to do for all creation when his kingdom comes in its completion.  A preview, really, of that glorious day when, in the words of Revelation:

“Death will be no more;
Morning and crying and pain will be no more,
For the first things have passed away…
See, I make all things new “ (Rev.21:4).

Jesus also performs these miracles to reveal his true identity—he is the Son of God, the one to whom God has given authority and power to defeat all rival powers in the spiritual and physical realm and to bring God’s restoration to the whole world.  These miracles are evidence of his authority and power.

The miracles are important and should grab our attention, but they are not the main focus.  It’s what Jesus’ says that is the main focus of the passage we heard this morning.  After all, it is not what he does that upsets the religious authorities (the scribes), but what he says that so deeply offends them.

What did he say that was so offensive?  After the friends of this paralyzed man, so determined to bring him to Jesus, lower him down through the roof, Mark writes: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  That’s it right there—that’s what sets the scribes off:  “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  The friends brought the paralytic to be healed from his physical affliction.  Jesus turns around and forgives him of his sins.

Mark goes on: 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?”  And the scribes are exactly right.  Forgiveness of sins was exclusively God’s right.  No one else could do this.  There were plenty of Jewish healers around, but none of them claimed the authority to forgive sins.  To do so was a violation of the first commandment!  Only God can forgive sins.

And Mark wants us to see here that this is exactly what Jesus is claiming.  He is the Son of God, God in the flesh.  While it is true that in the narrative structure of the story, Jesus wants to keep his identity hidden, Mark wants to make Jesus’ identity clear.  This is the one who not only has the authority and power to overcome the evil forces and physical illnesses but he is the One who overcomes the greatest enemy of all: sin.  Jesus is God in the flesh who has come to bring God’s healing power of forgiveness.

One of the biggest ironies in this story is that the leper and the paralytic—whose outward physical affliction was an indication in the ancient world view that they were being punished for sin or the sin of their parents’—end up being the ones who are forgiven and healed; and the ones who outwardly think they are fine (the scribes) turn out to be the ones who are most severely sick and in need of forgiveness and healing.   Augustine rightly pointed out that the ones most in need of healing in this story are the scribes, for they suffer from an inward “leprosy of the heart,” an inward “paralysis of the soul.”

In other places in the gospel, Jesus exposes this ancient assumption that sickness and disease are a consequence of individual sin.  But he does connect physical healing here with sin.  Why?  Because the deepest malady we all face, every single one of us, is the malady of sin.  None of us is immune; we all are infected.  Jesus reveals that at the root of all the world’s brokenness and problems is this issue of sin. 

To be born into a sinful world, born into a sinful condition as we all are, means that things are not the way they are supposed to be.  There is disease and sickness, mental illness and emotional brokenness, addiction and depression, suffering and pain in all its forms.  Jesus wants to heal all of that.  He wants to heal us as whole persons.  But to do so—to heal body and soul conjointly-- he must get at the root of the problem, which is sin itself.  And so he announces that he has the authority to forgive us of our sins.  Later he would say, “The Son of Man has come to be ransom for many, for the forgiveness of their sins.”  Ultimately, he would accomplish this in his greatest display of power—suffering on our behalf on a Roman cross.

John Van Gorp’s life was turned upside down when, at 36 years old, he was diagnosed with cancer.  For the next several months he would find himself driving back and forth to the hospital, spending hours in a brown leather recliner with bags of chemo being pumped into his body.

One Sunday morning in church, about midway through John’s treatments, we were celebrating the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  John’s wife, Anna, was perched up in the balcony with the choir.  John sat on the main floor in his usual spot next to his three children, his head bald and his body swollen from all the chemo.   Mitchell, the youngest who was 3 years old at the time, was sitting there playing with his John Deere tractors.  We had already shared in the bread.  Next we passed the tray of grape juice.  When it came to John, he gingerly took a little cup out and passed it on to the next person.  Mitchell stopped what he was doing and looked intently at the little cup clutched between his dad’s thick fingers.  He crawled up on the pew next to his dad and whispered in John’s ear: “Daddy, is that the blood that’s going to make you all better?”

When John told me about this after the worship service, he explained that it was in that moment, when his son asked him that question, he knew that no matter what happened, whether he beat the cancer or not, everything was going to be okay.  “As I drank that juice,” he said, “it hit me that Jesus’ blood was really shed for me and that somehow it’s all going to turn out all right.  So I pulled Mitchell close, held him in my arms and said: ‘That’s right, buddy, Jesus’ blood is going to make Daddy all better.  Jesus’ blood makes all of us all better.”

How did the prophet Isaiah say it so long ago?  Here it is: “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases….He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed by our iniquities; he bore the punishment so that we might become whole; and by his wounds, we are healed” (53:4,5).

By his wounds we are healed.  Hear the good news today: Jesus’ blood has the power to forgive us all our sins.  He is the Great Physician who has the power to heal and restore us all—to make us well, body and soul.

That includes you.  Whatever your brokenness today, whatever your wounds, whatever your affliction.  Jesus is the Great Physician who can heal you.  “If you choose,” said the man with leprosy, “You can make me clean.”  And Jesus said, “I do choose.  Be made clean.”

Jesus not only is able to heal you, but he chooses to do so.  Healing may not come in the way we expect or even think we want.  It reminds me of a story of a man who had acquired a life-threatening illness and who was bitter and angry inside—angry at God, angry at his family, angry at the world.  One day his wife dragged him to church, and the pastor was offering prayers for healing.  Reluctantly, he went forward and was prayed over.

Several months later, his wife called the pastor and told him that her husband had passed away.  The pastor said he was sorry, and thought back to the prayers of healing for the man, thinking to himself a lot of good that did.

The woman said, “You don’t understand.  When my husband walked into church Sunday, he was a bitter man, angry with God.  And the angrier he got with God, the meaner he was to everyone around him.  But after you prayed for him, something was different.  He was a different person.  It’s like he finally was able to let go of his bitterness.  The last four months have been some of the best days of our whole marriage.  We talked, we laughed.  We even sang hymns together.”  She paused, and then said, “Pastor, my husband wasn’t cured, but he was healed.”

While Jesus did choose to physically cure some while he walked on earth, there were many he did not cure.  Remember that the main point of his healing was to point to God’s Kingdom and give us a preview of what he will one day to for us all who put our trust in him.  Jesus may not choose to cure us on this side of the grave, but he does offer us healing at the deep level of the soul right now.  He offers us forgiveness, which is the one thing that will eventually lead to our complete healing.

And this healing is not just for us personally or us as faith community; it is healing for the whole world.  Jesus heals us so that we might be a community that embodies his forgiveness and healing for others.  I love these words by 20th century missionary Lesslie Newbigin:

“The whole congregation is called to be a healed and healing fellowship, in which the healing love of God is ever at work to bind up the wounds of its members.  And beyond this, the healing work is to spread beyond the congregation into the community around it….Whoever touches the Church—even in the most tenuous fashion, even in the midst of all the bustle and press of our business—should find that he has touched the source of healing.  The healing that we receive here…is given for the sake of all our neighbors.” (The Good Shepherd, pp.72-3).

What if this was really the case?  That we, Fellowship Church, were seen as a healed and healing community?  That all who touch us (and all the people we touch) would discover that they have touched the source of healing, Jesus himself?

It begins with us being healed ourselves.  So let me ask you: what kind of healing do you need today?  Maybe you need physical healing, but Jesus our Great Physician doesn’t stop there.  He offers spiritual healing, emotional healing, mental healing.  Maybe you are in a relationship that is badly wounded and needs healing.  Maybe you need to be healed of baggage in your past or painful memories.  Maybe you need to be healed of shame and guilt.  Maybe you need to be healed of a grudge that you’ve been holding onto for much too long, and it’s become like leprosy of the heart, paralysis of the soul. 

Whatever kind of healing you need, Jesus is the one alone who can forgive your sins and make you whole.  Jesus is the one who brings us back into right relationship with God, and makes us clean, transforms us into a new creation.  Put your faith—your trust and confidence—in him.

We’re going to create some space this morning to seek Christ’s healing presence.  There will be several stations around the sanctuary where elders and pastors will be standing by to offer prayers of healing with oil.  You may come and receive prayer on your own behalf, for whatever healing you stand in need of.  You also may come on behalf of someone else, like the paralytic’s friends came on behalf of him.  It is a powerful lesson about the nature of faith when Jesus chooses to heal the paralytic not necessarily because of his own faith but the faith of his friends!  So come on behalf of someone who may not even be here today.

“If you choose, you can make me clean,” the leper said.  Jesus stretched out his hand and said to him, “I do choose; be made well!”  He stretches out his hand and says the same thing to us.  So come, and know that by his wounds, healing is now possible for us all—indeed, for the whole world!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.