single persons, people
of all races and families
of every kind.
Holy Eucharist at 9:30 am
191 Flanagan Way (Rt 153) Secaucus, NJ 07094
Fax: 201-863-1474
MLewis@secaucus.org
This page
revised 31 Jan 00
http://www.secaucus.org/
oursaviour
http://www.secaucus.org/
oursaviour
The Church of
Our Saviour
in the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey
Home | Welcome | News | Sunday | Bulletin
Bookshop | Stewardship | Community | Links
Experiencing Strength
Beyond Our Own Strength
Reflections on the lessons
for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
By The Rev. Mark A. Lewis, Vicar
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1b-13
Mark
1:21-28
I was a little put off by today's gospel ( Mark 1:21-28). I wondered what I would feel like if someone came in here one Sunday out of the blue and taught as one with authority, and not as the scribes. Anyone who preaches and does all the wordy parts of being a clergyman has to have sympathy with those poor scribes. I, for one, depend just as those scribes did on research, study, precedent, tradition, and all sorts of other sources to arrive week-by-week at something to say that has meaning for me and - I always hope - meaning for you, too, as a result.
Really, Mark isn't too negative about the scribes. He never condemns them. He just gets very excited about this new guy with a whole new way of teaching and talking. With authority, not relying on anyone else's interpretations, not starting where the last guy left off. Jesus spoke of God and God's kingdom directly. And those of us who look to him as the model teacher have to have the humility to realize that there was just something about Jesus that I for one will never have. Something about his connection with God that ordinary people can move toward, but just never quite match.
It's interesting that no one in the room (as the story goes) knew Jesus or anything about him. But no one questions him in his audacious new ideas about who and what God is and how that affects our lives. I had to wonder if I actually spend a lot of time and energy trying to PREVENT anyone very much like Jesus from showing up here at our church. If someone walked in and laid out a plan for proclaiming God's power and kingdom in the world that was a direct opposite of my own notions, and you all soaked up every word with wild excitement, I'd be out of a job.
Not only the regular congregation was caught up in the moment, even a man with an unclean spirit, a crazy guy, was distracted from his very big problem to be the first person in Mark's gospel to recognize out loud how terrifically singular Jesus was, how he was "the Holy One of God". And with a great convulsion, somehow, this Holy One of God has made this unclean-spirited man able to turn things around and get back to life. Go figure. But the big story is that Jesus has begun his completely new kind of ministry on a Sabbath day morning with -- Mark would have us understand -- the three essential components of what Jesus called "proclaiming the kingdom of God".
Scenes like the one in today's gospel -- especially the miracle stories -- are not short, historical accounts of what happened on certain long-ago days. They're highly compressed poems about the enormous message that coils behind them. In the manner of Japanese haiku. One of the things today's poem says is that people who want to proclaim the kingdom of God themselves should do so by teaching, casting out demons, and healing sick people. All three taken together as a package make up a new way Jesus says for God's people to display God in the world.
It was a big shift. Many of the people in that synagogue might have told you that the things God wants us to do are study, follow the dietary and other laws of Leviticus, and regularly recite certain carefully prescribed prayers on a daily and annual cycle. But Jesus says no: Teach, throw out demons, and heal sick folks. Maybe not the way I can, but do it as well as YOU can.
If this were a long sermon, I might go into more details about how those three ways of proclaiming the kingdom of God might play out. There are thousands of choices: Teaching your grandchildren that generosity and personal dignity are more important than having the right kind of shoes, throwing out demons in positions of public trust, supporting this church so that when I'm available to talk to a troubled parishioner or to some stranger or when the church treasurer sends a check to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief a few sick people might get a little help.
But this isn't a long sermon, so I'll ask you to do my work for me and search around the things you do and find out where you are teaching, exorcising, and healing -- and thereby following Jesus. Insofar as we are doing those things, well, to that extent we are living in the kingdom of God. And to the extent we are living in the kingdom of God, we may count on miracles, count on experiencing strength beyond our own strength.
-- Mark Lewis
Your comments or questions are welcome MLewis@secaucus.org.
Links to additional "Reflections on Lessons" may be found at the bottom of the Sunday web page.
© 2000 -Church of Our Saviour Home | Welcome | News | Sunday | Community | Links
http://www.secaucus.org/oursaviourWebmaster - DRoberts@Secaucus.org