Sermon of Saturday, September 29, 2001 Dr. John Blackwell, Minister of Discipleship

Transcription

1 2111 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, California Fax (619) Sermon of Saturday, September 29, 2001 Dr. John Blackwell, Minister of Discipleship Now! Mark 1:21-28 It was the summer of 98. I was attending the Oxford Summer School of Religious Studies at Wadham College in Oxford England. Our lecturer was John MacQuarrie. He was a theologian that we cut our teeth on in seminary at Claremont. I was pretty interested in what he had to say. Perhaps the thing that most stuck in my mind was when he suggested that we pay particular attention to the first words that Jesus speaks in each of the four Gospels. So I did so. And this evening I begin with Mark, where Jesus first words are that the time for God s sovereignty is now. And the place is here. Jesus first words have to do with time, and that time is now. The time for the God s being king of both Israel and the entire world is now. Now Jesus does not speak the first words in Mark s Gospel, Mark narrates them. And they are well worth backing-up to. In the first sentence of his Gospel, Mark announces that Jesus is the Son of God and that his life (and Mark s Gospel) is Good News. That Jesus is Son of God is most significant. Son of God refers to God s chosen who both gets saved and who is the light by which others-the world-get saved as well. The first time anyone is referred to as God s son is in the 4 th chapter of Exodus, where God tells Moses to appear before Pharaoh and to say, Israel is my first-born son. And of course, what God is planning to do is to save his first-born son from the wretchedness and misery of slavery and oppression in a foreign land. What followed was the Exodus-the paradigmatic saving event of God s Chosen People. This event is what the people have in mind when they are in captivity in Babylon 750 years later. And what Isaiah does is to announce the end of the exile. Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. And after Isaiah makes God s announcement, we read of Good News. This is the first time the term Good News is used in the entire Bible. The Good News is that the Jews are being released from captivity in Babylon-liberated from their exile in a foreign land. And in his Gospel, Mark begins by telling us that the story of Jesus is the story of the Son of God-one who will be saved from sin and death-and that his story is Good News inasmuch as it has something to do both with God s Chosen being saved from slavery and release from captivity. When Mark begins his Gospel, he goes right to the heart of Isaiah, where Isaiah announces the end of exile. He is telling us that the good news of Jesus Son of God is the latest chapter in the end of exile, the latest chapter in the end of slavery. As a matter of fact, after Jesus 1/5

2 temptation, Jesus will tell us that his ministry completes the abolition of slavery and captivity. More precisely, Jesus ministry, and especially his death and resurrection are the fulfillment of the end of exile and the establishment of God s sovereignty for all people for all time. If he was the Son of God and the Messiah, why did Jesus have to be baptized? And why did he have to be tempted in the wilderness? Was it really necessary that Jesus undergo trials? And if so, what was to be gained? Baptism was Jesus Rubicon. The die was cast. Jesus was signing on. By the end of His baptism, He was fully aware of His calling. Being fully human, a period of testing-a trial-was necessary inasmuch as His ministry itself was to be a trial by fire. Which brings us back to the question, why did Jesus have to get baptized? It was His crossing of the river; it was Jesus crossing of the Red Sea, from which there was no turning back. And because He crossed that river willingly, because He said Yes, He became fully aware of His calling, His vocation. When Jesus went into the water, the heavens split open and the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove. The splitting open of the heavens means that this Gospel in general, and the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus in particular, are all apocalyptic. That means that they specify the true, that is, the theological meaning of history. In apocalyptic imagery, the future intimations of God s future of light and rebirth break into the present through spectacular images that are decisive in their judgment but that are also ultimately comforting-they represent the renewal of a cosmos either worn-out or deteriorated by sinful actions. The images of apocalyptic charge the atmosphere with the fantastic. They may even portend destruction. But they ultimately point to a future heaven and earth that are entirely new. They portray the future world of hope, where heaven and earth are not only new, but one-just as God is One. Heaven is God s place, God s domain. What characterizes heaven is that in heaven, God s will is uncontested. Heaven is the place where God s will is welcomed and obeyed with unconditional joy. Heaven is the domain of ultimate good because Gold s will is ultimate goodness. The heavens split open, the Spirit descends upon Jesus like a dove, and the Voice from heaven speaks to Jesus. You are my Son, the beloved. Jesus now knows his vocation. Jesus now knows his calling. His calling is to be saved. His calling is to be the one who brings the exile, the captivity of the people of God, to an end. Because the heavens split open, and because the Spirit descends upon Jesus who is on earth, the episode that immediately follows is the temptation in the wilderness, where the Adversary confronts Jesus. And this is so because the Adversary to God is ultimate evil just as God is the Ultimate Good, the Uncreated Complete Being. For the heavens to split open will immediately summon the Adversary because the only thing that can oppose heaven is evil. Plato said that the unexamined life is not worth living. And Epitetus added that the untested life is not worth living as either. As a matter of fact, the untested life is not competent to lead, and the untested life is not qualified to fight and to defeat evil. For Jesus, who was fully human, to be effective as God s chosen instrument for the defeat of evil and the victory of heaven, it was necessary that he be tested in every way. His calling was the announcement of God s sovereignty. His vocation was to be the one through whom God s reign was established on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus life and ministry was the time for that s happening. That is why immediately following Jesus temptation in the wilderness, John is arrested (foreshadowing the arrest of Jesus), and Jesus announces that the time for the fulfillment of God s reign is Now. The next two things that happen are critical. It is here that Jesus speaks his first words. It is here that Jesus begins his ministry with his announcement. The time has come for the fulfillment of the kingdom of God. The time had come for its completion. The time had come for the completion of the end of exile-captivity. And what Jesus does to initiate this fulfillment is first to call disciples who follow him. They are not called because of their 2/5

3 qualifications. They are chosen to be saved. Just as the first Exodus began with the crossing of the Red Sea, so this final Exodus begins with the baptism of John. And just as the Exodus from Egypt continued as the Hebrews followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, so the way out of captivity is brought about by following Jesus, which is what he asks his disciples to do. He asks them to become followers. And the first place he leads them is into the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus hometown. And this is significant because in the synagogue is a man who is possessed by an unclean spirit-a demon. The demon is terrified by Jesus presence. What have you to do with me? I know who you are, the Holy One of God! Silencing the demon, Jesus exorcises the demon from the man. This is the first miracle Jesus performs in the Gospel of Mark. It is the defining moment for the end of exile. For the true captivity is captivity to evil. And the deliverance that Jesus completes, that he fulfills, is deliverance from captivity to evil. Jesus authority is authority over evil itself. It is over evil itself that Jesus has power. And Jesus announcement of the impending reign of God is that the time for the completion of the end of evil is now. This is the theological meaning of history. The theology of history recognizes when it is that events are the struggle between good and evil. How does the follower of Jesus recognize the good and the evil? How does the Christian recognize the difference? And how, in the process, does the Christian keep from becoming evil in the process. For example, how do you eradicate terrorism without becoming a terrorist? And how do you eradicate evil without becoming evil? How can we possibly respond to evil and still follow Jesus? Mark addresses this problem in the 5 th chapter. Jesus and his disciples went to the country of the Gerasenes. Out of the tombs stepped a man with an unclean spirit. He lives among the tombs, but unlike the dead, he cannot be restrained. Similarly, whereas the dead are incapable of harming themselves, this man was selfdestructive. The dead remain silent. This man cries-out day and night. His entire being is riddled and debilitated with contradictions. He is literally at war within himself. He can both fall down before the Son of God and worship him while at the same time demanding that the Son of God depart from his presence. When Jesus asks the demoniac his name, he truthfully says, My name is Legion, for we are many! Terrified, fearful of their destruction (what else can evil fear in the presence of good), they request leave to enter a heard of pigs, which, when possessed by the legion of demons, jumps off a cliff to their death and destruction. What does Jesus do? He delivers the man from the legion of demons into the order of sitting in his right mind. The message is all too clear. The eradication of evil begins with people in Jesus own world. And it produces people who want to follow Jesus. They become the very ones on whom Jesus counts as witnesses-those from whom Jesus has exorcised the legion of contradictions. What Mark is saying is that Jesus calling is to deliver the world from evil. And He does so by beginning with us-with those whom He calls to follow Him. He comes to you, He comes to me. He says, Tell me who you are. Tell me who you have been. Are you at peace inside? Do you live for the purpose for which you have been created? Or are you riddled with contradictions? Competing forces? Are you are war within yourself? If you are, I am hear to wash the contradictions completely from you. I am here to deliver you from evil and insanity to the end that you can sit in peace-fully clothed and in your right mind. There is then one additional calling for the church with respect to its apocalyptic vision of God s future. The eradication of evil is but one part of the apocalyptic vision of the future breaking into the atmosphere is church, if not world. The other is the vision of what a new heaven and a new earth look like. What is it like when people, if not the world, are rid of evil, and the good that is in us can dominate, if not shine? I d like to turn to Rabbi Paysach Krohn for the answer. He gives one picture in his book Echoes of the Maggid. 3/5

4 The setting is New York. The story features a boy named Shaya-a special needs student whose challenges were both physical and intellectual. Shaya s daddy used to ask why it was that his boy was the way he was? It is sometimes difficult to know why. His daddy had Shaya at the park one day. Shaya saw some boys playing baseball. His eyes got big, and he said, Daddy, can I play baseball with these boys? His daddy s heart sank. His daddy couldn t imagine the boy s saying yes, and he knew that it would be another defeat for Shaya. But he went and asked. Can Shaya play ball with you? The boy his daddy asked went and asked another boy. The other boy said, It s the bottom of the 8 th, and we re down six runs. Why not? Shaya s new team took the field. They carefully placed Shaya behind the second baseman so that he couldn t do any damage. Miraculously, the other team went three up, three down. Shaya s team was now up. Things suddenly started going their way. The first two runners scored. Then the bases loaded. There were two outs. And you know who was coming to bat. Shaya. His daddy thought, it s over. But this was a day of amazing events. The opposing pitcher got as close to Shaya as he could and lobbed a pitch that Shaya could hit. Shaya took a swing and a miss. Ol pessimistic Dad again thought, He s going to strike-out, and they re going to lose. Another failure for Shaya. But what happened next is that one of the boys on Shaya s team moved in behind Shaya and carefully placed his arms around Shaya and with him held the bat. The opposing pitcher again delivered-up a soft pitch, and together, Shaya and his helper swung the bat. They connected, hitting a soft dribbler to the pitcher. Ol pessimistic Dad again thought, It s over. But what happened was that the pitcher threw the ball far over the head of the first baseman. And everyone on Shaya s team was yelling, Run, Shaya, run! Shaya ran, with all his heart and soul. But by the time he reached first, the right fielder had the ball. But when the right fielder threw the ball to second, he not only threw it over the head of the second baseman, he threw it over the head of the short stop, the third baseman, and the third base coach. In fact, he threw the ball into the bleachers. And now, the boys from both teams-eighteen in all, including the boy who held the baseball that he had retrieved from the bleachers, were surrounding Shaya and were yelling, Run, Shaya, run! They cheered him on. Shaya rounded third. Shaya headed for home. And when he touched home plate, all boys from both teams picked-up Shaya, threw him up in the air, and cheered the winning run. And Shaya s daddy knew. The reason for Shaya s life? The reason for his existence? He was put here by God to cause others to love. For by loving, they became more human. Shaya s presence on earth is a vision of God s future world-a new heaven and a new earth. For the old earth had passed away. Evil lay dead. A new world had come. Love gave birth to peace. Peace gave way to joy. Someone even noted the humble smile of victory in the shyness of God s countenance. The time for the victory of God over evil is now! Click here to send your comments via to Dr. John Blackwell. Click here to send to the church staff. 4/5

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