Sunday 7 February 2021 - Epiphany 5

Theme(s): Healing / Restoration / Obligation to preach / All things to all people

Sentence: Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up (Mark 1:31)

Collect:

"Healing God,
in the touch of Jesus the sick were healed,
the chains unbound.
Freedom is before us.
Set us on a new path of wholeness,
deliver us from all that binds us,
turn us to embrace that life giving love
offered through Jesus Christ,
who is alive and lives with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen."

Readings:

Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

Comments:

Isaiah 40:21-31

Isaiah 40 is the beginning of the second part of Isaiah which is (so to speak) a charter for the future restoration of creation (i.e. the kingdom of God), including the restoration of Israel from its Babylonian exile (the immediate issue facing God's people at the time of writing).

In this part of the beginning of the charter, the prophet paints a verbal picture of the transcendent might and power of God, yet a power and awesomeness which is personal: the weary in Israel will receive new strength and power from the Almighty God (27-31).

These last verses are the particular connection with the gospel reading today as we see new strength come to Peter's mother-in-law.

But the first part of the Isaianic reading reminds us that from Isaiah onwards 'God' in Israel's theology was re-envisioned as God of the whole world, not just of Israel. In a context where nations had their gods, and even tribes had tribal gods, the 'theological achievement' of Isaiah is not to be under valued.

When Jesus comes, the kingdom of God which he proclaims is not only the new rule of God over Israel but also the rule of God over the whole world.

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

This psalm sets a context for the compassionate miracles of Jesus recounted in Mark's Gospel. What Jesus does is God in action, as anticipated here: 'He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds' (3).

One phrase particularly links with Mark's story of the healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law: 'The Lord lifts up the downtrodden' (6b, see Mark 1:29-31 where Jesus takes the woman by the hand and 'lifts her up').

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Paul's letter is a series of responses to situations in the church in Corinth, and one situation appears to be Corinthian Christians questioning Paul's status as an 'apostle' (see verses 1-15).

Possibly there were multiple questions such as, Is Paul really an apostle like Cephas? Does he have the status of the (real) apostles and the brothers of the Lord? He's paid too much, isn't he? The last question (it seems reasonable to presume such a question was being asked, see verses 6-14) invokes intriguing talk of "rights", otherwise a concept which we might think to be recent and modern!

Out of a defensive rejoinder to the grizzling about him (1-15) Paul hits a purple patch about the special character of his apostleship in our passage.

(1) Whatever anyone says about him, 'an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel' (16). Paul can only do what he is doing because there is no alternative: the will of God constrains him to one and only one direction of life.

(2) Preaching the gospel is its own reward (17-18, also 23).

(3) Short of changing the essence of the gospel, Paul will do anything in order to win people to Christ. If he needs to be Jewish 'in order to win Jews' he will be Jewish (20); if he needs to be a non-Jew 'so that I might win those outside of the law' he will become 'as one outside the law' (21). In fact, cutting to his own summary, 'I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some' (22).

The great question for declining churches in the world today is what must we become to be 'all things to all people'?

Mark 1:29-39

One of the theories about the authorship of Mark's Gospel is that it was written by John Mark but what he wrote down was largely the teaching of Simon Peter, perhaps as he taught in the churches in Rome in the 60s AD.

(We have the theory because ancient church history attests to this explanation, but we cannot prove that it is fact - the ascription of the gospel to John Mark but based on Simon Peter is not as ancient as the likely time of writing of the gospel itself. There may be an element of wishful thinking on the part of ancient church historians because they had to justify why we might think a gospel according to one who was not one of the Twelve can be considered a reliable gospel. A challenging question if Mark's Gospel is more or less Peter's memoirs of Jesus is why so little of the teaching of Jesus is not included, compared with Matthew and Luke).

If Simon Peter is the author(ity) behind the author then it is understandable that this passage includes an intimate family story: Simon's mother in law is ill, Jesus comes as a guest to her house, heals her and she repays the favour by serving Jesus and the disciples (29-31). But Mark tells the story in a manner which is theological as well as biographical.

First, a healing with names highlights the general point Mark will go on to make: Jesus healed many people (32-34) and these healings were integrated into the mission of preaching the kingdom of God is near (1:15, 38-39). Always in this gospel, deeds back up words and words are accompanied by deeds. If the kingdom of God is near we would expect illness to be overcome, since illness is a denigration of the original kingdom of God, creation itself; and we would expect demons, antagonists against the rule of God, to be expelled (34, 39).

Secondly, Mark makes a theological point when he tells us that Jesus physically led her out of illness to new life: 'he took her by the hand and lifted her up' (31). Illness has cast her down but Jesus lifts her up. There is a hint here of resurrection. There is more than a hint of a work of restoration. Healing is not simply the removal of illness from a person's life but a work of renewal of life.

Thirdly, by telling us that when she was lifted up, Peter's mother in law 'served them', Mark also makes a point that the work of the kingdom, the restoring of health, is purposeful for the ongoing life of the kingdom in which the hallmark of relationships with one another is that we serve each other (see importantly 10:45).

Finally, note that Mark picks up another 'marker' in the life of Jesus when he interrupts his telling of the progress of the preaching of the kingdom by recounting an intimate detail of Jesus' life with God: Jesus took time out to go out to the wilderness to pray. Here, Mark is saying, is both the secret of Jesus' power (his relationship with God) and a model for disciples reading the gospel (we too, like Jesus, should go to quite places for quiet times of prayer).

Sunday 31 January 2021 - Epiphany 4

(NZL provides for the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, or Candlemas, otherwise set down for 2 February, to be celebrated today. I see no particular reason to do that, other than sentiment over the fact that 2 February is 40 days from Christmas and this ties in with the gospel reading. 

Why go back to the childhood of Jesus in a series of sermons when we can move forward through the Sundays of Epiphany and the unfolding story of the revelation of God in the ministry of Jesus from his baptism onwards? It also happens that the Gospel reading for Presentation, Luke 2:22-40, was the gospel on Christmas 1 (27 December 2020). But, if you insist, and press forward with Presentation, you may find the comments on the gospel reading here helpful.)

Epiphany 4

Theme(s): Authority / Power / Authoritative teaching / Preaching with power / Exorcism / Spiritual warfare.

Sentence: They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22)

Collect:

Teach us, Jesus
how to live and worship
without being worldly or greedy.
Drive from our lives what spoils them
and make us temples of the Spirit. Amen.

Readings:

Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28

Comments:

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The words of this passage are background to the gospel reading today. While we may properly explore the ways in which Jesus was 'more than' a prophet, he was never less than a prophet of God, one, that is, distinctively called of God to proclaim the message of God often in contrast or even opposition to prevailing understanding of God and God's will according to the religious establishment of Israel.

Thus here, where there is both prediction that God 'will raise up for you a prophet like me' (15) and prospectus (so to speak) of what the prophet will be like and how Israel will know that this prediction has been fulfilled, we are invited to read the passage and measure Jesus against it.

Psalm 111

The words of this psalm are background to the gospel reading today. When Jesus acts in power and teaches with authority he does so as the representative, indeed as the embodiment of the God of Israel, the God who, according to this psalm, performs great works which are 'studied by all who delight in him' (2), who (like Jesus in the gospel reading) 'has gained renown by his wonderful deeds' (4).

A recurring theme here is God's covenant with Israel (5, 9): when Jesus comes to Israel, he comes in fulfilment of the great covenant of God, revealed in different ways and on different occasions, through Abraham, Moses and David, yet essentially the one covenant, that God will be ISrael's God and Israel will be God's people.

When Jesus performs miraculous deeds, he demonstrates that God remains Israel's loving God.

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

In just 13 verses Paul traverses significant ground - ecclesiology, theology, christology - while talking about what Christians eat!

1 Corinthians is a series of responses to a series of issues in or questions raised by the Corinthian church. In chapter 8 we switch away from sexuality and marriage (chapters 5-7) to the question of 'food sacrificed to idols' (1). This question must have been deeply troubling to the early churches. Not only does it feature here but Paul comes back to it in 1 Corinthians 10. Across in Rome it was an issue because the matter is tackled in Romans 14-15. It is also a feature of the letters to the seven churches in Asia (Revelation 2-3).

The gist of what Paul is saying is that in a community of Christians,
- some of whom come from Gentile backgrounds and thus used to worship idols,
- some of whom come from Jewish backgrounds and thus are used to thinking idols are nothing (the gods they represent do not exist),
- some of whom are rich (and thus may afford meat not offered to idols and/or regularly receive invites to dinner with their Gentile-idol worshipping business and social colleagues) and
- some of whom are poor (and thus may rarely eat meat, and then it may be meat distributed after public festivals dedicated to idols),
care needs to be taken not to destroy faith in other believers.

In verses 1- 3 Paul is challenging Christians who use their 'knowledge' or assurance that idols do not really exist (4), and thus cheerfully eat meat dedicated previously to idols, to work out their life choices on the basis of love and not knowledge: 'Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up' (1), a theme which is touched on again in chapter 13.

In verse 7 Paul makes the observation that 'It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge.' These are the folk whom love needs to build up! In the remainder of verse 7 he spells out who these members of the Corinthian church are: Gentiles whose minds are so imbued with their previous worship of idols that they cannot freely partake of meat offered to those idols. They are the 'weak' whom the 'strong'- those who have 'liberty' (9) on the matter - may yet destroy (11).

Paul has a particular concern in verse 10 that those who are strong, in this case strong enough to actually go into a temple of an idol and partake in a meal there, may lead astray the weak because the weak (on this matter) might not just have a sensitive conscience re eating meat offered to idols, but be led to actually eat such meat with a damaging effect on their consciences.

Paul goes on to underline the severity of the sin of the strong on this matter: 'you sin against Christ' (12). Then he spells out the radical action he recommends, that is the action he himself would do if he were in Corinth: 'I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall' (13).

This is strong stuff! It works from the demands of life in the church (ecclesiology) to establish a general principle of church life (love builds up) to a specific recommendation: when meat is the cause of stumbling, stick to vegetables.

Observant readers here will have noted that I have passed over verses 4-6. Here Paul takes a kind of sidetrack. Having reminded his readers in verse 4 that when we know that 'there is no God but one' then (consequently) 'no idol in the world really exists', he goes on to make several statements about gods, God and Jesus Christ. In doing this he sets out what has proved over time to be a significant Pauline statement about theology and christology, providing grist for the mill of many doctoral theses and erudite scholarly monographs and articles!

Here, understandably, we have neither time nor space to reproduce these works. But we can make these observations:
- Verse 5 reads (e.g.) in the NRSV as a contradiction because Paul seems to admit that (despite his contrary statement in 4) that there 'may be so-called gods'. We should read this as a statement bookended by v. 4 and v. 6. That is, Paul is not saying there are many gods but that many gods are worshipped by many people, as though they do exist. And thus the reality of this worship of false gods is a strong factor in human experience.
- Verse 6 is likely an early Christian confession already in existence when Paul cited it here. (See Romans 11:36 and Colossians 1:15-16 for (relatively) comparable creedal statements).
- the two parts of verse 6 are parallel statements re 'oneness' which are significant as we search the New Testament for signs of early belief that Jesus Christ was believed to be identified with God as included in the one God of Israel; yet there are subtle differences which distinguish 'God, the Father' from 'one Lord, Jesus Christ.' In the former case creation is 'from whom are all things and for whom we exist' and in the latter case creation is 'through whom are all things and through whom we exist.'

Mark 1:21-28

The disciples are following Jesus (see last week's gospel reading). Within a few days they are in the thick of Jesus' ministry: thick with teaching, miraculous action and publicity.

Jesus the teacher presumably has some kind of relationship with the synagogue of Capernaum before his appearance on this occasion (21). Perhaps beforehand his teaching had caused no particular excitement. Now, baptised, tested in the wilderness and with a company of disciples, Jesus teaches and his congregation is 'astounded' (22) because 'he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes' (22).

We rightly ask, as readers, what does 'taught as one having authority' mean. One insight comes from realising the Greek word translated as 'authority' can also mean 'power.' In part the astonishment may concern the fact that Jesus was an ordinary Galilean, not one of the scribes (i.e. members of the Jewish establishment). Nevertheless something seems out of the ordinary because of the note re astonishment.

Whatever the power of Jesus' teaching means in respect of his words, we are soon told by Mark that his powerful/authoritative teaching was backed up by powerful deeds. On this occasion the power is the ability to rebuke an evil or 'unclean' spirit inhabiting a man present in the synagogue and to command that spirit to leave the man (23-26). Here Jesus performs the role of exorcist.

Note that Mark also tells us that the unclean spirit recognises who Jesus is and makes a confession about his status, 'I know who you are, the Holy One of God' (24). Thus Mark the narrator and theologian is cleverly communicating a lot of stuff to his readers. This is what Jesus said and did, this is how people responded to Jesus (27), this is who Jesus is. Mark is convincing his readers that Jesus is no ordinary man or teacher. Jesus is a powerful, dynamic person: actually, by the end of the gospel, readers are invited to agree that Jesus is the Son of God.

Conversely, note what Mark does not tell us about this sabbath incident: at this stage there is no controversy over acting on the sabbath (that will come later, 2:23-3:6). Mark in this first chapter is intent on introducing Jesus to his audience, setting out the basic claim about who he is. Beginning with chapter 2 we see Jesus meeting human opposition and thus Mark begins to explain how the wonderful, astounding, authoritative, popular Son of God ends up dying on a cross.

A final note is that while Jesus does not yet meet human opposition, this encounter is an instance of spiritual opposition. In the encounter with the unclean spirit Jesus engages in 'spiritual warfare': Satan has already tempted him (1:12), now one of Satan' minions challenges him. The challenge is met, the opposition is silenced, the disturbed man is released from captivity to the spirit.

Do we receive the teaching of Jesus as authoritative?

Do we trust in Jesus as the victor in all aspects of spiritual warfare?

Sunday 24 January 2021 - Epiphany 3

Theme(s): God's king / the kingdom of God / repentance / Repent and Believe / A new world

Sentence: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news (Mark 1:15)

Collect:

God of Good News,

Bearer of the Gospel,

call us to repentance,

call us to belief,

so that we may fish for people in our generation

and draw them to your love.

For you are alive and reign with the Father

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings:

Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62:5-12
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20

Comments:

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Jesus and Jonah both preach messages of repentance (and both are "buried" for three days)!

Jonah is one of the rare biblical prophets for whom people take notice and act on the prophetic message being proclaimed.

The last verse of the reading tells us of God's response to their repentance: he 'changed his mind' (10). In the context of the story of Jonah this is simply a statement about God adapting his will to the choice made by those to whom he speaks through his prophet: save debates about whether God is  fickle and changeable to another day!

Psalm 62:5-12

This is not an easy reading to connect to the themes in today's gospel reading! The key link appears to be the reliance the psalmist puts on "God alone" (5, 6). Such a reliable, trustworthy God - by implication - is One who through his Son Jesus Christ calls us to "Follow him."

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

1 Corinthians 5-7 is a sustained theology of marriage and sex. It only really works as a scriptural passage on marriage and sex if we read all of it (and then do so with our Bibles open in places such as Genesis 1-2 as well). Nevertheless, constrained by the lectionary, today we read three verses, and important verses they are!

Why does Paul at various points in his exposition on marriage and sex urge radical action, including commending celibacy? These verses give the answer: "the appointed time has grown short" (29). The Greek word used can refer to curtains being gathered together or sails being furled: now that Christ has come, time is being wrapped up, the end is nigh!

Mostly we conclude from such phrases that Paul genuinely believed that chronological time was being wrapped up, that the Lord would return in a few years or even a few days time, and thus whether one married or did not marry (see verses 25-28) was immaterial. Yet Paul is not only thinking chronologically. When he writes "For the present form of this world is passing away" (31) he is talking about the in-breaking of the kingdom into the present age. Whether this age ends in a few years or days, or a thousand years from now, it is not the same as it was before Christ came, died and rose again. Life is different now, and we should live differently if we belong to the kingdom of Christ as it breaks into the present form of this world.

All this, nevertheless, connects to the beginning of our gospel reading in which Jesus proclaims that "The time if fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near" (Mark 1:14).

Mark 1:14-20

Verses 14-15

The opening of Mark's gospel is over: John has prepared the way for Jesus and baptised him. Jesus has been tested in the wilderness. Now the work of mission to the world begins. Poignantly it begins at a point in time, according to Mark, when John has been arrested. Literally, John is moved aside for Jesus to take centre stage.

What does Jesus do? He preaches the gospel. Mark, in other words, introduces us to the mission of Jesus as primarily a mission of 'Word' or 'Message' ahead of 'Action' or 'Power'. The action/power (soon to come in v. 21) will illustrate and endorse the message, but the message is primary.

Thus the response to the preaching involves where the message is received, in the mind: "Repent, and believe in the good news" (15) where "Repent" is about changing the direction the mind is heading in and "believe" is about making a choice to entrust one's life to that which is being believed.

What is the message? It looks like it is this: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near" (15).

If so, we rejoice in a short, brief and to the point sermon ... and despair over understanding what it means!

The words in verse 15 are clearly very important in respect of the message of Jesus: they are the only particular words of his message which Mark reproduces for us.

But what do the words in the first part of verse 15 mean. Given the heavy influence of prophetic material in the preceding verses (e.g. citation of prophecy, John's role and demeanour as a prophet) we must assume that 'the time is fulfilled' relates to what the prophets previously had foretold would happen, that is, what the prophets foresaw as God's great restorative and re-creating intervention through his Messiah/Christ.

In turn, this means that 'the kingdom of God has come near' is about the lordship or sovereignty of God over the and within the world is no longer distant but close at hand. Indeed, the remainder of the gospel, as Jesus teaches with authority and acts in deliverance, healing and control over nature with power, demonstrates the personal character of the 'kingdom of God': the kingdom has come near because God's king is now present in the world.

Verses 16-20

Mark's is a gospel of immediacy - he is always telling us that Jesus immediately went from one thing to another. So in Mark's terms, unsurprisingly he tells the story of the calling of the first disciples simply (they fish, Jesus calls, nets are dropped, they follow) and bluntly (there are no introductions, no tentative first moves in getting to know one another).

Matthew copies Mark, Luke offers a different version (in which fishing remains central) and John mentions nothing about fishing and tells a quite different story about how Jesus met his first disciples. In all likelihood (not least because it is not human nature to act so abruptly) the disciples did not meet Jesus for the first time when he called them to follow him.

If so, then Mark is not so much telling us about the first time Jesus meets the disciples and they meet him, rather he is telling us about the decisiveness of the call of Jesus to discipleship. Whatever the "backstory" was to this encounter, on this day Jesus calls for total commitment and the fishermen give it. They leave their nets. They will no longer fish for fish. They will fish for people.

Of course later we read of other encounters in the gospel in which people encounter Jesus but he sends them back to their homes and does not ask them to follow him on the road. Many disciples today follow Jesus without a dramatic career change. Yet Mark does not tell us today's story with a "on the one hand there are those who ... and on the other hand there are those who ..." ending. So we can ask ourselves, What is Mark communicating to all disciple-readers of his gospel in 1:14-20?

What he is communicating is the importance of disciples responding to Jesus completely and fully, with a decisive break from former ways of living (i.e. "repentance") and total commitment to the new way of Jesus. Whether one serves in one's home village or on the road with Jesus himself is up to Jesus, but what he asks of every disciple is that they commit wholly to Jesus.

When the king of the kingdom of God is present we should take notice and when that king calls us to do something, we should obey!