"Three Things" - Mark 1:14 - 20
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Mark 1:14-20
“Three Things”
We continue to live in such interesting times. And the recent week brought some powerful juxtapositions.
We started the week watching the fencing and barricades go up around the nation’s Capital Building, and legions of National Guard troops filling up the regal area of the National Mall. These uniformed soldiers are still guarding the people’s Congress. We also saw every state capital across the land hustling to prepare for more unrest and potential violence.
Then on Wednesday, we witnessed one of the great hallmarks of our nation - the peaceful transfer of power, the inauguration of a new President and Vice President, including the first women elected to that national office.
And all of this happened on top of a raging pandemic out of control and worse than ever. We also have lingering issues of racism and racial injustice in the land, with economic and other woes, including division and disdain. Then we have the threats of climate crisis challenging the world.
This context in which we live - immense crises crashing at the same time, and the peaceful transfer of presidential power - provides an opportune moment to hear the gospel text for this Sunday from Mark 1:14-20. Listen.
14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 16As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
I want to use these brief moments this morning on three things in this text.
First, it says, “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God.”
Given the context of our lives - so many crises confronting us - who is not ready to hear something about “the good news of God?” I feel like we have been living with so much crazy and bad news; just what isthe “good news of God?”
When “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God,” I think he is doing what God has always tried to do - help us know that our lives are rooted in God’s life, help us know what God and the God-life are supposed to look like, and provide light and hope for our lives no matter what evil and difficulty might come our way. God is always in our midst. God always goes with us. God never leaves us. And God intends for us to live in such a way that we align with God’s purposes in the world, which include justice and joy, peace and wholeness, love and light for everyone.
So, Jesus comes on the scene “proclaiming the good news of God.” To me, the “good news of God” means the following:
- You, and all people, matter to God.
- Your life, your joys and losses, your worries and problems, your loves and cares are all wrapped in God - who comes among us, knows us, heals and helps us, forgives and focuses us for faithful service for God.
- You, me, all of us - are created by God, related to God, and called to live and serve God following Jesus.
- We are not lost in the mess of the world; we belong to God’s care and to God’s purposes.
This good news of God shapes us and focuses everything about us.
The next and second thing Jesus says is this: “The Kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.”
The important piece to note here - and not to be missed - is this. We cannot hear or receive the good news of God, the wonderful promises and presence and purposes of God - around us, for us, and focusing us - unless we turn from what we are doing and where we have been going - unless we change our direction and change our ways.
Another, more modern translation puts Jesus’ words like this: “Time is up! God’s Kingdom is here! Change your life.”
It is a call, friends, to give our hearts, our attention, our devotion to the things that matter - the things of Jesus. The world we know has so many problems - fear and injustice, hatred and intimidation, power and politics, selfishness and greed. We are inundated by these things. Jesus wants us to turn from that, repent from that, change our lives away from that, and work with him, walk with him, imagining and re-constructing a world that aligns with God’s goodness and hopes.
So, everything that Jesus says and does will show us the Way to that world, that reign of God. We love God, and we love one another. We focus on forgiveness and grace, instead of selfishness and power. We share resources and spread healing and compassion, instead of spreading hate and sowing distrust. We commit our lives to doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God.
We are called to change our lives toward God’s purposes.
And then, the third major point in this passage - Jesus encounters people and he says, simply: “Follow me.”
Twice in the next few verses we encounter a wonderful word - “immediately.” “Immediately,” it says, Simon and Andrew - without asking questions - dropped their nets and followed. A few yards down the beach, James and John, Zebedee’s sons, “immediately” dropped their nets, left their boat, left their fellow fishermen, and followed. Stunning, abrupt following!
Across the recent days, we have had Martin Luther King, Jr on our minds and hearts, as we celebrated his birthday and had so many scenes from Washington where his words continue to linger - from the Mall and the national monument to him. In December of 1955, after Rosa Parks was forced off the bus in Montgomery, AL and arrested, clergy responded by organizing a one-day bus protest of the city’s buses. You probably know that part. But maybe not this part of the story: Black ministers and leaders held a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church to discuss the possibility of extending the boycott into a long-term campaign. Martin Luther King, Jr was a young pastor, new in town. Toward the end of the meeting, one of the leaders asked young King to speak. King said this: “We’re going to work with grim and bold determination to gain justice on the buses in this city. And we are not wrong. . . . If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong.”
The night had begun as a meeting; in the course of King’s words, it became a movement. The word preached led to the word performed. (see W. Willimon, Leading with the Sermon, p. 121)
Jesus comes preaching the good news of God, and says, “follow me.” The word preached intends to lead to the word performed - in our lives, for our times, forever. The presence and purposes of God come among us in Jesus, engage us, and intend to align all of us with the Kingdom - God’s great plans of love and light, justice and joy, wholeness and hope for everyone.
I have been reading a new book, entitled, Love Is The Way - Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times. This book is by Bishop Michael Curry, the African American, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Here is a quote that speaks to us today, thinking about Jesus, who comes proclaiming the good news of God, and calling us to change and to follow - in these days, in these critical times.
“We are not a partisan group. We are not a left-wing group. We are not a right-wing group. We are a Jesus movement. That is who we are. And we come together - Protestant, Catholic, and evangelical. We come together, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. We come together, liberal, conservative, and whatever is in the middle. We come together because what binds us together is Jesus of Nazareth and his way and his teaching and his life. . . . We are committed to following the way of Jesus - who says, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. . . and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love you neighbor - that is why we are here. Love the neighbor you like and love the neighbor you don’t like. Love the neighbor you agree with and love the neighbor you disagree with. Love your Democrat neighbor. Love your Republican neighbor. Love your independent neighbor. Love your Black neighbor, your White neighbor. Love your Asian neighbor, your Latino neighbor, and your indigenous neighbor. Love your South American neighbor. Love your LGBTQ neighbor, love your Jewish neighbor, love your Muslim neighbor. Love, love, love, love your neighbor. On these two hang all the law and the prophets. (M. Curry, Love Is The Way, p. 239-240)
Jesus came preaching the “good news of God.” Jesus came saying “repent and believe” - change your life. Jesus says, “follow me.”
If it is not about love - God’s love for us - our love for God - and our love for neighbor - creating a more wholesome and hopeful world - we have missed it.
We are all a mixed-up collection of selfish interests and selfless impulses. There is a little bit of bad in the best of us and a little bit of good in the worst of us. We are complex. But Jesus comes on the scene to encounter us - to help us know the good news of God, to get us to change, and focus our lives - to follow - to love and serve toward God’s grand plans. We need good and decent people to rise up and stand up for that which is loving, that which is kind, that which is compassionate, and that which is just, merciful, and humane. Then we will move our lives, and even move the world - closer and closer to God’s reign in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman captured the nation’s attention at Wednesday’s Inauguration. Her words are worthy of repeating this morning:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
. . . .
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
God comes among us. God calls us. God asks for the best from us. Amen.