Sermon for February 4, 2024 – The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Perhaps one of the most enduring aspects of our holy scriptures and the Gospels in particular, is that we can often locate ourselves in the stories. Time and again, we can hear the same stories, and yet find our hearts resonating with different characters each time. When we are able to locate ourselves in these stories, we are then able to see just how these stories remain relevant some two thousand years later in supporting our walk of faith. And so, we turn again to Chapter 1 of Mark to see what pearl of wisdom it might be offering us today.

The Sundays of Epiphany offers us sequential gospel readings from the opening chapter of Mark. Though we now arrive at the fifth Sunday of Epiphany, you might notice that we still have only reached the twenty-ninth verse. In just a few verses, we have been swept up into an exciting crescendo of activity. Hardly has the “good news” been announced when John the Baptist appears on the scene gathering crowds who respond to his persuasive preaching of the “forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:5). In just a few verses, the promised “One who is coming” arrives and is baptized accompanied by splitting heavens and a voice announcing divine favour (Epiphany 1). Even when Jesus astonishingly announces that the “good news” of God’s reign has already arrived and calls hearers to repentance and faith, we might be just a little taken aback when a group of fisher folk suddenly abandon their former lives and follow him (Epiphany 3). And there is still no time to grab a breath. Immediately, Jesus leads them to a synagogue on the Sabbath where the crowds marvel at his authoritative teaching and power to exorcise demonic powers (Epiphany 4). It makes you wonder if anyone ever sleeps in Mark's Gospel.

Even in today’s reading, there is no slacking of the pace. As the Sabbath ends, it might have been tempting for Jesus to bask in the successful exorcism, the accolades of his authoritative teaching and a reputation that has already spread “immediately” throughout all of Galilee” (Mark 1:28). But in this story, there is no time for resting on laurels. Three times in succession we have heard the word “immediately.” This reinforces the sense of urgency that we encounter in Mark's stories with “immediately” appearing fourteen times in the first two chapters of Mark alone. With this word, the story bursts through the synagogue doors and pushes towards the rest of Galilee — to the rest of the week, to the rest of our lives. The gospel for today reminds us that the story of Jesus is always on the move and will not allow any of us hearers to remain who or where we are. Within a few short verses, the end of today’s lesson will invite us to join this Jesus whose “preaching” and healing of the demonic will take him “throughout the whole of Galilee” (Mark 1:29).

This mission has a grand sweep. Different kinds of settings involving different kinds of people suffering different kinds of problems — Mark implies that Jesus’ ministry of deliverance has widespread influence, with potential to benefit all kinds of people. It is also a ministry that is particular and close to home. It is interesting, if not a bit puzzling, that we find those same four fishermen who answered Jesus’ call and “abandoned everything” (Mark 1:14-20) back at home and still concerned with the realities of day-to-day life. For example, a mother-in-law is sick with a fever. Yet, Jesus’ power extends even here, and we get an anticipatory glimpse of just where this story and mission might lead us. Jesus took her by the hand and “lifted her up.” The Greek literally reads “he raised her.” It is surely no accident that here for the first time our imaginations are teased with this promissory “good news” word which will follow this story of Jesus to its surprising, climactic resurrection ending.

Yet, even now, this anticipatory promise bursts upon the scene. From the healing of one person, the numbers in the story have a staggering effect that no attempt to discount them as mere hyperbole can undo. People bring “all” who are sick to Jesus; the “whole city” is at the door. He heals “many” who are sick with “all sorts” of diseases and casts out “many” demons. The success seems palpable and unstoppable. Jesus’ power is clear.

It is to his future work that the rest of today’s story then directs us. In the morning Jesus is up early and once again “in the wilderness” to ponder his mission in prayer. God’s baptismal commission has brought him to this place. There is a tug to remain for the “everyone” who is searching for him. But Jesus’ words, “Let us go on,” speak to his clear sense of call and mission. “It is for this reason that I came — to preach to the cities that lie ahead…” he says.

Jesus’ words address the clear sense of purpose and mission that are already part of Mark’s story. It breathes of the power of forgiveness and healing that God has in store for the whole world. Within a few verses that mission has taken us from the particular of one mother-in-law’s sick room to the whole of Galilee and, by implication, to the whole world.

So where are you in this story? Perhaps you might be feeling a bit like the mother-in-law, in need of some sort of healing that will allow you to get back to what you want or need to do. Or perhaps you might be feeling like the disciples, ready to leave everything behind to follow Jesus only to be weighed down by the anxiety-laden realities of day-to-day life. Or maybe we are feeling more and more like Jesus, seeking a quiet place for some silence, stillness, and rest.

In twenty-nine verses Mark has already given us several pearls of wisdom which can guide us in our walk of discipleship. And today we are reminded of the dual nature of this journey to God. The mission of God is nonstop. Like Jesus wanting to move on to the next town, God’s work is never done. God is always in and amongst us trying to reach each of us; reminding us, strengthening us, reassuring us that no matter how difficult this journey gets, God is with us. God is molding us and shaping us as we move with him. Our story today also highlights the flip side of this, in that all of us, including Jesus himself, needs to balance the frenetic unending pace of carrying out the mission of God with rest. Each of us needs to find that place in the world around us or within ourselves where, like Jesus, we can find some stillness and silence.

So it is then, that as we slowly make our way towards Lent, we can spend this time reflecting on this balance in our lives. Too much of one and we will experience burnout, while too much of the other and we become stationary where we won’t experience spiritual growth and transformation. Where do you need to slow down and perhaps find God in stillness and silence? Or where do you need to press on in your work to bring about the Kingdom of God? In a few weeks’ time you will be invited to observe a holy Lent and perhaps that means giving up something or taking on something else as a way to find more balance in your life.