Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (February 4, 2018)

Epiphany 5 – Series B (February 4, 2018)

“Looking for Jesus … Going On for Jesus” (Mark 1:29-39)

“Everyone is looking for you,” said Simon and the others to Jesus. Jesus had been busy in Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Healing the sick. Casting out demons who had taken up residence in people. Not permitting the demons to speak. Apparently, Jesus did not want them to identify him as the Holy One of God. Instead, he wanted to draw forth faith and worship from people based on his word and work.

After such a busy time, Jesus went off to a quiet place for some solitude and prayer. Jesus needed to recharge his batteries, too. But his times of solitude never seemed to last long. People always demanded his attention. And that’s the way it was here in Capernaum. Everyone was looking for Jesus.

Wouldn’t that be great if that was the case today? Everyone looking for Jesus. The whole city of Capernaum was gathered together at the door of Simon’s and Andrew’s house. Can you imagine if the whole population of your city was gathered together at your door? Or at the door of our church? Our church would be filled, overflowing even. No more concerns with meeting budget. No more feeling inadequate when we compare ourselves to other larger churches. We could finally build a bigger building, a nicer building. We would HAVE to, if we wanted to fit all those people inside, to have enough pew space and classroom space and gathering space.

But why was everyone looking for Jesus? They had heard about his healing powers. They, too, wanted to be healed or to have their loved ones healed. They wanted to be released from the demonic powers that oppressed them. It soon becomes apparent that this is the only reason that the crowds were searching for Jesus. When they heard some of his more challenging teachings, the crowds began to dissipate. For example, in John 6, Jesus taught that he is the bread that came down from heaven, the Bread of Life. He said that the bread that he will give for the life of the world is his flesh, and that whoever feeds on his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life. All this was too much for his hearers. Many turned away from him and were no longer his disciples. This prompted Jesus to turn to the Twelve and said, “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” The Holy One of God. The very same title which Jesus forbade the demons to speak. And yet a short time later, Peter and the other disciples turned their backs on Jesus, hiding in fear. Jesus was finally left all alone … hung in solitude on the cross, giving his flesh and shedding his blood for the life of the world.

Crowds still come out today for similar reasons. It’s not so much about repentance. And the harder teachings of Jesus are often avoided … the ones that make people turn away. Instead, people simply want something from Jesus, as if he’s a heavenly vending machine. Just pray hard enough, believe hard enough, and like an Amazon delivery, God’s gifts will be sent straight to your doorstep. Healing, either physical or emotional. Help for my family, either financial or relational. That’s not to say Jesus never heals or helps. He certainly does, although his help is not dependent on using the right formula in prayer, nor is it dependent on the strength of your faith. His help is always a gift of grace and is given – or perhaps withheld – for your good, for molding and shaping you into the person God desires. And we can offer this same kind of help here in the Church, as we support one another and pray for one another and direct people to resources that can help them such as counseling or medical care. But this is not the sole reason Jesus came to be our Savior. Jesus came to die for your sins and to rise to life again, giving us everlasting life and the promise of resurrection and wholeness when he returns on the Last Day. His miracles are a foretaste of that wholeness … that Shalom … that we joyfully anticipate.

Is everyone looking for Jesus? There are still some very big churches out there … megachurches with over a thousand attendees with rock star pastors and a Sunday morning experience in an auditorium that looks more like a rock concert than a worship service, and all kinds of staffed programs for children, youth, singles, and every other demographic you can think of. But is everyone looking for Jesus? We are increasingly seeing this not to be the case. For instance, in a recent study, the Barna Group stated that “rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible reading have all been dropping for decades.” The study went on to list the top 10 “post-Christian” cities in America. The Seattle-Tacoma region came in at number 9 on the list. To qualify for the list, the people surveyed had to meet a series of factors, some of which included

• Do not believe in God
• Identify as atheist or agnostic
• Disagree that faith is important in their lives
• Have never made a commitment to Jesus
• Disagree that the Bible is accurate
• Have not donated money to a church in the last year
• Have not attended a Christian church in the last 6 months
• Have not read the Bible in the last week
• Agree that Jesus committed sins
• Do not feel a responsibility to share their faith
• And so on…

Fewer and fewer people are coming to church. Fewer and fewer people are inquiring about matters of faith. There is a waning interest in spiritual matters, Christian or otherwise. And really, we shouldn’t be all that surprised when you consider the godless evolutionary viewpoint that is taught in our state schools … how that viewpoint teaches us that we are all the product of impersonal forces and natural selection that somehow, some way have brought us to this point … and that means that our lives are really pointless.

But the Church has a message, the message that we are not the byproducts of ooze and goo that somehow managed to become you. We are special creations of the Triune God, dearly loved by him, loved so much that even when we failed to live faithfully as his creatures, he promised to send a Savior, his only Son who would become flesh for us and suffer and die for us so that we might become one with him again.

The disciples find Jesus and tell him everyone is looking for him. And he says, “Let’s go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also for that is why I came out.” Jesus makes it clear that he didn’t come to be a miracle worker. He came to preach. To bring the Word of God. He went on from there and preached in other synagogues, the gathering place of each Jewish community, and would cast out demons, proving his divine authority as we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel. Because when the Word of God is preached, demons flee. The kingdom of God advances. Enemy territory is recovered. And that still happens today. Consider our baptismal rites where the candidate renounces the devil. “Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?” the candidate or sponsors are asked. An optional rite in the Agenda which the pastor uses actually has an exorcism … but not the kind you’re thinking about. There’s no head rotating around or levitating bed. It’s the simple, straightforward words, “Depart, unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit.” These words are not necessarily saying that the person being baptized is possessed by Satan. What they are acknowledging is that it is important to take sides against Satan. This is no child’s play. You are either with him or against him, in his kingdom or in God’s kingdom. And the devil becomes your lifelong enemy when by water and the Word the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you and gives you faith to believe in Jesus.

Why are you looking for Jesus? For healing? For feeling better about yourself and your life? For a Sunday morning pep talk to get you through the week? That’s all well and good. But above all else, we look for Jesus and look TO Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, forgiveness in particular for forgetting and neglecting our role in preaching the Good News, for turning our congregation into a social club, for not making this a welcoming and hospitable place for visitors, for not being concerned with those not in the inner circle, those not here with us worshipping and praying to the One True God.

So, let us go on to the next towns to preach the Good News. I’m not talking about Everett or Snohomish or Arlington. The “next town” for us may be in our own family. It may be that person you see every day whom you know could use some Good News in their life. It could be far away across the globe, as we support the work of missionaries sent out to preach the Gospel. However we do it, whenever we do it, we do it prayerfully, relying on the Holy Spirit to work powerfully through the Word of God … bringing forgiveness and wholeness … and sending the devil and his demonic forces away from us.

INI