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Sunday's Sermon
Mar 25, 2007

1065
Where Jesus Walked - Lent 5
The Rev. Dennis Posno

 

Throughout these Lenten days
we have been walking with Jesus
into the moments and lives of the people of His day.

We walked with Him into the home of a Jewish leader named Simon.
And when Jesus was anointed by a sinful woman who was there
we saw in His condemnation of those who spurned her
and in His own kindness towards her
that God is a forgiving God
who calls us, as God’s people, to be forgiving.

We walked with Him into a moment
when parents were bringing their children to Him that He might bless them.
And we saw in His calling to account His disciples
for their unwelcoming spirit
and in His welcoming of the children to His heart
that God is a welcoming and inclusive God
who calls us to have a heart that is welcoming and inclusive.

We walked with Him into a moment
when a lawyer put a question to Him
about which was the greatest commandment.
And we saw in His answer,
as we learned from his story about the good Samaritan
who showed pity and mercy to an injured man,
that the greatest commandment to guide our living
is to love God totally
and to love our neighbour generously ~
that we love God best,
fulfill God’s will most completely,
when we love our neighbour.

And last week we learned
through the telling of the story of the young minister
who was told he was “not good enough”
and through Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus, a Pharisee,
and Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector,
that we are “good enough” …
that we are all God’s children ~
in our saintliness and in our sinfulness …
and to use Isaiah’s words,
that God “has called us by name … we are God’s …
we are engraved on the palms of God’s hands.”

So what is it all about, really?

Perhaps it would be good for us to go back to the beginning
because everything that follows ~
the walk that Jesus took
and the way He wants us to walk as people of faith ~
finds its genesis, it’s meaning here.

Mark, the earliest of the gospel writers
and a source for the others who wrote their gospels,
writes about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Listen to these words …

“After John (meaning John to Baptist) was put in prison,
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news.’

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew
casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said,
‘and I will make you fishers of men.’
At once they left their nets and followed him.”

With those words, Jesus began His ministry
and walked into the lives of many people
to usher in that kingdom.

So let’s look at those beginning words,
for in them the whole of Jesus’ mission is discovered.

“The kingdom of God is near,” He said.
What does Jesus mean by “the kingdom of God?”

The people to whom Jesus spoke would have known about kingdoms.
They were subjugated to them.
Their forebears were held in bondage in Egypt.
Their ancestors lived in exile in Babylon.
And now, under Roman rule,
they lived under the thumb of the Roman emperor
with his governor living in their capital city, Jerusalem.
Even their religious leaders collaborated with them
to maintain the peace ~ the “Pax Romana.”

They knew what it was like to live under kingdom rule.
Most of them were poor, with few possessions and little food.
Bread was a staple of their existence.

They knew what it was like to live under kingdom rule.
Most of them owned no land to speak of
but worked as tenant farmers
for the rich, who got richer,
while they got poorer.
And when they had debt, and many did,
and no way to repay it,
they were thrown in prison.

They knew what it was like to live under kingdom rule.
Their religious faith was tolerated.
As long as they paid their taxes …
as long as allegiance was shown to Rome …
as long as their religion was a private affair …
Rome put up with them.

They knew what it was like to live under kingdom rule.
They lived under a system of domination.
The many were ruled by the few, the powerful and the wealthy elites.
Ordinary people had no voice in the shaping of the society.

There was little food
little wealth
little justice.
They had no voice
no influence
no power.

And with everything else that was in such short supply, so was hope.

“The time has come,’ Jesus said.
“The kingdom of God is near.”

So what is this “kingdom of God?”
For surely this was Jesus’ passion ~ to usher it in.

Unlike the kingdoms under which they had lived,
God’s kingdom was not oppressive, but liberating.
God’s kingdom was not unjust, but just ~
and the justice of God meant justice for all, not the few.
Justice meant a fair share for all
in a world belonging to and ruled by the covenantal God of Israel.

All of Jesus’ stories
all of His conversations
all of His actions
all of the places “where Jesus walked”
bear witness to what He was passionate about:
a kingdom where all were treated with justice
so that all could have a share
in the bounty of God’s creation.

No one was to be without.
No one was to be excluded.
No one was to be unloved.
Everyone was to be treated justly.

When Jesus said that the kingdom of God ”is near,”
He meant that He was God’s messenger …
and His message would be one of God’s justice for all ~
a justice rooted in love.

And when Jesus said,
“The time has come,”
He meant that the time for all of this to happen
was not tomorrow, but today …
not in some distant future, but now, in the present moment.

And to those who had ears to hear and hearts to respond, Jesus said,
Repent and believe the good news!”

We often associate the word repent with contrition for sin.
From the Hebrew Bible, Jesus’ scriptures,
it means to return, especially to return from exile,
an image also associated with way, and path, and journey.

To repent, from the Greek, also means
to go beyond the mind that you have.
To repent is to think differently about the way you’re journeying.

For Christians, to believe often means thinking
that a set of statements, a set of doctrines, is true.
But the ancient meaning of the word believe
has much more to do with trust and commitment.
To believe in the good news, as Mark puts it,
means to trust in the news
that the kingdom of God is near
and to commit to that kingdom.

All of it has to do with a change of heart
a change in the way we do things
a change in the way we think …
it has to do with seeing as God sees
loving and caring as God loves and cares …
it means to walk in the way,
as the old testament prophet Micah might say,
that “acts justly, and loves mercy, and walks humbly with God.”

No wonder Jesus’ message won the hearts of the poor
and the marginalized
and the outsider.
No wonder the message won the hearts
of those who longed for the kingdom of God.
And no wonder the message got Jesus into trouble
with those who were in positions of privilege and power.

But what happened to Jesus, ultimately,
that Good Friday road that He followed,
is not new.
His passionate preaching and His passionate living the kingdom
led to His own passion and death.
He centered His life on God:
on God’s will and God’s way.

And others, who have owned a similar passion for the kingdom of God,
and who have, as Jesus did,
spoken truth to power and injustice,
and who have centered their lives as well on God,
have also walked a Good Friday road ~
sometimes leading to death.

“Without this personal centering in God,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer would not have had that freedom and courage
to engage in a conspiracy against Hitler within Nazi Germany itself.

“Without it, Desmond Tutu could not have opposed apartheid
with such courage, infectious joy, and a reconciling spirit.

“Without it, Martin Luther King Jr. could not have kept on
in the midst of all the threats that he faced.”

This is God’s dream that we are called to dream ~
and it is the only dream worth dreaming.
It is the only dream that includes all of us equally.
It is the only dream that, if realized,
can usher in the day we pray for
every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer ~
when God’s will is done
and God’s kingdom will come.
It is the dream Jesus gave His life to … and for.

The words of Martin Luther King Jr.
from the speech he made at a march on Washington, D.C.
on August 28, 1963
as he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial,
some 100 years after the emancipation proclamation made by Lincoln,
are some of the most powerful words ever uttered.
They are deeply moving …
incredibly hopeful …
and eternally true.

Imagine it is Jesus speaking today ~ His “I have a dream” speech …
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its calling: "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.”
I have a dream that one day the children of the oppressed and the children of the oppressors will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day all will live in a nation where people will not be judged by their colour or creed or class but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I come from God with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand up for justice together, knowing that in this way God’s kingdom will come.

And when this happens, when we allow justice to ring, when we let it ring from every village, from every town and every city, from every heart, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, regardless of race or creed or class or culture, will be able to join hands and sing a new song to the Lord.
_________________________

The kingdom of God that Jesus was so passionate about
was a dangerous dream to dream.
It has always been a dangerous dream.
Are you prepared to dream it …
work for it …
sacrifice for it?

The way of the kingdom of God that Jesus was so passionate about
was a dangerous way to travel.
Are you prepared to walk with Him in this way?

Jesus walked into the lives of Peter and Andrew, James and John,
as He has walked into the lives of countless people of His day.
He has walked into millions of lives through the generations,
and He walks into ours.
And the invitation is always the same:
“Come, follow me.”

How will you answer? How, indeed.
Knowing that the “kingdom of God” way, Jesus’ way,
is often the Good Friday way.
How will you answer?
“Come,” Jesus says, “follow me.”

SOLI DEO GLORIA

SCRIPTURE

Our scripture lesson is taken from Mark’s gospel, Chapter 1, verses 14 to 20.

If you wish to follow along in one of the pew Bibles
the passage is found on page 707.

Let us listen to God’s word for us.
_______________________________________
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

"The time has come," he said.
"The kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news!"

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake,
for they were fishermen.
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther,
he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men
and followed him.
_______________________________________
God always blesses the reading of His holy word.

 

 

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