Sixth Sunday after Trinity Mark 6:1-13 2 Corinthians 12:2-10A child was on stage; all dressed up for the performance. He did well, too, but occasionally, when there was an opportunity to do so, he would look for his Mum in the crowd and give her a wave, which she returned. It reminded me of my own experience of being in public, with my parents among the viewers. It’s interesting, how different we may feel when we perform in front of those who know us best; it can be more daunting, and we may be looking for reassurance from them.‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown,’ says Jesus in Mark 6, as people took offense at him after he had been teaching in the synagogue in his hometown. It says that all who heard him were amazed: ‘Where did this man get all this?’, they asked. At the same time, however, they rejected his teaching, with no reason given other than the fact that they knew where he came from. Those who had known Jesus when he grew up, dismissed him. ‘And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.’ Mark records.This comes as the introduction to what happened next: Jesus went among the villages teaching. He began to send out the twelve disciples two by two. He gave them authority over unclean spirits and ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; no other provisions. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ What was their mission? To proclaim that all should repent, to cast out demons and cure the sick. In fact, it reflected the things that Jesus himself did, but that they could only do through his authority. They were building the renewal movement of the Kingdom of God that Jesus was proclaiming, expanding his mission with exorcisms and healing. The twelve disciples were in a sense a symbolic representation of the people of Israel. They were heralds of a new era, of the fulfilment of the prophecies of redemption. In a curious way, though, just like Jesus being rejected in his hometown and not being able to do deeds of power there, it is all connected to faith, to the extent in which people believe. The signs of the new Kingdom breaking in, were calling for a response. The first response was to repent; to accept the need for forgiveness for all the things that had gone wrong. God was calling the people back to himself, but they did need to hear. Jesus anticipated hostility; he warns the twelve that this might happen and tells them how to deal with it: to shake the dust off their feet as they leave. It’s a common thing: some people are finding it hard to change their ways; they prefer to remain sick rather than accept something new and life-giving. A new message, that is so urgent that the disciples are to rely on local hospitality and focus totally on the task at hand, that is also challenging, is not embraced wholeheartedly at the first announcement. The sending out of the Twelve as a symbolic act, was reminding the people of the old prophecies when the sick were being healed and proclaiming that the time had come for the renewal of the people. It was in preparation for God’s mighty act of salvation: the death and resurrection of Jesus. In a while, Jesus was getting ready for the next phase, that would bring him to the fulfilment of his work on earth. We are here because of it. Because God did not give up on us but chose to do the most painful work himself. Yet, it is through faith that our souls are healed and our sins forgiven. May we, then, respond by putting our trust in God and accept the life that he gives through his Son, Jesus. So that we may know not just where we come from but where we are going. Amen.
Fifth Sunday after Trinity Mark 5:21-end Lamentations 3-22-33‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness.’ This statement in Lamentations 3: how is it helpful to you?Anybody who has ever suffered loss of any kind – and that is certainly everybody at some time – be it health, wealth or loved ones, will know something of what it means to be desperate. I’m sure we all try not to take the good things in life for granted, but we are never more reminded of them then when they are taken away. Where do you go when things are looking bad for you or a loved one? When we are confronted with illness, we turn to the medical profession, with hope if not always full confidence. And the outcome is not always the one we hope for.In Jesus’ day, the medical profession was quite different from the one we have today; obviously, they lacked knowledge and certain skills and instruments. So when Jesus came and performed healing miracles – including raising people from the dead – people were amazed but also beginning to put their hope in him as a healer of illnesses that were not curable. Sometimes, they would flock to Jesus in their droves, to see what he could do. In today’s passage from Mark’s Gospel, we meet two people who came to Jesus as their last resort. One is a woman who has been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse, it says. She had heard about Jesus and thought, if only I can touch his clothes, I will be made well. And it happens just as she has hoped. Although she has tried to do this unobserved, in the crowd that is pressing in on Jesus, he does notice power going out from him, and he asks for her to come forward. The disciples think it’s hilarious: how can he feel her touch among many in this crowd? But Jesus knows. The woman comes forward trembling and tells him the truth, and Jesus sends her on her way, commending her for her faith.This happens while Jesus is on his way to the home of Jairus, a synagogue leader, whose daughter is at the point of death, and who has begged Jesus, ‘Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ The incident of the woman touching Jesus’ clothes on the way means a delay, and Jairus is met by some people from his house, to tell him that it is too late: his daughter has died. This does not deter Jesus, however, who says to Jairus, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ And so it happens: Jesus goes to Jairus’ house and raises his daughter, who, as it says, is twelve years old. Now Jairus was a leader of the local synagogue, and as such might not always have been happy with Jesus’ ministry, as it was so new, so different and so strange. Religious leaders were still debating where it came from. But desperate times need desperate measures, and he throws caution to the wind and runs to Jesus for help. If anybody can, it is Jesus. These stories can be seen as symbolic of the renewal of Israel that Jesus is proclaiming through his ministry, and through Israel of the whole world. The two women are images of a restored reproduction; the twelve year old girl approaching marriage, and the woman’s suffering making her unclean. They, with all in their respective households, may well have been able to repeat those words from Lamentations, ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ May we all be able to say them, fearful, yet believing and putting our trust in God; ‘casting all our anxiety on him, because he cares for us’ (1 Peter 5:7). Amen.
Fourth Sunday after Trinity Mark 4:35-end Job 38:1-11‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ If you’ve ever been in open country side or at sea during a thunderstorm, you will know how frightening it can be. Also, there is usually nothing you can do about it, once it starts; it has to run its course. Of course, we all now know that there are weather patterns and some of these can be predicted. But then, my own grandfather – a farmer – simply looked at the sky and then told my grandmother to take in the washing if rain was threatening. His observation from experience even told him how many minutes she would have to do it; he was that accurate! Here, though, in Mark’s Gospel account of Jesus calming the storm on the lake, we have something more impressive: Jesus showing his authority even over the forces of nature. If the storm frightened the disciples in the boat – and there were well-weathered fishermen among them! – Jesus’ intervention made them even more afraid: who then is this? It is a known-fact that the Sea of Galilee can be very unpredictable; storms can rise up out of the blue. But the weather can also change in other places. The story of Jonah and the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles (Paul on his way to Rome) are telling a similar thing. However, in the other cases, the storm did not just die down very quickly and at command. This is a different story altogether. So, what is it about? One thing that may strike us is the fact that Jesus doesn’t seem to be bothered about the storm at all; he is even asleep and has to be woken up by the frightened disciples, who are saying that they are perishing. And I’m sure we can all identify with them. The sea is dangerous; sailing comes with a real risk. In the Psalms and in Genesis, the sea is also the picture of darkness and evil, overcome only by God’s sovereign power. So when Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea and saves the disciples from perishing, we are seeing something of God’s authority over evil. It is like the parables and the signs that Jesus performs during his ministry which are all pointing to the new kingdom, the Kingdom of God, which is at hand. While the forces of evil are roused, and making their anger felt in such a way that the disciples are fearing for their lives, Jesus is sleeping, confident in God’s presence. No wonder that the disciples are upset, thinking that he doesn’t care. But there is something that they have missed: who Jesus is. No wonder then, also, that Jesus says to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’In the passage for today from the book of Job, God responds to Job ‘from the whirlwind’, storms being typically accompanied by a manifestation of God. In a string of rhetorical questions, God reveals his authority, including how limits were set for the primeval waters of chaos. Jesus, by rebuking the wind and the sea, is showing the same authority, as a characteristic of the divine. So that the disciples, filled with great awe, said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ Wind and storms; they are a part of life. We all go through bad times, even as believers. But God cares, and knowing Jesus makes a difference. Jesus went through the biggest storm of all: dying on a cross for the sins of the world. For a moment, it seemed as if evil had won, but in the end Jesus won the final victory over sin and death when he rose again from the dead. We can be part of his victory through faith, and hear his words amidst the storms of life, saying, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Who is this? This is God’s Son; and this is how we know him. Amen.
Third Sunday after Trinity Mark 4:26-34 Ezekiel 17:22-endThe laws of nature are saying it quite clearly: when you sow seeds, they will sprout and grow and in their coming up they reveal their kind. Jesus, in Mark chapter 4, is teaching that something new is now coming up: the Kingdom of God. He uses parables to explain the truth of the ‘resurrection’ of the true Israel, of the restoration of the people to God, through his ministry and work of salvation. Of course, parables are not always understood straight away; they need explanation, which is what Jesus gives the disciples in private. But in public, he teaches through these stories with a hidden meaning, as his Good News is so explosive in many ways, that it would be too risky to say certain things out loud. It is not, though, as if it is impossible to understand a parable. You may have to think in order to work out the message, but the image uses items and pictures of everyday life, and sometimes reflect something from the earlier Scriptures and prophecies. Today, we find words that God gave to Ezekiel and that record a messianic allegory, describing the Messiah as a twig or branch, that he will plant on Mount Zion, and that it will bear fruit and become a noble cedar. And ‘under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind.’ So, what is Jesus saying, then, when he likens the Kingdom of God to someone who ‘would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.’ Could it be that the Kingdom of God is first hidden but it sprouts and grows until it is ripe for a ‘harvest’, as Jesus calls it? There is something else that this picture is also telling and we find it in the sequence of the growing seed, where Jesus says, ‘The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’ It has an echo of the prophet Joel, chapter 3, verse 13, which is an image of Judgement Day. Likening this to a time of harvest, Jesus is not saying that it may come, but that it surely will come, just as harvest follows the ripening of the crop. So what can we take away from these images that the parables are teaching? Firstly, we can learn that the Kingdom of God is coming at the right time and in accordance with God’s design: sowing and growing and harvesting are like the cycle of day and night. It is consequential and has an outcome, like the proverb: ‘you reap what you sow’. Secondly, even though something begins small, it is not to be looked down on. You may not see the seed when it is in the ground and sprouting at first, but once it comes up and grows, it cannot be ignored. Small beginnings may grow into large opportunities – like a few people praying and after some time watching the start of something new. Thirdly, there is hope. In the image of the mustard seed, the Kingdom of God is growing tall and big and wide enough to give shelter to the birds, who ‘can make nests in its shade’. The Kingdom of God is good news! It is the freedom that forgiveness gives us through faith, so that we can live our lives ‘to the full’, as Jesus says, bearing good fruit in peace and in joy. May our lives, then, produce a good crop of righteousness through the grace of God. Amen.
