God Empowers People to Proclaim the Kingdom
Epiphany + 5 – February 9,
2020
“Death of John the Baptist”
Movie Elf
·
Buddy the Elf who isn’t really an elf – discovers he was adopted and
makes his way to New York City to find his birth father, Walter
·
Buddy is a Christmas evangelist, so enthusiastic about Santa and
everything about Christmas with everyone he meets
·
So much so that he is often misunderstood and rejected
·
Pivotal scene near the end of the movie, Santa’s sleigh has made an
emergency landing in Central Park because the engine that powers the sleigh has
fallen off
o Used to be able to fly on
its own through the power of people’s belief, but Christmas spirit is so low,
people just don’t believe anymore, and so the sleigh has to rely on the engine…
Proclaiming God’s kingdom often leads to rejection
·
Reminds me of scene in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth
·
Jesus has been having such success up til now! Not without a little
pushback here and there – but he’s been healing people and casting out demons
o A few weeks ago – Legion
o Last week – woman with the
hemorrhage – she just touched his clothes, and they felt this exchange of power
that healed her
o Jesus even brought a little
girl back from the dead!
·
Expect more and more and bigger and better
·
Instead, when Jesus goes home, and begins to teach – he finds himself
questioned, rejected!
o Who is this? He’s just a
carpenter. Where did he get these ideas?!
·
“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.”
·
Goes into villages to teach – and then sends the 12 out 2x2, with his
own authority over unclean spirits – and they go out and proclaim that all
should repent, casting out demons, anointing with oil many who were sick and
curing them (doing what they have been watching Jesus do up until now)
o Warned, though, that there
will likely be some who will not welcome them and listen to their message
·
And then we find out that King Herod has heard about it – word is
filtering up – people are wondering who this is. Herod thinks John the Baptist.
· Last we heard in Mark’s gospel, John had been arrested – which set the
stage for Jesus to start proclaiming the good news that God’s kingdom was near
o And now we hear the rest of
the story – John the Baptist – who we know came into the wilderness,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins – has
apparently been calling Herod himself to repentance for the relationship he had
developed with his (still-living) brothers wife
o And Herod is intrigued with
him and likes to listen to him, but has him imprisoned
o And ultimately, has him
beheaded, as we saw in the story
Proclaiming God’s
kingdom isn’t always well received/welcomed – may lead to rejection
·
Like Buddy the Elf, we live in an era when belief can’t just be assumed
·
And like Jesus and the
disciples and John the Baptizer –
words about God’s coming kingdom are not always received with joy in our world
·
The good news is that God loves us, no matter what.
·
But declaring God’s coming kingdom also involves a call to repentance,
of turning around, of reorienting our lives to live in sync with God’s will for
the world
·
And we don’t always want to hear that we might have to change
·
And it’s never been popular to speak truth to those in power (John the
Baptist proves that; ) – but we see it still today
o Those who suffer the fallout
when they dare to speak out; who may lose a job or respect of others, who may
find themselves on the outs with family or colleagues or others they have worked
with
o Mitt Romney as a most recent
example – who dared to speak and act out of the courage of his convictions this
past week – and there will be a cost to him
·
Following Jesus means lining up and living out of kingdom values – and
sometimes that will put us at risk of losing something we value (even if it’s
not as gruesome as losing our heads), of being rejected, of not being welcomed
in our hometowns
God empowers people to
proclaim the kingdom
·
Buddy the Elf faced rejection and ridicule from most of the people he
met. But he had lived at the North Pole, he had worked with the elves, he had
known Santa personally before he was sent to meet Walter and maybe help him
turn his stubborn, kind of mean life around
o He knew the love and joy of
Christmas - he couldn't keep it too himself – and he reminded his friend (and love interest) Jovie that “the best
way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear”
·
And through her relationship with Buddy, Jovie came to believe in his
message
·
So while he was off trying to fix Santa’s sleigh in the park on
Christmas Eve, Jovie screws up her courage and climbs up on a carriage and
starts singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” to the huge crowd– even though
she does NOT sing in public
o And it’s kind of
excruciating, those 1st few lines as everyone turns to stare at her
o And then Emily, Buddy’s
step-mom joins in, singing loudly, if not the most beautifully
o And then Michael, his little
brother starts to sing too
o And more and more and more
people join the song – not just those standing in the crowd, but those watching
at home on TV, or at work, or in the bar
o Until finally even Walter –
the most bah-humbug of them all – finally starts to sing –
o And suddenly, the
Claus-O-Meter is full of all of the Christmas spirit and the sleigh takes
flight over the crowd’s heads
·
Which is not to say that God needs us to carry out God’s plans to love
and redeem and restore the whole world; God is not powered by how much or how
little faith we have
·
But God’s plan does include
using us to proclaim God’s Kingdom coming near
o To share and to live and to be good news
·
And we see how that message spreads
o Through so many of the
stories of God’s people and prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures we heard in the
fall
o And in the life of John the
Baptist
·
And ultimately in Jesus
o Who comes to call us to live
anew – and to show us how
o The disciples caught the
message – they started to sing along, even when it meant much worse things than
crowds staring at them
o And soon other voices joined
the chorus, until it spread around the world and down through the centuries to
reach us through people we know and loved and listened to
·
And we get to continue the song, sharing Christ’s message: “The kingdom
of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15)
·
It’s not always easy or comfortable to live into this calling – but God
empowers us – and we encourage others when they hear our voices singing along.
·
Go out and spread gospel cheer, sharing good news for all to hear!
·
Amen.
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