Jesus Moves
Toward the Truly Important
Christmas 2 – January 5, 2020
“Jesus’ Ministry Begins”
“And every day, the world will drag you by the
hand, yelling ‘This is important! And this is important! And this is important!
You need to worry about this! And this! And this!’
And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart, and say, ‘No. This is what’s important.’” – Iain Thomas
And each day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart, and say, ‘No. This is what’s important.’” – Iain Thomas
The world is good at dragging us by the
hand, reminding us of all the “important” things we should be paying attention
to.
· Some of you have lived long enough to not be deceived
anymore, I imagine – to have learned to quiet those voices that give you things
to worry about that, in the long run, aren’t really worth the worry; to have seen
enough people and events and inventions come and go to not feel the pull so
strongly on your hand
· But even so, it can be so easy to get distracted what
the world says is important, to be tempted to follow after that pull on your
hand, even if you know it’s not truly where you need to be going
· And not always with important stuff
o Someone I know announced a “first-month focus” for
this beginning of the new year – taking a break from all sorts of things that
she uses to waste time: Facebook, games on her phone, shopping, TV – all sorts
of things that she uses to distract herself and fill her life up with things
that don’t really matter at all – so that she can focus more intently on her
relationship with God and with other people
o The world may not pull us by the hand and say all of
those distractions and temptations are “important” – and yet they consume a lot
of time and energy, don’t they?
The
world grabbed Jesus by the hand with all sorts of important things too
· We see that in all of these stories we get in this
first chapter of Mark
o Welcome back to Mark’s gospel – but we skipped the 1st
half of the chapter last week for Lessons and Carols! ;)
o Here’s what we missed: John the Baptizer baptizing in
the wilderness in the River Jordan; Jesus being baptized by John, Jesus’
temptation in the wilderness, John being arrested – which sets the stage for
Jesus to come back to Galilee to proclaim the good news that the time is
fulfilled and the KOG has come near; repent and believe in the good news – and
then going for a walk along the seashore and calling the 1st 4
disciples: Peter and Andrew, James and John – and that’s the “they” who went to
Capernaum with Jesus
· And immediately, Jesus gets to work – He goes to the
synagogue and teaches with authority
o He casts out an unclean spirit – amazing everyone! And
“at once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region
o (stuff happens quickly in Mark – Mark is on a mission
to tell us this good news too!)
o “As soon as they left the synagogue…” they went to
Simon and Andrew’s house, where he heals Simon Peter’s Mother-in-law
· And once the sabbath ends with sundown, the people
crowd around the door and Jesus cures many who were sick and cast out many
demons
· And then, the next morning, before the sun came up,
Jesus got up and went away by himself to pray
o And the world comes calling in the form of his
disciples: “Everyone is searching for you!”
o This is important! And this is important! And these
people are important, of course – but
they are not the reason Jesus came – and so he says, “let’s go to the
neighboring towns that I may proclaim the message there also – for that is what
I came out to do”
o Jesus is on a mission to share the good news in as
many places and with as many people as possible
§ And though he offers healing and wholeness to many he
meets, he cannot and will not let himself be distracted from his mission; he
won’t let himself be sequestered in one town, in one place – because he has
come for more than to be the healer of just one village…
· The clock is already ticking for Jesus in Mark’s
gospel – there is an urgency about everything that Jesus does – because the
cross looms large; John the Baptizer was arrested in vs. 14, foreshadowing the
danger of this mission
Jesus’ sense of mission keeps him focused on
completing that mission - it moves him toward the truly important
· Which is not to say that the people Jesus encounters
along the way aren’t important to him – because they are, and he does heal so
many, restoring them to wholeness and community
· But to be a great healer was not the only reason that
he came
· His mission is broader and deeper and wider than that
– to proclaim and usher in God’s kingdom coming here
· To transform the world
And so as we stand here at
the beginning of another new year, the gospel comes as encouragement to us to
listen to our hearts – and more importantly, to the heart of Jesus – calling us
to pay attention to the ways that we can partner with him in sharing and living
good news with those we meet
· To help those who are hurting and guide the lost and
restore the broken
· And to focus our hearts and minds on Jesus as he leads
us in his mission to love and redeem the world and all of creation.
· Because the world will try to convince us about many
important things – but following Jesus with our whole hearts will lead us to what
he thinks is most important
· Thanks be to God. Amen.
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