going out in faith loving the community the work of our Lord Sermon

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1 WHERE GOD IS AT WORK The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (Proper B) February 8, 2015 Lessons Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147:1-11, 20c 1 st Corinthians 9:16-23 St. Mark 1:29-39 Pastor David J. Risendal drisendal@stplc.org facebook Dave Risendal Twitter: drisendal Saint Peter Lutheran Church 9300 East Belleview Avenue Greenwood Village, CO / facebook.com/stplc Prayer of the Day Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint. Make us agents of your healing and wholeness, that your good news may be made known to the ends of your creation, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. going out in faith loving the community the work of our Lord Sermon 1 Grace to you and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I love St. Mark s Gospel. It has an edge to it; a passion to it. Some of that comes from a sense of urgency. Mark uses the word immediately over and over again. In some ways the story seems to race past you. It also has to do with the battle that Jesus is waging with the forces of darkness. We talked about this last week, when we remembered how Jesus freed the man in the synagogue from the demons that possessed him. And we see it again in today s Gospel lesson. After the healing in the synagogue, Jesus and his followers make their way to Peter and Andrew s home. Peter s mother-in-law is there, and very sick. Again concerned about 1 Romans 1:7, 1 st Corinthians 1:3, 2 nd Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1 st Thessalonians 1:1, 2 nd Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 3; New Revised Version Bible ( 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America).

2 The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year B (February 8, 2015) 2 someone who is unwell, Jesus takes her by the hand, lifts her up, and the fever leaves her. It becomes immediately clear both how much he cares about these people who are having a hard time of it, and how much power he has to make a difference. The people are aware of this, and word spreads quickly. Before the day is over he has cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. The whole town, St. Mark tells us, is pressed in on Peter and Andrew s front door. It is a powerful healing ministry. And put yourselves in the position of those people in Capernaum: for years they have been confused and frightened by these illnesses. People who seemed otherwise just fine, all of a sudden would become severely ill, or their behavior would become very disturbing. It made the world seem as though it was out of control. A dangerous place, where people live in that boundary between delight and disaster, never quite sure which direction the next turn might take them. Then comes Jesus. He casts out whatever it is that possess people. He heals them from their illnesses and diseases. He gives them hope that in the midst of a troubled and broken world they might begin to feel safe and secure. They just can t get enough of this. What a difference it makes in their world! So when morning comes, and they can t find him, they begin to search high and low for him. The four fishermen find him, and ask him to come back to town. But Jesus does a curious thing. He declares his intention to leave, and to visit the other towns in the region, so that he can share his message with the people who are there. Here at Saint Peter we most often use the New Revised Standard Version Bible, but I love the way verses 38 and 39 are translated in the New International Version: When they found him, they exclaimed: Everyone is looking for you! Jesus replied, Let us go somewhere else Let s go somewhere else, and share with the people there what you have already received here. Jesus hasn t come to Capernaum to make it the one place in the world where there is no illness or disease. The deliverance and new life that he seeks to share with people isn t something that is just for Capernaum, but it is for the whole world. So if people want to be in his presence, they will have to leave the safety and security of their own hometown, and go with him into the world. I wonder if there is a word in this for us. That if we want to spend time in the presence of Jesus, it won t have to do with hanging out here with one another, in our own place, but it will have to do with getting out beyond these four walls, and exploring what God is up to in the world that surrounds us. This past week I spent some time with Dr. Craig Van Gelder, a semi-retired professor from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, who describes himself as a Missiologist one who is studying and trying to understand the mission of God in this world. Dr. Van Gelder spoke of the changes taking place today in the world and in the church. For some, this has become a source of distress. But he sees it as exciting. He believes that whenever the status quo is disrupted, and things begin to change dramatically, it can mean that God is at work only not where people have come to expect God to be at work. This is nothing new in the history of God s people. When Israel was conquered by the Babylonians, and most of Jerusalem s key leaders were carried away into captivity, the Prophet Jeremiah (who stayed behind with a remnant in Jerusalem) wrote a letter to the exiles that said, in part:

3 The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year B (February 8, 2015) 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 2 Most of the exiles longed to return to their homeland, and thought they would find a richer experience of God s presence there, but Jeremiah understood that God had a mission for them in this new and strange place. They were to make a difference where they were. And as they did, they would become part of what God was trying to accomplish in their day. The same thing happens in the New Testament. When the Apostle Paul begins to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles those who are not Jewish many of the early believers, including Peter himself, are offended. They believe Jesus has come to bring salvation to the Jews, and if someone wants to experience salvation through Jesus, they first have to become Jewish. While visiting some believers in Joppa, an ancient city on the Mediterranean, about 30 miles north-west of Jerusalem, Peter goes up on the roof to pray and has a strange vision. A large sheet is lowered from heaven, filled with animals that Jewish people have never been allowed to eat. Three times, a voice says to him, Get up, Peter; kill and eat. But every time he refuses, saying that he has never eaten anything that is unclean. But God convinces Peter that the vision is true, and the church is being called in a new direction. Peter says to the people in Caesarea: What God has made clean, you must not call profane I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days. 3 Peter becomes convinced that God has a mission for him that is dramatically different than anything that has come before. Now salvation will be found not just inside the Temple or inside the synagogue, but wherever hearts are moved by the good news of Jesus Christ. As Peter and the others live into this new way of being faithful, they will become part of what God is trying to accomplish in their day. Faithful Jews, living in Babylon making a difference in the neighborhoods where they find themselves. The first believers in Christ, leaving the Temple and the synagogues to share the good news of Christ with any who might receive it. Believers in Capernaum, realizing that the life of faith does not have to do with staying home and taking care of their own, but with following Jesus from town to town, and working with him as he proclaims the good news, and heals those who were ill. There is a pattern in these stories. Faithful people have learned, over the years, that our God is a God who cares deeply for the communities in which we live. It was true in Babylon. It was true in Caesarea. It was true in Joppa. And it is true in Greenwood Village 2 3 Jeremiah 29:4-7, New Revised Standard Version Bible, opp. cit. Acts 10:15, 34, 46-48, New Revised Standard Version Bible, opp. cit.

4 The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year B (February 8, 2015) 4 today. And to the extent that we understand this, and pursue it, we will become part of what God is trying to accomplish in our day. Where is God at work today? Certainly God is at work here, through the ministries of Saint Peter Lutheran Church, and we are right to give thanks for this. But God is also at work beyond these four walls. In places that might well surprise us. In places we might never anticipate. The task of the church is no longer simply to bring people inside these buildings that house our ministries. it is also to leave this place, to discover what God is doing in our neighborhoods, and to become part of it. Freeing our neighbors from what binds them. Healing illness and diseases. Bringing good news to all who will hear it. So what do you see God doing in the world that surrounds you? And how do you plan to become part of it? These are two good Epiphany questions for us to consider this week. David J. Risendal, Pastor Gospel Lesson; English Text 4 1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. 32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, Everyone is searching for you. 38 He answered, Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do. 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. 5 Gospel Lesson; Greek Text: 1:29 Και εὐθυ ς ἐκ τη ς συναγωγη ς ἐξελθόντες ἠ λθον εἰς τη ν οἰκίαν Σίµωνος και Ἀνδρέου µετα Ἰακώβου και Ἰωάννου. 30 ἡ δε πενθερα Σίµωνος κατέκειτο πυρέσσουσα, και εὐθυ ς λέγουσιν αὐτῳ περι αὐτη ς. 31 και προσελθω ν ἤγειρεν αὐτη ν κρατήσας τη ς χειρός και ἀφη κεν αὐτη ν ὁ πυρετός, και διηκόνει αὐτοι ς. 32 Ὀψίας δε γενοµένης, ὅτε ἔδυ ὁ ἥλιος, ἔφερον προ ς αὐτο ν πάντας του ς κακω ς ἔχοντας και του ς δαιµονιζοµένους 33 και ἠ ν ὅλη ἡ πόλις ἐπισυνηγµένη προ ς τη ν θύραν. 34 και ἐθεράπευσεν πολλου ς κακω ς ἔχοντας ποικίλαις νόσοις και δαιµόνια πολλα ἐξέβαλεν και οὐκ ἤφιεν λαλει ν τα δαιµόνια, ὅτι ᾔδεισαν αὐτόν. 35 Και πρωὶ ἔννυχα λίαν ἀναστα ς ἐξη λθεν και ἀπη λθεν εἰς ἔρηµον τόπον κακει προσηύχετο. 36 και κατεδίωξεν αὐτο ν Σίµων και οἱ µετ αὐτου, 37 και εὑ ρον αὐτο ν και λέγουσιν αὐτῳ ὅτι πάντες ζητου σιν σε. 38 και λέγει αὐτοι ς ἄγωµεν ἀλλαχου εἰς τα ς ἐχοµένας κωµοπόλεις, ἵνα και ἐκει κηρύξω εἰς του το γα ρ ἐξη λθον. 39 Και ἠ λθεν κηρύσσων εἰς τα ς συναγωγα ς αὐτω ν εἰς ὅλην τη ν Γαλιλαίαν και τα δαιµόνια ἐκβάλλων A list of Bible lessons for the coming weeks is available at St. Mark 1:29-39, New Revised Standard Version Bible, opp. cit. St. Mark 1:29-39, The Greek New Testament, Aland, Kurt, Black, Matthew, Martini, Carlo M., Metzger, Bruce M., and Wikgren, Allen, ( 1983, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart).

5 The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year B (February 8, 2015) 5 First Lesson; English Text: 40:21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; 23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 7 Second Lesson; English Text 9:16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. 19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To 7 Isaiah 40:21-31, New Revised Version Bible, opp. cit.

6 The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year B (February 8, 2015) 6 those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God s law but am under Christ s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. 8 Second Lesson; Greek Text: 9:16 ἐὰν γὰρ εὐαγγελίζωµαι, οὐκ ἔστιν µοι καύχηµα ἀνάγκη γάρ µοι ἐπίκειται οὐαὶ γάρ µοί ἐστιν ἐὰν µὴ εὐαγγελίσωµαι. 17 εἰ γὰρ ἑκὼν τοῦτο πράσσω, µισθὸν ἔχω εἰ δὲ ἄκων, οἰκονοµίαν πεπίστευµαι 18 τίς οὖν µού ἐστιν ὁ µισθός; ἵνα εὐαγγελιζόµενος ἀδάπανον θήσω τὸ εὐαγγέλιον εἰς τὸ µὴ καταχρήσασθαι τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ µου ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ. 19 Ἐλεύθερος γὰρ ὢν ἐκ πάντων πᾶσιν ἐµαυτὸν ἐδούλωσα, ἵνα τοὺς πλείονας κερδήσω 20 καὶ ἐγενόµην τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος, ἵνα Ἰουδαίους κερδήσω τοῖς ὑπὸ νόµον ὡς ὑπὸ νόµον, µὴ ὢν αὐτὸς ὑπὸ νόµον, ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόµον κερδήσω 21 τοῖς ἀνόµοις ὡς ἄνοµος, µὴ ὢν ἄνοµος θεοῦ ἀλλ ἔννοµος Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κερδάνω τοὺς ἀνόµους 22 ἐγενόµην τοῖς ἀσθενέσιν ἀσθενής, ἵνα τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς κερδήσω τοῖς πᾶσιν γέγονα πάντα, ἵνα πάντως τινὰς σώσω. 23 πάντα δὲ ποιῶ διὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἵνα συγκοινωνὸς αὐτοῦ γένωµαι st Corinthians 9:16-23, New Revised Standard Version Bible, opp. cit. 1 st Corinthians 9:16-23, The Greek New Testament, opp. cit.