A friend of mine
from seminary once told me the story of putting an elevator in his church. He
told me that the church appointed a task force to find, purchase, and get it
installed. One of the members on the committee, just happened to be a local
town official who approved such building projects, so, they felt like with his
guidance, this would be a snap. Problem is, it wasn’t.
The local town
official wasn’t really set on this elevator thing, it was a waste of a lot of
money, and the church needed to be more concerned about it’s bottom line. And
so he kept finding reasons why it wouldn’t pass inspection, and couldn’t be
completed, and so the committee became mired down in the decision making
process.
Finally, the
pastor and the council president decided to talk to the man. They spoke to him
about the church making a difference in the lives of those who could not climb
the steps to the church, about the church being first in the community to
welcome those who were handicapped, about the church seeking to realize the
promise of God’s kingdom, and that he – could make all of this work! But the
man kept insisting this was not the right thing for the church, cost to much
money, and not everyone agreed with it.
So as they left
the meeting they felt like they had failed, and they wondered what would become
of the project. However, after a few days of thought, the town official had a
change of heart, and helped the church within a few months complete the
project. What had happened? My friend thought that Jesus had opened his eyes,
to the idea of changing the world, and making a difference in people’s
lives.
As I have studied
the gospel lesson this week, two things stood out for me. Jesus preaching with
authority, and the unclean spirit. And so I would like to speak about these two
topics this morning.
This morning in
our Sunday School Class, I noted that the Gospel of Mark came from the
preaching of Peter to the church in Rome. Now the church in Rome would have
consisted of two groups of people. First there would be the Roman citizens, for
whom the promises of the Roman empire and the Roman Gods had not been
fulfilled. And secondly, there would have been the Jewish people, who had come
to believe that God’ promises had not been fulfilled. And so Peter, in his preaching,
tells them of the fulfillment of God’s promises in Jesus Christ.
In a lot of the
commentaries and sermons I read this week, there is a lot of discussion about
how Jesus spoke with authority, rather than like the scribes. I believe the
difference is that the scribes rattled of the promises of God, and then spoke
of the importance of tradition and keeping the law. Jesus on the other hand,
spoke to people about the presence of God in their lives, how it could make a
difference, and how people could grow closer to God. The best preachers I have
ever heard, didn’t just rattle off scripture, they helped their listeners see
and feel God’s presence in their lives.
Which brings us to
the second most important part of this story – the unclean spirit. When you
compare the story of Jesus in Capernaum in Mark, with the story of Jesus in
Capernaum in Luke, you see in Luke this wonderful preaching about the lame
walking, the blind receiving their sight, the deaf hearing, the poor having
Good News preached to them, the kingdom of heaven becoming real in the lives of
people. In our world today, the Jesus of
Luke’s gospel might speak of those who are handicapped being helped to become a
part of society, of those who are lost in this world – seeing a new path for
their lives, of those who refuse to hear truth in their lives, suddenly
hearing, of those who suffer poverty being shown compassion through ministries
and missions of love, and of people finding God in their lives and their
communities as they work together to bring God’s kingdom into their midst.
As I said, this
brings us to the second part of our story, because, when this kind of change is
proclaimed, there are bound to be some people who object. Hey wait a second
Jesus, we can’t do that, it would destroy us! We should be about saving
ourselves, not saving the world! You ask to much of us Jesus. Much like our
town official, when the focus is on us, we are fearful of the cost of changing
our lives, but when our focus is on changing the world, that fear is silenced
and God’s kingdom can become present among us. And that’s when our religious
faith is no longer a set of traditions, or rules, or laws, but when it becomes
life changing for us and world changing for others, and that’s the good news of
Jesus Christ!
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