Sermon for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

February 1, 2009

Deuteronomy 18:15–20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1–13
Mark 1:21–28
Lectionary 4
Year B
I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)

God our redeemer,
you have shown your graciousness to all who look upon Jesus Christ.
Strengthen us in our struggle with the powers of evil
that we may light for the world.
Amen.

Jesus certainly makes a striking first impression. On the holiest day of the week in the holiest place in town, his “teaching” resembles more like a free-for-all, wrestlemania with someone you might politely say was—unstable.

If the disciples are blundering their way with their teacher throughout the Gospel, wondering along with other bystanders “who is he?,” it’s pretty clear to the screaming demons that he is the Holy One of God, and it certainly is made plain to the noses on our faces through our hearing.

For this Jesus in Mark, his “teaching” and his “behavior” kind of collide into one another, so that you know him as much for what he does as for what he says. Following Jesus in his ministry is like running after an Emergency Medical Technician responding to 911, a skier negotiating the moguls, or a mother jumping out of bed to tend to a crying baby. Jesus is focused on fixing the world in a big way, and wastes precious little time in attending to the matter at hand.

Now, I want a piece of that. I’d like to know that slamming against the concerns du jour, whether it’s the global economy, the world hunger crisis, or the grief of a friend that Jesus can command the room, and usher in the kingdom.

But if Jesus were to walk into the room, this room on this day, I might not know exactly how to welcome him. I might easily stumble over my words, or even start shaking in my knees, because he would also command as they say authority, or the fear of God.

And I must ask myself, can I handle it? Can I pay attention to this claim on the world, this power in my life, against other powers and attention grabbers?

There is this strain in the Bible, indicated in the readings today that say we will be accountable for our actions, in the face of God, with justice, with serious consequence.

Psalm 111 sums up a chunk of this biblical message: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Even Martin Luther, who so wanted the world to be leaning into God’s grace above all, began his explanation to each of the ten commandments with the words, “we should fear and love God,” like you can do both, fear and love.

Maybe a story can help.

In C. S. Lewis’, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Beavers are describing the great lion, Aslan, a Christ-figure in the Narnia World, to the children who have arrived on the scene..

Mr. Beaver says,
"You’ll understand when you see him."
“But shall we see him?” asked Susan.
“Why, Daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here for. I’m to lead you where you shall meet him,” said Mr. Beaver.
“Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”
[C.S. Lewis illustrated by Pauline Baynes. The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (New York: Harper Trophy) 79-80]
Christ, like Aslan, commands respect and awe.
There are many circumstances and situations which trigger our anxiety. There are stressors that pique at our feelings of unease, job security, illness, pressure to succeed.

Stress or fear itself is not the problem. As the leader of a workshop on stress once quipped, stress just is. It’s always there. The only time you will not be under stress is when you’re dead.

So the question is how you cope with fear and stress, and how you respond to stressors. Will you allow them to debilitate you, or will you act in faith, manage your fears and attend to what’s right, what’s healthy, what’s just?

Try it this way: Will you allow Jesus to step into the room, and engage the demons of this world that heighten anxiety and hold the poor and powerless under siege?

Given that 28 million people are undernourished, 35.5 million people (including 12.6 million children) in the United States experience hunger or the risk of hunger, 3/4 of all deaths in children under age 5 in the developing world are caused by malnutrition or related diseases, we could be frozen by our fear. Or we could act, in prayer and solidarity, and with the power of our own resources, even in this trying times, and end poverty and hunger in our lifetime.

$10 for our World Hunger Appeal provides a mosquito net for a family in a malaria-prone area. $100 trains a Lutheran pastor in community HIV/AIDS counseling in Tanzania. $350 helps create a community mural for breast cancer education in Chile. [sources: www.elca.org/hunger]

Jesus came to conquer the world’s ills, and he continues to offer that power to those who avail themselves to it. In the end, he placed his trust in God as he went the way of suffering and an unjust death on the cross. This we believe is a window to the ways of God saving activity that leads to new life.

As those who share that good news and that redeeming activity, we would do well to place our fears in the one who appeared on the scene in Galilee with a new kind authority and a new kind of teaching.

We might come before the altar to ask for just a piece of that presence, with knees knocking, and with fear and with love taste and see that the Lord is good. He may not be safe, but he is good.

Will you lay your fears and stress down before the one who brings in the kingdom of God, and ask how you too can allow that kingdom to break through to others?

God our redeemer,
you have shown your graciousness to all who look upon Jesus Christ.
Strengthen us in our struggle with the powers of evil
that we may light for the world.
Amen.

I.N.I.

The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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