What if They Don’t Notice?

Sermon Mark 1:21-28 January 28, 2018 Ordinary time yB

What if They Don’t Notice?

“My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great. And my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait. You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight and my weakness you did not spurn, so from east to west shall my name be blest. Could the world be about to turn? My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.” These are the words of the choral anthem Canticle of the Turning. It speaks to the power of God in Jesus Christ who comes among us with authority and energy and might and turns the world upside down.

Francis Makemie Presbyterian Church, Accomac, VA

Today is a glorious day for the church!

We gather to sing and rejoice as we greet new members into the midst. 

We are thankful for their yes.

We are thankful for their joy, their energy, their faith, their compassion, and their presence among us.

We are the church because of those who gather here.

We worship, we share one another’s burdens,

we pray,

we sing,

we cry,

we laugh,

we drink coffee, and eat cookies,

we enjoy our time together and we want to be here.

And in this moment our souls cry out with a joyful shout!

According to the gospel of Mark Jesus’ first miracle happens in the house of worship. Jesus goes to worship in Capernaum and goes right up to the front and starts teaching. 

Jesus, this person God has sent to us, has power!

All throughout the gospel of Mark we witness where Jesus shows up. He shows up in worship, he shows up out on the street, he shows up in the homes of gentiles, he shows up at leper colonies, he shows up in court, he shows up where children gather, he shows up everywhere.

And in that time, God in his heaven was probably wondering, “What if they don’t notice?”

And perhaps that is the dilemma.

What if the world doesn’t notice Jesus?

There in the middle of worship, in God’s Holy Temple, no one noticed the Word of God present, fully present-except the unclean spirit in the man. Can you believe it? in. the. House. Of. Worship. Not. One. Person. Noticed!

This unclean spirit in the man recognizes that evil has no power in the presence of God.

It seems that which is unclean,

and unacceptable,

recognizes the Son of God

before

the congregation does and before the religious leaders do.

How can that be?

There, in the place where everyone believes in the coming of the Messiah; where they believe in God where they pray, they have faith, where they have learned their Bible lessons, where they love God, they truly love God, they do. Yet NO ONE notices.

And then Jesus confronts the unclean spirit in the man. Jesus commands the spirit to come out and be silenced!

How powerful!

How amazing!

Would it be that we today could allow the Son of God to silence the evil that surrounds us?

Would it be that we could have the Son of God call the unclean spirits to come out of our world, out of us?

We need Jesus to be present.

We need his authority to claim dominion over us.

We need his security, his compassion, his strength to hold us, to mold us.

We believe that Jesus will wipe away every tear and every heartache. We believe that Jesus washes away all our sin and makes us clean. We say these things and we sing these things.

What unclean things is Jesus washing away and calling out from within us?

Are we noticing the change within us?

Are we turning to a new direction?

Is our face pointed toward the kingdom of peace that God promised us in Jesus and is calling on us to bring about?

I believe this first miracle of Jesus is the gospel writer’s plea to all the generations that read it.

I believe the gospel writer Mark wants us to know that everything that is unclean, everything that is evil, is frightened in the presence of God.

Mark wants every generation to know that

on this opening day when Jesus entered his ministry

evil recognized that day their dominion over humanity was doomed.

That day in the house of worship the miracle of silencing voices of evil happened.

The miracle of silencing the voices that oppress,

the miracle of silencing the rumblings that diminish,

the miracle of silencing the sounds that reject,

the miracle of silencing the things that harm and destroy happened!

That miracle was and is the power of God to lift up hearts and give a new song.

We have a new teaching that encourages and respects. A new teaching in our lives that finds wonder in humanity of every kind and every flavor.

When we finally notice the power of the kingdom of God breaking into our hearts, our churches, our streets, our schools, prisons, courts, clubs, our unclean neighbors, our own unclean minds, we can believe its true.

In this opening miracle of Jesus we have a new teaching for the way we look at the world; A new teaching for the way we look at each other.

What if our churches could finally be as colorful as God made the world. What if our ethnicities brought together brought a whole new way of being church? Could we imagine?

Jesus is here among us today.

The Word of God is present!

He is speaking to us and reaching out to us.

And the question for us is,

Do we notice?

Today is the day of rejoicing as we recognize that God is still growing the church.

God’s authority still has the final word.

It is not so much the miracle that amazes us and keeps us hoping and believing. It is the power of God in Jesus that brings

the kingdom of God,

the Kingdom of peace,

 right into this moment,

this very breath of our life.

Let us notice,

let our hearts sing of this day he brings!

Amen!

Resources: Feasting on the Word year B; NIB.