The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany Isaiah 40: 21 - 31

Sunday, February 8, 2009 I Corinthians 9: 16 – 23

The Rev. Bambi Willis Mark 1: 29 – 39

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.”

Mark 1: 38

“On the Sunday following the terror attacks (of September 11, 2001) roughly half of the adult population in the United States attended a religious service,” reported Fox news one year later. At a time when many people had lost all sense of stability and security, suddenly finding themselves living in a world of uncertainty and violence, many turned to religion for comfort, solace and hope. But only briefly. Within a year, church attendance returned to, what Fox news politely called, “normal,” or in other words, the seat beside you this morning is probably empty.

The crisis of 9-11 left us feeling vulnerable, exposed and afraid and more than anything, we desperately wanted to know that everything would be O.K. The “good news” of the resurrection is our assurance that everything will be O.K. and we have a mission to the world to proclaim that “good news.”

In our reading this morning from the gospel of Mark, Jesus appears publicly for the first time in the gospel, healing the sick and casting out demons in the city of Capernaum. The miracles attract a lot of attention and by the end of the day “the whole city was gathered around the door” of the house of Simon and Andrew. The following morning, the disciples are in a panic because they cannot find Jesus, finally “hunting” him down, discovering him off by himself in a deserted place praying.

Anxious for Jesus to continue the marvels of the day before, the disciples announce: “Everyone is searching for you,” clearly expecting Jesus to return to Capernaum. But Jesus does not return to Capernaum; rather Jesus tells the disciples: “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.”

Jesus has a mission to announce the reign of God, the power of God breaking into the world, the beginning of the end of all powers that seek to destroy us. The miracles are signs of God’s victory over evil, but neither the folk in Capernaum nor the disciples could grasp the significance of what was happening. Jesus could not stay in Capernaum because the world needed to know God was on the move, about to do something greater than part the Red Sea.

And God did, raising Jesus from the dead. And that is the message God gives us to proclaim.

When Mark wrote his gospel, his community was in crisis. Mark is writing to a church as much as two generations following the discovery of the empty tomb. “By any reckoning,” writes one commentator, “this was a tumultuous time for the empire, for Judaism and for the new Christian community.” Earthquakes shook the empire in 60 and 63 A.D. In 64 A.D., a great fire broke out in Rome and Emperor Nero blamed the Christians, sending many to their death. Following Nero’s death in 68 A.D., the throne of the Roman Empire changed hands three times in one year. And when the Jews revolted in Palestine in 66 A.D., Rome destroyed the city of Jerusalem, leaving the Temple in ruins.

Amidst this tumult, Mark gathers up the memories of Jesus that have been passed on orally and weaves them together so that Mark’s community could see the power of God acting in Jesus confronting the powers of this world, not least of which was Rome. In the first half of Mark’s gospel we see Jesus amazing the crowds with his authority and power, curing the sick, healing the possessed and raising the dead. And in the second half of Mark’s gospel, we see Jesus crushed by the power of Rome, humiliated, flogged and crucified. Finally, in the last eight verses, we hear the story of the discovery of the empty tomb and God’s miracle of miracles: God has raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is God’s victory over death and that, for Mark, is the “good news,” the message that the women at the tomb are told to “go and tell.”

To a church in crisis, to a community buffeted by political turmoil and persecution, Mark recalls them to their purpose, their reason for being: the mission of the church is to proclaim the resurrection. And Mark’s church did – enduring hostility, suffering martyrdom, and handing on the message for future generations to proclaim.

I am grateful that folks sought solace in churches after 9-11. I am glad we can turn our hearts to God when the shadows of darkness threaten to overwhelm us. But after the clouds pass, once the sun comes up again so to speak, what then? Do we feel the urgency to share with others the “good news” of God in Christ? Are we comforted by the message of the church but afraid of sharing that message with a hopeless world?

Now I know I am coming very close to a topic that makes most of us break out into a cold sweat. “Evangelism” is a really scary word and conjures up thoughts of wild preachers waving Bibles on street corners. And I for one, have always found comfort in the last words of the gospel of Mark: “So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” I can relate.

Yet, in spite of their fear, the Holy Spirit found ways to use these women to pass on the message. And you and I are here today because they did. What will we do with the message we have been given?

Today, because last Sunday was the annual meeting, we will observe our monthly healing liturgy. I will invite those among us who have a need for healing to come forward and I will anoint you with oil and say a prayer with my hands on your head. I do not anticipate that whatever crisis you are facing will magically go away, much less than the sick among us will somehow magically be cured, however much you and I wish that would come to pass. But I will affirm in the name of the church, that God is merciful and does love you and by the power of the Holy Spirit is working wonders in our midst.

When we leave today we all will return to a world where people are dying, folks are losing their jobs, people are anxious about their bank accounts, marriages are coming apart, kids are confused, and fears of all kinds haunt us all like a plague. Our healing begins when we can recognize that our suffering is what we share with everyone else in this world. Suffering abounds in this world and we do not need to look very hard to see it.

Our desire to be healed is the same desire the whole world has. The world is not O.K. and no one of us is spared from the reality of being finite, limited, flesh and blood, merely human beings. We all can be hurt and we all are hurt and we all wish things could be different.

We do not go out into this world as people “who have got it all together” but rather as people who know we don’t have it all together but trust God longs to give us what we need. What we have to share with the world are not miracles, although miracles may happen, but our faith that God loves us. We know this because if God did not love us, there would have been a body in that tomb. But the tomb was empty. A new day is dawning for you and for me and for the whole world. Go and tell.