The Third Sunday After the Epiphany
January 21 & 22, 2006
Sermon by Rev Timothy A Leitzke
Jesus
cuts to the chase, doesn’t he? “Hey! After me!” People follow! Why? I remember being
asked in high school Sunday School if I would have followed Jesus. I believed
that had I seen him something would have drawn me to him. How was he so good at
it? That’s not an entirely fair question. This is a story. There are
plenty of people in the story who do not
follow Jesus, and frequently the ones who follow, the disciples, don’t seem to
know what they are doing. Yet this Jesus has incredible success. What’s his
hook? In biblical narratives a character’s first line provides the key to who
they are. In today’s reading from the Gospel According to St Mark we hear
Jesus’ first line, “The critical time has been fulfilled and the Reign of God
has come near. Change your minds and believe in the gospel.” The urgency of
these words sets the tone of Mark’s story, and the cause of this urgency is the
gospel Jesus mentions.
So
what is the gospel? That question is tougher to answer than it sounds. St Mark
gives us his answer in Jesus’ first line. “The critical time has been fulfilled
and the Reign of God has come near.” Indeed, in Mark’s compelling Greek the
very first word issuing from the mouth of Christ is the verb, “has been
fulfilled.” Whatever you were waiting for is over. God has already done
everything that there is to do. God is already here. When we are down,
defeated, or hurt we wait for our reprieve; we look to God to set things right;
we recognize that we cannot get out of the jam we’re in without God’s help.
Jesus tells us that God is already here. God is lifting us up. God is giving us
hope. God is healing us. God has not completed the victory over Sin & Death
but the Reign of God is here.
Friends
of Christ, that is the core of the gospel. We don’t have to wait; God is here
now. Of course with Mark’s urgency the gospel takes a more imperative
character: Stop waiting; God is here now. In this way the gospel is a call. The
gospel tells us that God loves us and is with us right now, and the Gospel
drives us to love others and to be with them right now. Jesus proclaims the
gospel—we don’t have to wait; God is here—and then the gospel drives him to
call others. What draws them, what catches them in the midst of their work, is
the gospel Jesus proclaims. “Hey, Simon, Andrew, you don’t have to wait; God is
here now. Change your minds and believe in the gospel. Follow me.” “Jake and
John, you don’t have to wait; God is here now. Change your minds and believe in
the good news. Follow me.” “Hey,
Friends
of Christ it is a leap of faith to follow Christ, a leap out of our old lives
and into new ones. It takes that repentance, literally that change of mind, to
do it, but we make that leap with God. When we set our feet on the road to
follow Christ we plant our feet firmly in the gospel: we do not have to wait
for God to be with us; God is with us now. Things will take time. The seeds
must be planted. New ministries must be watered and cultivated. Old ministries
must not be neglected. God is here working, planting those seeds and cultivating
those ministries. We will have to wait to see the full effects; we do not have
to wait to do God’s work. The critical time has been fulfilled and the Reign of
God has come near. Believe this good news, and answer its call. Follow where God
leads us. Amen