Learning the Story
Mark 1:1, 9-20
Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan
The Bible contains 4 Gospel books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Since the end of November and for the next 10 months we will pay particular attention to Mark during worship most weeks because we are in lectionary year B. Each Gospel book is distinct from the others. So what do we know about Mark? The Gospel of Mark is the oldest and shortest, just 16 chapters, with a sense of urgency and a momentum that charges toward the end. The word we translate as “immediately” occurs 41 times in Mark’s 16 chapters. The book is written for a gentile community of believers; Jewish customs or terms are often explained for the non-Jewish, gentile audience. Mark probably wrote about 40 years after the resurrection, just after Jews rose up against Roman occupation until Rome responded with a vengeance; what one commentator called a “vicious, scorched earth campaign” that ended with Jerusalem being overrun, and the Temple destroyed. So Mark wrote during a terrifyingly insecure time, even for the gentile Christians who were not Jews.
What does Mark claim in his Gospel book? From the first words, Mark wants listeners to hear about the full of power of God erupting into the world in the presence of Jesus Christ who is divinely empowered to turn illness into health, sin to forgiveness, and death to life. Jesus is the power of God incarnate. In his presence and proclamation, God is at work. In Jesus, God’s will is shaping the world as it is supposed to be. Through Jesus the world is being healed, people are being served, others are helped to be their best and fullest selves, and the well-being of all is promoted. Mark calls these ideas the proclamation of the good news of God in Jesus Christ, which transforms us into the community of faith. We’ll hear this time and again, all year. From the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, listen for the Word of God.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Jesus calls for individual commitment. He might speak to huge crowds, but the response people make is personal. The Gospel writers describe different disciples’ call scenes, but the point is identical. Believers respond one by one. We can recall stories of individuals’ coming to faith in Jesus. The disciples in today’s scripture, but also other believers like Paul and Cornelius, as well as followers called through the centuries like Perpetua, Hildegard of Bingen, John Wesley, Zilpha Elaw, Vernon Johns, Isabel Carter Heyward, and every Christian including each of us. No one catches faith from someone near us, like we might catch flu if someone sneezes nearby. Conversion stories differ. One person hardly notices until faith is there; others sense faith slowly growing; others experience something like getting knocked off a cliff or being shaken awake in the night. But each response is personal. Jesus calls some people alone, by name. But he also calls us individually even when speaking to a crowd.
Jesus wants people to respond to a specific message, namely that God’s Realm is breaking in, so we need to believe the Good News of God. He seems to be ready to raise a curtain on some Earth-shaking event, but what do his churchy words mean? Mark sets the scene to show listeners that in the words and actions of Jesus, something is happening through him, right now. In Jesus, God is at work in the world. Wherever Jesus is, God’s Kingdom or Realm, is breaking in. But what does “The realm of God is present in Jesus” mean?
Let’s imagine a classroom where a teacher determines, “In this room, we raise our hands before speaking, we share what we have, and we don’t call anyone ‘stupid.’” The teacher defines how the class operates. He administers the rules. Another way to say it is, the classroom is under his administration. That’s what Mark shows with Jesus. Wherever Jesus is, the world is under God’s administration. Even as Jesus speaks, his words create God’s administration, the world the way it is supposed to be. So Mark tells us, when Jesus proclaims the Good News of God’s Realm, one by one, people connect with Jesus in God’s administration.
But then his proclamation creates community. As Jesus goes about proclaiming, while making the Realm present, he isn’t only connecting with individuals. God’s power is also at work among them as a group, creating a community of faith. Apparently Andrew, Peter, James, and John are willing to drop everything familiar to join with a person they never met before. Jesus has not yet performed any miraculous feats – no healings or feeding of crowds, which could convince anyone to follow him. He just calls them as he is teaching, and they follow.
What would make people give up their livelihood, family, security? Only something better. Like if someone wins a new car, aren’t they willing to give their old car away the next day? Well certainly Jesus is better than a new car. Those four recognize in Jesus the presence of the divine to whom they can commit their whole lives. He doesn’t call them to believe in him and stay where they are. When Jesus calls, those who respond are formed into a community which shares the healing, reconciling, holy Realm work present in Jesus Christ.
Of course, since the community of Jesus is made up of puny humans, they aren’t perfect. Disciples have squabbles and power struggles down the road, but most importantly, as Jesus goes along teaching and inviting people to join his community, some respond. They repent (another churchy word) meaning they turn from how they were living to some other way. We might say they leave society’s “dog eat dog” rules and start living God’s way. How ever they used to live can be set aside because Jesus doesn’t just give followers a new set of rules. He is re-creating them into a community where their lives are reoriented, changed from the inside out. Jesus doesn’t give a new list of tasks to perform; he is forming them anew, making them a new people together. As Jesus shows them how the world is supposed to be according to God’s administration, they receive a new identity. Who they are changes. The disciples become the community of Christ, together, sharing in the Realm of God.
And here’s the great news St. Andrew. We continue the community of Jesus. When Jesus calls us to follow, we become part of his community together. We stand in line with Peter and Andrew, and Mary Magdalene, and Paul who formed congregations, and Lydia who spread the good news, and Priscilla who led a congregation in her home. Those ancient communities of faith spread in the power of Jesus Christ to form other communities. And finally, the good news spread all the way to the founders of St. Andrew United Church of Christ in Sarasota. Although Jesus calls people individually, he calls us to respond into a community of faith. We aren’t supposed to spend the rest of our life in solitary meditation, locked up in a prayer closet with a Bible and a flashlight. We are supposed to share the life of faith in community, which includes prayer and Bible study, but there’s more.
Jesus doesn’t call St. Andrew into existence to be like a bowling team or a paramilitary compound or even a United Way agency. He forms us to be a community following his teachings certainly; but more than that. He forms us to live our faith together, shaped by the power of God’s Spirit, which makes us able together to exist distinct from the ways of our surrounding society. We become a community, known by honest sharing of our thoughts, by welcoming anyone, and by sacrificing, through the power of Jesus Christ. We cast our lot with Jesus and with each other. Each of us, with our strengths and our weaknesses, what we know about the faith and the questions we carry, together we become the church of Jesus Christ.
In the power of the Spirit of Christ, a little congregation like St. Andrew can pay off a $70,000 loan and give over $20,000 to support over and above monthly missions in the last 2 years. Covid can drive St. Andrew out of the building for several months and restrict our behavior for almost two years, and we can figure out new ways of worshipping and carrying on church business without fighting or dividing. St. Andrew can welcome in new members each year and appreciate the talents they bring, and happily make space for their ministry and service. We can provide Christmas gifts for older adults around Sarasota, and for a family trying to establish sustainable living arrangements, and for women breaking free from sex trafficking. One small congregation like St. Andrew can have vital Teams helping the whole congregation carry out all kinds of ministries and can throw open the doors each Sunday morning so that anyone who wanders in can find the love of God extended with a true sense of acceptance. When St. Andrew folks say, “You are welcome here” they aren’t kidding. These are the qualities that result from more than individual efforts; they are what happen when Jesus Christ recreates us into his community of faith.
Stewardship season is a great time to reconsider how absolutely terrific the Holy Spirit is, empowering St. Andrew to do amazing ministry. And each of us gets to be a part of it. But look out, because by the power of the Spirit of Christ, we will do even more amazing things. After all, we stand in line with communities of faith, all the way back to the calling of Andrew, Peter, James, and John – the earliest faith group. St. Andrew, we continue the community of faith, created by the word and presence of Jesus Christ, and moving into God’s amazing future.