The text is sometimes call the Bread of Life Discourse. Actually, it is only the first third. The lectionary has us in John 6 for the three weeks. This sermon address that in noting the difference between the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke) and John. John might tell the same story, but his story wants to work on deeper levels. In this case the question is really: “What do you hunger for?” Obviously we hunger for food. We eat some and feel full. But 4-6 hours later we are hungry again. The material and temporal points at our spiritual reality. We are hungry. For what? The sermon tries to preach that.
The text is the Markan account of calming the storm and walking on the water. There are multiple accounts like this, but Mark’s is unique. It isn’t about Peter getting out of the boat. It is really about Jesus getting into the boat. In this sermon there are two words from the key phrase that I think need sharpened up. The first is how the disciples are described. “making way painfully” misses both the origin of the word which is in testing the purity of precious metal and misses how the word is normally used as torture. The disciples rowing int the 4th watch against the wind is a test or torture. And Jesus means to pass the by. Means is just too squishy. He desired, a much deeper word. The combination is a tough saying. But it is in the toughest saying that we often find the sweetest gospel. This sermon meditates on that.
The feeding of the 5000 is one of the few episodes that is in all 4 gospels. And I think each one of them has their own theological understanding of the event. Mark’s to me emphasizes the providence of Jesus in the Spiritual Life. We all tend to think we can do it ourselves. And then we end up hungry in a desolate place. This sermon walks through both how we find ourselves in those places, and how Jesus restores to us life by giving himself.
It is a difficult text and a difficult day. I am always amazed at the synchronicity of the lectionary. Honestly you start writing the next sermon in your head by Sunday afternoon. You translate it. Make sure you understand the words. You read what a few solid commentators have said through the ages. But by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest, the general theme is locked down. In this case the text was the story of John the Baptist’s execution by Herod. And the general theme I had decided upon what a contrast of the Kingdoms. The Kingdoms of this World represented by Herod and the The Kingdom of Heaven represented by Jesus and John. The general thrust coming from the best prayer ever written by Thomas Cranmer (which is saying a lot) – may we pass through things temporal without losing things eternal. As the people of God we are citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet today the Kingdoms of this World and the Kingdom of Heaven exist side by side. Each exerting some authority over the other. How do we live in that overlap? And then Saturday evening someone tries to shoot a major Presidential Candidate. Someone was overtaken by things temporal and lost things eternal. And all of us, and entire nation, seems to be walking that same line. The propaganda assault we live in daily puts eternal weight (“The Republic Will Be Lost”) on temporal things. And it is not that those temporal things are not important. They are. It is that the Christian must not lose sight of the eternal. The Kingdoms of this world might listen and respect and protect us. We should pray for that. Herod did that for John, for a while. But they ultimately have a different master and work by different rules. They turn into beasts and chop off heads. The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven is not temporal rule or health and wealth. The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal life under the one true King, Jesus Christ. And if that means a temporal pit, so be it. The Kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord in his good time. And we shall be there to receive them.
This sermon starts out with that theological phrase, the Scandal of Particularity. I think it is much more common that we admit. Primarily because we don’t really know what to call it when it happens. It is more than just envy. And it has some logic behind it. But if we can identify it, I think it is also what hangs around at the most intimate invitations from God to know Him better.
The text is one of Mark’s famous “sandwiches.” He puts one story on the inside of a story interrupted. I think the reason is that we are meant to compare and contrast the inner and the outer stories. They illuminate each other. And these two stories are stories of desperation and faith. They are stories of the soul. In the inner one a story of how the soul meets God. In the outer one all the lies that Satan might throw in our way. This sermon is a little more experimental than what I normally do. And by experimental I probably mean spiritual experiential.
This is the “free will” or bondage of the will sermon. The texts of the day, at least to me, set it up perfectly. The effect of the law in our day I believe is felt most acutely when we are talking about knowledge or technique. We all have a sense that something is wrong, but natural man today believes everything could be solved simply with more knowledge or better technique. Enter the God of the whirlwind from Job. “Who is this who darkens my council with words without knowledge?” That doesn’t prevent us from holding onto that. Our situation is so ruined and dire – we have no free will in spiritual things – that even omniscience wouldn’t do us any good. We need a savior. We need someone to change the rules. And the that is what Jesus does. He fulfills the law. He has perfect knowledge and technique. And to our broken want-ers what he offers is grace. Have faith. God loves you and will see you through.
This is a sermon on a parable, and it is a parable that is unique to the Gospel according to Mark. And parables are way trickier that you think. But this one is pure gospel. In my reading it is not about the reception of the word. All the things about the reception of the word are guaranteed. The seed will be planted. There will be growth. There will be a harvest. It is a parable about the church – or the individual – in between those two great givens of planting and harvesting. There will be growth, “but we know not how.” It’s the middle. It’s a mess. But what you get to witness is the mysterious will of God. That’s what this sermon contemplates. It’s a little different than what I typically preach, but I think it stands.
This sermon treats the Genesis text, which is the Adam and Eve fall into sin, and the gospel lesson, which contains two of Jesus’ most interesting phrases (“Binding the strong man” and “the sin against the Holy Spirit”), as something of problem and solution. There is a popular cynical way of reading the fall that my personal taste for farce and dark humor easily fall prey to. And I am in no way a good enough person to completely say it is trash. But a better person than I took me to task. Yes, the pass the buck. But the situation is the first sin. Everything prior, every experience to that point, everybody was completely trustworthy. Everything worked for the good of the neighbor. Imagine the shock the first time it doesn’t. There is no way Adam and Eve fully comprehended what had happened. At best they had some intuition. And part of that intuition would be some type of accountability. Who is most to blame? My fellow human? The serpent? God?
The Gospel Text is the explanation of the proof that God is and always has been trustworthy – the friend of sinners. Jesus has come to bind the strong man. Long bound in the serpent’s forged chains of sin, Jesus has come to be the man that crushed his head. The one that plunders his house. But it is a strange plundering. Because forgiven everything, we can be Stockholm syndrome captives of sin. The door out of the strong man’s house is wide open. But many choose to stay.
Biblical Text: Mark 2:23-3:6 (and Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
So this Sunday in the Church year is the one that starts the Long Green season. The festival season, which stretched from Advent through Trinity Sunday (Christmas to Pentecost), is over and another word for this is Ordinary Time. And the first lessons given are interesting as they are on the Sabbath Day. By this time the Easter attendance bump is long past, and most pastors are hoping the Summer lows are not too low. The Festival season gives people extra reasons to attend. The long green season – made longer this year because the moveable feast of Easter was so early – is more like the Christian life. It has its high moments, but most of it is lived in the plain. Which is why I think starting it with a reminder of what the Sabbath is, is a sharp choice.
And as Lutherans we also have a sharp law-gospel distinction to proclaim – completely in tune with Jesus in the gospel lesson – about the Sabbath. In the law the Sabbath is simply about rest. It only demands that nobody in your authority do any normal work. The gospel purpose of that law is that we might draw near to the Lord. And in the promises of Jesus there are a multitude of ways that we can so draw near. The law itself is good and wise, but it doesn’t save. You could spend you day of rest just sitting and check the box. Salvation rests in drawing near to God.
The sermon develops those thoughts through a reflection on how work expands to fill the time, old blue laws, and a meditation about what I think is the Spiritual sickness of the day. It is not that we don’t want a Sabbath, but that our people collectively don’t want this Lord of the Sabbath. And so we get the heavy yoke of the work of the Devil, the World and our own flesh.
