EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Feb. 18, 2018.
uring Lent we’re talking about the Book of Acts, and as we talked about on Wednesday, how the Book of Acts portrays the birth of the church here on earth, and how Jesus’ disciples in the first century were commanded to go forth and tell the world about the “Good News.”
That Good News, as we know, is that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of the father, and thanks to his sacrificial love, one day we will join him.
But interestingly, here in the the Gospel of Mark, we hear an interesting twist on that same “Good News” we were talking about. You’ll remember that in this week’s gospel, Jesus heads to Galilee to proclaim the same good news himself, and he preaches that: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.”
It took me a couple of readings of the gospel this week for that sentence to sink in. At first I was mesmerized by the thought that our Jesus, our savior really did walk this earth some 2,000 years ago, and he was doing the very thing that we are going to be talking about doing in the next 5 weeks of Lent. He was letting his light shine and share the message about God’s kingdom. How cool is that?
But, while that excited me, there was something else that was still nagging me, something about this scripture that intrigued me, but was just out of reach at the back of my brain.
So I read the text again. … Let it sit for a day, and read it again. … And then slowly the thought that was nagging at me moved from the back of my brain to the front.
Let me read that last sentence one more time: “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.'”
The first intriguing piece to this sentence is how it throws you back to the first paragraph of this week’s gospel where Jesus is baptized. We know this scene well: After John raises Jesus from the water, the heavens break open -- actually the text reads that they are torn apart! This isn’t just a peaceful split. No, this demonstrates the power with which God breaks into this world. And when he does, he utters these famous words: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
We have to remember that at this point, God is talking about his son, who is none other than God incarnate ... in the flesh, right here on earth. … In other words, God has become mortal, albeit half human and half divine. … And what does God tell his son: With you I am well pleased. … But why is this important? ... Well, we have to keep in mind that it is through Jesus that we gain our relationship with God, and so we have wonder here what the the writer of Mark was getting at.
If God is well pleased with his son, who is now half human, then is this message also meant for the rest of us humans here on earth who gain our relationship with God through Jesus. Is this message telling us that God is well pleased with us as well? … It’s an important question. But, I think the answer is most certainly yes.
So that’s just one interesting nugget that the writer of Mark drops in the gospel this week … Let’s take a look at another: How Mark starts to talk about the Kingdom of God.
We’ve already established, that God acknowledges that in his baptism, Jesus’ reign here on earth begins. Here on earth where there is already a kingdom of sorts that exists. … Well, maybe many kingdoms, comprised of many different kinds of people. … But symbolically there’s a kingdom here that is ruled by man prior to Jesus’ arrival. … But we know because the good news tells us that God sends Christ here to restore his kingdom, and that he is the one who secures our salvation and our entrance into God’s kingdom.
So, this is the second nugget here in Mark that I find interesting. Is the writer here suggesting the case could be made that God is telling us … or more correctly, Jesus tells us in his preaching in Galilee that God’s Kingdom has been restored right here on earth … that, after all, maybe we’re really somehow missing the point of his good news.
I invite you to dwell on this with me. … Let’s dig into this gospel a little more by focusing on one very important sentence. The last sentence in this week’s scripture.
In that sentence Jesus preaches in Galilee that the time is fulfilled. … Well, I think it’s natural to ask what time? … One could draw the conclusion that he is talking about the time -- or maybe event would be a better word -- that God promises to restore us to his kingdom up there. .... But, just what if Mark is suggesting in this passage, that Jesus is talking about that the time -- or event -- when God has restored his kingdom to us … down here?
Now that puts an interesting spin on things doesn’t?
But let’s not stop there! … Let’s work through the rest of what Jesus preaches in Galilee. It says: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good new.”
So we’ve worked it through that Jesus could very well be saying that the time -- or event -- to which he is referring is his baptism and his new reign in God’s kingdom, that his baptism has fulfilled that time or event. And we’ve also established that Mark could mean that that event took place here on earth, meaning that Jesus’ reign in his father’s kingdom was the kingdom here on earth.
For me, that makes this passage even more intriguing. … But, that’s not it. This just finally brings us to that last piece of that last sentence.
Listen to see if you hear the timeframe mentioned here: “The kingdom of God had come near.”
What tense is that in? … That’s in the present tense! That’s not future tense! That’s not telling us that God will be restoring the kingdom of God someday down the road.
Not at all! … Jesus preaches in Galilee that when God sent him, his son, to us that God restored his kingdom right here on Earth now. …. Now! … Let that sink in. If the writer here in Mark is truly suggesting that God has already restored his kingdom right here for us, this means that the restoration of the kingdom is no longer a future event. … This means we can no longer believe that God’s kingdom looms somewhere out there for us.
I think too often we use the idea of entering God’s kingdom as a future event, and so if we aren’t going to the kingdom of God immediately, then we don’t have to worry about getting right with God today. … Because, well, you know, I’m not so sure I’m REALLY ready to love my neighbor as I am commanded to do. ... Or I don’t know if I’m REALLY ready to love God with all my heart, with all my mind and all my soul.
And so that’s what makes what Mark is saying here all that much more important! … It seems to me that he’s plainly stating that Jesus’ preaching tells us that he represents the introduction of God’s kingdom right here, right now.
And if that is true, then finally what is that Jesus tells us we ought to do? … REPENT! … Repent and believe in the good news! … NOW! … In other words, getting into God’s kingdom is no longer some future event. … I don’t have time to kick this “living-by-Jesus’-commandments” thing down the road!
In Jesus’ own words he commands us to believe in the good news NOW … because the kingdom is already here! … This isn’t some abstract concept about preparing ourselves for the kingdom, where we will potentially go in the future!
Wow? … Think about that! ... You mean that kingdom of God that we’re all pining for and that we dream about --- that place we all wish to belong one day down the road. … You mean that kingdom is here? … Right here? … Right now?
Well, that changes a whole lot of things for us doesn’t?
Because if Jesus tells us that he’s already come and he’s already restored the kingdom of God right here on earth … and that we are directed to repent and believe in the Good News, then that forces us to act and behave as if we were living in God’s cherished kingdom RIGHT NOW!
Think about that? … How many of us are ready to live in God’s kingdom right now? … No, I don’t mean, how many of us are “willing” or “desire” to live in God’s kingdom right now? … I mean, literally, how many of us are ready to live in God’s Kingdom right now? … Or put another way, how many of us are prepared or are living as we are worthy of living in God’s kingdom right now?
I don’t know about you, but if Mark is correct that we’re already living in God’s kingdom, he seems to be asking a lot more of me than if I am living in the frame of mind that God’s kingdom is out there in the future for me. … Because if I’m living in the view that I still have time to earn my way into heaven somewhere in the future, that doesn’t expect much from me now, does it? … Nope, I can just kick that can down the road a bit.
It reminds me a little like credit card spending. … Well, I REALLY want that new TV but I don’t quite have the cash to buy it, so I’ll put it on a credit card. That way I can just pay for it in the future when I have more money.
I think I live that way sometimes in terms of God. … I know what is expected of me, and how I should love God with all my heart, and all of my mind and with all of my soul, and that I should love my neighbors as myself. … All the time. Right here. Right now. … But too often I’m stilling living in the belief that I have time to get my life straight because the entrance exam for God’s kingdom doesn’t take place until later.
But, what if? … What if that kingdom is here? Right now. … That that kingdom was born right here on earth when Jesus was baptized. And he’s telling us that we are to repent and believe in the good news, and help to restore that creation right here, right now. … How would that change our lives?
Ponder that as we move through our Lenten message series on the Book of Acts.
How would knowing that you are living as part of God’s kingdom right now, right here on earth, change who you are? … How would it change your actions?
And that is the good news for this first Sunday in Lent. Amen.
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