Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Notes
Transcript
The Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God
Put flesh on the kingdom.
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The words Kingdom of God appear 14x in the gospel of Mark. The gospel of Matthew records a similar phrase 48 times.
President Biden’s inauguration speech mentioned the word ‘democracy’ 11x, America 38x, and Unity 9x.
While Wednesday may mark a new administration in the US, the coming of Jesus according to Mark is the inauguration of a new kingdom.
Just as to be an American you must either be fortunate enough to be born here or undergo a battery of tests and credentialing. The kingdom of God marks her citizens as well.
The calling of the disciples is marked by two specific things that will outline what it means to be a citizen of this kingdom: Repentance and belief or faith.
These two items happen together and continually.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
In his 95 theses that shattered the world, Martin Luther, our unfortunate namesake said “ When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, says “Repent ye,” etc., he means that the entire life of the faithful should be a repentance.”
The 4th petition of the Lord’s prayer is “give us this day our daily bread”, reminiscent of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and each day they arose to look for- manna- that odd flakey white substance that fell like dew.
As we wander through the wilderness of life, the unknowns of today and tomorrow we, as followers of Christ must too daily raise our awareness that sustained life, hope, comes only from the Bread of life and not our striving.
Repentance
Repentance
Let’s look a little more closely at what repentance is. If you have been in the church for a while then of course you know that it is most regularly described as ‘turning’.
What does that actually look like though?
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
These dudes just dropped their livelihood and picked up a new profession. Marks Gospel doesn’t record them ever fishing again. John’s gospel has them doing it but ONLY after the death of Jesus but before His resurrection.
Their repentance was a whole new lifestyle.
It’s tempting to explain this away- they’re poor fishermen! Simon and Andrew were likely on shore
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Probably not catching much from shore. These two were probably just making it . Compare to the next calling
And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
These cats have a boat, they have hired hands. This is a small business!
Repentance is a turning of our entire lives, a willingness to undergo deep and radical change. It may cost more than our lives and certainly not any less.
We must repent from the things that are not Christ that we trust will bring life:
A vaccine is only temporary and not even widely used! (Next virus)
Seasons change and clouds shroud the light while the light on its own burns us.
A Job is only good while we can hold it, at its best it is fulfilling for a time and at its worst a job is a cruel reminder of the curse that we must work to live.
A government will fall and is incapable of procuring the reason for living.
Even the institutional church must be repented of:
As an institution, the church- Lutheranism has its own things that we must be willing to turn from. Luther was an anti-semite towards the end, he was a bit of a class snob, and he had no love for Muslims. I’ll refrain from quotes because of our polite society. You dont have to look too hard.
Our own Synod- Missouri started w/ Martin Stephan, a wine loving adulterer and swindler.
We lit. pushed him across this Mississippi (a few times)
Leadership changed hands to CFW Walther, a man who was in favor of Slavery.
Every congregation I have been a part of has had a pastor in her history who was either an adulterer or arrested.
My point is when Jesus says follow me, He really means it. We as the church are willing to look hard at our setting, even the things we take for granted, lay down what needs to be put away and venture into life.
Life. Jesus came that we may have life only through faith in Him.
This is the second part of the sermon. Faith.
Belief
Belief
Jonah was sent into Ninevah. The capital city of Assyria. This is just before Assyria has overtaken most of the known world.
Just in the Northern Part of Iraq- this part of the country is still called Ninevah.
This is a fair comparison. Imagine yourself, in your WSU cougs gear cruising Northern Iraq (Mosul_
For the record this is where ISIS and ISIL were heavy - near Mosul and Mosul during that time had a Christian congregation established in 1 BC removed in 2015.
Whether it was fear, incompetence, or just general dismay Jonah preached one of the shortest sermons on record.
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Guess what? They believed him. Or maybe they didn’t.
See Jonah at that point wasn’t Jonah, sure he was that guy that had been through a storm and a fish but he was another thing all together. A prophetic voice. Look closely at this reading
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
They believed not Jonah but GOD- then they repented.
See the life of faith is the life of repentance and the life of repentance is the life of faith.
When God called Simon and Andrew, James, John and Jonah he casts a new existence upon them. No longer is their life and existence tied up in fish but in the Kingdom of God.
As theologian Gibbs says:
Matthew 1:1–11:1 The Reign of Heaven/God in Jesus
The hearts and minds of believers today should hold fast to that same understanding. The King comes down to perform kingly deeds of salvation through his Word, the Good News of the reign of God in Jesus, and through his sacramental gifts in Baptism and the Supper, by which the king accomplishes his purposes. Though the King may accomplish other things in the world in ways that are hidden to us, God’s people can depend on his promises in his Word and Sacraments. Thus the reign of God continues to come today.
As you travel through life, considering the ramifications of new political administrations, different school settings, changing seasons and deteriorating flesh, trace your existence back to where God’s voice called you- at the font of life- baptism and where He sustains you by His word and the eating and drinking of food.
Then go and invite someone to dwell in this kingdom with you. After all it’s not you doing it but God Himself. God himself has said to you and to the world “come follow me.”
Will you drop whatever your doing and trust His path? Amen.