Mark 5:21-43 Jesus, the True Faith Healer

Have you ever wanted something so much that you were willing to do anything to get it? If so, you can appreciate what Jairus and the woman did in Mark 5:21-43.

Jairus was one of a group of key people who oversaw some of the administrative duties of local synagogues. He was not a priest. In this passage, he fell at Jesus’ feet. Jairus was a Pharisee, so how did the word of the Gospel penetrate the hardened heart of a Pharisee? The answer is simple. He had a daughter who was sick, and like any parent, he was willing to do whatever it took to heal her. That included risking ridicule and embarrassment by falling at Jesus’ feet and asking him to heal his daughter.

             
Jairus came to Jesus in faith, and the woman reached out to Jesus in faith also. Jesus felt her tug of faith on his robe. He ignored the disciples’ response to the question of who touched him. It was no ordinary touch. He wanted to bring the woman out of the crowd and into a public profession of faith.  He responded to her need and Jairus’ need by giving of himself just like anyone who responds to human need by giving something of themselves.

Both Jairus and the woman had given up on human efforts. They reached out to Jesus as a last resort. We are often the same. We often try to solve our problems by human means, and only when human means fail do we turn to God. A better alternative is for us to turn to God first for help. Sometimes that means God will use human means to help us. 

In this passage, Mark shows Jesus’ power over physical ailments and death. When Jesus uses this power, he shows that he is equal to God. Jesus’ resurrection of the girl shows his authority, his identity and his power to give life. Death will not have the final say.

God does not always act immediately. For example, when Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was sick, he waited for three days until he went to see Lazarus. Sometimes when we wait for God to act, things can go from bad to worse. When that happens, we start to wonder if God loves us or if we are worthy enough for God to answer our prayers. Jesus invites us to have faith in his power. The voices of death and suffering are strong in our world, and we can’t face them on our own. When we hear these voices, we must listen to Jesus when he tells us not to be afraid and just have faith. We have to take a risk by reaching out to Jesus in faith for healing. Jesus can release us from our suffering and then use our story to encourage others. He hears our cries when we hurt. He feels the touch of faith from us when we reach out to his heart.  

When God acts in our lives, he acts with authority. When Jesus felt the woman touch him, he called her to come out from the crowd. His aim was not to embarrass her or to ridicule her. He called her to a reckless faith-a faith that includes taking risks when necessary. Likewise, he did not condemn Jairus. On the contrary, he went to Jairus’ house.

Jesus healed or restored people regardless of the amount of faith the person had or the expectations of the person being healed. Sometimes he healed because the person of their loved one had faith in his power to heal. When Jesus heals, he makes the person well-complete or whole. Even though Jairus heard that his daughter had died, he does not stop Jesus from going to his house. Why? Because unlike his friends, who believed that death is final-Jairus believed that Jesus could still help him. Many of the mourners were probably either onlookers or professional mourners because unlike genuine mourners, their tears turned quickly to ridicule. Death doesn’t have the last word thanks to Jesus. Jesus’ statement that the girl was asleep was a statement that death is not final. In fact, in Luke 8:53-55, which is part of Luke’s version of this story, Luke states that the girl is in a comatose state.

Jesus does not exercise authority as a mechanical response in a clinical setting. His decisive action as the Son of God is mixed with his emotions as the Son of Man. When he cures people, he mixes the raw power of God with feeling respect for a woman who has become a full partner in the faith. When he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, his all-seeing, all-knowing nature carried the touch of a father’s love. 

Jesus allowed only his closest disciples-Peter, James and John-to go with him. These special few were allowed to see a special miracle. There were the same three disciples who later saw Jesus transfigured. Jesus did not want large crowds to hinder his ministry, so he told onlookers not to tell about the miracle with others. He told the girl’s parents to give her something to eat to relieve her hunger and to prove that she was not a ghost.

Jairus and the woman were given the gift of peace. Only God can give peace. Our sin-filled world can never give us peace. It can give us the absence of war, but there will still be conflict. God can give us peace in our hearts and minds-and it’s no secret that many health problems are caused by the lack of peace that we have in our hearts and minds.

Faith is not the belief that God will do what we want. It is the belief that God will do what is right, such as healing the woman and Jairus’ daughter. The more hopeless the circumstances, the more likely salvation will happen. The circumstances in both cases in this reading were very hopeless. Healing happens when we do something. Healing begins when we reach out. Healing starts when we take a step in faith. It started when Jairus and the woman reached out by taking a step of faith. It happens to us when we step out in faith and reach out to Jesus.

We have to take a risk by reaching out to Jesus in faith for healing. Jesus can release us from our suffering and then use our story to encourage others. He hears our cries when we hurt. He feels the touch of faith from us when we reach out to his heart.

Bibliography

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing, 2013)

2.      McKenna, D.L. & Ogilvie, L.J. : The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 25: Mark (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)

3.      MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2006)

4.      Jude Siciliano, O.P.: “First Impressions, 13^th Sunday (B).: Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org

Galatians 3:1-14 The Curse of the Law Does Not Lead to Salvation

In Galatians 3:1-14, the apostle Paul is chastising the Galatians in love for wandering away from the truth of God’s Word. He calls them foolish (or having a lack of wisdom) for living by the world’s rules instead of living by God’s rules.

In verses 2-5, Paul asks the Galatians a series of rhetorical questions that were designed to cause them to return to the foundation of their faith-the receiving of the Holy Spirit. They had already received the Holy Spirit at the moment when they believed in Jesus. Any Christian who believes that he/she does not have the Holy Spirit is either untaught or unsaved-and the Galatians were neither. The Holy Spirit is every believer’s unmistakeable proof of salvation and greatest guarantee of eternal glory.

In Galatians 3:3, the word “perfect” means mature, not sinless. Spiritual maturity and salvation both come from faith in Jesus. Faith changes the motivation of our hearts from seeking to be acceptable to Jesus through our deeds to wanting to live for him. 

The Galatians were persecuted when they broke away from the Old Testament law. If they returned to following the law, their persecution would have been meaningless in the eyes of Jesus. The law could not be obeyed perfectly. If one law was broken, all of the laws were broken. Only one person obeyed the law perfectly-Jesus.

Believers in the law were proud of being Abraham’s seed. Abraham was justified when he had faith in God and God’s promise to give him numerous descendants. Abraham was taught in Genesis 12:1-3 that salvation was for everyone. Gentiles did not have to become Jews in order to be saved, and that was contrary to what the religious keepers of the law-namely, the Scribes and Pharisees-were teaching. If the Gentiles had to become Jews in order to be saved, that would have been an example of salvation by deeds, and Paul said that was not the truth of the Gospel. Deeds can only be a sign of our salvation. They are not the way to salvation. The only deed that earned our salvation was Christ’s death on the cross.

Most of us know as Christians that God works in mysterious ways-ways that are different from our own. We see this in Scripture and in our own lives, but we refuse to learn from experiences that we don’t like. When we refuse to learn, we have to repeat the process. God uses the bad experiences of our lives to teach us something. We have to learn from life’s difficulties, including those that are caused by our belief that we have to earn our salvation.

The gift of the Holy Spirit-our salvation- depends on faith. Our supernatural Christian life shows God’s supernatural power. Faith is not a deed that makes us righteous. It unites us with Christ, who is our righteousness. In other words, we are made righteous by faith in Christ. We have to submit to God’s grace by faith and not by deeds. If we want to be justified or declared righteous before God, we have to place our faith in Jesus and his sinless perfection. He bears our rightful curse and is our righteousness. He paid our sin debt on the cross. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves-he restored our relationship with God. Through the cross our sins are buried and forgiven. Everyone who puts his/her faith in Jesus receives the promise of the Holy Spirit and becomes spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham.  

Abraham was justified by God not because of his deeds, but because of his faith. Gentile believers were made sons and daughters of God and sons and daughters of Abraham because of their faith. The law and the deeds it required could not make people children of God-only faith in God could. The law was not God’s way of salvation. The only way of salvation is by our faith. Faith gives us life, but the law leads to death because it has to be obeyed perfectly-and humans are not perfect. Failure to obey the law leads to a curse on those who insist on living under the law, and that curse eventually leads to death. Jesus voluntarily submitted himself to the curse of the law so that we could live without the curse. Our redemption is in the cross.

The fact that the cross was set in a sinful world and that Christ lived and died outside of the world means that there is no person or place outside the domain of his powerful suffering love.  The cross shows that God is free to justify the whole world and everyone who lives in it. God’s justification does not depend on human readiness, achievement or self–attained merit. It depends on God’s grace alone. Unconditional love can change our lives. God loves us so much and so unconditionally that he sent Jesus to free us from the curse of the law. God’s sovereign hand has given us the spiritual sight we need to see joy in great and small things. We are less and less bound to our own impulses and desires. We will be free to show God’s love by serving others. Relying on our faith comes with blessings and the power of God. 

God struck a decisive blow against the power of evil to reclaim what is his. He restored our relationship with him. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the start of a new age. It points to the future, and it also points to courage, strength and power that we need to live as Christians in our sin-filled world. In order for us to receive this faith and let it work in our lives, we must be open to the Gospel, welcome it and yield our lives to Christ. As promise-making people of God, we can promise only those things God has promised us. We have to live as if God’s kingdom has arrived. We are to bring the kingdom a little more fully each day by witnessing to others about the good news of the gospel.

 Bibliography

   1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing, 2013)

2.      Dunnam, M.D. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 31: Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians/Colossians/Philemon (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)

3.      Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, NKJV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2005)

4.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

5.      Leonard Sweet, “Heirs of the Promise.” Retrieved from www.esermons.com

6.      King Duncan, “Loved by the Father.” Retrieved from www.esermons.com

7.      Joni Eareckson Tada, “Faith that Blesses.” Retrieved from www.joniandfriends.org

8.      J. Randal Metheny, “The Beauty of the Gory Cross.” Retrieved from http://forthright.net

9.      Michael Youssef, Ph.D., “Bearing Fruit.” Retrieved from mydevotional@leadingtheway.org

10.  Margaret Manning, “Toward Freedom.” Retrieved from slice@sliceofinfinity.org

11.  Rick Boxx, “Relying on our Faith.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com

12.  R.C. Sproul, “Jesus Became a Curse for Us.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 The End is Near

Do you ever get the feeling that time is passing by quickly? Do you ever feel that you have too much to do and not enough time to do it? If so, then you can probably appreciate the sense of urgency that Paul has in the reading from 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, which we heard earlier in today’s service.

In God’s sense of time, our daily lives are nothing but a blink of an eye. Paul considered all of time from the cross forward to be part of the “last days” before Christ’s return, and he warns us to always live in the light of Christ’s certain return at an unforeseen moment. Paul wants us to live our lives as though Christ could return at any time because he could return at any time. We must live every moment of our lives fully for God. It reminds me of the line in an old African American spiritual song. It goes like this: “I want to be ready to walk in Jerusalem just like John.” Jerusalem is the earthly Holy City, but our heavenly home is another Holy City. We have to be ready to walk in the heavenly Holy City at any time because not only could Christ come at any time, but we could die at any time.

Corinth was a Greek city and the people were influenced by Greek philosophy, which tended to emphasize dualism. Dualism saw the physical (such as the human body) as evil and the spiritual (such as the soul) as good. The phrase “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” was consistent with this belief, but it was at odds with Judaism and Christianity. Both of these faiths look at the whole person as indivisible in terms of both the body and the soul.

Paul answered the Corinthians’ questions about marriage and sex. His own opinion was that people should remain single as he was. The reason he gave was that Jesus would return soon, the end was near and the world was passing away. Paul wanted all faithful people to devote themselves entirely to the work God wanted them to do. Attachment to other things such as marriage and family responsibilities would hinder their commitment.

Christians in Paul’s day expected Jesus to return at any time. Their expectation was based on Christ’s statement that “this generation will not pass away” until he returned. Jesus’ return should focus our spirituality and increase the love we have for our fellow man. His return means that our salvation is at hand. The old earthly ways of doing things don’t matter anymore, because Jesus has given us a much better alternative.

Jesus operated with the same sense of urgency in the reading we heard from Mark 1:14-20. He had a lot to do and not much time to do it. He had an urgent message that required an immediate response because the message was so life-changing and so wonderful that the people who heard it would be moved to repent, respond and react.

Many generations have passed since Paul wrote this passage from 1 Corinthians with a sense of urgency, and so that sense of urgency might seem old-fashioned to us. In spite of the passage of time, we can reflect on Paul’s sense of urgency and learn from him how important it is that we continue to serve the Lord, regardless of where we are in life. It doesn’t matter if we’re rich or poor, young or old, working or unemployed.

Too often we focus on the circumstances of our daily lives, and that preoccupation leads us to trust in those circumstances when we should be trusting in God instead. Once we trust worldly things, we try to control them, and in most cases our attempts fail. We need to make God’s call to serve our number one priority. We have to trust God alone.

Paul argues that we are in a time of crisis because Christ could return at any time. God’s call is urgent. The world will be turned upside down, so those who have focused on worldly things need to repent. The only way we can be prepared for his return is to make the work we have been given to do our number one priority. In my own case, that means preaching the Good News of the Gospel whenever and wherever God calls me to preach. It does not matter if it is within this Parish or in other churches. I don’t care if the fact that I accept invitations to preach and lead worship in other churches pleases people or not. When I get an invitation to preach in other churches, I see it as a call from God, and he is the only person that I have to worry about pleasing.  

Our work is to win lost souls for Christ. We are to do this by spreading the Good News of the Gospel. That does not mean that we have to be an evangelist like Billy Graham, Franklin Graham or Will Graham. We can do this work just by talking to our friends and neighbours about Jesus. For example, in addition to my preaching, I share the gospel by posting my sermons on my blog and by posting links to my blog posts in several Facebook groups.

In God’s eyes, we are at a critical moment in time before the end of the age of grace. Now is the time for everyone to know the living God and live with him for eternity. Now is not the time for us to be distracted by the world. Paul’s sense that the end of all things is coming soon governs all that is being said and is the foundation of his recommended way of life.

We are told by both Paul and Jesus not to worry about things such as what we will eat or what we will wear. This goes against our society’s emphasis on accumulating wealth and possessions. Our priority is to be on eternal things and not on material things. We are called on to disengage ourselves from the world and its ways of living. We have to step back and see how being entangled with the world can prevent us from living our new life in Christ. In addition, we must continue to live in this world and deal with it. If we are not entangled with the ways of the world, we can engage the world as someone who is “in Christ.”

We are called on to maintain an “end of time” view. We must remember that Jesus’ death and resurrection ushered in a new era where we as Christians are to keep one foot in this world and the other foot in the kingdom. If we can remember this, we can continue with our normal lives, but we will not be preoccupied with the materialistic nature of our world.

Nothing in this world can compare to the world we have in God and in Christ. We have to deal with this world though-it is inevitable. We have to deal with it because of our families, our nation and ourselves. We must remember that this earthly life is not all that there is. We must keep looking beyond our earthly life, which is passing away. We must remain invested in the world in order to do the work God has given us to do. We have knowledge of the certainty of God’s reign beyond history, and we have to work to align the present and future of the world with it.

Bibliography

 

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)

2.      John Shearman, “Introduction to the Scripture for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany-Year B.” Retrieved from http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/b-oro3-js.php

3.      MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.: 2006)

4.      Arlen J. Hultgren, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org.

5.      Frank L. Crouch, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org.

6.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

7.      Jude Siciliano, O.P. “First Impressions, 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, (B).” Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org

8.      Exegesis for 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

9.      Craig Condon, “Answering God’s Call.” Retrieved from both www.sermonsfrommyheart.blogspot.ca and the author’s personal library

 

 

 

 

Mark 1:14-20 Getting (and Giving) the Message

Good morning boys and girls!

Let’s play a game that most of you probably know. I’m going to give the first person in the pew a message and then I’ll ask him/her to pass it on. The last person in the line then has to tell the congregation what the message was. Are you ready? Cover your ears tightly while I tell the congregation what the message will be.

Boys and girls, why do you think it’s important for us to pass on a message properly? Well, sometimes, the message might be an emergency, such as when you call 9-1-1. When the operator answers the phone he or she needs to know the exact details of your emergency so that you can get the exact help that you need. Here’s an example.

Last Sunday I had to call 9-1-1 because my mother was very sick. The first operator asked me what the nature of the emergency was. I told her that my mother was very sick, and the operator connected me with an ambulance service operator. He asked me some more questions so that he could pass on information to the paramedics so that they could look after my mother and take her to the hospital. The doctor at the hospital asked me some questions so that she could get the information she needed to take care of my mother. I’m pleased to tell you that because of the information the paramedics and the doctor had, they were able to help my mother get better, and even though she is still in the hospital, she  is well on her way to making a complete recovery.

If you had an important message to give to someone, how would you give it to them? Well, you could give it to them in person like we did a few minutes ago, but supposed you wanted to give a message to someone who lived far away? You could call them on the telephone, speak to them over the Internet by email or through Skype, or you could mail them a letter.

Jesus also had an important message to deliver, but when he lived on earth he didn’t have the Internet or telephones or the post office. He had to deliver the message in person, and I’ll tell you about it by reading a passage from Marl 1:14-20. 

Boys and girls, Jesus calls on all of us to deliver the same message. Some of us might take it to people in a land far away, and others might take it to a neighbour or friend. I put the message in my sermons and my children’s talks, and in turn they are posted on my blog, which is read by people from all over the world. The important thing to remember though is to carry the message.

Let’s close our eyes for a moment of prayer. Dear God, thank you for the gift of your message. Help us to be faithful messengers so that we can carry your message to people who need to hear it. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN

 Bibliography

 

1.      “Answering the Call.” Retrieved from www.sermons4kids.com

2.      “Carrying the Message.” Retrieved from www.sermons4kids.com

 

Mark 1:4-11 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

If the reading we heard from Mark’s Gospel a few minutes ago sounds familiar, it’s because we heard part of the same reading a few weeks ago on the Second Sunday of Advent. On that Sunday, we heard John the Baptist talk about the coming of Jesus and the baptism that he would provide-the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John saw Jesus as both mightier than him and more worthy than him, and Jesus said that no one greater than John had ever lived. John saw himself as not being worthy enough to unite the sandals on Jesus’ feet, and that was a task that was dirty and not very appealing according to the culture of that time.

Today, we heard about Jesus’ baptism and the coming of the Holy Spirit on him.  John proclaimed Christ’s superiority by distinguishing between his own baptism with water and the baptism that Christ would provide with the Holy Spirit. Several Old Testament passages speak of the Holy Spirit being poured out like water. Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit supplies us with supernatural power just like the Holy Spirit revealed its supernatural power at Jesus’ baptism.

All three members of the Trinity-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-were present at Jesus’ baptism. The parting of heaven was a foretaste of both Jesus’ statement in Mark 1:15 that the kingdom of heaven was near and the tearing of the veil of the temple when Jesus died on the cross. Jesus’ birth ended the separation of God and man that was created when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. 

The Holy Spirit changes things. It works through Jesus to bridge the gap between us and God. Reconciliation with God was possible because of Jesus’ birth, ministry, death and resurrection. Not only was this gap first bridged at Jesus’ baptism when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, it was also bridged at his death when the veil in the temple was torn in two. The Temple was divided into several sections, including the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the temple by a curtain. The only person who could enter this particular part of the temple was the High Priest, and even then he could only enter on the Day of Atonement. No one else could enter, so a rope was tied to the high priest’s waist so that if anything happened to him he could be removed without anyone else having to enter. A bell was attached to the high priest so that people on the outside could hear him move. If the bell stopped ringing for any length of time, the people would know that something happened to the high priest and that they needed to pull him out of there immediately.

God claims us through baptism. In the waters of our baptism, God speaks our name, unites us to Christ and grants us the promise of new life. He says that he loves us, he claims us and he is proud pf us. Nothing else is needed. No one can take our new identity in Christ away from us. No matter what other names we are called  others or even by ourselves, we are now beloved children of God. In the Baptism Service in the Anglican Church of Canada’s Book of Alternative Services, there is a line that is read when a person is baptized-“I sign you with the sign of the cross, and I mark you as Christ’s own forever.” We have been adopted into God’s family. God’s love for us can’t be changed. It guides our behaviour. Because of God’s love, there are certain things we won’t do and there are certain things we will do-things that we must do. Through Jesus, we have a love that will take risks and a family identity that can’t be broken.

Baptism tells us that we are deeply rooted in the possibility toward goodness. That is a revelation to us. It goes against the stain of original sin which I mentioned earlier. It encourages us to take a risk by going into this unknown territory. God offers harmony, intensity, peace, compassion and justice-things that are alien to our world.  

Why did Jesus have to be baptized? After all, he was sinless. Jesus said in Mathew 3:15 that he needed to be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.” It was God’s counsel in Luke 7:29-30 that people be baptized of John. In other words, God tells us to repent. Jesus asked John to baptize him as an act of obedience to God’s purposes. Jesus wanted to set a good example for us by doing the Father’s will. His baptism also served to introduce him to John and the people of Israel as the long-promised Messiah.

Jesus’ baptism was necessary in order to fulfill the requirements of the Old Testament law, which required repentance from sins and hence John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance. Jesus had to be baptized because he was born and died under the law to deliver us from the law (which was so strict that it could not be obeyed perfectly). The Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at his baptism commissioned Jesus for a unique service. Jesus carried the Holy Spirit wherever he went and gave it to those who were receptive to his message. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we are empowered to do God’s work in our world.

Jesus was God’s answer to Isaiah’s prayer that God would come down to earth and be fully present with humanity. He was and is God’s son in a way that others created in God’s image are not. Jesus was the Son of God, but his baptism gave him the verbal assurance that he was indeed God's son. He was born of the Holy Spirit, but his baptism gave him the visible assurance that the Spirit was certainly present with him. Jesus’ baptism gave him the positive assurances that he would need during his temptation, his time of ministry, his sufferings and death. 

We long for someone to tell us the truth even if it will hurt us. God created this longing in our hearts. We long to have someone who can help us understand what is going on in the world and what we need to do. That person may or may not be a prophet as long as he or she speaks the truth of God’s word. Take me, for example. I don’t consider myself to be a prophet, but each and every message I preach is based on the truth of God’s word as written in the Bible.

Jesus and John the Baptist also spoke the truth. They spoke of the need for repentance, and repentance is the first step in a journey that leads us to baptism by the Holy Spirit. It requires us to change our direction. In other words, we have to “turn or burn.” Baptism is the second step in the journey. It means a burial with Jesus and resurrection to a new life in Christ. Baptism with water is a symbol of the washing away of the dirt of our old, sinful life. Forgiveness of sins is the third step. It is ushered in by our baptism and our repentance. When God forgives us, he wipes our record clean. He takes his big bottle of Liquid Paper or his big roll of correction tape and crosses out the mistakes of our lives, just like the father forgave his wayward son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Jesus’ baptism ushered in a new way of dealing with sin. People did not have to go to the temple in Jerusalem because Jesus became the new temple. Repentance is not something we can do only once in our lives and then forget about it. Repentance must be done each and every day because each and every day Satan will try to get us to move in a different direction. When we come together in worship, God tells us that he loves us, and in return we tell him that we love him too.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit allows us to see ourselves as gospel peacemakers in our world. It allows us to be merciful to those who ask for forgiveness. It allows us to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves-the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, prisoners and so on. It allows us to spread God’s love to everyone. 

When I was preparing this homily, I saw a story about a mother who was at home with her two young daughters one lazy afternoon. Everything seemed to be just fine until the mother realized something strange. The house was quiet. And as every parent knows, a quiet house in the daytime can only mean one thing: the kids are up to no good.

Quietly walking into each of the girls' rooms and not finding them there, she began to get worried. Then she heard it: the sound of whispering followed by the flushing of a toilet. Following the sound, she soon realized where it was coming from. It was coming from her bathroom. Whispers, flush. Whispers, flush. Whispers, flush. Poking her head into the room, she was able to see both of her daughters standing over the commode. Whispers, flush. One of them was holding a dripping Barbie doll by the ankles and the other one had her finger on the handle. Whispers, flush. Wanting to hear what her daughter was saying, she slipped quietly into the room. Whispers, flush. And this is what she heard: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and in the hole you go." Flush.

We know what it feels like to have life grab us by the ankles and dangle us over the waters of chaos. And we know that this happens in spite of our faith. We even know that, at times, it happens precisely because of our faith. When this happens, we can take comfort in the knowledge that because we have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, we have the strength we need to face life’s challenges.

Baptism means that God has broken through the barrier between him and us. In return, we are to break through the challenges and problems of the world with everything we have been given by the Holy Spirit. Saying yes to our baptism means saying yes to facing the challenges of our world and yes to a life torn open by God’s love. Saying yes to our baptism means that our sins have been forgiven and we have been given a new start in life through Jesus Christ.

As soon as he was baptized, Jesus was on the move, and that fits in with the urgency of Mark’s Gospel. We have a similar calling. We are baptized for action. We are baptized to go out into the world and be the hands, voice and presence of Christ. We are baptized for the sake of others and for the sake of the world. For example, I publish all of my sermons on my blog-www.sermonsfrommyheart.blog.ca-and they have been viewed over 88,000 times by people from all over the world.  Regardless of what we do, say or think, we must be bold in our actions and faithful to our calling. That way, when we get to the Pearly Gates, we can hear God say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

 Bibliography

 

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)

2.      McKenna, D.L. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 25: Mark (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)

3.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

4.      Exegesis for Mark 1:4-11. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

5.      Kristopher J. Hewitt, “I Love You Too.” Retrieved from dailydevotional@ucc.org

6.      Jude Siciliano, O.P., “First Impressions, Baptism of the Lord, (B)”. Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org

7.      The Rev. David Lewicki, “As It Was in the Beginning.” Retrieved from www.day1.org

8.      The Rev. Timothy T. Boggess, “In the Hole He Goes.” Retrieved from www.day1.org

9.      Rick Morley, “Handling Sin: A Reflection on Mark 1:4-11.” Retrieved from www.rickmorley.com/archives

10.  Brian P. Stoffregen, “Mark 1:4-11, 1^st Sunday after the Epiphany/Baptism of Our Lord-Year B.” Retrieved from http://www.crtossmarks.com/brian/mark1x4.htm

11.  The Rev. Maxwell Grant, “Torn Open, By God.” Retrieved from www.day1.org

12.  Pastor Dave Risendal, “Baptism: the Heart of our Faith.” Retrieved from http://onelittleword.org/?p=6765