Mark 1:21-28
"What new teaching is this?" I've been searching for Jesus' words before the healing of the man possessed and I can't find them. What this search has done is made me look harder at all which surrounds this healing though. A man with a demon, and many things were determined and called demon possession then, would have been totally outside of community. He would be unclean, he would have been shoved away by his neighbors, family, friends because he would have been determined to have some sort of undiscovered sin. Remember in John where the disciples ask Jesus if the blind man sinned or his parents, then Jesus heals the man to show them that is the wrong question. This is what its like in today's text except we don't have the words, we just have the action.
See this is where the church stands today. Brenè Brown, in her sermon at Washington National Cathedral describes it this way, that the church in it's history did such a good job of sorting us into like minded groups. We had groups who looked like us, believed like us, all the things we agreed on, and then the result has been we have divided ourselves out. Put ourselves out of communities, out of contact with others, our of communities where we disagree with one another. This has created a vacuum of loneliness in our culture. People outside of community.
Isn't this what the church is about? Isn't this what the teaching of Jesus is in this gospel? We are supposed to be the community makers, not the community breakers. Most often the church is concerned with being right in its own definition then with reaching out to one another and creating community. Communities where reconciliation and love is the center instead of the mentality of me and mine. Jesus' first act is reaching out to someone who was deemed unreachable and he does this on the Sabbath, a day when no work is to be done.
Beloved community, what does that look like? A place where we can come and be honest with one another because we care about the whole instead of only our part. A place where we truly connect with one another and reach out with prayer and healing to one another. We have enough places which offer the divided mentality shouldn't we be the places not afraid of diversity. Jesus shows us unlike the Roman Empire dividing and conquering is not the way to win anything. In fact it has created such a culture of loneliness in this country we are facing new health risks. Newsweek cites the increase in women with heart problems, suicide has increased to 30% and among men 50 and above it increased 50%. Brenè Brown calls it a crisis of spiritual proportions one that the church should have the answers to.
We have been asked to join in and become community builders. Jesus asks us this today, not with words but by reaching out. Reaching out to the lost and lonely, those outside of community, those who need anyone's love and support. So what do we need to do? We need to tear down the walls we erect to keep others out, we need to tear down all of what we know, because today in Corinthians Paul tells us, "knowledge puffs up, love builds up", so head out into the world with love. You may say this is hard because then we have to be vulnerable. Every time we choose to love though we are taking a risk. Taking the risk of being wrong and right, of asking for forgiveness and forgiving, of losing and gaining. It is a risk well worth taking. Will you reach out?
"What new teaching is this?" I've been searching for Jesus' words before the healing of the man possessed and I can't find them. What this search has done is made me look harder at all which surrounds this healing though. A man with a demon, and many things were determined and called demon possession then, would have been totally outside of community. He would be unclean, he would have been shoved away by his neighbors, family, friends because he would have been determined to have some sort of undiscovered sin. Remember in John where the disciples ask Jesus if the blind man sinned or his parents, then Jesus heals the man to show them that is the wrong question. This is what its like in today's text except we don't have the words, we just have the action.
See this is where the church stands today. Brenè Brown, in her sermon at Washington National Cathedral describes it this way, that the church in it's history did such a good job of sorting us into like minded groups. We had groups who looked like us, believed like us, all the things we agreed on, and then the result has been we have divided ourselves out. Put ourselves out of communities, out of contact with others, our of communities where we disagree with one another. This has created a vacuum of loneliness in our culture. People outside of community.
Isn't this what the church is about? Isn't this what the teaching of Jesus is in this gospel? We are supposed to be the community makers, not the community breakers. Most often the church is concerned with being right in its own definition then with reaching out to one another and creating community. Communities where reconciliation and love is the center instead of the mentality of me and mine. Jesus' first act is reaching out to someone who was deemed unreachable and he does this on the Sabbath, a day when no work is to be done.
Beloved community, what does that look like? A place where we can come and be honest with one another because we care about the whole instead of only our part. A place where we truly connect with one another and reach out with prayer and healing to one another. We have enough places which offer the divided mentality shouldn't we be the places not afraid of diversity. Jesus shows us unlike the Roman Empire dividing and conquering is not the way to win anything. In fact it has created such a culture of loneliness in this country we are facing new health risks. Newsweek cites the increase in women with heart problems, suicide has increased to 30% and among men 50 and above it increased 50%. Brenè Brown calls it a crisis of spiritual proportions one that the church should have the answers to.
We have been asked to join in and become community builders. Jesus asks us this today, not with words but by reaching out. Reaching out to the lost and lonely, those outside of community, those who need anyone's love and support. So what do we need to do? We need to tear down the walls we erect to keep others out, we need to tear down all of what we know, because today in Corinthians Paul tells us, "knowledge puffs up, love builds up", so head out into the world with love. You may say this is hard because then we have to be vulnerable. Every time we choose to love though we are taking a risk. Taking the risk of being wrong and right, of asking for forgiveness and forgiving, of losing and gaining. It is a risk well worth taking. Will you reach out?
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