With Three Pennies and God...

Thanks this week to (you knew this was coming) Kathryn Matthews Huey, for direction and inspiration in the writing of this sermon. I found Mother Teresa's story here.

Finally, I recommend taking part in "World In Prayer," which is updated weekly and offers a prayer for the needs of the planet.

John 6:1-21

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.

This is the Word of the Lord.

In our reading last week, Jesus and the disciples were trying to get away, have a quiet meal and catch a nap. The disciples had gone out two-by-two into the towns and villages, bringing the Good News and seeing the power of God at work in themselves when they cast out demons. Jesus had just learned the horrifying news of his cousin John’s death, and their popularity had grown to the point that they couldn’t move without attracting attention. They cast off across the Sea of Galilee for some peace and quiet, and thousands met their boat when it landed on the other side.

In John’s account, the boat ride takes place under different circumstances, and Jesus and his disciples actually make it to the mountainside and sit down before Jesus sees the massive crowd coming. Honestly, if I had seen a crowd that size coming, kicking up dust in their wake, I would have first thought of running. But Jesus? He saw them coming and asked, “We’re going to need to feed them all. Where’s the bread store, Phillip?”

Phillip turned red and sputtered, overwhelmed at such a thought. “It would take thousands of dollars… and even then, there would be enough for maybe a bite… and besides, do they make that much bread?”

You can’t really blame Phillip. It was, on the surface, a nonsensical idea – the logistics of finding bread, paying for it, transporting it, distributing it… well, the word “impossible” comes to mind.

And then there’s Andrew. Where Andrew found the boy is a mystery… perhaps the child overheard Jesus speaking and tugged on the disciples’ robes. Perhaps Andrew heard what Jesus asked and immediately went scouting for food among the approaching throng. Whatever the case, while everyone else was studiously attending to not making it their problem, Andrew joined right in the nonsense. “Hey, Jesus, this kid has five loaves of barley bread and a couple of fish… not that it’ll help or anything…”

Jesus smiled and said, “Perfect! Sit ‘em down, let’s feed them!”

Now, I’ve heard a lot of theories about what happened next, including many commentators and scholars who say that the little boy’s generosity led to a “miracle of sharing,” where the people saw the child’s generosity and responded by sharing their own food.

Now, there are a lot of reasons that I think that particular interpretation of the Scriptures rings hollow, one of them being the crowd’s reaction to being fed. One would scarcely expect a crowd to become intent on making Jesus their king, by force if necessary, after being encouraged to share.

This wasn’t a warm, fuzzy, join hands and sing “Kum Ba Ya” moment. No, the crowd was responding, with excitement and an energy bordering on violence, to a sign – a demonstration of the power of God in Jesus Christ, a demonstration of who Jesus is.

Like their ancestors before them, the people being fed that day hold onto the promise of Deuteronomy 18:15, the promise of a prophet like Moses who will be raised up by God to lead them. Is it any wonder then that they see a good candidate for king in this man of power? After all, for a culture so steeped in the Scriptures, Jesus’ actions that day would have resonated for some with the stories of the Exodus from Egypt, where Moses himself had asked at one point, “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?” Others would have seen someone bringing barley loaves that are inexplicably multiplied and shared, and would have remembered how a man had brought twenty barley loaves to the prophet Elisha, and had provided one hundred men their fill of food.  Others would have sat on that mountainside and eaten until they couldn’t look at another bite, and recalled the beautiful promise in Isaiah 25:6: “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare  a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.”

Oh, make no mistake: for a people living so close to the ragged edge of starvation, suffocating under the bootheel of oppressive taxation and withering in the shadow of the ever-present Roman Empire, to enjoy a meal of barley loaves and fishes until they could eat no more was a banquet, a feast, a sumptuous repast beyond description.

The people long for freedom from lack, from starvation, from the empire that oppresses them, and this longing leads them to set their sights too short. It's certainly understandable, and only human, that they would see Jesus as a miracle-worker and even as a potential king. Even the desire for a king, however, is too small a dream and falls far short of God's dream for the people. Like far too many people today, the people in that well-fed crowd focus on what this miracle worker can do for them, which, to quote Charles Cousar, "skews the reality of grace and seeks to make of Jesus a genie or an errand boy…." Instead, Cousar writes, Jesus is even greater than that prophet they had been waiting for all these centuries, even greater than "a wonder-worker" who will fulfill their every need and desire.

History tells the tale of thousands upon thousands of kings and queens and empires and kingdoms that have risen, conquered, thrived… then either fallen to greater kingdoms or empires, or else collapsed under their own weight. Jesus came for a greater purpose, a Kingdom that will have no end… a Kingdom which conquers with love, and which rules and thrives by grace. A Kingdom which meets needs with an abundance that is always more than enough.

In the Letter to the Ephesians, we read of a God who “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Jesus wants to give us what we don't even realize we need, at least not consciously; he knows what we need, deep down in our innermost, authentic human selves. How often have we been confronted with a need – one we experience ourselves, or one we see in another, and, like Phillip, have said, “it’s impossible… we lack the manpower, the infrastructure, the resources, the experience, it’s someone else’s problem…”?

How often, I wonder have I actually asked for too little, failing to see beyond my own immediate wants and expectations?

And while I know that I dismissed the idea of the Feeding of the Five Thousand being a “miracle of sharing,” I cannot deny that even that interpretation carries a message for us today.

Jesus asked Phillip about bread for the hungry crowd. Phillip looked at the bank balance and threw up his hands. The other disciples studied the clouds, strolled off whistling and twiddling their thumbs… and one little boy stepped out from the crowd, counted his pennies, tugged on Andrew’s robes, and handed him his lunchbox.

And Andrew said to Jesus, “we don’t have much, and we don’t know what difference it will make, but here is what we’ve got.”

Agnes had 3 pennies to her name… and a passion to help the poor. As a young girl, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu went through ministerial training in Ireland and India.  She graduated from her training with a burning passion to serve God and love people. The problem was a lack of resources. . .  how on earth was she going to realize her dreams with only 3 pennies?  What could she do with so little?

 One day she gathered all her courage and approached her superiors.  Agnes announced, “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.”  Her superiors could not believe what they were hearing!  After laughing at her, they said, “You can’t build an orphanage with three pennies.  With three pennies you can’t do anything.”  Agnes just smiled and replied, “I know.  But with God and three pennies, I can do anything!”

Agnes got her orphanage, and for fifty years this worked among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India.  We know Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu as Mother Teresa.

Agnes looked at her pennies and said, “It isn’t much, but here’s what I have.” For Mother Teresa, three pennies were more than enough. For Jesus, five loaves and two fishes were more than enough.

What can we do to help all those affected by the devastating tragedy in Aurora, Colorado?  How can we help those fleeing the civil war in Syria, running from the undeclared civil wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Somalia and so many other parts of the world often overlooked by news organizations? What can we do about the one million children worldwide who disappear into child sex slavery?

Closer to home, what about that neighbor, that friend, who simply needs to know that God loves them?

Is the task too much? Is the need overwhelming?

With three pennies and God… we can do anything.

Have I Mentioned that Love Wins?

I'm indebted to the writing of Mark Sandlin of Vandalia Presbyterian Church for helping me articulate the beginning of this sermon. Statistical information is taken from a video presentation by David Kinnaman of the Barna Group.

Oh, and the thing about quoting Hugh Hollowell rather than Rob Bell when I say "Love Wins?" Hugh said it first.

Here's the audio from the sermon.



Check this out on Chirbit

Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

John 15:9-17

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

There are times I look around me at the Church Universal and wonder: At what point did the wheels come off the bus?

We Christians excel at many things: Worship, helping others, weddings, funerals, praying… but what many Christians, both individually and as groups, seem to be best at is the art of missing the point completely.

We have used the Bible to support, promote and act upon some pretty un-Christian things over the millennia: slavery, holocaust, segregation, subjugation of women, apartheid, the Spanish Inquisition, domestic violence, all sorts of exploitation, and the list could go on and on.

In every case, Christians assert their confident conviction that they are adhering to the will of God, quoting (or to be precise, misquoting and prooftexting) Scriptures in order to bolster their arguments. And in every case, over time, as we become more skilled at translating the original languages and more adept at contextualizing passages of Scripture, cooler heads prevail and we discover that the Bible in general and Saint Paul specifically weren’t condoning slavery, did not in fact support the subjugation of women, but in fact promoted integration within the church and, by extension, society, and the list could go on and on.

We discover, every time, and much to our surprise, that (to quote my friend and Mennonite pastor Hugh Hollowell) “Love wins.”

And then we forget, because some other issue comes up, some other political group co-opts the name of God to support their agenda, and the vicious cycle starts all over again.

It’s really no surprise, when you think of it, that a study by the Barna Group, an Evangelical research firm, showed that a staggering majority of people outside the Church use some very harsh words to describe Christians: “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” “insensitive to others,” “too involved in politics,” they say that “present-day Christianity is no longer like Jesus intended,” and the list could go on and on.

Now, understand that the Barna Group, as an Evangelical firm, is speaking specifically about Evangelical Christians. As Presbyterians, we fall under the heading of “Mainline Protestants,” or what the Barna Group labels “other Christians.”

So we can say with some justification that we’re not like the people described in that Barna survey. Our denomination and our church welcomes all kinds of people, inviting participation at all levels regardless of who they are or what they look like!

But asking someone who does not embrace Christianity to understand the nuances of doctrinal and theological differences between Catholic and Protestant and Mainline and Evangelical and Fundamentalist is like expecting someone who is not a Muslim to understand the difference between Shia and Suni, or someone that does not golf to know when to use a five iron and when to use a nine iron.

Further, our protests are drowned out by the loudest Christian voices – voices which, in the name of God, push legislators to pass laws to “make people act right,” voices that (in the name of Jesus) fight anti-bullying programs in schools, voices that speak hate and exclusion and judgment and condemnation from the television screen, the radio speaker, the web browser and the pulpit, and the list could go on and on.

Well, then, how do we, as compassionate, caring, nonjudgmental, mainline Protestant Christians, go about shifting this paradigm, changing the perception of people on the outside, helping them understand that not all of us are like the loudest voices?

Do we buy up billboards? Maybe set up a FaceBook page? Radio and television ads? Hire a PR firm to do an image makeover?

Most of those things – perhaps even the PR firm idea – have already been done. Besides, and I’ve said this before: if by talking more often, talking to more people, and talking louder, we could bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ, everyone would by now already be in relationship with Jesus Christ.

So how do we do it? How do we overcome the negative perceptions of Christianity (and, by extension, Christ) to help bring people into the Kingdom of God? How do we win the battle for the hearts and minds and souls of the human race?

Love wins.

In our Gospel reading today (as well as, I dare say, the vast majority of the Gospel of John), when Jesus speaks of “love” he uses a very specific word – in Greek, it’s the word “agape.” The concept behind agape is a love that is completely outwardly focused, that provides hospitality, caring, compassion, support, assistance, all without any thought to what it gets in return.

And on the very night of his betrayal, mere hours from his arrest, trial and crucifixion, Jesus makes it clear that agape is the kind of love that is not afraid to go to extremes: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Love wins.

When Jesus calls the disciples (and, by extension, all who follow Him) his friends, it isn’t simply a term of endearment. Friendship in first-century Judea was a serious matter. To be considered a friend was to be in a position of honor. Being a friend meant being treated as kin with all the attendant privileges and obligations. To be a friend meant to look out for the welfare of the other, to put the other's needs on an equal footing with one's own.

Friendship implied reciprocity as well -- to consider someone a friend meant counting on that person to return that level of concern and care. When Jesus calls the disciples “friends,” he isn’t adding them on FaceBook, or saying “hi, how are the kids” as he passes in the hallway. He has shared with them what the Father has revealed to him, and he has given them the task of going out and sharing this revelation with the world. He is speaking to them on the last night before he is to lay down his life for them, and he is letting them know that he expects no less from them in return.

What’s more, by elevating them from the role of “servant” to the role of “friend,” Jesus is eliminating the most divisive element in the community of the disciples at that point, and (can I be honest?) at any point in the Church’s history.

From time to time in the Gospels we read about the disciples arguing over who was to be first in the Kingdom of Heaven – who would get the thrones closest to Jesus, for example. That was a very familiar concept in their time, and it’s just as common today. Go to a big banquet, and all the important people are sitting at the dais. In a boardroom, they’re seated nearest the CEO. As far as the religious community is concerned, the biggest churches with the flashiest programs and the slickest television programs generally get the most attention.

But we are chosen by Christ to be so much more than that. I would contend that churches and individuals who are driven to be the biggest and best and wealthiest and most prominent are stuck in “servant” mode.

And lest you think I am saying that being a servant is a bad thing (because serving is so much a part of living in agape), let me explain my context.

The way Jesus is using the word “servant” here is most like how we would use the word “employee.” As an employee in a company, you engage in healthy competition at best: striving to be the best compared to everyone around you. At worst, you survive by not being the worst in the company as compared to “this guy” or “that guy.” Neither healthy competition, nor bare survival, have any place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

We aren’t chosen to be a crowd of backbiters and infighters, jostling to get the seat nearest the Throne of God. We aren’t called into relationship so we can count ourselves relatively righteous as compared to that Samaritan over there. We’re called to be washing feet. We’re chosen to be welcoming the Samaritan, and the eunuch, and the Gentile into the joyous fellowship of the Kingdom on equal footing with the rest of us!

We are chosen by Christ to forever proclaim that love wins!

The question hanging in the air is, of course, “How?” How do we love like this? How do we show the truth of Christian love to a world that’s been jaded, that’s been shocked by hypocrisy, that’s been hurt by religious insensitivity, that’s been enraged by political posturing?

The answer is neither quick nor easy.

Love wins, yes, but love does not win by making statements or by winning arguments or by shouting down the opposition. Love wins by doing the things that Jesus did.

Hear the Word of God, from the Epistle to the Philippians: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!”

When Jesus speaks in our Gospel reading of laying down one’s life for one’s friends, the most immediate and accurate association we make with that statement is Jesus’ death on the cross. But there is more than one way to lay down one’s life.

Turn just two chapters back from our Gospel reading to the thirteenth chapter of John, and you’ll see the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, present at and active in the creation of the universe and all that is in it, the Emmanuel, God-With-Us, stripping down to put on a servant’s loincloth and washing the disciples’ dirty feet… and doing it as an example for us. He laid aside propriety and office and reputation, taking on the lowest and least honorable of jobs, because, as we just heard from the Epsitle to the Philippians, that’s what he had been doing all along.

And examples abound within our own lifetimes of men and women who have laid down their lives. Mother Teresa laid down her life for the poor of Calcutta, India. Archbishop Oscar Romero laid down his life for the poor of El Salvador.

We lay down our life when we risk others’ good opinion of us by standing up for the oppressed. We lay down our life when we endure ridicule and hatred for speaking truth to power. We lay down our life when feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger and visiting the sick and imprisoned becomes more important than paying the cable bill. We lay down our life when listening to a hurting acquaintance is more important than getting to bed on time.

In the Epistle of First John, we read, “We love because he first loved us.” Through the love of God, instructed through the communication of prayer, empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, we who did not choose, but were chosen by Christ, are called not to do everything, but to do the next thing. Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred hungry people, feed just one.” And that is the key. We can all do one thing at a time. Look, we are not in this world, or in this fellowship with Christ, as independent contractors. We are a body, spread far and wide across the globe.

And if each of us do what we can, when we can, to the fullest extent that we can…

…then love wins.

"It Makes a Difference To That One."

The idea that "there is no 'them'" comes from my friend Jimmy Spencer Jr., whose book, "Love Without Agenda" is a must-read. Seriously.

I think far too many people treat Christianity as a cause to be defended, rather than what it is: a kingdom to be inhabited, a restoration of community with the Creator, unconditional and abundant grace and love to be lavished about in a scandalously extravagant manner.

I've said it before, and I will say it again. God loves everyone. Jesus died for everyone. Jesus rose for everyone.

For crying out loud, let's start acting like it.

Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

This is the Word of the Lord.

I almost get the feeling sometimes, when reading the book of Mark, that Jesus and the apostles were running everywhere they went. Mark uses words and phrases like “immediately,” “just then,” “straightaway,” “as soon as.” The intensity and speed might just make us rush along in reading, and that would be a mistake. Because even though Mark seems to be sprinting through the ministry of Christ, there is a lot to look at as he flies by.

Our Gospel reading picks up where we left off last Sunday; Jesus has spoken in the synagogue at Capernaum, and has cast out – more like evicted – a demon from a possessed man. He leaves the synagogue with his disciples and goes to the home where Simon and Andrew live.

There is some credible evidence that we know exactly where this synagogue and house were. Archaeologists have excavated the site of the synagogue at Capernaum, and in its shadow is a place that, since at least the second century, Christians have believed the home of Simon and Andrew to be.

In that day and age, the idea of a single-family home would have been as foreign as a radio broadcast. The houses were generally quite large, with one entrance, rooms surrounding a large open courtyard where the cooking was done. Sometimes these homes had a second story, very often there were stairs to the roof, where one could catch a cool breeze in the evening. Simon and Andrew’s whole family would have shared the structure, and the fact that Simon’s mother-in-law lived there as well would not have been much of a surprise.

In fact, we can infer that Simon’s mother-in-law acted as the matriarch of the home, taking care of the day-to-day comings and goings, purchases and cooking, and all the thousand details that would have gone into keeping a house that size running. She would have been well-known to everyone in the community from the marketplace, the common well, and neighborly conversation. And it needs to be noted that it would have been not just expected, but a great honor, for her to provide hospitality to visitors.

But this day, Simon’s mother-in-law was sick. I wonder if the phrase from our reading, “…they told him about her at once” came out more like, “Um, Jesus, dreadfully sorry supper isn’t ready, but, y’see, the mother-in-law, well, she’s terribly ill right now, and none of the rest of us know how to boil water. Want some bread?”

But in reality it wasn’t that simple. A fever in those days, before the development of aspirin and antibiotics and such, could have been deadly. So of course Jesus does what we expect him to do – after all, we’ve read the Gospels, we’ve heard the stories, we know what Jesus did to people who were sick, right? “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

Now, I do not at all think it is a coincidence that the Greek word used where we read “and lifted her up” is the same word used for resurrection. And lest we think that Jesus simply went into her room and healed her so he could get a sandwich, there’s another important Greek word in action here for “she began to serve them.” Diakonos, which our word “deacon” comes from, is the same word Jesus uses in speaking of himself, in the tenth chapter of Mark when he says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

As miraculous as the healing is, as astounding as the earlier exorcism may be, there are even greater things at work here, you see. These are merely elements of the greater message that Jesus is proclaiming.

As far as Mark is concerned, the synagogue which Jesus spoke in earlier that day was the first one of any importance that Jesus visited. But from Luke’s Gospel, we know that this is the second such visit. Because before he came to Capernaum, he was in Nazareth, where he took the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and read from it these words: “¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

This is where, after he read the passage and sat down to teach, he said “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – and he like to have gotten killed.

I want to suggest that, even though Mark makes no mention of the Nazareth event, the things that Jesus does in Capernaum are making the same bold statement. Jesus has proclaimed the year of Jubilee!

The year of Jubilee is first mentioned in the 25^th chapter of the book of Leviticus. The children of Israel, until recently a nation of slaves to the Egyptian people, were entering into a land promised to them by God – filled with houses they had not built, orchards they had not tended, fields they had not planted, riches they had not earned. All they were about to receive was a gift from God, and it was imperative to the spiritual health and the integrity off that community that they never, ever forgot that fact.

So every fiftieth year, a ram’s horn would blow, and in that year, every plot of land that had been sold was to be returned to the original owner. Any persons who had sold themselves into slavery were freed. Any money owed was forgiven. The slate was wiped clean. Sure, fifty years is a long time, and yes, adjustments in how much land or loans cost would be made based upon how close to that fiftieth year you were, but in the end, on that fiftieth year, when the ram’s horn blew, everything reset at zero. The poor were restored to wholeness, and the rich had just enough.

That was how it was supposed to have worked, anyway. In practice, most scholars think that this “Year of Jubilee” happened rarely, if ever. There were judges who could be bribed, and priests who could be paid to forget what year it was.

And the rich got richer, the poor got poorer.

But Jesus came to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God – freedom for the captives, sight for the blind, restoration and healing and life! And while in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus talks about his mission in the synagogue of Nazareth, in Mark’s Gospel, here in Capernaum, we see what the Jubilee year in the Kingdom of God really looks like.

In an instant, with a few words, a demon-possessed man is set free from his oppression, and restored to his place in the synagogue and the community. In an instant, with a touch, a feverish woman is set free from illness and restored to her place in the household and the community.

It’s no wonder that, as soon as the sun set and the Sabbath was completed, the entryway to Simon and Andrew’s home was clogged with people bringing others who were oppressed, others who were sick or enslaved by the demonic – men and women and children who needed release, healing, restoration.

And Jesus did what Jesus does – he proclaimed release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and set free those who were oppressed…

And when he moved on the next day, it was so he could preach the Gospel in all those poor little villages and neighboring towns.

And, you know, the whole blowing-the-ram’s-horn thing to signal the year of Jubilee, it seems like that would be a loud proclamation, something that got attention, a sound like no other. Funny, isn’t it, that there’s no horns blowing in Capernaum. Jesus simply told the demon to shut up and get out in the synagogue, and he didn’t say anything at all to Simon’s mother-in-law. He didn’t go looking for things to do, he simply did what needed to be done in the moment at hand.

But as simply and as quietly as Jesus did what needed doing, people took notice. People responded. People recognized, in Jesus, hope for those who had been decimated by illness, tormented by evil, tortured by madness, removed from their rightful place in society. And through that recognition they saw and experienced the now-and-coming Kingdom of God.

Most simply put, in being for the proclamation of the Gospel, in being for the Kingdom of God, Jesus became known as someone who was for people, and that is a lesson for Christians today.

You may have noticed that, by and large, people outside the faith identify Christians more and more by the things we are supposed to be against. We have allowed TV preachers and opportunistic politicians of all stripes to define the faith as a system by which we identify what is wrong with everyone else. All too often, the Bible is used as a hammer – and everyone and everything is a nail. People hear about an Alabama legislator (who I will not name, because I don’t want to give him the publicity) saying that the Bible opposes teacher pay raises – but is all for legislative pay raises! – and they think every Christian is like him. People see Westboro Baptist Church picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afganistan, and think every Christian is like that.

Christianity has become, in many people’s eyes, both inside of and outside of the church, a clique, a social class, another case of “us” versus “them.”

But as far as the Gospel is concerned – and I mean the real Gospel, the one we find in the Scriptures, not the gospel that the TV preachers and the politicians and the pundits would have you believe – there is no “us” and “them.”

Hear the Word of God from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 53, verse 6: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

Without Jesus Christ, no one is “us.” Everyone – everyone – is “them.” We are all alike, left to our own devices. Self-centered, self-destructive, self-absorbed. Our god is the reflection in the mirror. And God knows that, and God loves us anyway, so much that Jesus Christ came and died and rose again to bring us back to God.

And that is how we should be known – not for being against and anti and opposed, but for being like Jesus, for people. All people. Everywhere. Like Jesus – not doing the big things or the flashy thing or the attention-getting things, but doing what is needed right now, in the moment, for someone who is hurting or oppressed or afflicted or forgotten. Declare the year of Jubilee, even if it’s one person at a time.

There’s a story that’s told about a man who is walking along a beach. The tide had gone out, and had stranded hundreds of starfish. He comes upon a boy who is picking the starfish up, one by one, and throwing them back into the ocean. He watches awhile, and says, “This seems like kind of a futile effort, son. There’s too many to save all of them. You could take all day, and it won’t make a difference.” The boy never misses a beat. He picks up another starfish, sends it spinning into the surf, and says, “It makes a difference to that one.”

Share that pot of coffee with a grieving person. Take that phone call from the depressed acquaintance. Buy that meal for the hungry homeless person. Give that dollar to the panhandler. Reply to that email, respond to that wall posting on FaceBook, return that text message. Declare the year of Jubilee, even if it’s one person at a time.

I know there’s not enough time in the day to respond to every request for donations, to participate in every worthy cause. Mother Teresa said that if you can’t feed a hundred hungry people, feed just one!

Believe me, it makes a difference to that one.