January 28, 2024: Arise, shine! For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Amen.
So, today St. Paul is talking a LOT about food. Now, I generally like the guy, but when he says ““Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” Clearly, St. Paul has not been at some of our parish feasts, because Lordy!, the food, in my book, is just about heaven on earth.
But the truth of it is, St. Paul wasn’t writing to the churches in Corinth about food, well, not exactly about food anyway. In true Paul-like, over the top style, he does say a lot of words to get to a specific point though, and so we can sometimes lose sight of what the heck he was getting at – a sentiment anyone who studies him in seminary is likely to feel at one point or another, especially if you are trying to translate from the Greek. St. Paul is not one for the “short and sweet” approach.
But if you like that sort of style, then the Gospel of Mark is for you. This is the first to be written, of our four canonical gospels anyway, and the shortest. In fact, this gospel author seems to be in a very big hurry. As I mentioned before, there is no birth narrative, no genealogy – nope… adult Jesus is on the scene in the first chapter, and from there, the author moves quickly. This author goes from story to story using the word “immediately” 35 times, nearly half the times it appears in all of the Christian testament. Jesus doesn’t do a lot of long discourses either – action, more than words are what this author wants you to see about Jesus.
If you think about it, as St. Paul’s letters preceded any of the gospels, maybe the author of Mark was just done reading that former Pharisee’s writings, and thought “Good grief – let’s give folks something a little more straightforward for crying out loud.”
So today, remember now – we are still in the first chapter of Mark, Jesus – wet behind the ears from his baptism, and after picking up a few disciples along the way – enters the synagogue on the sabbath and begins teaching. I mean – in Matthew and Luke, Jesus isn’t even out of the womb in Chapter 1. John, well – Jesus isn’t even born, so let’s not go there.
Back to the story…Jesus is teaching and as the text says, “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”” Jesus tells the demon to be quiet and get out of the man, and they obey. BAM! First disciples, first teaching, and first miracle done – all in the first 28 verses. Notice too that Mark doesn’t even tell you what Jesus says when he taught in the synagogue – that isn’t as important as what he does.
Which, if we remember what St. Paul was writing, is a similar thing. We can say we follow Jesus. We can call ourselves Christians. Heck, we can even go to church and quote scripture. It is how we live out our faith that matters. And both Jesus and St. Paul are making it clear that there is one way to do that – love.
Love that values compassion, justice, and relationship over all our notions about who is right or who is wrong.
And it is something that has been the focus all week across the entire Christian church. Every year in the Northern Hemisphere, between the Confession of St. Peter (on the 18th) and the Conversion of St. Paul (on the 25th) much of Christendom celebrates what is called A Week of Christian Unity. In the Southern Hemisphere it is held between Ascension Day and Pentecost. It is always an octave – an eight day observance in which followers of Jesus worship together, pray together, and look to build a connection and promote unity throughout the church.
As a member of our diocesan Ecumenical/Interfaith Commission, I was humbled to be a part of a service led by his eminence, Cardinal Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, and which also included Mother Lynne Weber our diocesan chair, from Atonement in Tenafly, several of the members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialog group we are both a part of, the distinguished professor at Seton Hall University, the Rev. Dr. Forrest Pritchett, and other representatives of denominations in northern New Jersey.
“The service began with the African custom of welcoming guests with a refreshing drink of water from a large calabash and then inviting them in to rest from their journey. Cardinal Tobin poured cups of water and distributed them to those present, and then led [us] into the [nave] of the church, [where we worshiped together as one united in Jesus Christ]”
In another part of the global church, our own Archbishop of Canterbury worshipped alongside Pope Francis in an evening prayer service in Rome. During that service, the Pope said, “Only a love that becomes gratuitous service, only the love that Jesus taught and embodied, will bring separated Christians closer to one another…Only that love, which does not appeal to the past in order to remain aloof or to point a finger, only that love which in God’s name puts our brothers and sisters before the ironclad defense of our own religious structures, will unite us.”
Amen to that Your Holiness!
And on this day in which we welcome little Eve Telemaque into the household of God, it is good that, as we conclude this week of Christian Unity, we are reminded of just that very ideal. For all baptism services open with this affirmation that there is: “One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism – One God and Creator of all.” Because today, Eve doesn’t become a part of Christ Episcopal Church, or the Episcopal Church at large, or even of the Anglican Communion. Eve’s baptism brings her into the church of Jesus Christ – that large household of God.
Eve, and her brother Duke, who I baptized before, will grow up in a world where being a part of the body of Christ is already looking far different than it did in years past, but the core identity of who they are in Christ has never, nor will it ever, change for them…or for us. That we are called to love and serve the least, the last, the lonely, and the lost.
In the coming years, Eve will learn what her baptism means from her parents, her godparents, and a whole cloud of witnesses – Sunday School teachers, friends of the family, and more. She may choose when she is older to confirm the promises made by her parents and godparents today, but even if she chooses another path, the seal made today between God and Eve will never be broken. Her welcome into the church universal – that very large body of Jesus Christ – will always be there for her.
All of this to say that despite our differences over liturgy, sacramental theology, or anything else, we are a people united by Jesus Christ by our baptism.
This is what St. Paul was trying to tell those folks in Corinth. Our faith isn’t about food, but about family – the family of Jesus. And the Jesus we follow isn’t one who builds walls. This Jesus breaks down barriers that we humans like to put up.
So, it is appropriate at this time when we are being reminded about the barriers we can sometimes construct within the church universal, when we hear these words from the epistle to the Corinthians, that we also get the story in the gospel. Because there, Jesus performs an exorcism – and this author believed it was this miracle that needed to be brought forward right in the first chapter.
We lose a bit of the power of this because for us, exorcisms are mainly the things of Hollywood movies. But those who were thought to be possessed by demons in the days of Jesus were outcasts. Jesus stands in that synagogue and commands the demons to depart from this man, and by that exorcism, by that healing, brings the man back into the fold of community.
We need some of that now, to be sure. The world needs a few exorcisms and boundary breakers.
We need to exorcise that which breaks the body, mind, and spirit of any child of God – racism, sexism, heterosexism, poverty, addiction, oppression, and abuse – calling out those demons and setting those captive to them free.
We need to exorcise the demons of our arrogance that has led to the neglect and abuse of God’s creation and all the creatures who dwell on this earth.
And we need to break down the barriers we have built – in our nation, in our families, in our faith. Instead, loving as he commanded us to do, we will build bridges where walls once stood – valuing right relationship with God, one another, and creation, over scoring some doctrinal, political, or personal point.
For what is it that really matters in the end?
Is it to be “right” or to be in right relationship.
St. Paul was very clear about where he stands when he said, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
And so, most especially as we enter this difficult election year, let us set aside our need to be right (because truth be told, we are often not), and instead ask ourselves: Is what I am about to say or post or whatever one does on Threads or X, really true, is it necessary, does it build up others, does it work to remove the demons – our own, or systemic in our society?
Or, to put it in clear terms – is it building up in love?
If it isn’t – let it go.
The world, the church you represent, your very soul will be better for it.
At that service with Pope Francis, our own Archbishop Justin Welby put it this way: “Anger imprisons us; our rivalry or dislike of our brothers and sisters cuts us off from the freedom that God offers [the] church…a church caught up in the fire of the love of God through the Holy Spirit will be a church of reconciliation, a church of hope, a church of healing,” it will be a church that can “care for the millions, the billions who are […] in pain, lost and suffering.”
I started this sermon with the words of St. Paul that “Food will not bring us close to God.”
That, my friends, is true.
But you know what will?
Love.
Love is the only thing we need – love of God, love of neighbor – love of self…and I would add – love of all of God’s creation.
Love does not tear down, love builds up.
Love does not try to wound, but yearns to heal.
Love does not judge, but is unconditional.
Love cares more about being in relationship than being right.
Love will truly bring us close to God.
It is the only thing that will.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
January 28, 2024
Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
1st Reading – Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Gospel – Mark 1:21-28
