IN THE BEGINNING…

Mark 1:14-29

St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church

Rev. Gary Paterson

January 25, 2008

First impressions are important. Young man, going to a job interview… one more push at the gelled hair; straighten the tie for the four time; quickly rub shoes on back of pants; deep breath; smile; shake hands firmly. Or think of the little person walking into her classroom, taking a look at what’s on the walls – is this going to be a safe and friendly place? Waiting to see her teacher – wondering whether they’ll smile at each other. First impressions are lasting. Someone walks into this church on a Sunday morning; maybe this morning; much depends upon the welcome, the people, the music, the sermon, the feel of it all; will they come back? First impressions… they stay with you. Think back, just for instance, to the initial connection with the person you are now partnered with… chance meeting, blind date, work colleague, internet connection… and remember those first impressions. Can you remember… is that why you’re smiling?

First impressions are important; sometimes that’s your only chance to connect. The writer of the Gospel of Mark – he knew that. So in his first chapter he is determined to introduce you quickly to Jesus, “immediately” as Mark would say, ready to provide a quick, multi-segmented video-like intro… enough to hook the reader, and get him or her reading on.

Now me, I would have started with a quick visual… what does this guy look like? Probably 5’2” – typical height for a first century Mediterranean man, peasant class. Makes Jesus very short… shoulder high; not how I have imagined him. Add dark beard… remember, Jesus is coming off a forty day retreat in the desert… no razor; add dark hair… no brush; dark skin, swarthy; and, I imagine, dark eyes that burn, that stare right at you… with confidence, vision, awareness, laughter, passion. Eyes that embrace you, comfort you and challenge you. And he’d have a half-smile, knowing-like.

But that’s not what Mark chooses to do. He doesn’t care about appearances; he figures first impressions are all based on actions; what Jesus does and says is what determines our response. Indeed, Mark doesn’t even spend any time on getting Jesus born -- irrelevant. No, his gospel leaps right into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when he’s about 30 years old; when everything starts happening publically. Mark’s is a hasty gospel… the shortest of them all, studded with words like “immediately”, “at once,”, “as soom as they left”; he uses a lot of verbs.

So let me walk you through part of that first chapter of Mark, and I can guarantee you’ll have a pretty good impression of who Jesus is, and what he’s up to. Sort of like watching “the first hundred days” of his ministry. You know what I mean? First impressions are important; they can give you hope; inspire you; get you involved; build trust. And that’s what Mark is determined to accomplish.

So he begins with Jesus striding out of the wilderness, where for the last forty days he had been wrestling with the Spirit, determining his pathway, confronting temptation, praying with God. Intense, but private. But then Jesus he arrives:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

So… the first thing we know about Jesus is that he’s a preacher; he has a message which he is determined to proclaim, and you get a sense that nothing’s going to get in his way Just look at verse 38… [Jesus] 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.” The message is all important… because it’s good news of God… about God and from God. Good news… that’s at the heart of everything that Jesus is about. He uses first century religious shorthand to provide more specific content: “…the kingdom of God has come near” – that time when justice will roll down like a mighty river and peace will come to all peoples; a time when what happens on earth will be like what happens in heaven; when we all are open and responding to the grace of God. That’s what makes “repent” the next logical command – not “feel guilty,” but rather, “change your life” – that’s what repentance is about; change your life so that you are in synch with the coming Kingdom; so that you are a supporter of and participant in the change that is promised; so that you are part of the Jesus “Kingdom movement.” And thus we are challenged to “believe in the good news”…. to have faith, to trust; to commit our lives to that vision, that promise.

Now that’s a first impression worth holding onto. But Mark is willing to sketch in a few more details, and describes Jesus entering the synagogue on a Friday night, and teaching. Jesus as preacher and teacher: They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

So Mark may not be giving us the specifics of what Jesus said, not at this point anyway, but he’s signaling that there’s more; there are teachings, details, a way of interpreting, a way of living that catches them by surprise; they are astounded at his “authority,” his deep conviction about what he’s saying. His own inner commitment is so clear, and is so appealing. This man knows what he’s talking about when he’s talking about the good news about God. He’s been there, so to speak. You can hear it in his voice; see it in his actions, it shines in who he is.

It’s what he acts on, or maybe better, acts out of… Jesus brings healing. You’ve got to include this snapshot in your first impressions, says Mark – or you miss a huge part of the man. Not just the teacher, who invites us into a new way of life, but Jesus as healer, the one who brings a new wholeness of being, in a way that includes and blesses the body. Mark slides a simple youtube-like video in at this point:

Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told [Jesus] about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her….

No explanation… miracle, psychosomatic, metaphor -- but the promise is clear. This man can connect people to the healing power of God. Holy Compassion is embodied; our flesh and bones, they matter; our inner state of being… not longer at dis-ease, but made whole, at peace. Jesus the healer … body, mind and soul.

Further, says Mark, this isn’t just Pollyanna-like – look at another video, this time of Jesus’ casting out an unclean spirit, a demon. It sounds strange and foreign, this act of first-century exorcism; our language of psychology has changed, and so has our understanding of mental illness; but we still know about demons, don’t we? Those moments when you feel caught by some life-diminishing routine, some addiction, and you just don’t know how to shake loose; you can’t find a real freedom. Or those dark moments, when you shake your head in disbelief at what we humans are doing to ourselves, and to the earth; when the photographs on the 6 o’clock news become completely real, maybe just for an evening… and you simply don’t know what to do.. When you fell the clouds of depression settling in; when you have to side-step yet another homeless person on your way to church; when you get convinced to buy the next whatever, when you don’t need it, and are not even sure you want it; when you are honest about the things done and undone…all those things not done…

Jesus, says Mark, has the power to challenge and defeat those demons; to bring God’s energy into every moment, every action which shrinks life… the beauty, the complexity, the harmony of it all. This is Jesus the prophet; confronting evil; naming the powers of diminishment, filled with the light of life, shining bright; sending the powers of darkness packing.

But the introduction isn’t quite finished. Shift the video camera one more time… the first day is over, but the story slides into the dawn of the next morning: In the morning, while it was still very dark, [Jesus] got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

It would be a nice way to wrap up the video… a slow pull back, the half-light of early morning, birdsong just beginning…. Mark wants to be sure that we realize that all of what Jesus says and does is rooted in God. Jesus is a person of prayer, who attends to his relationship with the Holy, who spends time open to the power of the Spirit. That’s what gives him strength; that’s what inspires and empowers what he does… his preaching and teaching; his healing; and prophetic challenge to the power of evil. First impressions are lasting… it’s what makes Jesus so appealing.

There’s one thing I haven’t mentioned though, something that happened earlier in the day; Mark put it near the beginning, in fact, to emphasize how important it was:

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea… And Jesus said to them, “Follow me… and immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James, son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Jesus was clearly not a solo act – no, he was into gathering people together, into building community. He offers an invitation into discipleship, into a new way of living. – follow me; which is really an invitation to learn from him; which includes acting like him. This is a central part of who he is, what he’s about. Which is fine thing… there’s room for others; there’s room for me, for you; each one of us is a part of the Body of Christ. In fact, he needs us; what do you think Jesus can do without working in and through the likes of you and me? As Saint Teresa said long ago,

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours;

Yours are the eyes through which he looks

Compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Now that’s an exciting invitation; it’s been making women and men stop in their tracks for two thousand years. First impressions are lasting. Just listen to these words from Dorothy Soelle, a German theologian, <

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He needs you

that’s all there is to it

without you he’s left hanging

goes up in dachau’s smoke

is sugar and spice in the baker’s hands

gets revalued in the next stock market crash

he’s consumed and blown away

used up

without you.

Help him

that’s what faith is

he can’t bring it about

his kingdom

couldn’t then couldn’t later can’t now

not at any rate without you

and that is his irresistible appeal.

“Yes, irresistible,” says Mark, “at least I think so. What do you think? Did I tell the story well enough? Did my Jesus make an impression? When he invites you to follow, what will you say?”