St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Year B ▪ February 7, 2021
Mark 1:29-39
Today we enter into our gospel passage in the first chapter of Mark. Up to this point, Jesus had been baptized, tempted by Satan, had called his first disciples, and had astounded everyone with his authoritative teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. While in the synagogue, Jesus liberated a man from an unclean spirit with the command of his voice. That act of compassion for an enslaved soul was Jesus’ first act of public ministry, and it did not go unnoticed. Word traveled fast in Galilee and soon others would seek Jesus for their own urgent needs.
Jesus, along with his four disciples, went to stay at Simon and Andrew’s home where they found Simon’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. Jesus went to her. Without using words, Jesus, the embodied source of all healing power, took her hand, and it left her body. The scripture indicates that there was no recovery time; she got up and served them. After the Sabbath restrictions were lifted at Sundown, the disciples brought those in need of healing from illness or demon possession to Jesus. And, Jesus cured many and cast out many demons. There was no shortage of urgent human need finding its way to the feet of Jesus.
After ministering with an undetermined number of people, for an undetermined amount of time, Jesus got up early in the darkness of the morning, and went to pray alone in a deserted place. This is significant because Jesus was intentional about setting apart time and space for prayer. Prayer was a priority. Hyped up by the demands of “everyone” searching for the miraculous healer, the disciples hunted for him; found him; interrupted his prayers; and said, “Everyone is searching for you” (v.37). There’s no tone of voice indicated in the verse, but I would imagine that it might have been a bit rushed with a twinge of hurry up and do that thing you do, Jesus. It seems that the disciples had gotten sucked into the vortex of Jesus’ fame and the hype of miracles to the masses. They had, at least for this very early part of their life in discipleship, gone “native.”
The first time I heard the phrase “going native,” was when I interviewed the then Bishop Suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries of The Episcopal Church, Bishop James J. Magness for my thesis on chaplains serving in secular workplaces. Magness explained how military chaplains are trained with other soldiers as non-combatants, and are deeply inculturated into the military life. Such inculturation into the secular world can dangerously compromise the chaplain’s identity as minister of Word and Sacrament. According to Magness, the chaplain must be clear that they are a priest to the Church first, with unwavering allegiance to their ordination vows and expressions of the Baptismal Covenant, adding that, “It’s hard to keep them from ‘going native.’”
Despite the urging from his disciples to perform on command for the masses, Jesus’ response was, at once, his clear statement of purpose and priority. Jesus said, “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” (v. 38). In this one statement we hear Jesus’ prime directive, to widely spread the gospel message with a sense of urgency.
Of course, addressing human need was important to Jesus, otherwise, he would not have cured many human bodies of diseases and cast out demons from many human bodies. But Jesus’ highest purpose was saving the souls within those human bodies.
And, Jesus’ mission was urgent because his time on earth was destined to be violently cut short. In fairness to the cluenessness of the disciples, Jesus would not reveal to the disciples God’s plan for his suffering, death and resurrection until chapter eight; we are only in chapter one.
It strikes me, however, that it is in chapter eight that Jesus rebuked Peter as one who was setting his mind not on divine things, but on human things (8:33). And, it is Simon (Peter), in our passage, who is the only named disciple hunting for Jesus with the others to satisfy everyone seeking him.
How easy it is for human needs and human desires to distract and delay people, even Jesus’ own disciples, from the urgency of focusing on those divine things that transcend this fleeting human experience.
Jesus’ priority was to proclaim the gospel by word and deed through the command of his voice and the powerful touch of his hands. As his disciples, proclaiming the gospel message is inherently our priority—a priority that is embedded in our baptismal covenant, “Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?”
Yes, proclaiming the good news is evangelism, a word that often makes Episcopalians squirm in our seats. Evangelism matters, and here’s why: Jesus died once for all people so that they might have everlasting life. It is a gift freely given, but if those intended to receive the gift do not know that there is a gift, or sadly, that the gift has their name on it, woe to us who have been, like Paul, entrusted with the commission to tell them about it, and fail to do so. And, because we await Christ’s return, at an unexpected hour, our work of evangelism is urgent.
So, how do we, as St. Paul’s, go about proclaiming the good news in a society, that is often closed to the message of Jesus Christ or hostile to the Church? Well, Paul, in his epistle to the Corinthians said that he became like those he encountered, though not fully being able to become those he encountered. I take Paul’s message to mean that we are to be as relatable as possible to as many people as possible, without compromising the integrity of our core identity and our purpose, that is, without “going native.”
I don’t think I’m alone in my observation that too many churches seem to have gone native, reflecting secular society’s fascination with entertainment, consumerism, and church tailored to individual comforts in order to increase attendance and membership. Many have forgotten that the church is a holy vessel that both carries, and pours out, the divine mysteries, of the sacred—a vessel that uniquely exists to provide meaning-making, through the sacred, for souls desperately trying to make sense of the mundane human experience.
And, while it is impossible and inauthentic to attempt to be all things to all people, I am convinced that the Church, and this church can mean something to all people, regardless of whether or the people ever attend any church or ever become members of this church.
St. Paul’s, as we serve the community of Wesley Chapel, we must resist the temptation to become distracted by human things, and stay focused on the divine things. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, and equipped with our Baptismal Covenant, we can do the work of ministry that Jesus commissioned us to do—with a focused sense of purpose and with great urgency. Therefore, let us go out to Wesley Chapel, and beyond to our neighboring towns, so that we may proclaim the gospel message there also, for that is what we have come out to do. May it be so.
