First Sunday of Advent
November 30, 2008
 
 
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December 21, 2008
 

First Sunday After Christmas
December 28, 2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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January 25, 2009—Third Sunday After Epiphany

Lectionary Texts: Johan 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

Sermon Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20

Jesus Has Come, Now What? It’s Time to Go!

I was recently privileged to attend an NYC being held on a different continent than I call home. One day during their event, the teens invaded, literally, a neighborhood where a new church had been planted. The coordinator of the day, as it unfolded, began to tell me the story of the place where we were standing. He pointed 100 yards to the west, to the place where the highest cocaine trafficking was taking place. He then proceeded to point 250 yards to the southeast, where the highest marijuana trafficking was taking place. What do you think was situated right in the middle of them: the Church of the Nazarene.

I watched that day as the teens moved in with a large sound truck--in the States, we would have been arrested for using without a permit, and still would have been fined for excessive noise pollution. Not there. Christian music was blaring all day. It was accompanied by several large inflatable games for the kids, hair dressers were cutting hair while giving manicures and pedicures, people were painting faces, doctors and lawyers were available for consulting, a VBS was being held in the church, and 40 teams were going door-to-door sharing a story about a God who loved them so much that He sent His Son to die for them. This loving sacrifice meant their lives wouldn’t have to be controlled by sin. It was an incredible day and an incredible experience.

The coordinator told me that one of his heroes was the pastor of that church. This pastor moved into that neighborhood so the message of hope and forgiveness could be in an area where there was very little of both.

I think when we read the texts for this week we begin to understand why the previous three weeks are necessary in helping us respond to what is being said this week. These texts are calling us to go. It’s not a call to go to the places or people who we believe to be deserving or even ready, it’s just a call to go wherever God leads.

If we are being shaped by living lives of repentance and confession, then we are moved beyond ourselves, into the world God is calling us to. The worlds of Jonah, the disciples, and ours.

See, we can learn some things from the people in these stories. We can learn so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. We can learn so we don’t think the same thoughts. We need to learn to be shaped by what God sees, and not just by what we see.

Jonah’s view of God was limited by his view. Jonah was limited by who he thought was worthy, where he thought he should go, and by how he reacted to their response.

Jesus’ first disciples probably isn’t where we would begin building our church if we were planting one. We would put our telemarketers to work, do our phone surveys, choose a target group that fits our demographics, and place ourselves somewhere in the suburbs. We would need to recruit some people who could help us finance what we were trying to do. As painful a picture that might paint, it is unfortunately true with where we find ourselves as a Church. This may be the way to build a business, or finance an institution, but not build the Kingdom. God has other ways than we do. Thus, the connection between the big fish and a bunch of fishermen.

This is new. This would ring in the ears of the people when they heard it. I’m just not sure what kind of bell they might be hearing. It should ring in ours as well. I wonder at times what we hear when we hear the calling to go. Do we respond as the disciples do, blindly and not fully understanding? Or do we run like Jonah, only to become angry when the grace that has been given to us is also given to “them”?

Both these narratives show the heart of God and His compassion for His people. It is something we need to share in as well. God is active, we need to find where He is active and jump in. Sometimes we find Him in the most unlikely of places; like Nineveh or hanging out with fishermen.

God is still moving. The difficulty isn’t in hearing the call, it’s in following the call. We see in the Jonah narrative that God is moved, even to change His mind, when people respond with repentant hearts. The character of God is never in question, the character of Jonah is. God’s compassion for the people is obvious by His response to their repentant hearts. The compassion of Jonah is absent.

Jonah wanted to be the prophet of doom; he became the instrument of redemption. He wasn’t looking for God to be active in Nineveh until He rained fire on it. The fire God desired to rain was of a different nature, and those in Nineveh responded to it.

God’s mercy is everlasting. The people of Nineveh didn’t respond to a list of rules. They responded to a relational, loving God: a picture of God they had never seen before. Laws are difficult to change, a person can change their mind. God shows His character here by not only loving the people of Nineveh, but changing His mind. Scripture is clear that a repentant heart moves the heart of God to action. That action always leads toward us.

There is only one response: repent and go. The work of the disciple is to go when and where God says to go. But going is not enough. Jonah went, but he and God weren’t on the same page. Jonah’s response to the people of Nineveh betrayed his heart.

The disciples in Mark 1 respond quickly to the calling of Jesus, but they aren’t any more sure about what they are being called to do than Jonah. The key in how we respond is where our hearts are.

The people who are to usher in this “Kingdom” are ones who aren’t selecting who’s in and who’s out. They aren’t disappointed when their prophecies of doom turn into moments of transformation. Ministry to others reveals as much about who we are than it does who they are. The reasons we respond to people clarifies our calling and God’s Kingdom.

Compassionate responses are what Kingdom folk are all about. Who is God calling us to reach? Where is God calling us to go?

So here are some questions for us to deal with today:

• How can we better mobilize ourselves as a people to be about the marginalized in our neighborhoods, communities, and cities? How does what we do shape who they think we are? For those of us in the Church, the best method of evangelism has always been one that responds to need, expecting nothing in return, following in the model of the Incarnation of our Lord. His coming was very risky; with no guarantee of response. His life and death could have been for nothing. He came anyway, and risked it all for us; for all of us.

• That is our calling as well. Let’s revisit what the Incarnation is all about this week as we share life with our neighbor; no matter who they are, what they drive, what they wear, the color of their skin, their religious preference, their political persuasion, their social agendas. We are called to love others as Jesus loves us. So come on Church, it’s time for us to go!