January 22, 2012

Ecumenical Sunday
Mark 1:29-39

Message series: Good News according to Mark
Sunday’s message: Evening and morning

Notice that Mark’s story moves from very local – Simon and Andrew’s house – to “throughout Galilee”. Therein, I think, lies its message.

A fever in Jesus’ day was no small matter, as we might think of it today. Simon’s mother-in-law could have been on her deathbed, with no medical help available. Jesus in this story is not simply the equivalent of two Tylenol. Jesus raises this woman to life again, her fever gone. Probably in gratitude, but also in her place as the woman of the house, she serves Jesus and James and John and Simon and Andrew. And all is well in the house of Simon and Andrew, for Jesus is there.

But word must have gotten out. At evening the whole town gathered at the door, bringing to Jesus those who were sick or demon-possessed. It’s one of my favorite scenes in scripture. The sun is hanging on the horizon, waiting patiently as Jesus moves purposefully from person to person, healing and throwing out demons. On Sunday we’ll sing a favorite hymn of mine from the 1964 Hymnal:

At even, ere the sun was set,
The sick, O Lord, around thee lay;
O in what divers pains they met!
O with what joy they went away!
Henry Twells, 1823-1900; Mark 1:32

Now all is well for all of Capernaum, for Jesus is there. He now has quite a local reputation, and could build quite a ministry there in God’s name.

But early the next morning Jesus is up and out and alone at prayer well before sunrise. Eventually Simon and his friends track him down. “Everyone’s looking for you!” Well they might. Do more here, Jesus. There are always sick people, and the demons seem to pop up all the time. Come spend some more time with us.

Apparently that’s not the word Jesus received in prayer. Instead it was, “Let's head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That's why I've come.” And so he did, with his disciples following. “He traveled throughout Galilee preaching in their synagogues and throwing out demons.”

One of my besetting limitations is that I live in too small a world. I often lose sight of the big picture and focus on the trees, failing to see the forest. Local congregations, especially those of smaller membership, sometimes have the same problem. United Methodists are connectional by definition, connected to other United Methodists and to other United Methodist congregations. And yet much of the time we think and we plan locally. We become parochial, a word that almost literally means “stuck in our own parish”. If something is happening at the home of another faith community, even if it’s worthwhile, we may not go.

But if we follow Jesus, we hear: “Let's head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That's why I've come.” It’s not enough just to be home with Jesus, whether it be in the house of Simon and Andrew or in the town of Capernaum. Jesus has a whole world to love. And our job as his disciples is to follow him there.

Sunday in Ecumenical Sunday, a part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is a day when we remember that the Christian faith, and even our own United Methodist Church, is a worldwide enterprise, and not an extension of our American pride. John Wesley is often quoted as saying, “The world is my parish.” We need not all go out on the mission field to be aware that we are a part of a church that serves Jesus throughout the world, and to be grateful that it is so.

I’ll see you Sunday morning.