Discover the Liberating Christ: Shaking the Foundations of the World

Advent is our season of waiting and expectation for the coming of Jesus. We anticipate again the birth of the Christ-child at the same time as we look for his return in glory. The readings for the first Sunday of Advent, which we read last week, most explicitly call to mind Jesus coming into the world again. Reading several verses from late in the Gospel of Luke, we heard Jesus’ vision of the future, a future when the Human One would come in power and splendor.

This week, we turn primarily to the early chapters of Luke as we consider the initial coming of Jesus and all that would mean for the world. Even so, you may have noticed that Jesus doesn’t even get an explicit mention this week. As we consider the theme of peace, our focus is actually on Jesus’ cousin, John (see Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; Luke 3:1-6).

Questioning Jesus: Are You the King?

Each year, on the last Sunday before Advent begins, we celebrate the feast of the Reign of Christ, also known as Christ the King Sunday. On this day we celebrate Jesus as our king. In some ways, this Sunday is an in-between Sunday. It is the finish line of our Christian year, marking the Sunday when the cycle of celebrations and readings comes to an end, preparing to start over again. It is the last Sunday in Ordinary time, but it reminds us of all that is coming as the Christian year starts over. And, this year, it helps us round out the readings of the last few weeks.

Over the last two months, we have spent our time together exploring many of the questions that Jesus was asked as he traveled. His disciples had questions for him. The religious leaders had questions for him. Random persons he encountered on the way had questions for him. Some of these questions were meant to test Jesus while others were asked out of a genuine desire to understand.

Today, Pilate presents us something of a contrast (see John 18:33-37). In some ways, he seems genuinely interested in the answers to his questions, but we also have to remember who he is. He is not a stupid man, so he is also cautious, uncertain what answers he will get and what they will mean. And as we celebrate Christ as our king, I suspect we may have some questions of our own.

Questioning Jesus: What Signs Will We See?

As we draw closer to the end of the liturgical calendar this year, we also draw close to the end of the Gospel of Mark. Over the last few weeks, we have seen Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem. As he has moved ever closer to his final days, folks have had plenty of questions for him. In answering their questions, Jesus has done his best to help us all catch a glimpse of the kingdom of God. What does it look like? How do we get there? What will our lives be like once we are there?

In his final days in Jerusalem, Jesus has spent much of his time in and around the Temple. We know from other stories that he drives out the vendors and money changers. He teaches in parables. He answers the challenges of the religious leaders. He teaches them the most important commands. He speaks against religion that does not show love.

Questioning Jesus: How Then Shall We Give?

For most of the month of October, we read through Mark 10. Throughout chapter 10, Jesus is regularly questioned by those he encounters -- the legal experts, his disciples, and even strangers he meets along the way. All of this was taking place as Jesus began his journey toward Jerusalem and all that would happen there.

Last week, we jumped ahead to Mark 12. We skipped over chapter 11 because it sees the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding on the back of a colt (a story we normally reserve for Palm Sunday), the cleansing of the Temple, and other encounters with the priests and scribes (normally read during Holy Week). But this time of year, we are focused instead on the kingdom of God and what it looks like, so we continue to look at the ways in which Jesus is questioned. Last week saw Mark’s version of the Great Commandment story, with Jesus being questioned by one of legal experts about which commandment is the most important or the greatest. 

We are of course familiar with this story. It is the grounding of our lives as Christians and as members of this local congregation. Love God with all that we are, and love your neighbor as yourself. According to Jesus, and even the lawyer who is questioning him, nothing in the Hebrew scriptures is more important. Even more tellingly, the legal expert notes that no religious practice or ritual is as important as these two points. Following this, Jesus makes a somewhat cryptic pronouncement about the identity of the Messiah before we come to today’s reading (Mark 12:38-44).

Turn Around: Now Is the Time! (or, I Get A Little Bit Nervous)

As we approached Lent this year, I was unsurprisingly thinking about repentance. Repentance is the act of turning around, a significant theme during the season of Lent. As I thought about this theme this year, I found myself singing the song, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. The song repeats the phrase "turn around" over and over again. And then the singer talks about feelings that oddly seem to fit our experience of both Lent and life in general.

I was surprised as I continued to sing this song in my head to note how well the song fits with our scripture lessons for Lent this year. Today, we return to Jesus' baptism as told by Mark, continuing through the next few verses to consider Jesus' time in the wilderness to prepare for ministry as well as the words with which that ministry started (Mark 1:9-15). As I considered the words that Jesus spoke at the start of his ministry, I wondered about the good news that he was bringing and how people might feel about the inbreaking kingdom of God.

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Some of you may have noticed that this is the second time we have read some portion of these words in the last few weeks. As I noted before, Mark packs quite a bit into relatively small spaces. So we return again to the scene of Jesus’ baptism which we heard at the beginning of January.

The End of the Beginning: What God Will Do

This week, I continue to reflect on what it means to come to the end of the beginning. As one liturgical year draws to a close and another is set to begin, how do we live into the promises of all that God has promised? Looking to Isaiah 65:17-25 and examples from movies and song, we consider what the kingdom that God looks like and how we begin to live into all that God has promised.

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As we continue toward the end of the liturgical year, as we draw closer to the cycle once again starting over at the beginning of the Jesus story, we are reminded not only of all that God has done, but also all that God will do. As we touched on last week, though we are coming to an end, it is only the end of the beginning. While much has been accomplished, there is still more to do.

This is part of what I love about the structure of the church year. The church year is a circle that constantly repeats itself. We start the year leading up to the birth of Jesus. Then Jesus is born and begins to be known to the world. Then we come to another season of preparation as we focus on repentance and renewing our relationship with God before we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s love in the Resurrection. Then we settle into a time of growth as we reflect on all of the teachings that Jesus shared with his disciples and others along the way before coming full circle to start back over at the beginning.

So in November each year, we approach the end. But we also recognize that the life of Jesus and the work of those first disciples was only the beginning.

God Beyond Boundaries: Peace through Division?

Today we started worship off with a baptism for one of the newest members of our community. We then read Luke 12:49-56, one of the more challenging segments of Jesus' teachings. As Jesus has gone through his ministry, he has repeatedly returned to a message of peace, love, and relationship. But today, he says that he comes bringing not peace but division.

On any Sunday, this would be a difficult passage to wrestle with. But, while the text itself may not feel like a good fit with baptism, our celebration of this sacrament actually helps us interpret these words from Jesus. What happens when we commit ourselves to God before all others? What happens in our world when we love everyone, even those the world tells us to hate?

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What a great, uplifting text for us on a day we celebrate baptism. Jesus comes not to bring peace. Instead his coming heralds division. Just what we need to hear on a day when we celebrate new life and our unity in the body of Christ.

What in the world does this have to do with the message that Jesus brought? Why would God come down, offering us relationship, teaching us to love each other, and then tell us he is bringing division and conflict into the world?

God Beyond Boundaries: Strangers and Immigrants

The Letter to the Hebrews was written at a time of persecution for believers. Written to those who were Hebrew believers who were considering returning to the Jewish faith to avoid continued persecution, it is offered as both encouragement and challenge. Today's text (see Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16) raises up some of those who have gone before us in faith to encourage us along the way. But it also leaves us with a question: What do earthly authorities and earthly borders mean to those who are citizens of God's kingdom?

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Over the last few weeks, we have explored some of the ways that God reaches into our lives and challenges our assumptions. As Jesus was traveling the countryside teaching and healing people, he was also constantly reaching beyond the boundaries and barriers that people had erected between each other.

Every time we assume God is on our side and everyone else is wrong, we find an example to go against it. In the Old Testament, we found a general of a foreign nation that is openly hostile to Israel who is healed by God.

In the gospels, Jesus refuses to put a limit on those we are called to love. He centers a foreigner as the perfect example of a loving neighbor.

When we complain that other people are not acting like us, are not doing faith the way we are, Jesus points out that not all faith looks the same.

When we seek to know how to speak to God, when his disciples ask them how they should pray, Jesus shows us that God is neither a distant despot nor a cosmic butler. Instead, God is as close to us as family.

Today, our text offers us another challenge related to borders. In this letter written to a group of Hebrew believers, we are pointed toward the unseen and unknown. God rarely steps out in front of us and yells “here I am!” But we have faith and trust in those things that have been passed on to us. We have faith and trust in the stories of those that have come before. We have faith and trust in the word of God that came down to live among us. We have faith and trust in the evidence we see of God still working in the world today.