The Friction of the Kingdom (Mark 3.20-35)

Introduction

Have you had a busy week? Some people wonder if I ever have a busy week! Actually, it’s not been too bad for me these last few days. Things seem to be winding down a bit as we head towards summer.

Jesus always had a busy week. He had weeks when he was so busy, so stretched, that he didn’t have time to eat. Our reading today begins in v20 by telling us just that. (This is proof incidentally that Jesus wasn’t French. Had Jesus been French, everything would have ground to a halt for three hours at midday so he could enjoy a restful three-course lunch and a glass or two of decent Claret).

But Jesus was not French, so lunch often had to wait – or get cancelled altogether. He would travel by foot up and down the Middle East with his team for days at a time in the hot sun. They were often so busy managing crowds, healing the sick, talking about the kingdom, driving out evil spirits, raising the dead, and avoiding assassination that they totally forgot about lunch.

1. Friction from Family

So in v21, his family come to take charge of him saying, “He is out of his mind.” “He’s becoming a religious fanatic,” they say. Why were they so concerned that they felt they should actually take him away by force? Why did they say “he’s gone mad”?

Firstly, his mother Mary was no doubt upset that he was neglecting his physical health. He had no time for meals. He wasn’t eating properly. She, of course, knew from his birth that he was special, but a maternal concern for a son’s health is understandable.

Secondly, I think she must have been anxious that he was starting to stir up conflict with powerful people. If the accusation by the teachers of the law in v22 was proved it could result in Jesus being stoned to death. He was in danger. This is a Jewish mother worrying that her son is going to get himself killed.

Thirdly, his brothers, who didn’t believe in him until later, were probably more concerned about his mental health. Why did he turn his back on a secure job in the carpenter’s workshop to become a bit of a rolling stone? Why wasn’t he buying a house in Nazareth, meeting a nice Jewish girl and settling down? They didn’t understand that.

Fourthly, they must have been embarrassed that he was getting involved in weird and controversial things they didn’t understand like driving out demons. Our eldest brother has been brainwashed and is getting involved in a weird sect. “Jesus, we’re going to get you some help. You need to see a doctor - or a shrink. You’re not well.”

Fifthly, they possibly felt he was neglecting his family and leaving them to support their mother. Jesus is always out. You never know where he is. “We are family! You’ve changed since you got into this church stuff. You’re never home.”

And sixthly, they will have heard that he was courting controversy. He was forgiving sins, putting himself in the place of God. “He thinks he’s the Great I Am – literally. He’s got a Messiah Complex. “Just another religious nutcase!”

And this is not new. Throughout the Bible, people are written off as one sandwich short of a picnic.

·         Hosea was labelled a “fool” (Hosea 9.7).

·         Jeremiah was called “crazy” (Jeremiah 29.26).

·         Elisha was dubbed a “maniac” (2 Kings 9.11).

·         In Acts 26.24 Governor Festus says to Paul, “You are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane!”

·         In Luke 7.33; they said John the Baptist was possessed because of his radical lifestyle.

·         In John 10.20 they say the same thing about Jesus. “He is demon possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

In 2017 people call you a “Jesus freak.” It’s the same thing.   

If your faith is always private and internalised - it’s happy families. When it’s just for Sundays and doesn’t interfere with your work or affect your family it’s amazing how tolerant people are.

But when it starts to shape your values, and guide your decisions, and go against the grain of popular opinion you can expect hostility, not least from family members. This is the friction of the kingdom.

I’ll come back to family at the end, as the passage does, but while we’re waiting for Jesus’ family to arrive, there’s more aggro brewing with the teachers of the law.

2. Friction from Dark Powers

If you look carefully at the passage you’ll notice that these religious leaders do not confront Jesus directly. They don’t like what Jesus was doing, but they don’t say it to his face. They are on the edge of the crowd, whispering to them, trying to discredit him. Verse 23 says that Jesus called them over. He knew what they were up to.

What’s their problem? Basically, it’s this: Jesus is attracting big crowds that are no longer interested in listening to them. They feel bewildered and aggrieved that he is getting all the attention while they are left behind. In a world of Netflix and Amazon Prime, they are Blockbuster Video wondering where all the customers have gone.

They can’t deny the signs and wonders Jesus is doing. Clearly, there is supernatural power. People are enthralled. So in v22 they try and spread fear. They conduct a smear campaign, saying he’s dabbling in the occult. He’s an agent of the devil and the miracles are counterfeit. In v30 they mutter to the people “He has an evil spirit.” It’s character assassination.

You still get this today. When a new ministry takes off and God really blesses it like Alpha or Sozo or Healing on the Streets people attack it and say it’s new age or of the devil. Or when a church springs up and attracts many people like Hillsong or Soul Survivor people sneer. Or when a revival breaks out and many people come to faith people are quick to say it’s not really from God.

So Jesus calls them over, v23-25. So far in Mark’s Gospel, there have been three separate incidents of Jesus releasing people from the powers of darkness. As the Gospel goes on there’s going to be more of it in chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7 and chapter 9.

Has Satan just opened a new subdivision of Hell that specialises in setting people free? I don’t think so! What would be the point of Satan sending these evil spirits packing? That would be like two players on the same side scoring an own goal, then starting a fight, both getting a red card, and reducing their team to nine men! Why would the devil shoot himself in the foot and self-destruct?

In my limited experience with deliverance ministry, I can say that I have never yet seen the devil gladly let someone out of his grasp. Evil spirits always go in the end but it's usually a bit of a faff.

About six months after I came to All Saints’, I was contacted by a family on a nearby estate who wanted a priest to “exorcise” their house. There were reports of strange noises in the attic. Allegedly, objects were being moved about in the house overnight. The children kept having nightmares about a strangely dressed woman. There were some pretty heavy things going on in that house.

Three of us went round; Alan Farish, Sylvia Wilson and me, to meet with the couple that owned the house. It turned out that the man’s parents were both mediums and that there had been regular séances in the house. At one moment he would be speaking in his usual voice, but would then suddenly change to a lower tone and interrupt using foul language. At one point, I read a passage of the Bible and he stood up abruptly, came towards me and tried to tear out the page.

After about an hour, we led the couple in a prayer of repentance. They had come to understand that what they had been allowing in their house had opened up the door to dark powers. Alan ordered the evil spirits to leave in the name of Jesus – and eventually, they did, one by one.

The man was totally different afterwards and, weirdly, he had no recollection of swearing or trying to damage my Bible. The complaints of paranormal activity in that house ended from that day on.

This is what Jesus talks about in v27: “No one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder it.” The devil is the strong man, the house is the person who is being oppressed and Jesus has the authority to bind him and evict him.

I have only been involved in about four such incidents since I’ve been here so it’s not common but it is absolutely real.

3. Friction from a Troubled Soul

For some Christians though, the biggest spiritual friction in their lives is not with hostility from family or demonic oppression but inner turmoil. Some people read what Jesus says here and worry that they have blown it with God forever.

This is what Jesus says in v28-29: “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”  

The sweetest words anyone can hear are that God has wiped clean the slate of guilt. God no longer holds your sin against you. He has completely forgiven you and unburdened you of all that weighed you down.  

I know people who have become very anxious because they feared that they had committed the sin against the Holy Spirit and that now it is too late. They have no experience of God’s love, no assurance of their salvation and they feel thoroughly wretched. What could be more terrifying than to think you might be permanently beyond forgiveness with no way back? If you are worried about this I hope I can be a bearer of good news today.

What does Jesus say the sin against the Holy Spirit is? Verse 30: he is replying to a specific accusation, from his critics, that he has an evil spirit.

Notice, Jesus does not say that the teachers of the law have actually committed this unforgivable sin – this is a warning that they are skating on thin ice. They are deliberately attributing to Satan what the Spirit of God is doing, and they’re doing it to avoid a change of heart and lifestyle. This blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not about saying the wrong words; it’s about having a fixed attitude of mind. The teachers of the law are heading that way. That’s Jesus’ warning.

If you are worried that you might have committed the unforgivable sin you are confirming the fact that you haven’t. Because if you are troubled inside and willing to ask God for forgiveness clearly the Holy Spirit is still at work in you, convicting you and leading you to repentance. And Jesus says here that all who are repentant will be forgiven.

Here is the offer of grace. “People can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter.” Can I urge you in Jesus’ name, if you are moved today to turn from sin, settle it with him now; do it before you go home.

Ending

I said I’d come back to family tension and here we are at the end of the passage; v31.

After this little episode with the teachers of the law, Jesus’ mother and brothers finally arrive.

Jesus is told, “Your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.” As I said earlier Jesus was usually very busy, so busy he didn’t always have time for lunch. He was a busy man and you couldn’t always get an appointment with him.

Some people want their vicar to be constantly out visiting but to always be at home when you phone him. Jesus had to manage expectations as well. He wasn’t always available. He was not in a position to just give people as much time as they asked for. Even his own family couldn’t get access to him and had to wait around until he was free.

Jesus’ reply to this plan to take him home will have shocked them. In the Jewish traditions of the day, blood ties took precedence over all other relationships, and the tie between a Jewish mother and her son was sacrosanct - still is.

But in v33-34 he flouts all the conventions and traditions of Judaism. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asks. Then he looks at those seated around him and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.” He’s saying, “Anyone can belong to my family.”

I have a friend from New York City called Joshua Turnill who is Director of Jews for Jesus in France. He wears Jews for Jesus t-shirts and gives out tracts to strangers as they come out of the Paris Métro. One day he told me he met a Jewish woman. Seriously, she looked at him open-mouthed and said, “Does your mother know you’re doing this?!”

Family ties in Judaism are all pervasive. Family first, that’s the way it is, and even more so in the first century. Jesus’ natural family don’t get it. They just can’t see where he’s coming from.

Some of you know what it is to love your family, but because they’re not Christians, they can’t relate to you. You feel misunderstood. They say, “You’re always down at that church.” “They’re just after your money you know.” “No, I don’t want you to pray for me.” “Will you stop going on about this, I’m not interested in your Alpha Course!”

Do you have disapproving family members who subtly put pressure on you to loosen your commitment to Christ? Or maybe not so subtly?

No one in the family I spring from is a Christian and they seem to take zero interest in what I do. They never ask and when I mention it they glaze over and change the subject. John’s “the religious one.” Well, Jesus too bore the pain of a long term lack of faith from his family. 

Kathie and I are blessed that all four of our grown-up children are walking with God. But one of them, as you may know, has mental health issues and it feels like he has been angry with us from the day he was born. There are a few signs that that is improving, but it has been years of heartache and prayers yet unanswered.

Families are complicated. Some can be quite dysfunctional. Many families seem to lurch from one crisis to another. Sometimes people take great offence and estrangement can follow. 

Very often, you’d be surprised how often, when I meet a family for a funeral or a wedding it turns out there is some drama about some family member who is not invited. There are so many broken families.

My parents are divorced and even though I wasn’t young when that happened, it brought pain into my life. Many of you know the sense of loss and grief from being in a broken family. Some of you lost a parent when you were young. NSPCC data suggests shocking levels of abuse take place in families.

And Jesus here speaks into our great yearning for acceptance and belonging. Jesus found affectionate friendship and love in the community of faith around him. It became family to him at a time when his blood family didn’t understand him and even clashed with him.

God has designed the church to be a beautiful healing place of spiritual mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. It can be that, and I hope it is for you if your natural family is a source of pain and sorrow in your life.

Psalm 68 says God sets the lonely in families. How much do you know about that? I hope you’re discovering how wonderful the family of God is, especially if your experience of nuclear family is less than it should have been.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 30 July 2017

The Multiplication of the Kingdom (Mark 3.7-19)

Introduction

Some of you will know an old worship song called I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. Mission Praise (number 272) credits the authorship as Anonymous, surprisingly really, because I thought it was well known that the song originated in the mid-19th Century and was written by a remarkable Indian Christian called Sadhu Sundar Singh.

The lyrics are very simple and repetitious; “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back” and they were taken straight from the lips of a man who laid down his life as a martyr in Assam, in north east India. He had become a believer in Jesus through the ministry of a Welsh missionary and that didn’t go down well with the locals so the man and his family were summoned by the authorities to explain themselves.

The village elders said to him what many believers in Jesus are hearing even today; that becoming a Christian is a serious offence and that if he did not renounce his new faith he would have to die. And it is reported that he looked straight at the village chief and said slowly and deliberately, “I have decided to follow Jesus.”  

So they made threats against his wife and two children, trying to scare them into renouncing their faith and isolating him. When the man heard this he said, “Though none go with me, still I will follow Jesus.” So the judge ordered that they must all be killed with bows and arrows. They were lined up, and as they were about to be executed the man sang these words; “The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back.”

Having witnessed the extraordinary faith and bravery of this man and his family, and their faithfulness to Jesus even in the face of death, the chief who had ordered the execution broke down and said, “Now I too belong to Jesus.” The entire village turned to Christ.

The report of these words at the trial and execution spread and when Sundar Singh heard them he put them to music. I remember singing that little song with joy filling my heart when I was a brand new Christian, not knowing then that they were actually written in blood.

As I said, following Jesus still carries the risk of death in many parts of the world. Just last Saturday in Punjab, a pastor called Sultan Masih was shot dead outside his church by two men on a motorcycle. He leaves a wife and four children. One of his sons said this: “Our father was a courageous man and he was never afraid to die for Jesus. He has put the same zeal in us. Our family will continue to serve God.”

Following Jesus

Not many among us, if any at all, will be required to follow Jesus at such a heavy cost. But every one of us is called to follow Jesus – the world behind us and the cross before us, and even if no one goes with us. No turning back.

Our passage from Mark’s Gospel today is all about following Jesus. At this time, he is gaining in popularity amongst ordinary people – and from further afield as we’ll see. But simultaneously, he is getting flak from the religious leaders. As we saw last week, some of them by this stage are starting to talk about bumping him off. And Jesus knows it. He knows that he is going to have to complete everything he came to do in just three years.

That means his ministry must go from growth by addition to growth by multiplication. Here’s what I mean. If Jesus influences twelve lives, twelve lives are changed. If Jesus invests in twelve lives to each influence twelve lives, 144 lives are changed. This is the multiplication of the kingdom.

At this point, people are following him. In v7 it says “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.”

But not only are they coming from the local area, the word has spread so wide, that they are swarming from Judea and Jerusalem (120 miles south), and from foreign parts; Idumea (150 miles south west), the regions across the Jordan (east) and around Tyre and Sidon (50 miles north west). People are spending days and days travelling on foot to get near to Jesus.

And so there are major stewarding issues. The crowds are so big, so desperate, that Jesus has to get his fishermen to improvise a kind of floating stage to avoid getting crushed by all these people. (I don’t know why he bothered actually, he could have just stood on the water if he wanted to…)

Still, he is healing many, and he is driving out evil spirits. You’ve got lepers and invalids, and depressives, and arthritics, and barren women, and deaf-mutes and all sorts pushing to the front to see if they can be cured. It is heaving and unruly, and embarrassing and noisy (the evil spirits leave making a right old racket) it’s the original messy church.

Who are all these people? Most of them have probably only got a limited understanding of the true greatness that is among them. Some are looking for evidence to be used against him. Others are no doubt just curious. Is he the real deal? Is he the Son of God?

Still others come wanting healing. We hear it said all the time, “if you’re healthy, that’s the most important thing.” It’s not actually. We all have spiritual needs even more important than health and life.

Some have come because they love him and recognise he is the Messiah and want to follow him, no turning back.

So there are many reasons why these people are there. Today, crowds still come to Jesus. People come to church for the very same reasons as these people came.

Some want to find fault. Others are just curious. Still others just want something for them. Some come to worship. What is the main reason you walked into this building today?

So far in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ strategy has basically been one you could describe as “come and see.” And the crowds do come to see. Something new is happening. They gather to hear him preach because his words have authority, not like the dreary platitudes they’re used to. They flock to see him do miracles which they find amazing, and they see him lift up the needy.

I have found that if the church does what Jesus did, people come. If the church doesn’t what Jesus did, people vote with their feet. Frankly, I don’t blame them.

The Twelve

From the hundreds and hundreds of people who followed Jesus from place to place, he chooses just 12 to be on his team. Why these 12?

Was it because of their great faith? No; in fact, their faith regularly faltered and Jesus was often exasperated by their lack of it.

Did he pick these ones for their training and education? Did Jesus go to Scribes Theological College and say, “OK, I’m recruiting, I want the best, who’s Head Boy? Who’s Pharisee of the Month?” Again, no. Acts 4.13 describes what Jesus went for as simple, “unschooled, ordinary men”.

Were these 12 particularly talented or gifted? Once again, no. No one stood out as having exceptional ability, almost the opposite. For example, none of the five fishermen managed to land a single fish in the Gospels without Jesus having to do a miracle!

They had shown dedication though. They were already following him. They were already serving, already responding to him. Jesus chose leaders who had a track record of commitment. This is really important.

The Jesus way of growing leaders is to look for and discern what God is doing in someone’s life and say, “the Holy Spirit is clearly raising you up and giving you favour and authority; people can see that in you, so we want to formally recognise that.”

There is really only one thing that they all had in common. They were all willing to leave everything and follow Jesus, to obey him as their leader and mentor, no turning back.

Mark gives us two very important details about being on Jesus’ team. In v14 it says “he appointed twelve, that they might (a) be with him and (b) that he might send them out.”

Discipleship is relationship, then leadership. Jesus wanted his team to be learners first, then labourers.

Well, what a team. Some are single. Some are married. Most are northerners but at least one is from down south. Simon the Zealot is an anarchist who hates the government. Matthew has just been working for the government. Some have business expertise (Judas Iscariot for example), some are manual workers, some have political experience.

Some are higher profile than others. In the Gospels and Acts, Peter’s name appears 189 times. John is mentioned 50 times. Philip, 17 and Thomas just 11. Bartholomew is mentioned only once. Some of them, we know nothing about at all except their names. It seems that they probably gravitate to more servant roles behind the scenes.

All Men?

I shouldn’t ignore the obvious fact that they are all men. This naturally raises eyebrows in our diversity-obsessed society.

Shouldn’t Jesus have picked six men and six women, with a quota for those who aren’t sure what they are, plus guaranteed places for ethnic minorities like Samaritans and Romans, not forgetting homosexuals, vegetarians, registered disabled, and other religious groups not forgetting atheists (because you mustn’t discriminate)? All 12 are Jewish men. Why the lack of “inclusivity”?

Did he choose only men for cultural reasons? Probably not. Jesus certainly lived in a very traditional, conformist culture. But where in the Gospels is Jesus ever bothered about cultural sensitivity and political correctness?

Was it perhaps for practical reasons? Again, probably not. We know Jesus had women followers too. Luke 8.2 says women travelled with Jesus in a larger circle of disciples who served alongside him. But none was chosen among the twelve.

Was it for theological reasons? Once again, probably not. Women were the first witnesses of the resurrection and, according to Romans 16, were quite prominent in leadership teams in the early church.

So was it for missiological reasons? Here’s what I mean; I came across some research once which showed that, in our society, when a married woman becomes a Christian, 20% of their husbands subsequently become believers too. But when a married man becomes a Christian, 80% of their wives become believers in turn. Is that why Jesus chose only men as apostles? I’m not convinced.

The answer lies, I think, in what happens to the twelve in the days of the infant church that they are appointed to build.

Peter was crucified upside down at his own request, saying he was not worthy to die the same way Jesus did. James, the brother of John was beheaded. John died in a labour camp.

Philip was stoned and buried with his daughter. Matthew was killed with a spear. Simon was crucified. So was Andrew. Bartholomew is said to have been beaten and beheaded. Thomas was killed in India, we don’t know how.

When the Titanic went down, the decision about who filled the lifeboats and who went down with the ship wasn’t made on alphabetical order or casting lots. Overwhelmingly, the men laid down their lives to save and protect the women and children - not the other way round. No man could, with a clear conscience, climb into a lifeboat and watch a woman drown. It’s just not the way it should be.

For what it’s worth, I believe Jesus appointed twelve men as apostles to lay the foundation of the church principally because that involved living dangerously, suffering greatly, and dying violently. Well, that’s my theory. Whatever the reason, I am not prepared to say Jesus was mistaken, ignorant or restricted by public opinion.

Ending

Every person, one way or another, makes a judgement about Jesus: whether to love him or leave him out of their lives; whether to accept and follow his word or ignore it and go their own way.

And God has fixed a day when he will call to account each of us for the judgement we made about him.

What do you think about Jesus? Have you decided to follow him? No turning back?

I am going to end by telling the story of Stephen Lungu. Steven is the oldest son of a teenage mother from a township in Zimbabwe. She was trapped in a difficult marriage to a man over twenty years older. She dealt with the pain by drinking heavily.

One day, when Stephen was three years old, his mother took him, his brother and baby sister into town. She said she needed the toilet, and left Stephen holding his sister in the busy town square, while his brother played on the ground.

Two hours later she had not returned. She had run away, leaving the three children in the care of an aunt. By the age of eleven, Stephen had run away as well and lived on the streets.

He became bitter towards God. He found his way into a violent gang, called the Black Shadows. When a travelling evangelist came to town to speak to thousands of people about Jesus, Stephen planned a firebomb strike. He carried a bag full of explosives. He wanted to attack the event because of his rage against God.

As he waited for the right moment, a South African evangelist called Shadrach Maloka took to the stage and announced that the Holy Spirit had warned him that many in the audience may die soon without Christ. The Black Shadows panicked and ran, thinking someone had learned about their plan.

But Stephen experienced God’s presence and was captivated by the speaker’s words about God’s grace and peace which drew him into an encounter with Jesus.

He staggered forward to the stage, grabbed hold of the speaker’s feet and began to sob. That evening, he decided to follow Jesus. No turning back.

The next morning he turned himself in at a police station and confessed his crimes. The desk sergeant listened to his story, looked at the long charge sheet and released him.

Stephen now speaks about Jesus to crowds all over Africa. At an event a few years ago, a woman came forward saying she too wanted to follow Jesus. It turned out it was his mother who had abandoned him all those years ago.

·         Some of you might need to reconcile with parents or children. You can’t change the past, but Jesus can change the future.

·         Will you take a stand for Jesus today?

·         Will you decide to follow him?

·         Though none go with you, will you still follow?

·         Like the twelve, will you commit to be with him?

·         To spend time with him? To learn from him?

·         Will you go where he sends you?

The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 23 July 2017

The Scandal of the Kingdom (Mark 2.13-22)

Introduction

This week, I learned about a man called Dez. Dez is from Scotland. This is his story in his own words:

“I was a doorman; a bouncer. I was quite a violent guy. I took a lot of drugs and became a cocaine addict. My life revolved around fighting, taking drugs, partying and living in that cycle. One night, I took a massive overdose. I felt like I was having a heart attack. My heart was jumping out of my chest. And I cried out in what I didn’t know then was a prayer - to live. I woke up the next day and I never touched cocaine again.”

After that scary experience, for some strange reason, Dez kept meeting Christians. One in particular was called Fiona. He wanted to get to know her better so he asked her out a few times, but she declined, mainly because he wasn’t a Christian. She didn’t agree to a date but she did give him a Bible and he started reading it. This is what he said about that. “I started tearing through it, trying to find something, and I ended up finding Jesus. Suddenly, my whole life made sense.”

He called Fiona and asked if she would take him to church. He saw some publicity for the Alpha Course and signed up. “On Alpha,” he says, “I met Jesus and it changed my life. I was this drug-fuelled, violent person and now I love people and love God. I just want to share my story.”

Dez is now married to Fiona and they are parents of an eleven-month-old baby.

“Jesus”, he says, “turned the questions I had about whether God exists into a belief that God cares about me. I have changed from a violent, loveless drug addict to a man who is happily married and full of love. I’m now running Alpha for all types of people, from gang members to grannies, and I’m seeing their lives changed too.”

Dez, as he was before, is perhaps not a man you’d expect to be attracted to church, particularly as it is usually portrayed in the media. Church: old-school, self-respecting, a bit pompous and a bit judgemental. Dez: messed-up and violent. Square peg, round hole.

But Dez found that Jesus is nothing like what he had imagined. What he found is exactly what the Bible says about Jesus.

There are three things in our passage that tell you a lot about Jesus...

1) In v13 - a large crowd came to Jesus. So it’s not niche spirituality for the chosen few. Jesus is attractive, interesting, good company. Everyone loves being around him.

Unlike the highly qualified religious leaders whose bored congregations are dwindling fast, Jesus has no proper qualifications. That’s the scandal of the kingdom. He didn’t go to theological college. He doesn’t wear the proper robes. He hasn’t got the impressive doctorate in advanced theology, but he is anointed by the Spirit to transform lives - and that’s what people want.

2) In v14 - Jesus sees Levi sitting at a tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me’ Jesus says and Levi gets up and follows him. So Jesus is charismatic and influential. He’s a leader of men. People leave well-paid jobs, they renounce their decent pension; they resign on the spot, giving their employers no advance notice. It’s the scandal of the kingdom. Levi hands his boss his keys and is out of there.

3) In v15 – Jesus is having dinner… not with well-heeled and upstanding citizens but with many tax collectors and sinners. Jesus raises eyebrows and ruffles feathers. Jesus breaks all the rules. No one has seen anything quite like this before. He goes out of his way to mix with some pretty messy people; call girls, alcoholics, petty thieves, lap dancers, pickpockets, drug addicts, street fighters... People are outraged and offended. They gasp with shock. That’s the scandal of the kingdom. (Some of you are thinking “how does our vicar with the sheltered life he leads know about lap dancers?”)

People were perplexed. No one had seen anything like it. As we saw last Sunday, they said, “Hang on, what’s this about? He says he can forgive my sins? How can that be right?”

Then today in v16, it’s “Wait a minute, what’s all this mixing with the riff-raff? You’re supposed to be a man of God! Don’t you think it gives the wrong impression? What about your public image? We can’t see how this is helpful.”

Then in v18, there’s a genuine question. “Why aren’t you more like John the Baptist? He was sober and austere. You don’t seem to take it seriously; it’s all eating and drinking and taking it easy with you. We just don’t get it.” The implication is that religion should be dour and unenjoyable.

In Mark chapter 1 everybody loves Jesus. As we’ll see next week, we don’t get far into chapter 3 when some people want to see him dead. But here in chapter 2, the opposition against him is just starting to stir.

1) Follow Jesus

So here’s the story for today. It’s set in Capernaum which is on a major north/south route from Damascus to Egypt. That’s why there’s a toll booth there so money can be collected from passers-through for King Herod who governs that area on behalf of the Romans. Levi (v14) is the man in charge of the tax office.

How did you get to be a tax man in Jesus’ day? You put in a bid to the Roman authorities and the contract went to the highest bidder. Yes, you actually paid for the privilege but you recouped your investment by earning a percentage commission and you increased your profit margin by ripping people off for more than they actually owed.

It was extortion. It was a racket. Everyone knew it. The system was corrupt. Rome didn’t care. They gave their tax collectors carte blanche, and as long as Caesar got his money they weren’t bothered.

So as people pay their tax to Levi at his booth, they screw their faces up with resentment. They hate him for doing Rome’s dirty work. Their hard-earned money props up a godless, overbearing government; it pays for pagan temples and supports an Emperor cult. Caesar’s extravagant drunken orgies and lurid entertainment is all funded by their taxes and it makes them mad.

This is why tax collectors are all shunned as traitors and are automatically expelled from the synagogue.

It’s likely that Levi has heard of Jesus before. Jesus has already done amazing things in Capernaum as we saw in chapter 1. Word will have got around.  

Nevertheless, what happens next is totally out of the blue. No one expects it: Jesus approaches this crooked, unlovable outcast and says “you’re just what I’m looking for, come with me.”

This is what the Bible says about you too, and me. “This is love,” says 1 John 4, “it’s not that we loved God, but that he first loved us.”

God was looking into your heart long before you ever thought about him. It’s not that you and I just decided to get up and follow Jesus one day. That’s what it feels like, but the truth is that behind the scenes, before we were even half aware of any spiritual reality at all, God already knew us, and loved us, and chose us, and pursued us.

He drew us to himself and gave us the gift of faith. Of ourselves, we are totally unable to respond to God; without the grace of God, we are spiritually lost.

“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2.8-9).

Levi gets up. He just leaves his record book and his piles of coins on the table. All that was once important to him; the money, the prestige, the lifestyle, that’s over. His boss might be saying, “Hey, wait! Where do you think you’re off to? What about all these people queuing to pay their tax bill?” Levi doesn’t hear him. He doesn’t even know for sure where Jesus is going next; he just knows he’s never going back.

Have you walked away from your old way of life, to follow Jesus? Jesus never accepted 50/50 half-hearted offers to follow him. “Let me wait till my father dies.” “If I can keep my nice job and generous bonuses...” “Let me just say goodbye to everyone first, maybe I’ll come along later.” Jesus always says, “Uh uh. It’s all or nothing.”

2) Open Your House/Heart

The next scene is at Levi’s house. Levi has been with Jesus for just a few hours or maybe a couple of days but he’s a quick learner. “What can I do?” he thinks. “Well I’ve got a nice house and a big garden, I can have everyone round to my place for a party.”  

So he invites everyone over to meet Jesus. That’s quite a big deal. He’s got to clean his house and get it tidy. He’s not used to doing this; he’s hardly got any friends, remember, because of his job. He has to go out and buy food and drink and napkins and paper plates.  

Then everyone turns up. He has to put up with people spilling wine on his nice carpet. Some idiot smears ketchup on the sofa. Someone else leaves a floater in the toilet and doesn’t flush it. He’s got some dodgy characters helping themselves to some of his little ornaments. It’s messy, it’s untidy.

Things always get messy when Jesus is about. But Levi has understood that hospitality is more than opening your home; it’s opening your heart, opening your life; that’s the gospel.

So he welcomes everybody into his plush mansion with all their mess and their chaos and their bother and noise and says, “Come in, make yourself at home, and come and meet Jesus.” And that’s how lives get changed. This is how God works.

Verse 15 says “many tax collectors and sinners were there.” A sinner simply means a social outcast.

It could be that they have a blacklisted profession like Levi and the other tax-gatherers. It could be that they lead a notorious, licentious lifestyle. It would have been a pretty motley crowd. The one thing they all have in common is that they are all excommunicated from the synagogue.

You look around the room. There’s the bloke surrounded by minders who owns that club in town with live strippers. There’s the single mother covered in tattoos just out of rehab - again. Her kids are all in care and nobody dares foster them. There’s the guy who drinks meths by the school fence and smells like a dustbin. And there’s Jesus, completely at ease.

The scandal of the kingdom is that in Jesus’ culture eating with someone is seen as an endorsement. It looks like you are condoning or even promoting their lifestyle. People draw a deep breath and shake their heads.

It baffles the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. We’re going to hear a lot about these people. Their antagonism against Jesus intensifies as Mark’s Gospel unfolds. Who exactly are they and what is their problem?

The teachers of the law (or scribes) are trained scholars. They have degrees from the University of God. They memorise books of the Bible. They’re very learned. They examine all the fine print. And they love making lists of rules. Then they add their rules and traditions to the Bible. The Bible isn’t enough, oooooh no, you’ve got to do all this as well. And they impose their religion on everyone else.

Below these teachers of the law are the Pharisees. They are not formally educated but they are devoted and zealous laymen. The Pharisees all choose a teacher of the law to be their instructor. They listen to his every word, they take notes, they memorise the Hebrew, and they discipline themselves to live strictly and obediently by the extra rules that the teachers of the law tack on to the Bible.

Their thinking is that perhaps one day, if you do well enough, God will love you and accept you.

These are the people who ask this question in v16. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” They’re not being awkward. They are genuinely perplexed. They simply don’t get it. Why would a man of God waste his time with this scum?

But notice, this is really telling, they don’t think that they’re sinners. Sinners is other people. That’s what usually happens with religious people. They tend to think that others are worse than them.

Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t actually disagree that these people are sinners. He doesn’t excuse sin. He doesn’t minimise it. He doesn’t explain it away. He actually agrees with the Pharisees. “Yes, these people have a lot of sin and brokenness and disorder in their lives. But so do you. So what’s the solution? Are we going to run a holy club just for Christians, or are we going to love these people, and hear their stories, and serve them, and help them see that there’s a way out?”

Imagine you’re at Eaglescliffe Medical Practice in Sunningdale Drive. You’re feeling awful. You’re sitting patiently, looking at the electronic board waiting for your name to come up. A whole hour goes by.

Suddenly, your GP storms into the reception area and says “I’ve had enough! That’s two asthma complaints, one kid whingeing about chicken pox, one woman moaning about her migraines, another man grumbling about a stomach complaint. Isn’t there anyone fit and well around here who wants to see me? Give me a break!”

Jesus says “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

3) Go with the New Thing God Is Doing

While Jesus and his new friends are tucking into a meal, another question comes up.

Again, it’s an honest question. They’re not being difficult, they genuinely want to try and understand.

John the Baptist and his followers were deadly serious about seeking God and part of that was fasting. It’s a discipline to do with self-humbling and repentance. They felt their alienation from God. They were hungry (literally) for more of God’s presence. They were saying “All is not well, we need to break through to a new reality with God.”

John Piper says “Fasting is a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater; namely, God and his work in our lives.”

Fasting is about expressing our longing and yearning for the more of Christ’s power in our midst. It’s saying “I need your presence more than food, more than life itself. So fasting is redundant when Jesus is here.

Jesus sums up by talking about new patches on old clothes and new wine in old wineskins. Neither works. You put new unstretched material on old garments and when you wash them the new material shrinks, pulling the old. 

Before glass bottles, people in the Middle East sewed goatskins together to make watertight bags. A new wineskin is quite supple so it doesn’t matter that the fermenting wine stretches the skin like a balloon. But once the wineskin is fully stretched it becomes taught and there’s no more “give” in it. If you put more new wine in then it just bursts.

The Old Testament Law that the Scribes and Pharisees loved so much is like an MRI scan that shows up heart disease. It is good for a diagnosis but a scan just tells you what’s wrong with you, it cannot operate and make you well. We needed a heart transplant. That’s why Jesus came.

The Pharisees are like rigid old wineskins. You cannot contain the new wine of the kingdom in a stuffy old religion of man-made ideas and rules.

But here’s my challenge to you today; every human heart can grow rigid and hard, resisting the new thing Jesus wants to do. What’s your heart like today? Does God want to soften your heart this morning, and open it up to the new thing that God is doing in your life and in his church?

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 9 July 2017 

Forgiveness and Reinstatement (Philemon 8-22)

Nicky Gumbel once said, "If someone punches you in the face and you don't punch them back, that is mercy. If someone punches you in the face and you don't punch them back but instead say, 'That's OK, you are forgiven,' that is forgiveness. If someone punches you in the face and you don't punch them back but instead say, 'That's OK.' and then you buy them an ice cream, that is grace. This is God's love for us.

In May 1981 four shots were fired in quick succession at Pope John Paul II. Two bullets lodged in his lower intestine, one hit his left hand and the other his right arm. This assassination attempt left the Pope badly wounded and with significant blood loss. His general health was never the same again.

The gunman, 27-year-old Mehmet Ali Ağca, was sentenced to life imprisonment. But John Paul asked people to pray for his would-be assassin describing him as “my brother Ağca, whom I have sincerely forgiven.”

Two years later, the Pope visited Ağca in prison, took him by the hand and said to his face that he had forgiven him for what he had done (though Ağca had shown no sign of remorse).

Over the years, John Paul became a friend to Ağca’s family. In June 2000, at the Pope’s request, Ağca was given a presidential pardon.

In February 2005 Ağca sent a letter to the Pope wishing him well. When the Pope died two months later, Ağca’s brother Adrian gave an interview saying that Ağca and his entire family were grieving and that the Pope had been a great friend to them.

Maybe you think the Pope was foolish and naive. Maybe you think he should have waited for Mehmet Ali Ağca to show some remorse first. Personally, I think it’s a great testimony to the power and authenticity of the gospel.

Forgiveness lies at the heart of our faith. It is not a decorative cherry on the cake. It is an essential ingredient without which it doesn’t look like or taste like a cake.

Forgiveness and restitution are the stand-out themes in this little letter from Paul to Philemon.

Philemon is a minor, more obscure letter tucked away in a rarely thumbed section of our Bibles. And yet it is a hidden gem.

As you have probably noticed, most of the 21 letters in the New Testament are addressed to churches. They tend to be a bit formal, somewhat theological, and sometimes quite long. Only four were written to individuals. These letters are noticeably warmer, more personal, more practical and they’re shorter too. In fact, Philemon is more a postcard than a letter.

Written by Paul, to a wealthy Christian landowner called Philemon, it’s all about a runaway slave called Onesimus. It’s a real-life Prodigal Son story.

Slavery is, and always has been, a great social evil. Slaves could be inherited, traded, abused, bred or exploited. They could be killed quite legally. Shamefully, this still exists today, notably in countries like Mauritania and Sudan.

The church led the way in abolishing the slave trade, in bringing civil rights to the USA, and in opposing Apartheid in South Africa. William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King and Desmond Tutu were the iconic figures of those movements and each one did what they did in the name of Christ. Some people are puzzled that the Bible does not speak with greater condemnation of slavery.

The early church did not lead a protest movement because they were in no position to do so. Many, if not most, of the first Christians were slaves themselves. But this letter undermined the whole foundation on which slavery is built. The church spearheaded a radically new approach. It was the only place in society where everyone was respected, loved and treated as equals, in fact as brothers and sisters.

Slaves were routinely ill-treated but you don’t ill-treat someone you love.  Slaves were seen as things, not people, but you don’t treat a beloved brother or sister as an object. Years later, public opinion changed because of the lead taken by Christians and slavery collapsed.

Slavery was very, very common in the Roman Empire. About one in three people, 60 million in all, were slaves. Rome was built on it and it was into this cruel, harsh world that Christianity burst onto the scene.

The slave mentioned in this letter was called Onesimus which means “useful”. Maybe today he’d be called Andy because he was quite ‘andy to have around.

Alas, his master’s hopes for him were unfulfilled because he turned out to be pretty useless. He ran away and made for the bright lights of Rome, where he would have the best chance of blending in with the crowd and escaping efforts to track him down.

While he was in Rome, we don’t know how, but in the providence of God, he ran into Paul who was at that time under house arrest awaiting trial.

What a coincidence! Actually, it was not luck, or chance, or fate or anything of the sort. It was a “God-incidence” as someone has put it. Because that unlikely encounter is what led to this young man becoming a Christian.

Paul told Onesimus he should put everything right and return to his master Philemon and face the music. He said, “I know your former master. I’ll put in a good word for you.” And this is the covering letter.

Forgiveness is never easy. Each of the three main characters in this letter had to make a brave decision.

Paul had to let his new ‘son’ in the faith go. That would have been a wrench for him, facing a court trial, his life in the balance. This lazy runaway thief had become really useful and hardworking. He was no longer just someone to use, he had become someone to love. But Paul said, “You must go back, it’s the right thing to do.” As someone said, “The first to apologise is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.”

Onesimus too had to do something difficult. He had to bite the bullet and go home. That was risky. The usual punishment for a runaway slave was to have the letter “F” (for fugitive) branded his forehead. That was to show everyone who he was should he ever dare to do it again. Some masters punished their runaway slaves with crucifixion.

But it would have been hard for Philemon to receive him back too. You can see how he might resent having to take this man back. But Philemon had been badly let down by this man. He had betrayed his trust. To let him off might encourage others to try their luck. Should he just let off this useless worker? What’s more, Paul is urging him to treat this joker as a brother, as an equal.

Paul, of course, knew all about forgiveness. We first meet him in Acts 7 as a harsh, violent young man breathing out threats, spitting abuse. But he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus and amazing grace softened his heart. He never forgot how much God had forgiven him. Even in his last letters, he called himself then worst of sinners.

How did it work out? The Bible doesn’t say but we do know that 20 years later the church at Colossae consecrated a Bishop by the name of… Onesimus. Who knows, it may be the same man. I think it is extremely likely that Philemon did take him back, forgive him, and restore him.

After all, if Philemon had refused to forgive, how would this personal letter have found its way into our Bibles? Philemon would have torn the letter up and thrown it in the bin.

Does forgiveness work? Or is it just gullible sentimentality? I’ll leave the last words to Mehmet Ali Ağca.

“After John Paul II visited me in prison,” he said, “I thought about it, and I studied the gospel at length. I know the sacred books better than many others.” He converted to Christ and is currently considering the priesthood.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 2 July 2017