Getting down to business in Mark's gospel

 Read Mark 1:1-11

Luke 19:28-44

You have to love Mark’s gospel. He gets right down to business.

There is no Christmas story. There are no angelic visits to Mary and Joseph.

There is no heavenly host singing glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and God’s favor on men.

We don’t see Jesus teaching in the temple when he was 12 or going to Egypt as a kid.

Had we only had access to Mark’s gospel, no one would have thought to write pa rum pa pum pum.  Mark jumps right to the heart of the matter: Messiah is coming.  In fact, he is here.

It is right to the mission given the Messiah.

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

    who will prepare your way”—

“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.’”

Mark begins with a man whom we call John the Baptist or the Baptizer.  He had a unique wardrobe and diet.

And women today pick on men for our clothing and diet choices.  John was my kind of guy. He didn’t have to decide what to wear each day. He knew what he was going to eat. What can I say, he was my kind of guy.

And we get picked on for eating over the sink and wearing the same shirt for 8 days in a row. Hey! We didn’t mess up any dishes and we kept our shirt clean. Might get a dozen days out of it this time.

Einstein did it so he didn’t have to spend any energy thinking about what to wear. So ladies, the next time your husband is eating over the sink in the same thing he has been wearing for the last 19 days, don’t be disgusted with him.

Just say these words…

He’s my Einstein!

Or, he’s my John the Batist, at least when it comes to diet and wardrobe.

I like John’s style.

So, at the beginning of this gospel, we find John—a cousin to Jesus—in a camel hair outfit with a leather belt. You have to go to the book of Second Opinions to find this, but it reveals to us that John might have practiced pyrography.

What?

Yes, he had burned the letters JTB on the back of his leather belt. OK, that’s a little tongue in cheek. It happens.

He ate locusts and wild honey. Mark takes care to note that this was wild honey, not something from one of those mega honey farms.

We don’t know if those were free-range locusts or not. Yes, I am having a little fun at John’s expense, but he really was something of an icon of that age and people were coming from all over to see him.

Maybe, they wanted to see this character in his camel hair outfit. Maybe they wanted to hear his message. Maybe they were just curious or just following the crowd. Realize that the distance between Jerusalem and the Jordan is just over 20 miles.

It was a day’s walk to get there and another to get home. People came from other places, but many were making the trip from Jerusalem.

Why is any of this important?

God, through the prophet Isaiah, told his people that this day would come. The Messiah was coming, but first God sent a messenger to prepare the way.

How do you prepare the way?

You fill in the pot holes in the roads. You pick up the trash dumped along the way. You run up your flag and polish all the brass plating on the truck on top of the pole.

You get everything that you have been neglecting fixed.

That’s what you would do in those days for an earthly king. But what about one from Heaven. What about the King of Kings? What about the Lord of Lords?

We do the same thing except that we are fixing things in our hearts instead of along the road. We are still addressing things that need some fixing, they just happen to belong to our souls, our spirits, our hearts, and our countenance.

We are in a season that today’s church calls Lent. Lent wasn’t around in its present form back when Noah or Moses or Jesus or Paul walked the earth.

Fasting was given so that those seeking God might find him when neglecting the incessant call of our bodies for food. Today, fasting also helps the Christian grow closer to God but what we call Lent didn’t come into being until almost 4 centuries after the death and resurrection of the Christ.

Fasting can still be a big part of Lent. Limiting our food intake by type or duration is still common. Preparing our hearts to be in concert with the Lord is our true objective.

Jesus didn’t do Lent because there wasn’t such a thing. Jesus fasted for 40 days so we understand 40 days of fasting or lifting the burdens of others or sacrificial giving.  Whatever it is that we do should draw us closer to God.

We are about to celebrate resurrection but we had better take notice that the man who died to take away our sins was God, man, the King of kings, the Lamb of God, and the Lord of Lords.

Lent—our preparations for celebrating resurrection—found its name in Germanic roots. Lent comes from lengthening, or more specifically, the days growing longer. After the twenty-first day of December, the days grow a little longer each day.

We begin to notice as spring approaches, so Lent in its secular roots, means springtime. The days grow longer.

But as the days grow longer and sometimes more pleasant, we need to think about the pain, agony, sacrifice, and love Jesus and his Father in heaven poured out on us. We need to prepare the way for the King as we celebrate his resurrection from the dead.

And not only his resurrection but the one promised to you as well.

In our belief—in our profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior—we are saved from sin and death.

In our practice of doing what Jesus told us to do, we are saved from an ordinary life. We are not going to hell, but are we waiting for the age to come to truly live?

My grace is enough for you can carry us through many tough situations, but we are meant to fully live not just wait for the age to come.

Now is the time to consider:

God loves you.

God is with you.

God is for you.

God has good plans for you.

God will never leave or forsake you.

God made a way for us to live, live this life to the full, and live in right standing with God forever.

What should we do?

For the one who has already professed Jesus is Lord, make room for him in your heart. Prepare the way for the Lord to live in your heart, every moment going forward.

John proclaimed repentance and culminated the penitent one’s trip with baptism.

We have repented of our sins. We have professed Jesus is Lord.

Now it’s time for God to live completely within us. His Spirit is already there. We just need to prepare ourselves to hear him.

And we need to prepare the way for his return. We should be reaching out to as many people as we can with the good news of life in Christ Jesus.

We are to prepare the way for him to live fully in our own hearts.

We are to prepare the way for others to rejoice at his return.

Let us prepare the way.

Amen. 

Joel 1 - Have you ever seen anything like this?

 

Read Joel 1

We are beginning Joel, but I will start with Matthew 24 as we consider chapter 1.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

Jesus told us that we can’t know the day or the hour but Joel tells us that we should see the signs of the times.

Had we kept on reading in Matthew, Jesus also told his followers to note the signs of the times.  He directed us to be ready at all times.

God’s Chosen People were sitting around fat, dumb, and happy not aware of what was coming in the way of calamity.  Actually, they might have been getting skinny and grumpy, but their attitude was same stuff, different day—life goes on.

Calamity was coming both in the near term and in what would be the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.

The Babylonians would take care of the first part.  The conclusion of this age will involve the entire planet.

Joel’s message was Wake Up!

Your crops won’t grow.  Your priests are helpless to aid you.  The locusts invade like an army that doesn’t take prisoners.

Wake Up!

Those people should have known better.  They were God’s Chosen People—were they not paying attention?  I’m glad that we are not like them.  Right?

Because we wake up every morning saying this is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it.  I will work at everything I do as if I am working for the Lord.

Throw whatever problems you have at me. I will trust in the Lord over my own understanding.  I will acknowledge the Lord throughout the day.  The Lord himself will keep me on his path for me.

No weapon formed against me shall prevail!

Or do we get up thinking are we out of coffee?  I have to stop and get gas.  Who left their clothes all over the house.  Does the trash run today?

Do we ever begin the gift of a new day thinking, same stuff—different day?

Do we fall into malaise?  Do we pay homage to the twin gods of apathy and ambivalence?

Joel was telling his people to get out of their daily funk and get their God game on.  Can’t you see what is heading our way?

Hello 2021.

I don’t know if the election for president was legitimate or not.  I don’t know, but I have never seen anything like this before.

I don’t know why rioting suddenly became acceptable and enforcing the law is inherently evil.  I don’t know, but I have never seen anything like this before.

I don’t know why the color of my skin which was given to me by the God who knew me in the womb is suddenly something that makes me unworthy of being a person.  I don’t know, but I have never seen anything like this before.

I don’t know why people celebrate killing a baby but abhor a police officer shooting an armed criminal.  I don’t know, but I have never seen anything like this before.

I don’t know how one contagion can shut down most of the world but all other illnesses and diseases seem to have disappeared in the process.  I don’t know, but I have never seen anything like this before.

I don’t know why censorship only applies to patriotic posts and statements of faith in God.  I don’t know but I have never lived through this before.  I have studied this in history and know of it in other countries, but never lived through it.

The mores of society have abandoned the morals of God.  I am not going to give you a political platform here, but challenge you to Wake Up!

Calamity is coming upon this world.  I can’t say if it will be this year or ten years or a hundred years from now but the signs of the times tell us to Wake Up!

I have told the age-old story of the frog that you put into a pot of boiling water.  It will jump out and you will never see it again. Its skin is scalded but it is alive and plans to stay that way.

But put another frog into room temperature water and turn up the heat a degree every few minutes and in a couple of hours you have boiled frog.  It never knew what happened.

You remember the message in the Parable of the Ten Virgins.  It is to be ready.  All ten fell asleep but when they awakened, only five were ready to receive the bridegroom.

Joel prophesied to a people who knew only the law.  They did not know Jesus, but the stakes were high.  They are likewise high for us too.

Some today are like Jonah.  Intellectually, they know what to do but their hearts rebel against God.  How can you profess Jesus is Lord with a rebellious heart?

The message of Joel to today’s world is Wake Up!  Too many have given lip service to this profession that Jesus is Lord.  It’s time to Wake Up!

There is a term that has gained momentum over the past couple years.  It is Woke America.  It’s fairly accurate but not in the way those who embrace it think.

So many have awakened to the evil around us and have embraced it.  So many have awakened to see the gods of Apathy and Ambivalence as easy to serve.  They require nothing that runs against how you feel.

For those who hold firm to the word of God and do so to the end, we may not be able to do anything about the course the world is on.  I pray that we can but all that we might be able to do is Wake Up!

We are not helpless.  Our hope is in the Lord.

There is one thing that can help awaken this depraved world in the last days.  Read chapter 2 this week and see if you can find it.

Amen.

 

 

Joel 1 - Wake Up!

 

Read Joel 1

We don’t get much information on the prophet Joel.  He is mentioned in his own prophecy.  He likely lived about 9 centuries before Christ was born.  He likely lived in Jerusalem, or at least in Judea.

Peter referred to him in his first big sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Joel means one to whom Yahweh is God. Some say it means Jehovah is God.

His Father was Pethuel. Pethuel means God’s—in this case Elohim’s—unfocussed expansion.   There’s a rabbit trail to follow on a slow day.

It appears that much of what was described by Joel was happening as he wrote, but much was prophecy for what we will call the Day of the Lord.  It was yet to come.

Joel’s message first addressed the elders—those older and wiser.  He asked, have you ever seen anything like this in all of your lives?

This should be getting everyone’s attention.  The Babylonians would not be too far behind this devastation and Judah would be ruined.  This is what followed in the short term.

The Day of the Lord would come at some time not yet established.  This is the long-term prophecy.

As is often the case, we are left to discern which is which, but apparently, the locusts had arrived in Joel’s time.

About a dozen or so years ago, I remember the grasshoppers sweeping through the area.  In a single day, they had consumed all of my garden and half of my apple tree.  It seemed strange to see half of my apple tree consumed—fruit, leaves, buds,  everything—and then half left untouched.

It was as if someone had drawn a line down the middle of the tree and the grasshoppers stopped at the line.  They finished off the other half the next day.

Nobody got squash or apples from my house that year. It was memorable but nowhere near the devastation of Joel’s time.

Devastation has come, so now what?  Wake up!  This is not business as usual.  Something is happening.   Wake up!

And do what?

Put on sackcloth and mourn like never before.  Repent.  Get right with God.  This is not just a bad year for agriculture.  The judgment of the Lord is upon you.  Wake up!

You can’t even go and make a simple offering.  The acts of worship that you know have ceased.

You want to drink away your sorrows?  Good luck with that.  There is no more wine.

You need a lamp for the room at night?  Good luck with that.  It’s a bad batch of oil this year.

Everything is withering all around you, including your joy.

Wake up!

It’s good to live in 21^st century America instead of the 9^th century before the birth of Christ.  At least if the grasshoppers eat my garden, I have canned goods galore and even some stuff to microwave.

Imagine nation-wide or worldwide agricultural failure.  You think the insanity of buying out all of the toilet paper was bad, wait until it’s everything.

I laughed pretty hard when I saw the video of someone filling a plastic tub with gasoline after the flow of the oil pipeline had been hacked.  Then I saw a video of someone putting gasoline into a plastic Walmart bag.  It was ok. She double bagged it.

One of these days, you are going to have to explain 2020 to your grandkids.  Good luck with that. Looks like we have some explaining to do for this year too.

If there is one thing that we should take away from this chapter in Joel, it is this:  Wake Up!

Wake up!  This is not a time of life goes on as usual.  The fragile nature of many of our human systems is exposed.  We are vulnerable when we place our hope in the world and its ways and its systems.

From the oldest to the youngest, we should have eyes to see.  What should we see?  The end of the age is upon us.  Evil is everywhere and so often accepted as the norm.

The love of so many has grown cold.

Evil is presented as good and good as evil.

We claim to be Christians, but have we lived as those who truly follow Jesus and his way?

Jesus noted to his disciples, that in the end times people will be living just as they did in the days of Noah.  They were eating and drinking and getting married and enjoying life.

They were living in their own understanding and living for their selfish desires.

I don’t want you to panic.  God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Joel charged those who heard his prophecy to put on sackcloth. Mourn like you have lost everything.  We don’t need a wardrobe change.  We need to do the things that we have known to do for some time.

I charge you to live fully as followers of Christ Jesus.

I call us all to be known by our love.

I call us all to keep the faith.

I call us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

I call us to put the words of our Master into practice so that our house is built upon solid rock.

I call us to prepare for the storm ahead by living every day in loving obedience to our Lord.

These are not my ideas, but the Lord’s.  My role is to send the same message as Joel.

Wake up!  Take notice of the storm around you but fix your eyes on Jesus.

Now is the time to trust in the Lord and not your own understanding.

Now is the time to wake up and live as he has called us to live.

Amen.