Life through Jesus
Sermon for Epiphany IV, 2024, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 and Mark 1:21-28
Have you ever been this close to running out of patience, where you say “If I hear that one more time…?” Whatever it is, you can’t bear to hear it again or you will lose it completely. That’s what the Hebrews are saying to Moses in the reading from Deuteronomy, except that they are not running out of patience, and they are not angry. They are in fact afraid, afraid that if they hear God’s voice again or see a holy fire, they will die. This is not a moment of drama that they are creating to get Moses to do what they want. It is a legitimate fear that has precedent. In the book of Exodus, we read that Moses was pushed into the cleft of a rock as God passed by, so that he would not see the face of God and die himself. So it would appear that the closer God was to people, the closer death was, and there had to be some form of protection, not from God, but from that holy presence. All of this drama makes sense to Moses, who speaks to the Hebrews saying “You are right, you will die if you hear the voice of God. A prophet from among you will rise who speaks God’s words, and you will then hear those words without the fear of death.” With that prophet, the transcendence of God, the distance between God and us is preserved, and God’s holiness is not hidden by uncleanness on earth. Notice that it is God who appoints this prophet, rather than the prophet coming from a school or appointed by a group of elders.
The people in the synagogue where Jesus taught were familiar with the passage from Deuteronomy that we read, and recalled Moses’ words about a prophet rising among them. They believed, too, that they could not look at God and live, and their faith was built around God who was transcendent, distant from them. So when Jesus taught with authority and cast out an unclean spirit in a man among them, the people knew that Jesus was someone different, a prophet who they had not encountered before. They listened to him with undivided attention because there was no reason to fear him, and his teaching and control of unclean spirits was their epiphany. It would take time for them to realize that he was more than the prophet Moses had mentioned, that he was God incarnate, walking among them and speaking God’s words for them to hear. There was no fear of death from such a close encounter with God because their fear of God did not get in the way of hearing God.
I experienced an encounter similar to the people in the synagogue, not with Jesus, but with a world figure. In November of 1989 in Strasbourg, France, I had planned activities for one day of a week-long visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury. On the morning of “my day,” we had a Eucharistic service at our church and Lord Robert Runcie, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, was sitting a couple of pews ahead of me. After the service, I nervously introduced myself, and he immediately put me at ease saying that perhaps he needed his Wellies, or boots, for walking in the only snow we were to have that year. I had looked into the face of the spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and had spoken to him, and did not die.
Somewhere at home, I have a picture of Archbishop Runcie and my wife, taken at the reception after the service, stirring a pot of Christmas pudding together. Here was a man who had the ear of Queen Elizabeth, a man who was working on the release of Terry Waite, a British hostage in Lebanon, speaking to me and sharing a moment with my wife. This was the man who I had watched marry Prince Charles and Lady Diana on television several years earlier, and yet when he spoke to me, it was as if we had known each other for a while and were catching up. He was instantly relatable and humble in those personal encounters, and he spoke with God’s love. He was a prophet, if you will, of the church, full of grace and speaking with a wisdom well beyond my years.
It is understandable that we might fear power that we encounter, especially when we read in the Torah about God punishing people for their sins or lack of faith. In that context, we are filled with anxiety when we hear God speaking to us, or calling us to do or say something. We may find ourselves standing in awe of God’s presence, not daring to come any closer or look at where God might be. But it is in Jesus, or in an Archbishop, that we have someone relatable, someone relatable and humble who speaks to us lovingly and patiently, who invites us to sit with them and have a conversation. This is the epiphany that we have, that we can be loved by the powerful in a way that overcomes our fear of being imperfect and unworthy, or being ashamed of who we are or what we’ve done. In turn, we learn to love and put at ease those with less power, from God being imminent, right next to us. God’s grace and mercy shines on us all through Jesus so that we won’t die, but rather become who God sees us to truly be. Living in Jesus goes a long way toward chasing out the unclean spirits that make us afraid of power and death, that make us afraid to be ourselves in the presence of holy power.
Jesus is our intermediary, fully human and fully divine, and his life and teaching are how we relate to God who is ultimately unknowable. We come to realize what God’s love and compassion looks like in human terms as we see and experience Jesus’ teachings revealed to us in worship, parish life, and in our own lives. We will continue to understand more and more of God’s purpose for us when God calls us to say or do something. That call may happen this morning, immediately after the service, when we will have our annual parish meeting here in the sanctuary. God will continue to be present as we review the past year and look forward to this year, and we may experience another epiphany, another call to be prophets who bring God’s word to the world. We do not need to be afraid, and we will not die as a parish as we experience God’s power through what we accomplish together as a community of faith.
Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 and Mark 1:21-28
Have you ever been this close to running out of patience, where you say “If I hear that one more time…?” Whatever it is, you can’t bear to hear it again or you will lose it completely. That’s what the Hebrews are saying to Moses in the reading from Deuteronomy, except that they are not running out of patience, and they are not angry. They are in fact afraid, afraid that if they hear God’s voice again or see a holy fire, they will die. This is not a moment of drama that they are creating to get Moses to do what they want. It is a legitimate fear that has precedent. In the book of Exodus, we read that Moses was pushed into the cleft of a rock as God passed by, so that he would not see the face of God and die himself. So it would appear that the closer God was to people, the closer death was, and there had to be some form of protection, not from God, but from that holy presence. All of this drama makes sense to Moses, who speaks to the Hebrews saying “You are right, you will die if you hear the voice of God. A prophet from among you will rise who speaks God’s words, and you will then hear those words without the fear of death.” With that prophet, the transcendence of God, the distance between God and us is preserved, and God’s holiness is not hidden by uncleanness on earth. Notice that it is God who appoints this prophet, rather than the prophet coming from a school or appointed by a group of elders.
The people in the synagogue where Jesus taught were familiar with the passage from Deuteronomy that we read, and recalled Moses’ words about a prophet rising among them. They believed, too, that they could not look at God and live, and their faith was built around God who was transcendent, distant from them. So when Jesus taught with authority and cast out an unclean spirit in a man among them, the people knew that Jesus was someone different, a prophet who they had not encountered before. They listened to him with undivided attention because there was no reason to fear him, and his teaching and control of unclean spirits was their epiphany. It would take time for them to realize that he was more than the prophet Moses had mentioned, that he was God incarnate, walking among them and speaking God’s words for them to hear. There was no fear of death from such a close encounter with God because their fear of God did not get in the way of hearing God.
I experienced an encounter similar to the people in the synagogue, not with Jesus, but with a world figure. In November of 1989 in Strasbourg, France, I had planned activities for one day of a week-long visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury. On the morning of “my day,” we had a Eucharistic service at our church and Lord Robert Runcie, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, was sitting a couple of pews ahead of me. After the service, I nervously introduced myself, and he immediately put me at ease saying that perhaps he needed his Wellies, or boots, for walking in the only snow we were to have that year. I had looked into the face of the spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and had spoken to him, and did not die.
Somewhere at home, I have a picture of Archbishop Runcie and my wife, taken at the reception after the service, stirring a pot of Christmas pudding together. Here was a man who had the ear of Queen Elizabeth, a man who was working on the release of Terry Waite, a British hostage in Lebanon, speaking to me and sharing a moment with my wife. This was the man who I had watched marry Prince Charles and Lady Diana on television several years earlier, and yet when he spoke to me, it was as if we had known each other for a while and were catching up. He was instantly relatable and humble in those personal encounters, and he spoke with God’s love. He was a prophet, if you will, of the church, full of grace and speaking with a wisdom well beyond my years.
It is understandable that we might fear power that we encounter, especially when we read in the Torah about God punishing people for their sins or lack of faith. In that context, we are filled with anxiety when we hear God speaking to us, or calling us to do or say something. We may find ourselves standing in awe of God’s presence, not daring to come any closer or look at where God might be. But it is in Jesus, or in an Archbishop, that we have someone relatable, someone relatable and humble who speaks to us lovingly and patiently, who invites us to sit with them and have a conversation. This is the epiphany that we have, that we can be loved by the powerful in a way that overcomes our fear of being imperfect and unworthy, or being ashamed of who we are or what we’ve done. In turn, we learn to love and put at ease those with less power, from God being imminent, right next to us. God’s grace and mercy shines on us all through Jesus so that we won’t die, but rather become who God sees us to truly be. Living in Jesus goes a long way toward chasing out the unclean spirits that make us afraid of power and death, that make us afraid to be ourselves in the presence of holy power.
Jesus is our intermediary, fully human and fully divine, and his life and teaching are how we relate to God who is ultimately unknowable. We come to realize what God’s love and compassion looks like in human terms as we see and experience Jesus’ teachings revealed to us in worship, parish life, and in our own lives. We will continue to understand more and more of God’s purpose for us when God calls us to say or do something. That call may happen this morning, immediately after the service, when we will have our annual parish meeting here in the sanctuary. God will continue to be present as we review the past year and look forward to this year, and we may experience another epiphany, another call to be prophets who bring God’s word to the world. We do not need to be afraid, and we will not die as a parish as we experience God’s power through what we accomplish together as a community of faith.
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