Finding
God’s Kingdom
Pastor Mathew Magera – 2/4/18 – Sermon 267
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
If you've noticed in recent
weeks, our Gospel readings have tended to come from the book of Mark. Beginning
in Advent, we've started year B in our three year lectionary and this year is
dedicated to Mark's Gospel with a smattering of John here and there. Mark is a
very peculiar Gospel. Mark is the kind of Gospel writer who is not used to
drinking coffee but drinks more than he should on one particular morning. His
Gospel is short, to the point, and it moves fast, almost too fast to keep track
of. In our short reading in Mark 1, we have three separate events taking place
all in rapid succession. First, Peter's mother in law gets healed from her fever.
Second, Jesus drives out many demons. Lastly, Jesus heads out to many different
places preaching and driving out even more demons. The way Mark characterizes
Jesus throughout his Gospel has led me to view the entire Gospel like a comic
book where Jesus is the superhero, quickly moving from place to place doing
good, bringing in God's kingdom and making things right.
We talk about God's kingdom
quite often, don't we? We pray about it in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus often
speaks of it. We think about it when we are at funerals or maybe in hospitals.
We read about it in books. The subject of God's kingdom is everywhere.
The Kingdom of God is also a
very complex subject. When it comes to thinking about kingdoms, it is
difficult, if not near impossible, for our brains to conceive of a kingdom that
is not also a definable place or a where. You see, when we think of the word
kingdom, we may automatically may perceive a fairy tale type location in Western
Europe surrounding a great medieval castle. We visualize a territory that has
defined borders and visible signs that tell us that this particular place is
different from all other places around it. This is likely true because of how
we view the world around us.
Most of us know what it is
like to cross a border whether it be at a county, state or national level.
Driving from state to state, you may notice differences in how things look,
some different signage or ways of getting from here to there. If you've never
been to Michigan before, you might get thrown off by the notorious Michigan
left. I'm still caught off guard by the fact that a green arrow for a left turn
will always tend to come after the green light. It's something I'm certain I
will never get used to. If you've driven to Canada recently, you might understand
what it is like to pass into another country. Road signs, traffic lights, the
metric system. Lines may be painted different colors. In some countries even
the flow of traffic is reversed. You'll run into different customs, currency,
foods, rituals, religions, ethnicities, social and financial classes, values
and much much more. It is often fairly easy to know when you've passed into a
different country. If we don't have medieval castles anymore, we have border
patrol officers, flags, laws and other legalities that still define the kingdom
we are entering.
As a result, when we think
of God's kingdom or pray for God's kingdom, it is only natural for us to apply
similar implications into our faith and believe that God's kingdom is something
that has not happened yet, that it is something that will mostly come in the
future but is definitely not now because nothing is different. We assume that
God's kingdom is something that when it comes we'll notice it because living
inside the borders of God's kingdom will reflect and be as obvious as being in
a different country. However, while there is the prophesied New Creation that
is yet to come, it still is quite naive of us to locate God's kingdom in any
other place, dimension or time than right here and right now.
If God's kingdom is right
here and now, how exactly do we recognize it and, perhaps more importantly, how
do we thrive within it? Taking straight from Jesus' ministry as early as Mark
1, we find that Jesus' words and actions convey to us and teach us that the
kingdom of God is most certainly present during the time of his ministry. We
can also use Jesus' ministry to show us that the kingdom of God exists in the
ministry that we have been called to perform. There are ways in which Jesus'
ministry can help us discover God's kingdom already present on earth, and more
importantly, how we can thrive within it.
The Kingdom of
God Has No Physical Borders
First, and perhaps the
biggest thing we need to understand, and that I've already eluded to, is that
God's kingdom is not restricted or restrained by any physical borders. It
doesn't matter where you are, you can be in God's kingdom no matter what
country, state, county or township you are in. However, just because God's kingdom
has no physical borders does not mean that it is invisible. God's kingdom is
quite visible. But, back to borders. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus tends to move
around a lot. One of Mark's favorite words to use is the word
"immediately." Immediately this, immediately that. Mark has a mind
like mine, full of energy and always moving from one place to another. In
Mark's Gospel, Jesus doesn't hang around in one place very often as we can see
today. By the end of our Gospel reading, Jesus is moving on to a number of
places preaching and healing people. His work is not restricted to one place,
one town or even one nation. Where Jesus is doing ministry, the kingdom of God
is present. Thus, as Jesus empowered his disciples, and as they empowered new
followers and as they have empowered each one of us, the kingdom of God is
present wherever and whenever the ministry of Jesus is being done, where the
forgiveness of sins is proclaimed, where new life is given.
You see, where God's kingdom
cannot be defined by drawing maps and lines, it can still be defined by what we
see. God's kingdom is present wherever people are praying the way Jesus taught
us to pray. We see God's kingdom when Jesus encourages certain actions and
behaviors. We might know these as the fruit of the Spirit from Paul. God's
kingdom is present whenever we baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit or when people are fed with the bread and wine, Jesus'
body and blood broken and shed for you.
Observing God's kingdom goes
beyond these too. We see God's kingdom when someone refuses to go along with
something just because everyone else is doing it and it is untruthful or not
Christ-like. When a Christian rejects a sinful activity, that is the presence
of God's kingdom too. When you visit someone who is not able to come to worship,
when you tutor a young child, when your hands and feet are doing the work of
Christ, God's kingdom is there. God's kingdom is not defined by points on a map
but rather a border of faith. Wherever there is belief in the Lord Jesus, right
then and there, right here and right now, the Kingdom of God is present and it
is always moving. God's kingdom follows his church and God's will is calling
the shots. So, this is one way we can be opened up to see God's kingdom, to
remember that it is not something that just comes about in the future just because
we can't experience it like moving from country to country, and that God's
kingdom is present now through God's very will being done.
The Kingdom of
God Speaks Louder Than Words
Looking specifically at our
Gospel we see Jesus performing a healing over Peter’s Mother In-Law. Now, Jesus
heard about this, took her hand, helped her up and her fever left her. But,
while Jesus' work is pretty important here, and while the kingdom of God is
certainly present in Jesus' intention to heal and to serve here, I want us to
consider this woman's reaction. It's quite possible that we could take her
actions in a negative light. To the eye, it seems that Jesus walked in and
helped her out of bed so that she could serve him and his disciples. It's
almost as if Jesus were just putting her in her place as a woman in this very
ancient culture. But, if we think about what she did and why we have it written
down in the Bible in the first place, we may reconsider that understanding.
It is unfortunate, but
understandable that women make up just over 1% of the spoken words in the
entire Bible. Women just were not regarded as they are today. They were very
inferior and to have a women speak or even be present in writings like this
were fairly rare. So, we have to think, in a culture where women did not have a
prominent role of setting examples, why is it important for Mark to include
this story in his telling of Jesus' passion? We already understand, just by
reading the Bible, where women stand in the culture. So, for Mark to simply be
telling us in a few short verses where women rank in social customs seems very
unlikely, given the characteristics of Mark's writing. Matthew and Luke copy
this very story from Mark so it must be more important. Here's why. Peter's
mother in law was showing her faith. The kingdom of God is present and thriving
within her reaction to Jesus' ministry over her.
The fact that Peter's Mother
In-Law gets up immediately and serves Jesus and the disciples doesn't show us
that she is put in her place. It doesn't show us that she is responding to
cultural norms, it is showing us her great faith in who Jesus truly is. She
could have thanked him. She could have asked him if he was hungry. She could
have told other people who he was, but she doesn't. She just serves. She puts
herself aside and serves Jesus and his disciples. Her actions in this
particular event show us how great her faith really was. God created her, God
created you and me to serve. And she does it. She could have been in the
presence of Jesus himself and just sat there, but she didn't. As a faithful
response to being in the presence of Jesus, she gets up and serves. Her actions
here spoke louder than her words. She embodies the Kingdom of God because of
her faith and how she responded to it by actually getting up and serving in
response to the grace and mercy shown to her by Jesus Christ.
When we get up and serve,
not because it is required of us, but because we are responding to our faith in
Christ, we also embody the kingdom of God. We can see it. It doesn't matter our
physical abilities. We can serve by sitting in our chairs at home or by getting
our hands dirty in our community or around the world. Our actions speak a lot
about our faith and as a reaction to faith, they tend to show the true presence
of God's kingdom.
The Kingdom of
God Still Exorcises Demons
After Jesus serves Peter's
mother in-law, we see that he goes out and becomes the exorcist. This is the
other part of Jesus' ministry in our portion of Mark 1 in which the kingdom of
God is present. Talking about exorcising demons today tends to be about as
similar as walking through an antique shop and looking at the many things that
remind you of your childhood. Casting out demons seems so old school and
archaic when we think about it. As a result, if we think about it this way, a
big gap opens up between our faith and the lives that we are living today, as
if we are not taking this topic very seriously. I mean, when you imagine Jesus
exorcising a demon, what do you think about? What do you see? What does Jesus
do? What is the victim like? We might think more about our perceptions of
demons in the ways that Hollywood portrays them in movies. So, in our minds,
we're thinking of what a demon possessed person might look like and just like
entering another country, we automatically assume that a demon possessed person
would be as easy to recognize just as easy as it is to recognize that you are
in England by watching the direction of traffic.
The truth is, there are
still demon possessed people around today. There are some that might be
somewhat similar to the Hollywood image we have in our minds but there are
others that walk by you every day and you couldn't find a stereotypical demon
in them with a flashlight and a map. It does not mean they don't exist. Whether
or not demon possessed individuals in Bible times acted similar to how
Hollywood portrays them or not, we have to remember that Satan is an
opportunist. If we doubt Satan's ability and his power to try to turn us away
from God, then we're not being vigilant enough to see how demons work on us
today and recognizing their presence. Though the Bible says Satan is a roaring
lion looking for who he might devour, it doesn't mean that every demon we face
will take the obvious form of a lion-like obstacle. If we only consider the
demon-possessed to be those who we can see as obviously different and could
recognize it, you can bet that Satan will find a different method to make it
much less obvious.
My point is that while we do
have demons that take many different forms today, we also have those demons
being cast out of people each and every day through answered prayer. Reading
the Bible makes it seem like this action occurs almost immediately. While there
may be some cases in which this happens, other times it is much slower but just
as effective. When we look around and see answered prayer as someone is lifted
from an affliction or addiction or a sinful habit, we are seeing the very
kingdom of God at work casting out those demons and restoring us to God's
service. As long as there is answered prayer, as long as demons are still cast
out even in 2018, God's kingdom is still present in, around, under and above
us.
* * *
For us today, the message is
clear: We are still responding to the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ like
Peter's mother in-law. Demons are still being cast out. The kingdom of God is
most definitely present with us. Even in the midst of what is going on around
us, where terror and brokenness rule the night, we have the encouragement that
the ministry of Jesus Christ is still being performed. The message of hope is
still being proclaimed. We cannot continue to believe that God's kingdom is in
some far off place and that we cannot experience it. Absolutely not. Though the
Kingdom of God may not be as noticeable like when we cross borders, it is none
the less here right now today.
God's kingdom is mysterious
and hidden, but it is here and only through Christ becomes clear to us. It does
not take on physical borders. There is no one to stamp your passport. There is
no currency exchange or measurement conversions. We can see that God's kingdom
is present here and now through faith. This is the same faith that works on us
each day that we might remember the saving work of Christ on the cross in
addition to all the service he provided for those he met on his journey there.
The Gospel of Mark paints this picture of Jesus moving from one place to
another because Jesus was set on freeing people from their suffering. He still
does it today for you and as we go into our week I pray that through faith you
would also see the presence of God's kingdom and that you would embody that
kingdom through your actions, through service, through loving others and being
Christ for them all in response to Jesus making your life a stop on his journey
to heal, to restore and to save. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.