ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET
THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT, 2012 Sermon Preached by the Vicar at High Mass
Readings, Proper 1 Year B: Isaiah 40.21-31; I Corinthians 9.16-23; Mark 1. 29-39
"Early in the morning, while it was still dark", a young man came into church and found a little group of people praying silently. After a while, candles were lit and they moved quietly into the choir, found their places in prayer books and bibles and began to recite Morning Prayer.
The young man, who is a pastoral assistant in the next door parish, was not there by accident. He had sought us out. He is in the early stages of exploring whether he has a vocation to the ministry of the Church. He comes from an evangelical background but had attended high mass here on Advent Sunday and asked if he could come and ask questions about what we do here.
After the 8 o'clock mass, e then stayed for breakfast at the Vicarage and he and I spent a couple of ours talking about what we do here at All Saints and why. One of the things he asked about was whether our heavy liturgical schedule gets in the way of doing other things. I replied that one of the things which our day punctuated by the routine of prayer does is to give form and structure to our life: it doesn't stop work getting done; it helps to get it done. it helps keep us grounded in what the work is for - that we may love what God commands and desire what he promises (Common Worship Collect for 3rd Sunday before Lent).
In this first chapter of his gospel, Mark gives us a sort of specimen of a day in Jesus' ministry. He had been teaching in the synagogue and being recognised as one who, "taught with authority". He had cast out a demon from a tormented man.
Then, he and his closest group of disciples go to the house of Simon and Andrew. There, we are told, Simon's mother-in-law is ill in bed with a fever. They tell Jesus and he comes to her, takes her by the hand, and lifts her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.
This chapter points to things in the life and ministry of Jesus which will recur in the Gospel. . The word Mark uses for raising up Simon's mother=in-law is the same as he will use to speak of the resurrection of Jesus. The word he will use of her serving them, is the same as he will use to describe Christian ministry - diakonia - or service.
Jesus has not waited until the Sabbath is over to heal, either in synagogue or home, but others have held back until it is. Then, as soon as they can move about, crowds flock to the door of the house as people bring their sick and tormented to Jesus for healing.
"In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed."
Mark shows us here, two recurring aspects of the ministry of Jesus:
Jesus spends time in prayer, but his disciples see no need to interrupt a popular tour with retreat and prayer.
There are two other scenes in Mark in which Jesus withdraws to pray alone (6.46 and 14.32). He exemplifies in his own life the rhythm of work, rest and prayer. Although the theme of prayer is more prominent in Luke than in any other gospel, is also important in Mark where Jesus prays alone and often, revealing not only his Jewishness (See Psalms 5.3 and 88.13 for private prayer in the morning), but also his full humanity; in times of stress , temptation and decision he turns to God for strength and guidance.
The second part of our reading from Isaiah speaks of things we too experience:
"My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God?"
But then comes the answer:
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faith, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted: but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
The lesson for us, both priests and people, is that if we are to minister to people as Jesus has called us to, then we need that communion with God in worship, prayer and sacrament which is essential to sustain our relationship with the Father. It is vital in our that relationship of being "all things to all people", which Paul speaks about so passionately in the epistle, is not shallow courting of popularity, a propaganda or marketing exercise, but a deep understanding and sympathy people's lives and needs.
If we are to proclaim the Gospel, for that is what we have been sent to do, that is the compulsion which is laid upon us, then we need that sustained and repeated resort to prayer, to listening and speaking to God, so that what we say is the Gospel and not merely our own words.
The deserted place takes our minds back to his time in the wilderness after his baptism, where Jesus is described as being tested in the wilderness. Jesus' new popularity will offer another kind of test. Simon and the others hunt him down with what they think is good news: everyone is looking for you. He's a success. There's a huge crowd waiting back in town.
Prayer will help Jesus see that popularity for the danger that it is. It will help us see what is true inn our mission and what is not. It is prayer which alone will enable us to resist the temptations of despair and those of success and popularity.
Jesus refuses to go back. This seems strange to them: after all he is being a great success and in their town. But no, he insists that he must go elsewhere. His ministry cannot be confined to this one place.
He could no doubt have set up a successful healing ministry there and no doubt people would have come from near and far. Local businesses would prosper, much as they did in the obscure town of Lourdes in South West France after the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. But that would have been the end of his true ministry and we would not be here this morning.
Why does Jesus reject the request for more miracles, the demand of even those who are closest to him? There appears to be at least two reasons, one negative and one positive.
The miracles do not in and of themselves conflict with that vocation, but the uncomprehending response of people to the miracles does. Jesus we see serving people, but we do not see him at their service. He serves a greater cause, that of the Kingdom of God and he must preach that kingdom; as must we.
We are here to serve a greater cause than the satisfaction of our own needs, even our spiritual ones, so that loving what God commands and desiring what he promises, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are to be found. (Collect for 3rd Sunday before Lent).