Jesus
Christ, Hope of the World: The Beginning of the Good News
Sermon preached by Rev. Patricia Farris
December 4, 2005
Scripture:
Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8
When I
was growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, people had a choice of two daily
newspapers, the Arizona Republic or the Phoenix Gazette. One was delivered
in the morning; the other in the late afternoon. People were fiercely
loyal to one or the other, more related to the time of day they preferred
to read their paper than anything to do with editorial policies or
the particular slant of the news.
In those
days, the dim and distant past, evening news brought a similar choice
among three networks, national and local. All of that was a huge leap
from the radio possibilities and movie newsreels of just a few years
prior.
Things
are totally different now, of course. With cable TV, news is available
at any moment of the day or night, and in LA, in almost any language
you might want—Chinese, German, Korean, French, Farsi, Italian…British…that’s
another language, isn’t it? And then there’s the internet
and more options than I can begin to figure out. And now those various
ways to have news streamed or downloaded or something into your cell
phone or whatever—so that you’re always connected to some
part of the great available stream of information out there. And lest
I sound like a dinosaur of some sort, let me quickly add that I’m
sure all this is wonderful and making us better people. Actually,
I realize that I sound more like my old grandfather who to his death
preferred to listen to baseball games on the radio rather than the
TV because, he said, the pictures in your head are even better than
the ones on the TV screen.
We’ve
become something of a “news-R-us” sort of society, poked
and prodded by it all the time, but much of it completely inconsequential.
How informed are we really, and to what end? Does it make us a better
person, a more compassionate human? Does knowing all that we know
help connect us to all our sisters and brothers around this amazing
world? Does their story become our story? Does it change how we live?
About
twenty years ago, Neil Postman wrote a book entitled Amusing Ourselves
to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. It’s
only more pertinent today. He asked: “How often does it occur
that the information provided you on the morning radio or
(continued...)
"The
Beginning of the Good News" by Rev. Patricia Farris, December 4,
2005
television, on in the morning newspaper, causes
you to alter your plans for the day, or take some action you would not
otherwise have taken, or provides insight to some problem you are required
to solve? For most of us, news of the weather will sometimes have such
consequences; for investors, news of the stock market; perhaps an occasional
story about a crime will do it, if by chance the crime occurred near
where you live or involved someone you know. But most of our daily news
is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk
about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.”
Postman
describes this as an “information-action” ratio, news that
makes a difference, “news you can use”, contrasted to news
that numbs, news that leaves us cynical and afraid, hoping nothing bad
like that ever happens to us. Most of the news we surround ourselves
with isn’t anything new, and it isn’t anything that will
really make a difference in the way we chose to live.
The
challenge to all those news people, of course, is to get people to still
pay attention. We know that newspaper readership is way down and that
the networks struggle to keep their ratings. How do they—and we
for that matter, we the church with something to say to the world—how
to we get people’s attention in a world like this? How do we get
people to engage with the news—the reality of both the good and
the bad in this world—in order to make a difference?
Well,
you know what? The same challenge faced the writer of Mark’s Gospel.
When whoever that was, we call him “Mark,” about sixty years
after Jesus had died, when he sat down that day with parchment and quill
to write, to capture people’s attention and imagination, to get
them involved in the story, to get them engaged in what for him was
clearly a life-changing story of redemption and grace…what words
do you use? What’s your headline?
Mark
chose these words: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.” Wow! It’s as if we need a stirring trumpet
call when we hear these words: “the beginning of the good news
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”
Yes! No Hollywood
writer could have done it better. Crystal clear. Gripping. Intriguing.
The beginning—there’s more to come…good news…might
want to pay attention…of Jesus Christ, Son of God…but I
thought he was just that carpenter from Nazareth? Oh, no! “The
beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, Son of God!”
Immediately, Mark continues: “as it is written in the prophet
Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will
prepare your way…’” Mark was a genius. He’s
pulling it all together in his opening words. He focuses the people’s
attention, and then he beings to layer in echoes of their history and
their prophets. Genesis: “In the beginning, God created heaven
and earth.” Exodus: “I am going to send an angel in front
of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I have
prepared.” Malachi: “See, I am sending my messenger to
(continued...)
"The
Beginning of the Good News" by Rev. Patricia Farris, December
4, 2005
prepare
the way before me; and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to
his temple.” Isaiah. This
is evangelion—good news. Note: Mark doesn’t say: this
is the story of Jesus Christ. Or this is the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
No, he makes a bold theological proclamation—hence the trumpets!—the
evangelion, the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God. He’s
not being a reporter here; he’s telling us what he believes
to be true.
Now
in the first century, that word evangelion was widely used to refer
to any kind of good news people might share with one another. Any
kind of good news: family celebrations, special blessings, a football
score…and so forth... So we know that to Mark’s first
readers, his news came with the connotation of something truly “good”,
something to be welcomed and desired. And we who now live in such
a “bad news” culture should welcome it as well - the good
news of Jesus Christ, Son of God. So Mark’s portrayal of John
the Baptist out there in the wilderness is all about good news for
the people. Nothing of the “brood of vipers” kind of stuff
that the other evangelists have him say. It was simply, a baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And this news sounded so
good, Mark tells us, that people from the whole Judean countryside
and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized
by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. He told them: the
one who is coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,
with holiness. Mark wants us to know the good news that the kingdom
of heaven is here. Your sins will be forgiven, your brokenness made
whole, your weary bones made strong, your aching hearts restored to
the fullness of life. You—and you—and you—you will
be baptized with holiness. Good news indeed!
For
Mark, it is all just as God has promised. “Comfort, o comfort
my people.” “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald
of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald
of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah,
“here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might…he
will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his
arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”
This
is the beginning of the good news, God’s ultimate purpose, which
is the forgiveness of our sins. As the wonderful writer, Kathleen
Norris, asks: “Can it really be that mercy is at heart of our
God?” True mercy? We who live in this time that is both “sentimental
and profoundly unforgiving”, as the Archbishop of Canterbury
has described? Can it really be that the REAL good news is that mercy
is at the heart of our God? Mercy for you and you and you and you…mercy
for me?
So
begins God’s new beginning in Christ Jesus, the new heaven and
the new earth, beginning even now, in our midst, in forgiveness and
mercy, in redemption and love, for each of us, and for all. This is
God’s promise, the ground of our hope, coming into the world
in
(continued...)
"The
Beginning of the Good News" by Rev. Patricia Farris, December
4, 2005
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Coming to create new beginnings, to
open the future wide with hope. This
is news with a high information-action ratio for our lives. This is
news we can work with. This is news that can change everything about
how we live: God loves us and wants us—all of us—to be
whole.
Let
the trumpets sound and the people rejoice.
Amen.
Notes:
Homiletics. December 4, 2005.
Kathleen Norris. Living By the Word. The Christian Century. November
29, 2005.
Archbishop Rowan Williams quote in Miraslov Volf. Free of Charge:
Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2005.
©Patricia Farris, 2005. Permission is given for brief quotation
with attribution. All other rights reserved.
|
