The Stark Implications of the Gospel -- ADVENT #2: MARK 1:1-8

2nd Sunday of Advent

A Homily for

December 4, 2011, 

Year B. 

MARK 1:1-8

(See Text below)

On this Second Sunday of Advent the Gospel Lectionary reading offers us the beginning of St. Mark's Gospel, his "good news" concerning the flesh and blood Jesus of Nazareth who is also, somehow, the Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel.

Here we are introduced to one of the more colorful characters in Scripture -- John the Baptizer, who breaks on the scene as a craggy, fire-breathing prophet -- in the style of Elijah -- whose message is blatantly clear -- "get your heart right; prepare yourselves by repenting of your sin because GOD is finally coming to his people!"

As I studied for this homily I began to wonder if our familiarity with the text, finally and forever blunts its power to us, and hides its spectacular brazenness. For here we are confronted with what the philosophers call the scandal of particularity -- which means to describe the thought-complications that arise in applying the label "savior for all people" to the specific person and single individual, Jesus, who was born at a particular time in a distinct and now very distant place.

How can we post-moderns regard this man Jesus as both the 1st Century Jew that he clearly was and also the fulfillment not only of Israel's longing, but also, as the creator of a new humanity, one who uniquely represents us to GOD and GOD to us?

But, I am getting ahead of the story, we have all year to work through this question, since we will be spending our year in Mark. For now, we might well ask just what is the nature of the story unfolding before our eyes in this brief, opening pericope, and what are the implications? I want us focus on three:

THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS

THE THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

THE PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS

A Word About Thanksgiving -- Luke 17:11-19

Under the Word

Video Devotion
Luke 17:11-19
(running time 6:55)

Be watchful! Be alert! -- ADVENT #1: MARK 13:33-37

1st Sunday of Advent

A Homily for

November 27, 2011, 

Year B. 

MARK 13:33-37 

(See Text below)

Today we begin a new church year; today we begin our ascent up the mountain of the LORD afresh and anew. Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent. 

As I am sure you know, the word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming," and it offers the Christian believer a season of anticipation and hope as we remember the birth of Jesus and as we anticipate his return to redeem the earth and its people.

This means the traditional Scriptures for the Advent season accent both the first and the second "coming" of Jesus, and therefore calls us to think and to act in a clear and active allegiance of faithfulness to the Christ because of his Advent, both in the past and in the future. 

Missing the Savior -- Luke 19:41-44

Under the Word

Video Devotion
Luke 19:41-44
(running time 9:17)

Living In The Light Of The King's Justice, Now -- MATTHEW 25:31-46

Christ the King Sunday

A Homily for

November 20, 2011, 

Year A. 

MATTHEW 25:31-46 

(See Text below)

This morning we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, and the Gospel Lectionary Reading for today reflects this important emphasis.

We have little trouble getting our heads around the idea that Jesus is the LORD of the church (Col.1:18), after all he is her founder (Hb.12:2) and her foundation (1Cor.3:11), but we struggle with the idea that the risen Christ is the King of the world (Mt.28:18; Acts 1:9).

Or, said differently, as a believer in the Christ we quite easily espouse the affirmation that Jesus is King of our hearts, but it is more difficult for us to affirm with conviction that Jesus is LORD and King of the universe. This is true, first, because we understand that people hold differing views of the world and therefore such a statement is steeply politically incorrect, and second, we see a world dominated by monstrous evil and we are reluctant to see Christ’s Kingship involving such gruesome brutality.

Still, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than this: the primary confession of the New Testament is the simple statement that Jesus is LORD, LORD not just of the church and of our hearts, but LORD of the world (Phil. 2:5-11) --

listen to Jesus’ own words: 

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him."

and it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than this is the King at work in the world.

But, one might well ask how the "Son of Man" becomes the King of the world. Is this Kingship won through violence and the brutality of empire, and all the usual worldly accoutrements of power? To which we answer a resounding,"NO!" Instead, this King establishes this present and future Kingdom through sacrifice, through reconciliation, through the overthrow of the powers of darkness that always menace behind the imperium of empire.

But, of course, the Kingship of the Christ, although affirmed, has not as yet been fully felt in the world. There is a now-not yet quality to this Kingship that continues to trouble and challenges us.

Flowing from the now-not yet Kingship of Christ, then, I want us to think-through three affirmations that will help us unpack Christ's Kingship in the present:

WE LIVE UNDER THE KINGSHIP OF JESUS, NOW 

WE LIVE WITH THE RIPPLES OF OUR ACTIONS, NOW 

WE LIVE IN THE LIGHT OF FINAL JUSTICE, NOW

Enduring the Day -- Luke 17:20-25

Under the Word,
Video Devotion
Luke 17:20-25

(running time 9:05)

HEARING THE WORDS, "WELL DONE." -- MATTHEW 25:14-30

Homily

November 13, 2011, 

Year A. 

MATTHEW 25:14-30

 

(See Text below)

Today’s Lectionary Gospel reading gives to us St. Matthew’s Jesus, preaching what may be called a third judgment parable in succession. 

This time it is the story of a man who leaves on a long journey, but before his departure he entrusts his property and possessions to his servants, giving one five talents of money, one two talents of money and to a third, one talent of money.

Well, you know the story. The first two servants put the talents to good use, multiplying their value, but the third simply buried the one talent for which he was given charge.

Then, after a long time, the Master returns home to settle his affairs. When he discovers the progress of the first two servants he says:

"'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.'"

However, when he comes to the third servant and discovers that he has been lazy -- that is, because he feared the Master he simply buried his talent -- the Master said to him:

"You wicked, lazy servant!So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.

Now, what are we to make of this story, and how are we to hear the words, "well done," from the Master?

latest featured essay

DEATH IN THE CATACOMBS 

A Post-Christian Lamentation

by Mark R. Powell 

© Copyright November 3, 2011 by Mark R. Powell

____________________________________ 

"Let us offer, then, as a working principle the following: 

No statement, theological or otherwise, 

should be made that would not be credible 

in the presence of burning children." -- Irving Greenberg, 

(a response to Christian silence during the Holocaust)

(go here)

Facing Judgment -- Romans 14:7-12

Under the Word,
Video Devotion
Romans 14:7-12

(running time 7:17)

The Crisis Hour and the Watchful Church - MATTHEW 25:1-13

Homily

November 6, 2011, 

Year A. 

MATTHEW 25:1-13

 

(See Text below)

The Lectionary Gospel reading for this morning opens to us Jesus' conclusion and warning of the impending national crisis facing the nation of Israel by the Roman Empire in the middle of the first century.

Jesus has identified the "birth pangs" of the crisis that is coming, those events which will culminate in the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus in 70AD, and so the text reads: 

"Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

Which we should take to mean, as the point of the parable that is today's text, that they were to be watchful and ready for the moment of crisis, the moment when the bridegroom would appear.

Having said that, we must ask, is there then nothing here for us? Is this text only historically determined? Actually, I think there is much here for us. I think it is not a stretch to say that, first, a generational crisis is always present, and that even the ultimate crisis of the world could also be present before us.

What do I mean?