Gaining Momentum – January 31, 2021

Psalm 111, Mark 1:29-45
January 31, 2021

I love looking at these stories from the early days of Jesus’ life and ministry.  And I love them because, when you dig into them, and try to see them from the point of view of the people at the time, they become even more amazing!  (And you know I’m big on that!  I’m always trying to get you to see the Bible stories from the point of view of Bible characters!)

So then, we’re early in the ministry of this new rabbi Jesus, and so far, the people had seen some amazing things!  (Or heard about them, because word of mouth was big then!  It was their main source of news!) Think about it.  They had heard the voice of God at Jesus’ baptism.  They had listened to him teach with great authority in the synagogue at Capernaum.  And they had seen him confront and cast out a demonic spirit!  So, what next?

Well, what was next is what I like to call a day of “Mass Healing.”  Jesus left the synagogue, (And the left the people agog!  Get it?) and he went to Peter’s house in Capernaum.  And there he found Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a fever.  And by the way, since Peter had a mother-in-law, doesn’t it also follow that Peter had a wife?  We don’t ever think about that, or hear of anybody, do we!  But there must have been a Mrs. Peter!  Right?  At any rate, it was her mother who was sick with a fever.  And they told Jesus – immediately!  That was one of Mark’s favorite words!  And (immediately!) Jesus healed her!

Now, it’s hard to know how, but the word got out about that.  I’m thinking there were many people around, and they were seeing and hearing what was happening.  Maybe they were whispering to one another, “Did you see what just happened?” “Did you see what he did?”  I also get the impression that people’s homes weren’t as closed off and private as ours today.  And people could see what was happening.  But however it happened, people knew, and the word got out!

So the next thing we read is that word spread throughout the city!  And that evening, at sundown – which of course meant the next day, because that’s when the day begins for the Jewish people – at sundown, they brought to Jesus “all who were sick and possessed with demons.”  And Mark tells us, “the whole city was crowded around the door of the house.”

Now, we can read that quickly and without thinking, can’t we?  The whole city came to Peter’s house!  Think of what that must have looked like!  “And Jesus healed many people!” Mark tells us.  Now, we don’t know exactly how many “many people” were, but I think we can assume that this was a mass healing.  And I have to wonder what the people who witnessed this were thinking about it.  I also have to wonder what the religious leaders were thinking about – and the Romans!  Because the popularity of Jesus was growing.  And it was only the beginning!

And thinking about that, it wasn’t just that Jesus was “popular,” as though he said and did things that people liked – which he did!  But the word “popular” really doesn’t describe it.  Jesus was becoming a sensation!  He was becoming a phenomenon!  Anywhere he went, he was mobbed!  You’ve heard me say it before.  He was “Jesus the rock star!”  And Andrew Lloyd Webber may well have been right, when he entitled his musical “Jesus Christ, Superstar.”  Jesus was a superstar, not just because of the things that he did, but because of how the people responded.

Think about it.  You might be a great musician, but you’re not a “Rock Star” until you have mobs of people come and see you and crowd around you.  You’re not a Rock Star until you have to have security!  If you’ve ever been to a big concert, you know there’s always a ring of big guys around the stage keeping people back from the performers!

I keep emphasizing this when I describe Jesus’ ministry.  Because we’ve all seen artists depictions of Jesus, teaching, and healing, and sitting and talking with his disciples.  And some are very good!  And we all have mental images of those scenes in Jesus’ life, perhaps inspired by those paintings.  But I think all of those pictures are “less than adequate,” simply because they don’t have enough people in them!

I almost didn’t include the last part of this reading today.  But I think it completes the picture.   At the end of verse 45 it says, “Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but he was out in the country.”  He couldn’t just walk into a town because of the mobs of people!  “And yet,” it says, while he was out in the country, “people came to him from every quarter!”   And this is still Chapter 1!  By Chapter 3, Mark tells us that Jesus and his disciples could no longer have a decent meal together, because of the crowds!

So, I think it’s safe to say, that this ministry, this movement of the rabbi Jesus was, “Gaining Momentum.”  That’s what I’ve entitled this sermon.  It was “gaining momentum” – like a snowball rolling down a hill.  And you know what that’s like.  When a snowball rolls down a hill, it doesn’t just pick up speed, it picks up snow!  It doesn’t just get faster, it gets(?) bigger!

The reason I say all of that today is that I want you to see this picture.  And I want to remind you that the Jesus we follow was not some obscure – though “popular” – preacher, who said a lot of nice things, and helped a lot of people – which he did!  We’re following a Jesus who turned the world upside down!  And not just in his teaching, but in the way he came on the scene and turned everything upside down.  We follow a Jesus who challenged everything.  He challenged the people’s understanding of their scriptures and their teaching.  He challenged their social mores.  He challenged their understanding about who was accepted and who wasn’t.  He challenged their sense of nationalism, and what I’ve called their “religious exclusivism.”  “We’re the chosen people – and you’re not!”  And he did it all with huge crowds of people around!

Those who would become his “enemies” were very concerned about that!  As well they should have been!  He was threatening their way of life.  He was threatening their authority.  He was threatening the peace!  Because you can’t forget the Romans!  They were there, too!  They were watching all of this!  And there was a relative peace with them at that time.  But it was fragile!

Remember, the Romans had conquered the world!  And once you conquer, you then have to rule!  And that’s the part that’s not always easy.  You can only rule if the people are kept in line – if they obeyed and submitted.  The biggest fear of Rome was rebellion.  The biggest fear they had were people who said, “No!  You’re not the boss of us!”  And so, the thing that made them the most “nervous” was big crowds.  And Jesus had those in spades!

Maybe you remember what the Pharisees said in John 11:48.  In their council, they said, “If we let him go on like this, then everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our holy place and our nation!”  That was a very real fear!  You have to give those guys some credit.  They were afraid!  And they had every reason to be!

Again, the reason I say all of this, is that I want you to see the big picture.  I want you to see that this was no minor religious movement that was happening, with relatively few followers.  This was big!  Jesus was a phenomenon!  That’s the Jesus we follow!

It’s too easy to grow complacent, and to forget how big and how important our faith is.  It’s too easy to think of our faith as “just another thing” in our lives.  “Hey, we’re Christians.”  “We believe in Jesus.”  “It’s all great!”  “But it’s no big deal.”  I want us to remember that it is a big deal!  I want us to remember that this was a turning point in all of history, and these people, the people in these stories, were a part of it!  And so are we!  I want us to have within us a sense of how important this is, every day!

So remember this day of “mass healing.”  Remember the ministry of Jesus “gaining momentum.”  Picture in your mind the crowds, the mobs of people.  Think about how the world was changed.  Every time you see the year 2021, remember that those years are counted from this time, the time of Jesus!  Even though people are trying to change A.D. – Anno Domini – “The Year of our Lord” to C.E. – “The Common Era,” remember that “The Common Era” is the Era of Jesus!   And remember, every day, that you are one of his followers, even now!

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to have a better understanding of what you did in Jesus Christ.  Help us to know that we are following the one who changed the course of history.  Help us to know that he has changed our lives and our hearts.  Help us to know that, because he lives, we can live also.  These things we pray in his name, Amen.