The Immediacy of Epiphany
Commentary
Never does the Bible recommend that some day we ought to listen, to respond, to change. A sense of urgency is always a part of any message from God. Whether it is Jonah giving a great city only forty days or Paul seeing a new world coming or Jesus declaring the kingdom of heaven to be at hand the background of urgency is always present. There are several good reasons for this urgency.
First of all, we can put a thing off until it is too late. Who knows when we will have followed the example of the Rich Fool in Luke 12 who imagined that there was plenty of time. Thus, this life is given great value. It is filled with important decision-making. We ought never to take this life lightly.
Secondly, even if there is lots of time, why lose what one can have and put off having the joy of it until the very end? Moreover, isn't it just possible that over a long period of time the need recedes into the background, compromises are made and attitudes adopted that lead us to believe that all is well when it is not? We lose too much and risk too much by delay.
One has to he very careful not to cut off God's prerogatives or to declare that there is an end to his mercies. All that is his business. But there is too much at stake for delay.
We live and act as if this life were all preparation for the next. We worry about whether we will lose the opportunity for eternal life or will have time to make amends at the last minute.
The lessons teach us that life can be lost or gained now. Salvation is not some future gift. Jesus said it clearly, "Today is the day of salvation." If that is so, then when we are spoken to, called, shown the truth, receive revelation it is the right moment for response.
OUTLINE I
Anticipating New Beginnings
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20
Introduction: Indicate that most of us focus attention on the end of things and the coming of the new as if it were a one-time event that will surely take place out there some day. Today's scriptures bear a different message. What is old and out of date is always passing away. What is new and filled with promise is always coming to us. Apply this insight to life situations.
1) This insight is surely true of our individual lives. Our old selves, intellectually, physically, spiritually are always being laid aside like the shedding of some old skin so that the new can come. Point out the tragedies of life that occur when we become fascinated with or trapped in one place in life and cease to change and grow and accept the new. It is an axiom of life that we change and grow or atrophy and die away. Examples can be given from physical attributes to gifts and talents, etc.
2) This insight is surely true of our congregational life. The attempt to conserve, to maintain the status quo, to enshrine the present forever is ever among us. We stumble on some great new thing or share some great experience and like those disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration we want to build a shrine and linger and enjoy the glow. Reread that story again and note the next words, "As they came down from the mountam ..." Jesus is forever calling us to new places, new opportunities and new beginnings. As congregations we ought to be constant in our listening.
3) Even though the passing of the old and the coming of the new are present experiences, the scriptures also point to a future in which God will finally be victorious and all things will be made new. All about us there is evidence of Paul's understanding of this matter in Romans 8:19-25.
Conclusion: Encourage the hearer to always be flexible, open, anticipating, eager for the giving of new opportunities and new beginnings from the hand of God.
OUTLINE II
An Old Sermon with Current Meaning
Mark 1:14-20
Introduction: Some discussion as to what the gospel must have been when Jesus uttered these words or when Mark wrote them can furnish a helpful review for the congregation. Take time to discuss the circumstances of the writing of this gospel. Note that the sense of urgency is very real to a people who are living in days of chaos and who probably saw the temple destroyed. Surely relief was very near (at hand). The call is twofold.
1) Repent. Surely this message rang as strangely against Jewish ears when Jesus said it as when John said it. Repent? Us? Jews? After all we are the chosen children of Abraham. Nicodemus understood Jesus' word about being born again. He just couldn't imagine that it applied to him. Apply the word to all who hear. Discuss its meaning. Make certain that the hearer understands that it not only applies to a change of heart but a change of life, too. The spirit of Psalm 51:10 applies here.
2) Believe. Recall for the hearer the purpose of Mark's gospel to present Jesus as the bearer of the power and activity of God in their midst. He is the one who is to come. The writer uses an interesting method of bringing the reader to decision-making. Time after time questions are asked: What is this? Who is this? Who do you say that I am? The reader must answer the question for himself. Only when one says "yes" can he gain that insight which confirms the answer.
Conclusion: Make the call of Jesus contemporary. Make it clear that much to the surprise of many of us -- like Nicodemus -- the call to repent and believe is still relevant to respectable , church-going persons like ourselves who are also a part of long religious traditions.
OUTLINE III
No Fish Story
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Introduction: Deal with the tendency of many to interpret the Jonah story as a miracle story having to do with a big fish and a balky prophet. Place the poem in the context of the failures of Israel in the years before the exile and during the exile the purpose of which was to reconstitute and redirect Israel to be the instrument of God for the saving of the nations. (See Genesis 12:1-4).
1) Point out that most of us are not greatly worried about the salvation of our enemies. Jonah (Israel) wasn't well disposed to the capital of Assyria which had been the instrument of distraction of the northern kingdom. We laugh at Jonah -- and Israel -- but how much better disposed are we to those we used to call Japs, Krauts, etc. and against who still harbor resentments?
2) Point out that many of us prefer a God of judgment, especially if he will judge those we don't like. Jonah's hatred for Nineveh has its modern counterpart in our attitudes toward Moscow or Havana or Teheran. Like Jonah, what we want to do is to send bombs and blast them off the face of the earth. Of course, in all this we see ourselves as carrying out God's will.
3) But God will let us off. We are called to speak for him. He'd rather not judge. "How can I give you up?" See Hosea 11:8, 9. He would rather call his people to repentance, hear their word of confession and repent of his intent to judge. The good news is for all that he is truly a God who forgives, repents, reclaims and restores.
Conclusion: Declare that we are meant to view others as God views them. We are to want what he wants for them. And we are chosen to go to them, not with threats and accusations but with a word of assurance about one who loves them.
First of all, we can put a thing off until it is too late. Who knows when we will have followed the example of the Rich Fool in Luke 12 who imagined that there was plenty of time. Thus, this life is given great value. It is filled with important decision-making. We ought never to take this life lightly.
Secondly, even if there is lots of time, why lose what one can have and put off having the joy of it until the very end? Moreover, isn't it just possible that over a long period of time the need recedes into the background, compromises are made and attitudes adopted that lead us to believe that all is well when it is not? We lose too much and risk too much by delay.
One has to he very careful not to cut off God's prerogatives or to declare that there is an end to his mercies. All that is his business. But there is too much at stake for delay.
We live and act as if this life were all preparation for the next. We worry about whether we will lose the opportunity for eternal life or will have time to make amends at the last minute.
The lessons teach us that life can be lost or gained now. Salvation is not some future gift. Jesus said it clearly, "Today is the day of salvation." If that is so, then when we are spoken to, called, shown the truth, receive revelation it is the right moment for response.
OUTLINE I
Anticipating New Beginnings
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20
Introduction: Indicate that most of us focus attention on the end of things and the coming of the new as if it were a one-time event that will surely take place out there some day. Today's scriptures bear a different message. What is old and out of date is always passing away. What is new and filled with promise is always coming to us. Apply this insight to life situations.
1) This insight is surely true of our individual lives. Our old selves, intellectually, physically, spiritually are always being laid aside like the shedding of some old skin so that the new can come. Point out the tragedies of life that occur when we become fascinated with or trapped in one place in life and cease to change and grow and accept the new. It is an axiom of life that we change and grow or atrophy and die away. Examples can be given from physical attributes to gifts and talents, etc.
2) This insight is surely true of our congregational life. The attempt to conserve, to maintain the status quo, to enshrine the present forever is ever among us. We stumble on some great new thing or share some great experience and like those disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration we want to build a shrine and linger and enjoy the glow. Reread that story again and note the next words, "As they came down from the mountam ..." Jesus is forever calling us to new places, new opportunities and new beginnings. As congregations we ought to be constant in our listening.
3) Even though the passing of the old and the coming of the new are present experiences, the scriptures also point to a future in which God will finally be victorious and all things will be made new. All about us there is evidence of Paul's understanding of this matter in Romans 8:19-25.
Conclusion: Encourage the hearer to always be flexible, open, anticipating, eager for the giving of new opportunities and new beginnings from the hand of God.
OUTLINE II
An Old Sermon with Current Meaning
Mark 1:14-20
Introduction: Some discussion as to what the gospel must have been when Jesus uttered these words or when Mark wrote them can furnish a helpful review for the congregation. Take time to discuss the circumstances of the writing of this gospel. Note that the sense of urgency is very real to a people who are living in days of chaos and who probably saw the temple destroyed. Surely relief was very near (at hand). The call is twofold.
1) Repent. Surely this message rang as strangely against Jewish ears when Jesus said it as when John said it. Repent? Us? Jews? After all we are the chosen children of Abraham. Nicodemus understood Jesus' word about being born again. He just couldn't imagine that it applied to him. Apply the word to all who hear. Discuss its meaning. Make certain that the hearer understands that it not only applies to a change of heart but a change of life, too. The spirit of Psalm 51:10 applies here.
2) Believe. Recall for the hearer the purpose of Mark's gospel to present Jesus as the bearer of the power and activity of God in their midst. He is the one who is to come. The writer uses an interesting method of bringing the reader to decision-making. Time after time questions are asked: What is this? Who is this? Who do you say that I am? The reader must answer the question for himself. Only when one says "yes" can he gain that insight which confirms the answer.
Conclusion: Make the call of Jesus contemporary. Make it clear that much to the surprise of many of us -- like Nicodemus -- the call to repent and believe is still relevant to respectable , church-going persons like ourselves who are also a part of long religious traditions.
OUTLINE III
No Fish Story
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Introduction: Deal with the tendency of many to interpret the Jonah story as a miracle story having to do with a big fish and a balky prophet. Place the poem in the context of the failures of Israel in the years before the exile and during the exile the purpose of which was to reconstitute and redirect Israel to be the instrument of God for the saving of the nations. (See Genesis 12:1-4).
1) Point out that most of us are not greatly worried about the salvation of our enemies. Jonah (Israel) wasn't well disposed to the capital of Assyria which had been the instrument of distraction of the northern kingdom. We laugh at Jonah -- and Israel -- but how much better disposed are we to those we used to call Japs, Krauts, etc. and against who still harbor resentments?
2) Point out that many of us prefer a God of judgment, especially if he will judge those we don't like. Jonah's hatred for Nineveh has its modern counterpart in our attitudes toward Moscow or Havana or Teheran. Like Jonah, what we want to do is to send bombs and blast them off the face of the earth. Of course, in all this we see ourselves as carrying out God's will.
3) But God will let us off. We are called to speak for him. He'd rather not judge. "How can I give you up?" See Hosea 11:8, 9. He would rather call his people to repentance, hear their word of confession and repent of his intent to judge. The good news is for all that he is truly a God who forgives, repents, reclaims and restores.
Conclusion: Declare that we are meant to view others as God views them. We are to want what he wants for them. And we are chosen to go to them, not with threats and accusations but with a word of assurance about one who loves them.
