Casting Out Demons

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Year B)

Mark 1.21-28

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 22:45)

 

As we’ve journeyed thus far through Epiphanytide, we have witnessed—and will continue to witness—the progression of and the variety of ways in which, Jesus has been revealed to us as the Son of God. That is what the feast of the Epiphany and the season that follows is about. Witnessing the ways in which Jesus is revealed to be the Son of God and, in turn, exploring what that means for us in our lives of faith. Exploring how God and Christ are manifest, are shown forth, in our lives as those who are the Body of Christ in the world.

 

Thus far, we have witnessed Jesus’ baptism, where God explicitly states and confirms who Jesus is: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mk 1.11). Opening the way for exploration of how we, through our own baptisms, are similarly brought into the family of God as his beloved children. We have then seen over the last two weeks how Jesus called his disciples to follow him in preparation for his public ministry. In so doing, exploring how we, too, are called by Jesus to follow him in our own unique ministries. Today we witness the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry—his first public act of ministry. Setting the tone for the shape and trajectory of Jesus’ life and ministry over the next three years. In the process, beginning to get an idea of the shape of our own ministries, as the Church and as individuals. And it all begins with demons.

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Responding to God’s Call Part 2: Discernment

Third Sunday after the Epiphany (Year B)

Jonah 3.1-5, 10; Mark 1.14-20

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 19:05)

 

As I noted in my sermon last week, the key Scripture readings for both last Sunday and today focus on how God and Christ reveal themselves to us through “call narratives.” Stories that focus on someone being invited or called into God’s service. In actuality, when you go back to the Sunday before last, to the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, the Gospel for that Sunday is also essentially a call narrative. Although, rather than focus on our response to call, it is really the story of Jesus’ de facto call to public ministry—the event that began his public ministry. So, we really have the first three Sundays in the season after Epiphany in which the focus is on call to ministry. Sending a pretty clear message that one of the key ways that God is manifest in Christ, that God is manifest in our own lives, is through being called into his service.

 

As you may recall, our readings for last Sunday contained essential three call narratives. The call of Samuel in our Old Testament reading and the calls of Philip and Nathanael in our Gospel reading. From these, we were able to glean some key characteristics of how God calls and how we respond. In terms of how God calls, we saw that God is, if anything, persistent; as he was with Samuel and Nathanael. We also saw that the way we are called into God’s service is as unique as we are. God meets us where we are in our own lives. He came to Samuel in the middle of the night in the tabernacle. Jesus ran into Philip on the road. God worked through Philip to invite Nathanael. And then we saw that there are differences in how individuals respond. Some are able to respond immediately, as did Samuel and Philip. And some need a little time or information, as did Nathanael.

 

This week in our Old Testament and Gospel readings we have more call narratives. While it may be harder to pin down a central theme for these narratives, one that could be made has more to do with the inner machinations that occur within the individual from the time they receive a call from God to the time they respond—be that responding “yes” or “no.” What we today refer to as the discernment process—exploring all the facets of the call as related to our own lives, and only then making an informed decision as to how to respond. But to get there, we need to dig a little more into the stories, as the discernment is not readily apparent on first reading. And as with last week, the two call narratives—the call of Jonah in our Old Testament reading and the call of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John in our Gospel reading—really couldn’t be more opposite.

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Responding to God's Call

Second Sunday after the Epiphany (Year B)

1 Samuel 3.1-10; John 1.43-51

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

 

A week ago yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. The word “epiphany” means manifestation or appearance. At the Feast of the Epiphany, we celebrate the manifestation of God in the person of Jesus, and therefore, his appearance to us, in three ways. First is through the recognition of the Christ Child by the Magi, which also represents Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles. Second is the revealing of Jesus as God's beloved Son at his baptism in the River Jordan. And third is the first of Jesus’ signs (or miracles) at the wedding feast at Cana. For good measure, and because it is of particular importance, we also celebrate the second of these, the baptism of Jesus, on the Sunday after the Epiphany, which was last Sunday. But we don’t stop there. Through the remainder of the season after the Epiphany, what we refer to as Epiphanytide, we explore other ways in which God is revealed through Jesus. Ways in which Jesus is revealed to us in more subtle and more personal ways.

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Origin Stories

First Sunday after the Epiphany – Baptism of Our Lord (Year B)

Genesis 1.1-5; Mark 1.4-11

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 19:35)

 

All of the Gospels begin with an origin story about Jesus. Three of the four place this origin story more in the context of Jesus’ birth. The most famous of these, of course, is the Gospel according to Luke, which contains the birth narrative that we hear on Christmas Eve. The Gospel according to Matthew starts off with the story of the birth of Jesus, although does not convey the actual event of the birth, but rather on the lead up to it, and then, perhaps more importantly, what immediately follows. Particularly with the coming of the Wise Men from the east—an important image for Epiphany, which we celebrated yesterday; an image that sends the message that Jesus was born to save all people, not just the Jews. And the Gospel according to John, which we heard on Christmas Day and again last Sunday places the coming of Jesus in the broader, more cosmic context as being the Word made flesh; as God come among us in the flesh.

 

But what does the Gospel according to Mark have to offer by way of an origin story about Jesus? The oldest of the Gospels completely skips Jesus’ birth or the events that immediately surround it. Rather, Mark’s Gospel begins with John the Baptist and how he is the fulfillment of ancient prophecies of one who prepares the way of the Lord. The first we even hear of Jesus is with him as an adult, coming to be baptized by John. The passage we heard today. So, for all intents and purposes, this is Mark’s version of Jesus’ origin story. The story of his baptism.

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