First Day on the Job

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

February 1, 2015

Year B: The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Psalm 111

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Mark 1:21-28

First Day on the Job

            The first day at a new job is a big deal, isn’t it?

            I remember very clearly my first day of work as a teacher.

            I was 22 and had just been hired a week earlier to teach 8^th Grade at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School in Bayonne. I was completed unprepared – had never taken an Education class in college but I had needed a job, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and thought teaching would keep me busy until I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

            I think I got the job because the nun who was the principal thought I looked presentable and she really needed someone in the classroom right away – school was about to start.

            On that first day I remember being so nervous. What if the kids could tell that I was scared? What if they could smell that I lacked confidence and experience? What if they disrespected me? What if they didn’t like me?

            Even though I was young, I understood that the first day at a new job is important.            

            The first day at work can set the tone for every day that follows.

            Aside from accidentally hitting myself in the head with a window pole before the kids arrived, my first day on the job turned out OK.

            Well, in the gospel lesson I just read, we heard Mark’s account of Jesus’ first day at on the job.

            Jesus has been baptized.

            Jesus has been tested in the wilderness.

            Jesus has begun to gather his disciples.

            And, now Jesus gets to work

            And just what is the work of Jesus?

            We’re told that Jesus “taught them as one having authority, and not as one of the scribes.”

            We’re not told what that means exactly but I think back to Jesus’ baptism that we heard about just a couple of weeks ago.

            Remember, Mark tells us that as Jesus came up out of the River Jordan, out of the water of baptism, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

            And then Jesus heard a voice from heaven say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

            A powerful, powerful experience.

             I imagine that the scribes taught like people who knew a lot about God. They knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards. They could talk about God for a long, long time. Maybe you know the type!

            But, I imagine that Jesus teaches as someone who not only knows a lot about God but as someone who loves God - and knows that he is deeply loved by God.

            How could Jesus not teach with authority?

            I’m sure nobody in the synagogue had ever seen or heard anything – anyone - like him!

            So, part of the work of Jesus is teaching. And, I’m guessing we’re all pretty comfortable with this part of Jesus’ job: Jesus the great teacher.

            But, then Mark continues, telling us that there was a man in the synagogue who had an “unclean spirit.”

            Unlike the people in the synagogue that Sabbath, the unclean spirit recognizes Jesus, saying – “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

            And then, Jesus stuns the crowd by casting out this unclean spirit, this demon.

            Mark doesn’t use the word, but this is the first exorcism performed by Jesus in his gospel.

            Jesus gets to work, teaching with authority and casting out unclean spirits.

            And, Jesus has continued his work in and through the church, the Body of Christ in the world, including right here and now at St. Paul’s.

            We are given the sacred responsibility of teaching, of sharing the Good News of Christ with our sad and suffering world.

            And, we can only do that if we not only know a lot about God but if we experience God’s love, if we feel that we are beloved by God.

            And, we are also given the sacred responsibility of casting out the unclean spirits that poison the beautiful world that God has given us – the unclean spirits that possess us and prevent us from being the people God has always dreamed we would be.

            Out in the world we can see those unclean spirits very clearly, can’t we?

            We see the unclean spirits of hatred and greed and violence. The unclean spirits that drive terrorists to kill children, hostages and cartoonists – the unclean spirits that cause nation to take up arms against nation – the unclean spirits that cause us to treat our planet as an open sewer, sacrificing the future of our children.

            And then there are the unclean spirits in our own lives – the unclean spirits that possess us.

            For each of us they’re a little different.

            For some of us the unclean spirit might be having too high an opinion of ourselves while for others the unclean spirit might be low self-esteem.

            For some of us the unclean spirit might be putting our desires first, no matter the consequences, while for others the unclean spirit might be allowing ourselves to be treated as a doormat.

            For some of us the unclean spirit might be a ready willingness to blame others for our problems while for others the unclean spirit might be a crushing sense of guilt.

            I know the unclean spirits that do their work on me, that possess me.

            And, as a priest, I have the chance to get to know the unclean spirits that possess others.

            And, as I’ve thought about it, I think the biggest, most powerful unclean spirit of our time and place is despair.

            So many of us feel despair about our lives not turning out the way we had hoped – despair that the future is bleak – despair that none of it really matters anyway.

            There’s a lot of despair around. And, I’ll admit that sometimes I despair, too.

            But, then… I come here – here to St. Paul’s, where Jesus continues to do his work in and through us.

            You and I come here to St. Paul’s where people not only know about God but really know God, who have experienced God’s love and who love God.

            We come here where Jesus continues to do his work, casting out the unclean spirits through the words of Scripture, through our prayers and our songs.

            We come here where Jesus continues to do his work, casting out the unclean spirits as we ask and receive God’s forgiveness, as we share the peace with one another, and as we reach out our hands and receive the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and into our hearts.

            Here at St. Paul’s, day after day, week after week, Jesus is still on the job, still continues to work, casting out the unclean spirits of addiction and loneliness, feeding us in mind, body, and spirit.

            In today’s gospel reading, we heard the story of Jesus’ first day at work – his first day teaching with authority and casting out unclean spirits.

            And, today as we look back at 2014 and look ahead to 2015, Jesus continues to work – will continue to work – right here at St. Paul’s Church.

            Thanks be to God.

            Amen.