The Bad News is Not the Only News

Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
February 1, 2009

Year B: The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
(1 Corinthians 8:1-13)
Mark 1:21-28

The Bad News is Not the Only News

I’m sure many of you know that the writer John Updike died this week. Over his long career Updike produced a tremendous amount of all kinds of writing, and although it might not have always been obvious, religious faith, or the loss of faith, was one of his main themes.

This week I was rereading some of his work and I was struck by something he once said in a speech. He noted that unlike people without faith we Christians can face the hard truths of life head on. We can face the sadness, fear and disappointments of life. We don’t have to sugarcoat the painful parts of life. Updike said that for us Christians, “The bad news can be told full out, for it is not the only news.”

“The bad news can be told full out, for it is not the only news.”

Now, the Gospel of Mark is all about the good news - the Good News of Jesus Christ, and in today’s lesson Mark presents us with quite a scene, doesn’t he? I’m guessing what we just heard was not a typical Sabbath service at the synagogue in Capernaum! In this account Mark the Evangelist, typically, gets right to the point. On the Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples show up at the synagogue in the seaside town of Capernaum and the people are “astounded by his teaching, for he taught them as one with authority.”

Mark doesn’t actually tell us the content of Jesus’ teaching – just that the assembly was very impressed.

Then Jesus is challenged by the man with the “unclean spirit” and the people are amazed when the “unclean spirit” obeys and departs this poor, unnamed man.

The people cry out, “What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!”

If you come back next week you’ll hear that in fact Jesus is just getting started on this Sabbath day. Later in the day Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law and as the word spreads about his power Mark tells us that the whole town of Capernaum will gather around him.

So here’s Jesus is displaying all this power - and we’re still in only the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel.

You may remember just a couple of weeks ago we heard the very beginning of Mark’s gospel – the baptism of Jesus. Next Jesus faced forty days of temptation in the wilderness. And finally, last week, Jesus began to gather his disciples – calling Simon and Andrew and James and John. In Mark’s telling, Jesus simply says to these fishermen, “Follow me,” and they drop everything, changing the course of their lives forever.
In these quick, economical verses Mark tells us nothing about Jesus’ background or the content of Jesus’ teaching.

In these quick, economical verses Mark is making one big point: Jesus is powerful.

Mark doesn’t present a meek and mild Jesus. Mark presents Jesus receiving his power at his baptism in the River Jordan. Mark presents Jesus as a powerful person who withstood forty days of temptation in the wilderness. Mark presents Jesus as a powerful person who calls on others to change their lives – and they really do change their lives. Mark presents Jesus as a powerful person who teaches like no one else has ever taught before and who is able to defeat the evil forces of this world.

Mark is clear: Jesus is powerful.

In our Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy, we heard Moses predict that God would raise up a prophet like him and the people should listen to him.

Mark understands that, in Jesus, God has done that and much more. Jesus is more than a prophet. Jesus is what Mark here calls the “Holy One of God” – a special title, used only three times in the whole New Testament.

Jesus is powerful.

Jesus is powerful because his will, his whole life, is perfectly aligned with God the Father. Jesus does the will of God the Father and so he resists forty days of temptation. Jesus does the will of God the Father and so people stop what they are doing and change the course of their lives. Jesus does the will of God the Father and so he teaches with an authority unlike any known before and is able to drive away the unclean spirits.
Jesus is powerful because his life is perfectly aligned with God the Father.

And since we are the Body of Christ in the world, then if our lives are aligned with God’s will, then we are powerful, too.

But, I wonder how many of us actually believe that? How many of us believe that if our lives are aligned with God’s will then we will have great power?

Last week, Lauren and I were at the institution of the new rector at Christ Church in Short Hills. The bishop preached an excellent sermon in which he reminded us of the term “functional atheism.” Anyone heard of this before?

“Functional atheism” was coined by the Quaker author and educator Parker Palmer. A “functional atheist” is someone who says they believe in God but lives like God doesn’t exist.
Sometimes “functional atheism” can play itself out as thinking that we can do everything on our own – that we don’t need or want God’s help.

“Functional atheism” can also play itself out as coming to church, saying all the “right” words, but living as if God has no power at all, as if God does not exist. “Functional atheism” can mean that we live as if we – the Body of Christ in the world – have no power at all. “Functional atheism” can mean that in our hearts we believe there is no good news at all.

In his sermon, the bishop said he was preaching as much to himself as he was to us – and, to be honest, the same is true for me.

Many of us – including me - are concerned about the economy. But in my particular case, “functional atheism” plays out in my anxiety about the Church. I’m not anxious at all about Grace Church – which in a lot of ways is an oasis – but I do worry about our diocese and the larger church, as attendance declines and finances are depleted.

And this “functional atheist” wonders, what’s my future in the church? How many churches will be able to afford a full-time priest? How will I earn a living?

I bet although the details of your functional atheism are different, the essence remains the same – the denial that God has any real power – the belief that it’s either all up to us or the belief that we’re helpless in the face of far greater powers.

But, as Christians we should know better. Just as Jesus faced the man possessed by the unclean spirit you and I can face the unclean spirits of our time and place, the unclean spirits of fear, anxiety, greed and selfishness.

Jesus, whose will was aligned with the Father’s will, was able to cast out unclean spirits. And if our wills are aligned with God’s will then we too can cast out the “unclean spirits” of our own time and place.

And we don’t have to look very far to see the casting out of unclean spirits all around us – when our wills are aligned with God’s will.

We saw it a few weeks ago when over a thousand people came out for the bone marrow donor drive for Kelli Wynne. Wasn’t that a powerful example of casting out the unclean spirits of fear and anxiety?

I saw it last week when a parishioner called and said he sits on the board of a foundation that will match our “Souper Bowl” donation if we reach $1000. And, by the way, I have every confidence that we will exceed $1000. Aren’t these powerful examples of casting out the unclean spirits of greed and selfishness?

As Christians we can face the unclean spirits of our time and place and not give in to despair. As Updike says of us Christians, “The bad news can be told full out, for it is not the only news.”

The bad news is not the only news - the good news is the power of Jesus and the good news is the power that we have together when our wills are aligned with God’s will.

Long ago Jesus had quite a day in the synagogue in Capernaum. Because his will was perfectly aligned with the will of God the Father, Jesus was capable of teaching with great authority and casting out unclean spirits.

If our will is aligned with God’s will, then we – the Body of Christ – on earth are also capable of great power. We too can cast aside our functional atheism and cast out the unclean spirits of our time and place.

All of this is possible because we know the bad news is not the only news.

Amen.