The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Durrell Watkins at the
Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, February 8, 2009.
When I was young, my great-aunt Gladys had an operation. I don’t think it
was terribly serious, but it was necessary. I remember my great-uncle Arthur
sitting dutifully by her side while she slept after the surgery. At one point
she opened her eyes and said, “Arthur, you’re here. Oh sweetie, you’re
gorgeous.” And with that she drifted off to sleep again. About an hour later,
Aunt Gladys woke up again, and she looked over at Uncle Arthur and she said,
“Oh Arthur, you’re still here with me. You’re so cute.” Uncle Arthur said,
“Cute?!! What happened to gorgeous?” Aunt Gladys answered, “The drugs are
wearing off.”
Well, Aunt Gladys may have experienced the illusion of beauty in my Uncle
Arthur, but we are sometimes prone to experiencing the illusion of
hopelessness. And confronting that illusion is actually what our gospel story
today is about.
Mark’s community feels wounded. They are possessed by depression, fear, and
hopelessness. They are living in tumultuous times and the future is uncertain.
They feel defeated and exhausted and in response Mark writes a gospel… Good
News for people who are in desperate need of just that, Good News.
Mark doesn’t try to get his audience to deny the difficulties in their
lives. The problems are real… not only are they real, they are nefarious,
diabolical, malevolent. That is, at least, how they are experienced. He
validates the pain of his people. He doesn’t trivialize it, nor does he
suggest that simply ignoring it will make it go away. But he does suggest that
there is a way to deal with the demons. There is a way, as he says, to not let
the demons speak. We can let the internalized tormentors know who we really
are…persons of sacred value, people who are resilient, optimistic, people who
live in Resurrection Power. When we know who we really are, the demonic
thought patterns will become weak and silent in the light of our truth.
They’ll know us, and we will be able to forbid them from having the last word
in our lives!
How we respond to the outside troubles will determine what takes residence
within us. If we have allowed the mischievous demons, the attitude of despair
and hopelessness to set up house-keeping in our consciousness, then let’s get
those demonic, troublesome nuisances out. Life is hard enough “out there”
without allowing ourselves to be tormented “in here”.
I’m not talking about normal grief. Loss, injustice, tragedy, bad news… of
course we will feel sad or angry or overwhelmed. But we will have more
strength for those situations if we have not poisoned our souls with the
toxins of habitual pessimism. Sadness is an appropriate response to sad news.
But habitual negativity, complaining, pessimism, fear, regret, self-pity…
these demons wear us down and keep us from living in the joy that the Spirit
of Love seeks to manifest in our lives. The psalmist reminds us, “Weeping may
endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!”
So using story-telling, imagination, and dramatic imagery, Mark shows the
demons cowering in the presence of embodied hope. Devils flee from Love made
manifest. Mark’s Jesus is helping people feel whole again. He is liberating
them from the inside out so that they can have peace and hope regardless of
what may be happening around them.
Mark has Jesus going all around, proclaiming good news and casting out
internalized oppression, or as he put it, “demons”.
Mark seems to show us a three-point plan to establish inward liberation.
There are specific ways we can cast out soul-sickness. Mark has a three-point
plan for de-demonizing our lives.
1. Mark shows us that Liberation begins at home.
Jesus enters the home of Simon and Andrew and they tell Jesus about Simon’s
sick mother-in-law. Jesus takes her by the hand, shows her compassion, and
lifts her up. The fever leaves her and she gets up and serves them.
The poor woman is sick, and is healed only so she can get up and start
waiting on the men-folk? Of course, in a patriarchal culture, that wouldn’t
have struck the male listeners as all the odd. Even many of the women may have
thought, “yeah, that sounds about right.” And, Mark doesn’t even bother to
give the woman a name. An unnamed woman who is healed only to be of service to
men, that can’t be the Good News!
But as an allegory, this story really isn’t about protecting male
privilege; it’s about offering liberation to whoever may need it.
The point is that everyone is troubled by the fever. Maybe it’s contagious.
In any case, people are sad that the poor woman is suffering. But her
suffering can be eased. People may not know how to cure the fever, but they
can reach out to her. They can touch her with compassion. They can lift her
up. And if they will do what they can, the fever, the tormenting condition
might just leave her. Love certainly won’t make her condition worse!
We can touch someone with a kind word, with an act of generosity, with a
smile or warm gesture. We can lift someone up, and that act might help that
person feel better. And we may just find that we feel better, too. We aren’t
helpless. We aren’t hopeless. We can lift each other up, and when we do that,
the devilish fever keeping us down might just flee. That doesn’t mean that
every problem will magically go away; but it does mean that the problem can’t
define us! We can rise up and be of service to our community and give the
problems a run for their money. Even if we can’t change the situation, we can
change how we allow the situation to impact us. Liberation begins at home,
that is, within, with our attitudes.
2. Mark shows the value of worship. Jesus has just left the synagogue…
so he’s energized from worship.
When we gather together, sing together, pray together… when we listen to
the scriptures, share in the sacrament that is open to everyone, worship with
our physical presence, our thoughts, our financial generosity… when we come
together for worship, the Sacred renews us, energizes us and we then have that
blessing to share with the world.
Jesus isn’t alone! Simon, Andrew, James, and John are with him. He’s with
others who have been empowered by the experience of worship. They are all
coming from the synagogue. They can support one another. When one is
discouraged, another can keep the fires of hope burning. When one is
exhausted, another can step up and offer relief. Not only are we energized by
worship, but as we remain in relationship with others who are regularly
energized by worship, we find we can keep the energy longer! We are, as we
say, empowered by spirit, and that will manifest in our lives as spiritual
gifts that we can share. Against the gifts of the spirit, what chance does a
demon, even a metaphorical one, really have?
3. Mark shows us the importance of doing what we can.
We can’t do everything; sometimes, we may not be able to do much at all.
But we can still do something.
“…they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons… And he
cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons…”
Notice the sick and oppressed came to him. Even if they had to have help
getting there; even if they had to have someone bring them. They did what they
could.
Healing is never forced on anyone in the scriptures. We each must take some
responsibility for our own empowerment. If we won’t do our part, then we’ve
limited the possibility for a miracle. We must give what we can, do what we
can, show up when we can, smile when we can, pray when we can, affirm hope
when we can… we must plant the seed. The universal laws will then respond to
our effort. What God does for us, God does through us.
I had a teacher who used to say, “we plant the seed; God grows the tree…
God has the hard part.” And God is willing and able to do the hard part… in
response to our doing our part. When we plant the seed, then the divine laws
are set in motion and will accomplish the hard part. But we must do what we
can in order to active the divine power that is always available to us.
Now when people came to Jesus, he responded with compassion. Andrew, Simon,
James, and John are backing him, offering him moral support. The friends of
the sick people brought the people to Jesus. The sick people themselves agreed
to come; perhaps they persuaded people to take them in the first place. Once
they are there, Jesus responds by offering ministry. No one is working in a
vacuum… everyone is doing something, and when everyone works together in this
way, the dis-eased are comforted, the weak become a little stronger, the
hopeless have their hope renewed, and the psychological demons start to loosen
their grip.
If we have unwittingly given internalized oppression, “the demons” them
shelter in our hearts and minds, we can expel them today. Our liberation
begins by taking control of our own attitudes, by worshiping regularly with
time, talent and treasure, and by remembering we are not powerless. We can do
something, and as we do what we can, God is then able to do what God can… and
this is the good news. Amen.