In Jesus Holy Name January 21, 2018
Text: Mark 1:14 Epiphany III Redeemer
Recalculating Jesus?
Who is Jesus? That is the question that must be answered if you have heard his name. Who is Jesus? That was the question in the first century when he lived. It is still valid today.
Generations ago, most people inherited rather than chose their religious faith. The great majority of people belonged to one of the historic mainline Protestant denominations or Roman Catholic Church. Today many people are opting for a non-religious life, a non-institutional, but personally constructing and creating their own form of spirituality. So our culture is growing both more religious and less religious at the same time. It is a paradox.
This question: Who is Jesus? This is the question that the ordinary man on the street, including the disciples had to answer. The religious Jewish scholars had to answer this question. That is why in the Gospels we read about the Sadducees and Pharisees always watching and listening and questioning Jesus.
What do you do when the Word of God you encounter at church on Sunday morning is not comforting but confusing and even downright confrontational?
The lectionary text from the Gospel of Mark states that the first words of Jesus was “Repent”. That may not make us feel comfortable. No one wants to go to church and hear hard truth from the pulpit, and repentance is the ultimate hard truth. To repent means that I must admit that I have done something bad. And I need to stop.
Even a casual reader of the Bible soon discovers that repentance is a major biblical topic. All the prophets mention it in one way or another. Isaiah called Israel to repent, as did Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Hosea and Micah and Malachi. A survey of the New Testament shows that the words “repent” and “repentance” are used in various forms 55 times. John the Baptist cried out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). The entire message of Jesus is summed up in these words: “Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).
If you want to go to heaven, you must repent of your sins. This is not only God’s desire; it is also God’s command. As all good soldiers know, when a command is given, you don’t discuss it or debate it. You have but one choice—to obey. If you don’t, you are guilty of insubordination.
No one likes to be commanded to do anything. But here is a command from Almighty God that applies to every man, woman, boy and girl born on this planet. God says you must repent. No excuses will be accepted. If you do not obey God’s command, you will someday face a divine court-martial.
Repent means to stop going in one direction and turn around and go back. Stop walking away from God and turn back to God because Jesus has good news.
I love my GPS. Have you ever watched the little Google car traveling you neighbor hood recording streets, dead end streets, addresses. I have yet to decide if I want my “google” GPS voice to have a British accent or American accent from the south. Have you ever wondered by the voice is a woman’s voice and not a man’s voice?
But I can guarantee that if I make a wrong turn I hear the word…. “recalculating”
Sometimes the soft female voice will say..…. “turn around”. Repent means to stop walking away from God and turn back to God because He is patient and desires that all people come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness and eternal life.
Then Jesus follows immediately with “believe the good news!”
What is the good news? The good news deals with the human problem. When I have broken a commandment of God…. I feel guilty. If I don’t believe in God but have my own rules for living….what happens when I have broken my own rules….Is there forgiveness? How can I make amends? What good deeds can I do? Will the good deeds be enough to erase my failures?
In a Charlie Brown cartoon, little brother Linus, looking very forlorn, asks big sister Lucy, “Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?” Lucy, looking very self-righteous, replies, “I just think I have a knack for seeing other people’s faults.” Linus turns indignant. “What about your own faults?” he asks. “I have a knack for overlooking them,” says Lucy.
It is true that some people think they are Lucy. They overlook their faults. Most of us know that does not work. Broken values. Broken ethical values. Broken commandments can be buried for a time but they will always come back like Acid Reflex after a big meal…..it always leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
God can not over look our faults, our failure to keep His commandments. That is why Jesus said “repent” but then offers “good news”.
So if you are evaluating whether or not you want to believe in Jesus as your Savior, yes, review the “evidence” as noted in “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel.
Review the eye witness accounts. Look at the archeological evidence.
The first thing we need to know when reading the Gospel of Mark is to understand why Jesus begins with the word “Repent”. There are six major issues in the Jewish religious world in the first century.
1. How are sins forgiven?
2. Acceptance or non-acceptance of people who have dubious jobs, dubious behaviors, certain diseases having various requirements, or people who are non-Jewish.
3. Food regulations preparing food on the Sabbath, etc.
4. Table fellowship (Luke 19:7 – Zacchaeus) (Acts 10 where Peter states: “It is against our law for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile.” We had laws like that here too… drinking fountains for whites only etc.
5. Pious practices: prayer, fasting, Sabbath rules (we have them here too… blue laws, stores closed on Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Good Friday. Even my father and other mid-west farmers struggled with whether or not it was permissible to work on Sunday.
6. Table fellowship with outcasts…. Rules for people with specific diseases like leprosy.
Let’s deal with the first one. How are sins forgiven? Who can forgive? Do we need forgiveness?
Recently the Templeton Foundation, which has campaigned for an increase in what it calls "forgiveness research," funded a major nationwide study on people's attitudes toward forgiveness. Co-sponsored by the University of Michigan and the National Institute for Mental Health, the study found that 75% of Americans are "very confident" that they have been forgiven by God for their past offenses. The lead researcher, Dr. Loren Toussaint, expressed great surprise at such high confidence, especially since many of these same people are not regular church attenders. Still, three-quarters of the people surveyed had few doubts about God’s tendency is to let bygones be bygones.
Since the fall into sin, God has been listening as individuals tried to justify their sins, explain their transgressions, make excuses for their disobedience. You need read no further than the first few chapters of Genesis to see this is so. When the Lord caught the first sinners, Adam and Eve, in their transgression, they didn't say, "Oops! You got us there Lord. Yes, we sinned." That would have been too easy.
Adam, the first person God spoke to about disobedience said, "Maybe I did, but I only did so on the advice from my wife... who, by the way is the woman that You gave me Lord." You see, in Adam's eyes, he might have been kind of guilty... but the real culprits were Eve and the Lord, Himself. When God approached Eve, she had an excuse too. She said, "It's true, Lord. I did sin... but I only did so after receiving some expert advice from... from... that talking snake."
You see how it goes. Adam and Eve had children. Cain and Abel were the first. As you know, boys will be boys and it didn't take too long before Cain, in a fit of blind jealousy and rage, killed his brother and disposed of the corpse. When God came to visit with the two brothers, one was uncharacteristically absent. Although the omniscient Lord was fully aware of what had happened, He still asked, "Hey, Cain, have you seen your brother around here anywhere?"
Cain pretended to be shocked by the question. Drawing himself up in a pose of righteous indignation and acting as if he had been insulted, Cain replied, "Brother? Brother? Oh, you mean my little brother Abel? You don't really think I'm his babysitter, do You? Lord, being big brother doesn't make me my brother's keeper, does it?" (From sermon by Rev. Ken Klaas)
Yes, they were all guilty of sin, but almost all felt they had a reason, a perfectly good reason for their dark misdeeds. These, our human brothers and sisters, felt their actions could easily be understood if God would take the time to hear their reasons. With that kind of thinking as motivation, the multitudes who should have repented of their sin preferred to explain the extenuating circumstances, the reasons, the supposedly good reasons which had compelled them to break the commandments of God.
Which is probably why, when it came time for God to send His Son to offer His life as the ransom price to free us from our sins, He also sent a forerunner, a messenger, a man to prepare the way. Jesus begins with the same Message as John the Baptist, “repent”.
Repentance is the doorway to heaven and there is no other entrance.
But there is more to repentance than the initial act of coming to Christ for salvation. Repentance is to be part of our daily walk with God. It is foundational to a growing Christian life. When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517, he began with this crucial statement: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” In a sense the entire Protestant Reformation hangs on those simple words. If you are a Christian, repentance ought to be part of your daily life.
When Paul said that by the Spirit we should “put to death the deeds of the flesh” (Romans 8:13), he was talking about repentance.
When he said, “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31), he was talking about repentance.
When Peter said to his readers, “Rid yourselves of all malice and deceit” (1 Peter 2:1), he was talking about repentance.
When James said, “Wash your hands, you sinners” (James 4:8), he was talking about repentance.
When John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), he was talking about repentance. The words are different but the meaning is the same.
Who is Jesus? This is how the great Indian teacher Gandhi answered this question: “I could accept Jesus as a martyr, and embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher. His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept.” There are still many people who see Jesus in the same way.
A. Jesus calls a few men to be disciples…they too will have to answer the question… Who is Jesus. After watching Jesus perform miracles… they find themselves in a little storm. (Matthew 8:23-27) which we talked about two Sunday’s ago.
B. Now the BIG Question: “Who can forgive sins?” We tune to Mark chapter 2:1-11 (read)
For over 1000 years where and how are sins forgiven? Exodus; Leviticus 17:11; the tabernacle; the temple in Jerusalem, “for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”. So… Pharisees are correct in their criticism. Who are you Jesus? You have no right!!!!!!
What was the result? “The Pharisees went out and plot to kill Jesus!
The Pharisees seek to “discredit Jesus before the people” Mark 3:20-29
He is not the Messiah… he is tricking you… he is casting out demons by the power of Satan, not God.
The earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus was surrounded by constant controversy. The scribes and Pharisees could not deny what Jesus is doing; too many people have experienced it, too many people have been helped. So their strategy is to turn the people against Jesus by saying that He is ministering by the power of an evil spirit.
But it’s not just a smear campaign that the Teachers of the Law are engaging in; they actually believe it. They are convinced that Jesus is in league with the devil because they can’t see how it lines up with how God has worked in Israel in the past and how they understood the Law.
Mark has given us the answer to the question: “Who is Jesus”? Will you, will others who hear His name accept his death on the cross as the “mode of forgiveness” for sin, and His resurrection as the guarantee of one’s eternal destiny? Only you can answer that question.
May God grant us the ability to “keep in step with His Spirit” as we seek to know His word and imitate Him.
