The Venerable Richard I. Cluett
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1Cor. 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
January 29, 2006
What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? … Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
What a powerful way to begin a ministry. What a powerful way to let the world know, and let all the powers of the world know that things are different now. There is a new order, a new way of life, a new power for good, coming into the world. Unclean spirits beware!
And the world’s never been the same since. Or has it? Does your experience, does your observation, tell you that the power of God has completed the establishment of this new rule, this new order, this kingdom, Has the power of God completely overcome the evil powers, the unclean spirits of this world? What’s the phrase? “In your dreams!”
This divine new order inaugurated in the life and ministry of Jesus and demonstrated that day in Capernaum, that small town by the Sea of Galilee, is exemplified by, is characterized by, is defined by spiritual transformation, a liberation that touches every dimension of human existence. Healing, empowering, exorcising, befriending; bringing those the world considers the least, the last and the lost, bringing the oppressed, the disenfranchised, and the outcasts back into the light and the life and community for which God created them. Using the power of God's love to heal and reconcile, save and forgive, restore and renew.
The people in Capernaum didn’t know that as part of their daily world, and people today don’t experience it either as part of our daily world. No wonder they were amazed. No wonder we are amazed when we catch of glimpse of it here and there in our lives or in the news.
Do you know the phrase? “Leading lives of quiet desperation.” No one here today should be fooled by the relative comfort and ease of lives that look economically secure, but may be emotionally fragile or relationally fractured. Living on the edge used to be a phrase applied to those on the edge of society. Now it includes those who live on the edge of bankruptcy, on the edge of stability, on the edge of sanity, on the edge of isolation.
Dreams, values, structures, systems don't seem to be handling it anymore. There's a sense of being out of control – spending, emotions, lives, the world. People are nervous about their lives, their futures, the very world itself.
In our own society, it is clear that we live in a culture that seeks fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning in pursuit, acquisition and consumption. The values reflected in our society are foreign to what Jesus brought as Kingdom values. More and more the media both defines and reflects the culture. Music, novels, film, TV and newspapers deal primarily with cultural trinity of power, money and sex.
We live in an age that aspires to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. People seek fulfillment in the allures, the attractions, the powerful seductions, the comfort and the ease, and the glitz of this present world - what the novelist Susan Howatch has termed the "glittering images, glamorous powers and ultimate prizes" offered by this present age. Doomed attempts to brighten dark lives.
We used to have a bumper sticker in the Lehigh Valley. I've Got Mine! It was given out by a bank to people who could afford a certain denomination of Certificate of Deposit. The corollary is, “I don’t care if you get yours, just don’t get in the way of me getting mine.” There is a confusion of needs and wants that has created a culture that is less interested in making a living than in making a killing.
This is precisely the situation that Paul was addressing with the people in Corinth. It’s not enough that we take care of ourselves. Our faith, our discipleship, God’s presence, God’s kingdom, God’s order is to be lived out in a relationship where we are cognizant of, attentive to, and responsive to the needs and situations of the rest of the people in the community.
It has been said that the most important thing for the Church is not great preaching (this gives me great comfort), or programs or prophecy. Very simply, it is for the members of the church to live together and love one an¬other and offer their love and life for the world … to offer a living, loving community which offers the people of the world an alternative. The kingdom Jesus brought.
The love and care and justice and security we want in the world must first be incarnate here in each one of us and in our community of faith, this parish, just as they were first incar¬nate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Christian community is not built by focusing on community. It is a by-product of people loving people. People who worship together, work together, pray together, study together, share themselves with each other … these people will come to love one another; and the kingdom of God will be present in that place, in this world.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached a sermon at St George’s Cathedral in Capetown, South Africa on Sunday April 24, 1994 the eve of the vote ending apartheid. He said,
“We are all wounded people, traumatized, all of us, by the evil of apartheid. We all need healing and we, the Church of God, must pour balm on the wounds inflicted by this evil system. Let us be channels of love, of peace, of justice, of reconciliation.
“Let us declare that we have been made for togetherness, we have been made for family, that, yes, now we are free, all of us, black and white together, we, the rainbow people of God! And let us make a success of this democracy. And we are! We are going to make it. For we have a tremendous country, with tremendous people. Our God, who makes all things new, will make us a new people, a new united people in a new South Africa."
And the unclean spirits are coming out -- with cries and convulsing but coming out nevertheless. And the people are amazed.
How do we live in the kingdom of God now? How do we faithfully follow the lead and example of Jesus? How do we witness to and exercise the power of the love of Christ today? There's only one way. We love our way into the hearts of others — and, thereby, into the heart of God. And the world will never be the same.
