The Power to Do What Needs Doing
Psalm 147: 1 – 11, 20c; Mark 1: 29 – 39
Jesus was just beginning his ministry. He had
been baptized by John in the River Jordan, and had received the gift of
the Spirit, hearing God name him as God’s “beloved Son.” Jesus
took a long time in the wilderness to determine just what that meant,
struggling with all the false temptations and possible
misunderstandings of that divine affirmation.
Steeped in the traditions of his people, Jesus knew
the scriptures intimately, including the Psalms. The words we
read from Psalm 147 may have been ones that Jesus pondered as he sought
to understand what God required of him. In that Psalm he would
have found indications of how God acts: God gathers the outcasts,
heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. God lifts up
the downtrodden and casts the wicked to the ground. As God’s
beloved son, Jesus will act in these ways too. When the time came
to announce his ministry, to share with others his intent and focus,
Luke’s gospel tells us Jesus chose to read from Isaiah these
words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord.”
That’s quite a job description for one person to fulfill.
From the beginning, the characteristics of Jesus’
message were clear. He called others to join him in his ministry,
he taught about God’s kingdom with authority, and he healed those who
were sick and tormented. To find the courage, strength and
clarity necessary for his ministry, to find the power to do what needed
doing, he maintained a daily connection with God through prayer.
“And in the morning, a great while before daybreak, he rose and went
out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.”
Jesus’ ongoing prayer life enabled him to understand
more and more of what God’s claim upon him meant—and how he was to
carry out God’s call. In our reading from Mark this morning, we
can see that Jesus’ decisions were guided by his times of prayer.
Though the people’s needs were not fully met in the neighborhood where
Simon, Andrew, James and John lived, after his time of prayer Jesus
said it was time to move on, time to do what needed doing, and preach
the good news throughout Galilee.
One of the workshops I attended while at the Earl
Lectures was one about prophetic boldness. It was led by Diana
Gibson and Sydney Brown, who is the widow of Robert McAfee Brown.
Bob Brown was a towering figure at PSR when I attended there, well
known for his willingness to lead in areas of social concern and
ethics. I think what made Bob so important to us all was that his
“prophetic boldness” came humbly and almost reluctantly—he didn’t seek
out the public role that he eventually held. He simply knew that
his faith in Christ required him to be willing to speak rather than
keep silent when the great issues of life were being addressed—war,
poverty, oppression.
It was quite clear to all of us students that his
activism arose from his deep faith in God. He wrote once that
“being ever on the front line of social issues, requires simultaneously
keeping [ourselves] well grounded in the mysteries of the faith [we]
all share.”
One of my favorite quotes from Bob’s writings is at
the top of your bulletin. In it Bob reminds us that we are
invited to work with each other and with God, and trust that God will
do more with our efforts than we can imagine. God is the source
of our insight, the source of our courage, the source of the power to
do what needs doing. Bob regarded courage as “the most important
Christian word for our times, more important even than faith or hope or
love, since it includes them all.”
Many passages in the Bible remind us that courage
and the capacity to take action for God’s kingdom comes to us solely
when we have a close relationship with God. “Very truly,” Jesus
says, “I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he
sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does
likewise” (John 5:19). Jesus accessed divine power, the power to do
what needed doing, through prayer intimacy with God. Jesus
radically alters the lives of the disciples, the crowds, the
demon-possessed, Peter’s mother-in-law and the leprous man ... and
Jesus prays. The connection between these two activities is
critical—the first becomes possible only because of the second.
Power happens when prayer happens. The example
of Jesus at prayer is nestled in this passage for a clear reason. We
can, like Jesus, take courage in the struggle for justice and peace, we
can engage in ministry, we can find the power to do what needs doing,
when we build a life around prayer.
As we prepare to receive communion this morning, I
invite you to take time right now to pray—truly pray—for God’s
guidance. Open your hearts and minds to listen for God’s still,
small voice that offers hope, strength, courage and direction. I
am sure that those who hear and respond to God’s Spirit will be
empowered for ministry as Jesus was, for we are all God’s children and
God has lots of work for us to do. Amen.
5 Real Road (corner of Stockdale & Real)
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Phone: 661-327-1609
FAX: 661-327-4443
Sunday Services & Church School: 10 AM
(Services last about an hour, dress is casual)
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