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St Matthews Anglican Parish Cheltenham

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost 20 June 2021

Texts:

Mark 4.35-41

2 Corinthians 6.1-13

May I speak in the name of the Holy & Blessed Trinity, One God in three persons.

In 2006, I enjoyed the great privilege of studying the Gospel of Mark with the internationally renowned New Testament scholar, the Jesuit, Brendan Byrne. He was a wonderful teacher, showing us the great skill with which the Gospel was crafted. He made it my favourite then and it still is now.

Brendan Byrne himself remains a significant influence for me. He has written, amongst many other things, commentaries on all four Gospels, and it is always him I turn to first for an insightful overview of the passage on which I am to preach.

Mark’s Gospel is now believed to be the first to have been written. It was the author of Mark who formed this new literary genre, the Gospel, and it is a superbly crafted piece of writing.

The question that the disciples ask at the end of the reading set for today, who then is this (4.41) is the central question of the first half of this Gospel.

Jesus’ identity is clear to the angels and the demons, even from Mark’s first chapter.

Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, following his baptism, a voice came from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased (paraphrase of 1.10-11).

And a few verses later, when Jesus has returned from his time in the wilderness, a man with an unclean spirit approaches him saying, What have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are, the Holy One of God (paraphrase of 1.24).

But for those who live in the earthly realm, for the pharisees, the crowds and the disciples, who then is this, is the question on their lips.

The question is finally answered by Peter at exactly the midpoint of the Gospel, chapter 8, verse 29. Jesus asks his disciples who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah”.

Jesus’ response to this recognition of who he is, is to begin to teach them what it means for him to be the Messiah. It doesn’t go well. A few verses after identifying Jesus as Messiah, Peter is rebuking him for saying that he will suffer and die.

The second half of Mark’s Gospel is preoccupied with the attempt to communicate God’s redemption that only comes through suffering. For Mark, the cross and the glory are inseparable. It’s not just that the way to glory is through the cross, but that God’s glory is revealed in the cross.

***

Recently, Victoria was hit by a violent storm that has left many people still without power as a result of the damage done. It was, perhaps, similar to the ferocious storm in which Jesus and the disciples find themselves in the reading we have just heard. Certainly, the disciples, seasoned fishermen, used to rough weather, are terrified.

But this storm has another element to it. This storm is the embodiment of the chaotic, destructive forces of everything that is opposed to the kingdom of God. When Jesus wakes and stills it, the words he uses are the same as those he uses to exorcise evil spirits. His control over the wind and the sea reveals the answer to the question that the disciples ask, who then is this?

Mark writes his Gospel around the time of the Roman destruction of the Temple. This event must have seemed like a world ending storm, pitted against God’s good creation with incomprehensible power. And in that context, Mark writes of Jesus, the human revelation of God’s power, speaking to the powers of hell and making them stop. What a message of hope, for then and for now!

The answer to the question, who then is this, mattered to the early churches and it matters today. If Jesus is just a good man, or a wise teacher, he might inspire us, but if he is the revelation of God, what does that mean for our lives? In particular, what does it mean that he suffered and died?

One of the things I love most about Mark’s Gospel is that it does not answer that question directly. In fact, it leaves the answer up to us.

When you get home today, I encourage you to get out your Bible and have a look at the end of Mark’s Gospel. You will find that in verses 7 and 8 of chapter 16, a young man, dressed in white, speaking to the women at the tomb says;

          But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to        Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went     out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized       them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

That is where Mark’s Gospel originally ended. No post-resurrection encounters with the risen Jesus, no spreading of the Gospel, just a group of silent, frightened women with an incomprehensible story.

You will also find that someone, probably one of Walt Disney’s predecessors, has added two alternative, happy endings to the Gospel, one shorter and one longer. But this is not how Mark left his story. He left it up in the air, with the question, who then is this, demanding an answer from us.

***

As we have been reading through Mark’s Gospel on the Sundays since Trinity, we have also been reading through Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In it, Paul is writing with great love and great frustration to the church he has founded in Corinth. He is, with great passion, giving the Corinthians his answer to the question, who then is this?

Paul and his companions are standing up against the forces that oppose the kingdom of heaven, and as a result, they are suffering. Despite this, Paul encourages the Corinthians to actively live the message they have received, telling them, do not receive the grace of God in vain (6.1).

God’s grace is given to us through God’s self-revelation in Jesus. It is given to us in order that we may work to make God’s kingdom come, to stand against the forces that seek to destroy life and to proclaim God’s message of hope.

And, as you will remember from Mark’s parable of the sower last week, it is God’s grace that brings about the growth of the kingdom. Yes, we are called to join in God’s work, seeking justice, offering forgiveness, enabling life to flourish, but it is not our efforts that will make God’s kingdom come.

In fact, in order to participate in God’s work, we may need to learn to see our lives in a different way; as dying, and see – we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything (2 Cor 6.9-10).

Who then is this?  

Perhaps, with Peter, we can answer, you are the Messiah. Perhaps, like Peter, although we can say those words, we don’t really know what they mean.

I hope that, with Paul, we can say that, we are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way as we work for God’s kingdom, even when we need great endurance to overcome great hardships.

But probably the most important thing is not what we say, but what Jesus says to us, and the conversation that takes place in our lives as we go on wrestling with the questions, and opening wide our hearts.

The Lord be with you.