Lent 1

March 3, 2015 in Sermon by Scott Landrum

Mark 1:9-15
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news,” Jesus said. “Stop what you are doing,” is what Jesus is saying. Stop every thought, every action, every belief, every hope that we may have for gaining entrance into the kingdom of God by something that we do or refrain from doing. Why? Because whatever it is that we pin our hope on that centers on us is inadequate, it doesn’t work. Hence Jesus’ use of the word repent. His use of that word is not a command to clean up our act for that would just send us on a course of repenting as best we understand it and before you know it we would trust our repenting as our salvation. Instead, Jesus’ use of repent is an indictment on what we’ve been doing. It’s his way of stopping us and taking everything away from us. Thus, it is a hard word. Perhaps you already feel the pinch. “Well what’s the point? Why be good? Why even try if it doesn’t even matter? How is this relevant to my life? How is this helping me be a better person, better parent, a better spouse or student or citizen” go the protest in our brain as Jesus renders us passive rather than active. Surely there must be something we can do. Surely there must be some requirement. Those protests are the voice of the evil one talking, cleverly disguised as our own inner voice but make no mistake, it is not the voice of Christ. That’s how subtle the evil one’s temptation comes at us.
That is what Jesus discovered during those forty days in the wilderness and nothing has changed. The evil one’s goal is to always put us in the driver’s seat and put Christ on the sideline but Jesus doesn’t let that happen. Instead he comes telling us to stop and listen to him. He sidelines us. Since we have been sidelined, rendered passive, made and object rather than an acting subject, killed to use the Apostle Paul’s words, what does it mean that the kingdom of God has come near? It means that Christ suffered for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God,” is how Peter said it. Note the sole actor in Peter’s words. Jesus Christ alone is the righteous one, who was killed for the sins of the unrighteous. Jesus Christ descended into the pit and there he preached to the souls in captivity since the days of Noah. Make no mistake whose kingdom we are talking about, it is God’s not ours. Jesus Christ alone took our sin; that is the good news to be believed. How are we to believe this? Isn’t believing a condition, something required, something to do?
Yes, it would be except we are dead and dead people do nothing.
So you see God isn’t requiring that dry bones like us do something like believe. Instead, he acts in a way that cannot be denied making it impossible not to believe. We cannot deny that Jesus died for the unrighteous. It happened. Ancient history though isn’t it? Where does the kingdom of God move from history and come near for us? Right there at the font. There in that water God acted in an undeniable way. “Baptism saves you,” is what Peter said. Contrary to what so many teach and preach; baptism does save, not because the water has some magical power, but because the promise of the gospel is preached into the water. It is God’s word combined with water that gives the Holy Spirit who in turn gives faith in the promise of unconditional forgiveness for Christ sake. So you see we believe not in order to enter the kingdom of God but instead we believe because in our baptism we cannot deny God met us there in the font with the words of the Gospel. It happened and nothing can change it.
Lest you have doubts about your forgiveness there at the font here comes that word of promise again. By the authority of the one who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him I forgive the entirety of all your sin. Lest you have doubts in the words of a sinful preacher, gather around the altar and feast on the body and blood of Jesus given and shed for your forgiveness. In the water and words and bread and wine Jesus has promised to save you. Because you are wet and fed and listening never can it be denied that the gospel was spoken to you. Indeed, the kingdom of God has come near; believe in the good news for you. It’s undeniable. Amen