Commission

Epiphany 5B
2/8/15

1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark1:29-39; Isaiah 40:21-31

Help us, God, to see and to hear and to know and to love you. Be with us today in the reading, the hearing, the preaching and the singing of your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

When I was younger, I wanted to be all kinds of cool things when I grew up.

         I wanted to be an astronaut.

         Or study dinosaurs.

Or be a marine biologist.

I don’t think I ever had the stereotypical dream about being a rock star, but a Broadway star? That would have been pretty awesome.

In high school I had to start getting serious about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

My career path might depend on which language I studied in school, which AP classes I took (or didn’t), which college I attended, and which major I chose to study.

At least, that’s what I was taught.

We put a lot of pressure on teenagers sometimes, don’t we?

So, while I was in high school, I would occasionally sit down and write out a list of all the possible options of things that I thought I might want to be when I grew up. There were a bunch of career possibilities, from the practical to the unlikely.

One of the jobs that tended to show up on that list every time was “pastor.”

I always crossed that one off the list first.

I mean seriously, a pastor? Who in their right mind would want to be a pastor?

Who would want to write a speech every week?

Obviously, at some point along the line, the prodding of the Holy Spirit became stronger than my own protests.

It’s not because I’m a particularly amazing human being that God called me to be a pastor. It’s not because I can do a better job than anyone else, or because I am good at teaching, or because I’m so much more caring than your average person, or because I’m such a great public speaker.

Most of those things are probably not true about me.

The reason that God called me to be a pastor, I think, is the same as the reason that Paul shares for his ministry in today’s reading from Corinthians.

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! (1 Cor 9:16)

For those of us who know the Gospel of Christ, our job is to proclaim it to others.

The proper response to hearing the Gospel is to share it with the world.

In fact, I think Paul would even go further.

If you have heard the Gospel, but aren’t sharing it with other people, then you haven’t really heard it or understood it yet.

The only way to truly hear the Good News is to hear it in such a way that actions follow the hearing.

OK, this is important.

Hearing the Gospel requires proclaiming it to other people.

And that’s not the case just for pastors.

For me, when I was trying to figure out what to be when I grew up, the Spirit led me to see that the best way for me to share the Good News was to do so as a pastor. I am blessed to be able to share the Gospel as part of my profession.

But that is no cause for boasting, as Paul reminds us.

It is something that I do simply for the sake of the Gospel.

And it’s something that all followers of Jesus are asked to do – not for our own advancement or personal gain, but for the sake of the Gospel.

So whether you’re a teacher or a janitor or a software engineer or a salesperson… whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or a retiree, a volunteer or an independent consultant – sharing the Gospel is the commission that God gives to all of us.

If we know the Gospel, it’s our job to proclaim the Gospel.

In fact, if we aren’t proclaiming it, we don’t really know it.

Now, don’t get too worried here. It’s not like God wants all of us to get placards and stand on street corners proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

The commission, as Paul calls it, isn’t even to try to convert all the people that we know to Christianity.

The way to truly hear the Gospel is to respond to it, and that response is what St Francis instructed us to do:

         Preach the Gospel at all times.

         If necessary, use words.

We all know that actions speak louder than words. So the way for us to proclaim the Gospel to the world isn’t always to find the best words.

For me, often it is – I’m still not sure why anyone would pick a profession that required them to give a speech every week.

But for most of us, proclaiming the Gospel can be done through our actions. Proclaiming the Gospel, for most of us, looks a lot like the ministry of Jesus.

Jesus didn’t always use words.

If you notice, in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus doesn’t use any words at all.

Someone told Jesus that Simon’s mother-in-law was ill.

And instead of giving a speech about healing or debating whether the same care should be given to all people, and without bringing up the worthiness of Simon’s mother-in-law to be healed or discussing what her quality of life would be – all that Jesus does in response to the news that this woman is ill is to reach out his hand, help her up, and heal her.

Jesus serves Simon’s mother-in-law.

And that’s all it takes for her to get out of her bed to start serving him in return.

         And then word gets out.

People hear about this miracle worker, so they start bringing all kinds of people to Jesus, and he heals them and casts out demons.

Again, Jesus doesn’t use words. He shares the love of God with people through his actions.

Jesus doesn’t get any sleep that night. He proclaims the Gospel, instead.

Jesus spends his time curing everyone in the city, and once he’s finally finished, in the wee hours of the morning, he goes off to a deserted place to pray.

         That must have been quite the adrenaline kick.

Can you imagine what it would be like to spend all night bringing life to other people? Jesus was on a roll!

When he finally took a break, it wasn’t to sleep – the adrenaline must have still been pumping pretty hard –he took a break to pray and to listen for what God would have him do next.

That’s when the disciples interrupted him. Once the disciples find Jesus, they tell him that the people want him to come back to town.

And he says, no. I didn’t come just for this city. Let’s go to all the other cities and towns nearby so that I can proclaim the good news there also.

OK, hang on a second. Proclaim the good news? The only thing that Jesus had been doing in the previous verses was to heal people. He hadn’t been preaching.

But he wants to go spread that same message – the message of healing – to every other place that he can find.

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel by his actions.

Of course, Jesus also proclaimed with his words – he gave sermons and told parables and taught his disciples at other places in the Bible.

But in today’s reading, the way that Jesus proclaims is by healing.

He uses his actions, his God-given gifts, to share the Gospel of Christ with the world.

That’s what God wants us to do as well.

Let me summarize for you.

The Gospel is the good news of Jesus – God created this world and made us in God’s own image. And God loves us so much that when we were messing up our lives and the world that God had created, God sent Jesus, the Son of God, struly divine and truly human – Jesus was sent to earth to give us an example of how to live and to die. And Jesus did die, for our sake. Because of the death of Jesus, we are all able to spend eternity in heaven with God and with all the faithful people throughout history.

This is good news. This is the Gospel.

And if we have truly heard this good news – if we really believe the Gospel – then the only thing that we can do next is to tell others about it, with our words or our actions.

If we know the Gospel, it’s our job to proclaim – which is to say, it’s our job to serve – just like Simon’s mother-in-law and just like Paul.

We may not be able to be all things to all people, like Paul claimed to be, but we can at least use our God-given gifts to share the good news about Jesus with the world. Through our words or our deeds, God will help us to make the Gospel known to others.

May the God who saves us give us the will to share the news of salvation with the world.

Amen.