The Love of God Shows Through

The Love of God Shows Through

Matthew 2:1-12, Mark 1:4-11 

Today we have a double share of worship blessings. The gospel of Matthew is from the Epiphany, which was yesterday, and the Mark gospel is from today, the Sunday that celebrates the Baptism of Christ. 

I think the use of Matthew’s Epiphany story of the three wise men along with the Baptism of Christ from Mark’s gospel make a nice way to compare and contrast the two gospels, and make clear the handoff from Matthew, last year’s lectionary evangelist, to Mark, the voice of this year. 

I make this statement because the two gospel writers use entirely different stories to make the point that Jesus is here for all of humanity. The foreign visitors, Matthew’s wise men, are the first gentiles to recognize the infant as the Christ, the Jewish Messiah. Matthew, the most Jewish of the gospel writers, sees the love of God for the whole world show through, at the very beginning of Jesus’ life. 

The gospel of Mark has no stories of the birth of Christ or the childhood of Jesus. For Mark, Jesus - the man of action - appears in the Jordan River, receiving the Baptism and blessing of John the Baptist. He is a grown man, stepping into his role in public ministry, tying his approach and ministry to the message of the “the voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.’” The introduction of Jesus, away from his home in Nazareth, sets the stage for Jesus, the man of action, on his way towards the conclusion of the story. Mark presents Jesus on a journey, making the love of God for all of the world show through, while moving toward a final conflict in Jerusalem. 

I agree with a significant number of scholars who believe that the gospel of Mark was the first gospel to be written. Matthew and Luke were written later, at the same time as each other, following Mark’s outline. They added Jesus sayings that were circulating at the time, and then each added their own original material. 

Both Matthew and Luke add their own versions of the story of the birth of Jesus to Mark’s outline. They interweave their birth narratives with the story of John the Baptist. The baptizer set the stage for the ministry of Jesus that follows. The significance of the birth narrative depends on the ministry of Jesus for context and meaning. By itself, the birth of a baby is touching, but not enough to change how the world knows God. 

Matthew uses the story of the wise men to say that from the very beginning, we recognize that the Messiah, is not the exclusive savior of Judaism or even Christianity. The love of God is for the world, recognized and nourished in the community of faith. That is a challenge for us, to let the love of God show through, even to those who do not accept Jesus.  

Mark is written in staccato bursts, Jesus did such and such, and then immediately went off to do something else. I have suggested before that it is a useful exercise to read the entire gospel of Mark in a single sitting. It takes about an hour. It will give you an entirely different feel for the flow of the story, and I think you will see why I always introduce Jesus from the gospel of Mark as “The Man of Action.”    

In this year with Mark leading the way, we will see how easy it is to make the transition from telling the story of Jesus, to letting the love of God show through by imitating the actions of Jesus. It is easy because Mark spends precious little time teaching and philosophizing. For Mark, the love of God is active, feeding, healing, and giving hope. 

So the church New Year began with Advent in December, but as our cultural year begins in January, we take up the work of God’s love in earnest now. We make our New Year’s resolutions to be active (with Mark’s encouragement), we promise to be hopeful (as we pray for the Search Committee), we practice our loving in the church (by Working Together with intentional respect), so that we can let the love of God show through. 

We move quickly from the birth narrative to visits from foreign dignitaries, who initiate the threat of Herod, and the baptism that initiates the public life of Jesus the Christ. Our Jesus calls us out of our private, personal worship of God, into the messy and active world. We are compelled to be visible and engaged. We are prodded by the gospel lessons to stick out and claim the faith that makes us unique and lovable. 

I know you are worried about the health of the congregation. I realize that practical people have an eye on the budget and bank accounts. That work is necessary and important. But let us remind each other, our first job is to love the world like Jesus loved the world. Jesus felt the need to express that love in practical and positive ways. 

The best way we can assure the future of the congregation is to let the love of God show through, in all of the ways we do church. When our priority is making the love of God show through, there is nothing to fear, and everything to gain. 

The love of God shows through in community when we learn and practice the hard work of listening. We listen to each other, for both the thoughts and the emotions that are being expressed. We encourage those who have dreams, to share those vision. We intentionally select those activities that permit us to strengthen each other, and represent a welcome to the wider community. 

At Christmas we decided that Jesus the Christ came to make the love of God incarnate, the love of God has a body. In the days after Christmas, we embrace our role as the church, the body of Christ. We embrace the recognition of God’s love among the participants in the church, even as we look to show and showcase a welcoming love in the wider community, as the body of Christ, the church of action. Amen.