Let's Head the Other Way

Let’s Head The Other Way

Good News - Part 4

Sunday, January 28, 2024
Mark 1:29-39

Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer.  Simon and those with him tracked him down.  When they found him, they told him, “Everyone’s looking for you!”

He replied, “Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That’s why I’ve come.”  He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and throwing out demons.

Mark 1:35-39 CEB)

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Craig J. Sefa

Let's Go the Other Way

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Have you ever gotten a text asking “Did you get my email?” or a call asking “Did you get my text?” only to find out that the initial message was sent less than an hour ago.  In our fast paced, overly connected culture, there is an unwritten expectation that we are available to everyone immediately at any time.  My personal policy is that I will almost always respond to any message, voice, text or email, within 24-hours, but if I answered everything immediately I would never get any work done.  I have known others, however, who would interrupt meetings, meals, or personal conversations just to answer a spam call about their car’s extended warranty.  The idea of not answering, even if they know it is a robot calling, somehow seems more offensive to them than disrupting whatever they are doing. 

I get it.  We all have different personalities and styles.  There is nothing wrong with people who love being on the phone all the time and there is nothing wrong with those who would never answer a phone if they could get away with it.  But Jesus’ example as he begins to spread the good news goes much deeper than personality, preference, or phone etiquette. 

Jesus had been growing quite popular in his  ministry of healing and casting out demons.  Many more needed his help, and yet, the next day he was nowhere to be found.  Like a pop-up store selling the latest greatest gadget or the best food truck you’ve ever been to, but the next day when you try to bring your friend, the business has moved on. 

How can Jesus get everybody’s hopes up and then just disappear?  Why is he not available to help those who didn’t hear about his miracles in time?  Even when the disciples told him that there were many people waiting for him, he turned and went the other way, to go and spread the good news in other villages. 

It is easy for those of us who have spent much of our lives in church to feel a sense of ownership or priority where Jesus is concerned.  We come week after week expecting to hear good news.  We want to be comforted.  We want to be encouraged.  We want to find healing.  We want to be taken care of.  Inevitably there is someone in every worship service who walks away thinking, “I didn’t get anything out of that message today,” and someone else who felt like God was speaking directly to them in their deepest place of need.

Jesus reminds us that the “Good News” is never just for us.  It’s always for someone else too, and the moment we get jealous of how God’s Kingdom is growing in some other place, or the way Jesus is showing up for someone else, the more aware we should be at just how much we’ve missed the point of what this Good News is really all about.  God’s work is never exclusive to one place or one group of people. 

The good news is always for “them” as well, no matter who the “them” may be.

Come Out

Come Out!

Good News - Part 3

Sunday, January 21, 2024
Mark 1:21-28

The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed,  “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.”

“Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!”  The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out.

 Mark 1:22-26 CEB)

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Craig J. Sefa

Come Out

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When we get too close to Jesus, our inner demons cringe.  They make excuses for us to stay away.  They remind us of our faith and our church involvement.  They tell us that we wrote our prayer needs on cards at church so others will take care of them for us.  They remind us of all the good things we’ve done so we don’t feel too bad when we neglect the good we know we should do.  They remind us of all those church services, Sunday school classes, and Bible Studies we’ve sat in on so that we can take a well earned break from our devotions.  They make us feel good, so that we will never know how sick we really are.

So long as we keep our distance from the Son of God, our inner demons are comfortable and they will do everything they can to keep us comfortable.  So long as we keep our distance from the Holy One, our Un-holiness doesn’t look so bad compared to others.  So long as we keep our distance from the Truth, it’s so easy to believe the Lie.

People experienced healing and wholeness when they came close to Jesus in faith because the demons could not remain in His presence.  When the light is turned on, the darkness disappears.  If the darkness remains, either the light is burned out, or we are not close enough too it.  Since the Light of Christ burns eternally, we must not be close enough if darkness continues to cloud our lives.  Imagine yourself in a pitch black room when a spotlight comes on and shines in your face.  You cringe and shut your eyes in pain.  It would be easier to go back to a dark corner than to look into the light.  But we must keep our eyes on the light no matter how hard.  We must take up our cross, surrender our will, and follow him even unto death.

We say we believe, but what does it mean?  Of course we have faith.  We believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord.  Many of us recite it week after week. 

But I wonder if our inner demons have more faith than we do?

Demons fear God… demons recognize the Son of God… demons obey the authority of the Spirit sent from the Father through the Son.  Do we? 

People stare in amazement as the demons flee at His command.  They experience His healing among them, yet they still question His identity.  Jesus Himself silences demons so they don’t reveal it.  Does Jesus’ teaching, healing power and authority have more impact on the devil Himself than on we who claim to be His disciples? 

What darkness is holding on inside of you, trying to keep a safe distance from the Light of Christ? 

What are the things that control you, that consume your thoughts and life, that Jesus wants to cast out? 

What do you fear losing if you truly surrendered every part of your life to Christ? 

How would your life look different?

Let's Go Fishing

Let’s Go Fishing

Good News - Part 2

Sunday, January 14, 2024
Mark 1:16-20

“Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.”

 Mark 1:17 CEB)

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Craig J. Sefa

Let's Go Fishing

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Whose job is it to make disciples? The prophets? The preachers? The Sunday School Teachers?

We are quick to read between the lines in Mark 1 as Simon, Andrew, James and John leave their nets and follow Jesus like a group of children who have nothing better to do than join in a playground game of follow-the-leader. We struggle to find ways to excuse ourselves from such unreasonable demands. We have jobs and mortgages and kids and aging parents and pets. We have responsibilities that in our minds, are far more crucial than the lowly fishing business these early disciples walked out on. What exactly does it look like to “Come and follow Jesus,” in our day? The story is so brief it hardly does justice to the level of sacrifice these “ordinary fishermen” truly made. If we’re truly honest, most of us tend to think it was a much easier decision for them than for us.

There are much larger implications, however, when we consider the timing of this call. “After John was arrested…” (Mark 1:14, Matthew 4:12).

John was the prophet, the first in nearly 400 years.  No one alive at the time had heard the voice of God so directly and neither had their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” he declared, and then he is arrested.

Jesus picks up right where John leaves off.  But he is more than a prophet.  He is the very presence of God in  flesh and he is not hanging out in the synagogues or even with the prophet’s followers in the wilderness. He is hanging out in the marketplace around the Sea of Galilee. He is eating and drinking and laughing with the tax collectors, the occupying Roman soldiers, the sick and the lame, the women and the children, and yes, even the lowly hard working fishermen.  “I’ll show you how to fish for people,” he says (Mark 1:17).

The nature of following Jesus and “fishing for people” looks different for everyone. Regardless of what shape our call takes or where Jesus leads, the point is that Jesus is leading “us”. Jesus calls you and me, ordinary people, to “fish for people,” to take up the mantle of the prophet and proclaim the Word of God not only in the wilderness, but in the marketplace, at our jobs, in our schools, at the restaurant, in the public square, with our friends and neighbors, in our homes and our families, and yes, even in our churches.

The more we try to plan out exactly how we will follow Jesus, the more we will find Jesus changing our plans. We are not Jesus’ GPS to make sure everything he calls us to do just happens to be on our route. If we stop to think about it too much, we will likely be overcome with anticipation and anxiety about the unknown. We might remember that John was just arrested and wonder if the same might happen to us. Our fear may get the better of us. We will surely come up with a million other things we have to do “first.”

Where our culture says, “trust yourself, trust your instincts, your intelligence, your abilities, your wealth, your plans, etc.” Jesus simply says, “Trust me. Step out of the boat. Drop your nets. Let’s go.” The time is now!

What people is God putting in your path this week with whom you might share the good news?

Good News!

Good News!

Good News - Part 1

Sunday, January 7, 2024
Mark 1:1, 14-15

The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son…

… After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

Mark 1:1, 14-15 (CEB)

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Craig J. Sefa

Good News

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When I was a teenager, I received a small pamphlet called a “gospel track” that laid out what was called “The Gospel.”  In summary, it went something like this:

1.  You are a sinner and separated from God.

2.  If you believe Jesus died for your sins, you can be covered by his blood and forgiven.

3.  Only if you pray this prayer of salvation can you be in heaven with God when you die.

I was told this was the “Gospel” or “Good News”.  Over the years I struggled more and more with how this was “good news” for people born in a context where they had never heard of Jesus, or worse yet, who grew up in settings where Jesus was presented in such horrible and unloving ways that no one would want to “accept him as their Lord and Savior.” 

I also struggled with the fact that the default position is that we are sinners bound for the eternal fires of hell unless we just happen to be fortunate enough for some well meaning evangelical Christian to come along our path and lead us in the seemingly magical words of the “sinners prayer”, which I have found nowhere in Scripture.

What happened to Genesis 1 and 2.  What happened to “And God created humankind in his own image… and it was very good (Genesis 1:27, 31)?

If so few people in the history of creation would actually even hear the words that would supposedly get them into heaven, how was this, as the angels said, “Good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10)?

Mark begins his account of the “Good News” by saying this is the beginning of the good news about Jesus.  Jesus’ first recorded words in this gospel do invite us to repent of our sin and prepare our hearts and lives, but they do not say anything about our eternal destination or offer us a simple prayer to “get saved.” 

One would think if the prayer in those gospel tracks is the only way to avoid eternal damnation, perhaps Jesus might have started with that.  But no, Jesus begins by declaring that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand… It has come near.  The kingdom of God is right here, right now… and later he will teach us to pray for the Kingdom to fully come on earth as it is in heaven.” 

In other words, the Good News isn’t an inheritance check we pick up at the pearly gates after we die.  The Good News, the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Reign of  God… is a present reality.  It is here and now!

What does the Good News of Jesus mean for you today, in this moment, here and now?