Hunting For Jesus

Sermon-Year B-5 Epiphany-Feb.8, 2009

Have you ever come to church, and you look around, and everybody seems to get “it”, but you? You listen to the people singing, you hear people praying, you watch everyone enthusiastically embrace during the peace, and you are thinking deep down inside, “I’m feeling nothing.” You want to. You want to believe, you want to have faith, you want to feel “it”-but you don’t, and you feel like you’re just going through the motions. And you begin to think to yourself, “what’s wrong with me? I used to have faith in God, I used to believe in Jesus, how come I can go through all this and not feel ANYTHING. And then you start wondering, “Did I ever really have it?” Was it always just an act, a pretense? “ And sometimes that will stretc h for weeks or months. And you’re afraid to tell anyone. You’re afraid people, your friends for a long time, will look at you weirdly, or start asking you questions that imply that there is something wrong with you. And so you don’t say anything, to anyone. But it continues to gnaw at you. You don’t feel “it”. You don’t feel God’s presence, you don’t know whether you believe that Jesus is real, you’re not sure what you believe at all, but you don’t feel anything, any nearness, any presence, at all. And you wonder where Jesus is.
Maybe this has never happened to you. But it happens to other people. It happens to most people. And it happened for the first time, in this morning’s gospel. This is the story of the first time people that people wanted to find Jesus-and couldn’t.
Let me set the scene for you a little. You’ve been listening to this story the last few weeks, but because we tell it in a piecemeal fashion, you may not remember some of the details.
4 weeks ago Jesus is baptized by John
2 weeks ago we see Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John bidding them to follow him and become fishers of people.
Last week Jesus has come to the town of Capernaum. It is the Sabbath, and a man who is possessed starts screaming at him in the holy place, the synagogue. And Jesus casts out his demon.
And then today’s gospel. It’s still the same Sabbath. Jesus has left the synagogue and gone to Peter’s home, the one he shares with his extended family.
And all the time that you are listening to this story-you’re supposed to feel one thing-OUT OF BREATH. 11 verses, 15 “ands”. Mark the gospel writer wants you to feel like you are watching an Indiana Jones movie. It is nonstop action. And Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. And Jesus heals her. And they have dinner. And then the Sabbath is over. And then the whole town gathers at the door to the house. And then Jesus heals people. And then Jesus casts out demons.
And you just want to pause. And that’s what Mark wants you to feel. He wants us to get a sense that all this is happening out of control, pall mall, that the message is getting lost, that events are overtaking Jesus, and everything is happening much too quickly. Mark wants us to feel like we’re in a Too Fast and Too Furious movie with healings and exorcisms and crowds and demanding people cramming the doorways and sick people standing up and healed people shouting for joy, and exorcized people leaping in freedom. We’re supposed to get the idea that it is bedlam. And that is what Mark the gospel writer wants us to experience-the chaos, the frenzy, the impact of Jesus, a great healer and miracle worker coming to a small town by the sea of Galilee. Mark wants us to understand this-what if you knew that someone with this kind of power, this kind of authority, this kind of command was going to be near you. Would you try to see them? Would you line up for a ticket, would you sit out all night in your lawn chair and sleeping bag waiting to get a good seat for the performance? Hoping maybe Jesus would fix you or someone you loved?
Rev. Sally, the former assistant here, and I write t o each other often. Last month she told me about a devout Catholic lay person who was in California and had the power to heal people. And she wrote me about him, and what it felt like to be in his presence. And a few days ago she wrote to say that he, Dr. Issam Nemeh , was going to be in Belleville.(last week-Feb.1)
And I thought to myself, “I gotta go see this guy.”-bad knees, bad back, bad stomach, high blood pressure. I gotta go see this guy.
And as I was listening to this gospel I thought about this guy, Issam Nemeh this healer that Sally mentioned, and I thought about Jesus. And I thought about how desperate, how hopeful we feel when we believe power is near, when we think a miracle worker is within reach.
Would you rush out to see someone who could fix you, who could cure you-or someone you loved? Would you crowd the door and hope he would touch you, pray over you, see you? You bet you would.
And that’s what was happening to Jesus. People heard there was a man of power, a man of authority in their town and they were so excited, so hopeful. Jesus must have stayed up all night just touching and healing and exorcising all the desperate, hurting people.
And so when morning came, exhausted, overwhelmed, Jesus goes out to a lonely place, a quiet place. To pray. To be alone. Parents of newborns or small children-you know this feeling. You just want 5 minutes of peace to yourself. And while Jesus is in this quiet, lonely place, his new friends, these fishers of people, find him, and are angry with him.
"Everyone is searching for you."

And in that moment Jesus knew, HE KNEW. As long as he stayed in one place, as long as he remained in one town, as long as he stayed where they wanted him, he would never ever become anything other than a great healer, a miracle worker, an exorcist. But that is not who he was. Maybe you believe in faith healers, maybe you don’t-it doesn’t matter. When you are desperate, frantic, in pain, or worried to death over someone you love, you will go to ANYONE.
And Jesus knew that he would just be another in a long line of people who can heal. But that is not who he was.
He came for something else. And in the next to last verse of today’s gospel you hear this realization, this awareness, this recognition hit him. EVERYONE is searching for you! They tell him. But they weren’t really. They were mad and angry that Jesus wasn’t where they wanted him. In the house, curing people. Healing people. Doing what they NEEDED.-He wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do. And he certainly wasn’t who he was supposed to be. And Jesus knew it. And so he turns to these frantic, these anxious new best friends and he says the words that they could not possibly understand: "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
What did he realize in that moment? What did he learn in his brief time in Capernaum? What was the revelation that came to him? That he was going to be a disappointment for a lot of people. That he was more than a healer. That he was more than an exorcist. That he was not just a guy who cured people-he was something else. People were going to get angry at him and frustrated and disillusioned and disenchanted with him. And as much as people wanted healing and being rid of their demons, Jesus came out to do more than that. He came out to encourage people to change, to repent, and to know that the Kingdom of God had come near them, to lead new lives, to become new people.. He came out to bring us back into closeness and intimacy with God. He came out to help us get over our fears. He came out to show us what real life is like.

Don’t worry if you don’t have “it.” Don’t fret if you don’t feel “it”. Don’t agonize if everyone seems to have faith and trust and belief-and you don’t. Here’s what we learn this morning-Jesus isn’t always where we want him. That’s pretty frustrating. Jesus doesn’t always do what we want him to do-that’s pretty disappointing. Jesus isn’t always who we want him to be-that’s pretty disillusioning. And a lot of times, when we look and look and look and he’s not there, we think to ourselves-maybe he was never there in the first place? Maybe I never knew him, saw him, felt him, experienced him at all? That’s why they were hunting so feverishly for Jesus. That’s why they were hunting. They wanted to put him in the house and heal people. Their house. Their healer. Their exorcist. And that’s not why he came out.
Go out to a lonely place. Wait there. Sit and be quiet. Say your prayers. Don’t expect anything. Be quiet. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid. And don’t wonder if you’ll ever get it back, or why everyone has “it” but you. You’re not alone. You’ve probably just been hunting for Jesus in the wrong place. You’ve probably just been looking for what everyone else “seems” to have. Be patient. One night a long time ago, people went hunting for Jesus, afraid that they had lost him. And that’s when he came out. Not the Jesus that they wanted., where they wanted, doing what they wanted Not the man that they all craved. They were looking for him in the wrong place. It happens. It happened to them-it happens to us. Just wait and be patient. Stop looking so hard in the wrong place. Jesus will come to you because that is what he does. Faith will return. Don’t worry about it. That intimacy with God will come again. Don’t be afraid of losing “it” forever. Some days we just get so weighed down by all our preconceptions so overwhelmed by our needs that we can’t find him.. But “it” will return. Just wait. Be quiet. Go to a lonely place. And pray. Let Jesus be Jesus. “It” will happen.
1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
1:30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
1:31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
1:32 Tha t evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
1:33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.
1:34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
1:35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
1:36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
1:37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
1:38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
1:39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

1:36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
1:37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
1:38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Mark 1:29-39
1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
1:30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
1:31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
1:32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
1:33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.
1:34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
1:35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
1:36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
1:37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
1:38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
1:39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Isaiah 40:21-31
40:21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;
40:23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the ea rth as nothing.
40:24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
40:25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
40:26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
40:29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
40:30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
40:31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.