Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The story has been told of a mother who was tired of dealing with her strong-willed 3-year-old son, Thomas. She looked at him in the eye and asked a question she was sure would bring him in line: “Thomas, who is in charge here?” Never missing a beat, her Sunday-School-born-and-raised toddler replied, “Jesus is!” Of course, the mother couldn’t argue with that.

That’s basically the message brought alive this morning through the words of St. Mark [1:21-28]. When Jesus walked the face of this earth, when He walked into the synagogues and opened His mouth, whether it was reading from a scroll that was handed to Him or whether it was healing the sick and the demon-possessed who were brought to Him, people realized that Jesus was in charge. People heard in Jesus’ voice something they didn’t hear in the voices of other teachers they listened to and respected. People saw in Jesus’ actions an immediate reaction they didn’t see in response to the actions of others. Demons were cast out. Health was restored. The dead were raised. The blind saw. The lepers were restored to normal life in society. Jesus had authority. He was in charge. News about Jesus spread far and wide. And that’s just great.

The question before us this morning, though, is what happens in a society like ours where three-year-olds don’t go to Sunday School to learn that Jesus is in charge? What happens in a society like ours when people don’t regularly go to the synagogue or to church? What happens in a society like ours, living some 2,000 years after Jesus, when people don’t actually hear for themselves Jesus speaking? What happens in a society like ours when people don’t actually witness for themselves Jesus driving out demons and healing the sick and raising the dead?

One answer to all those questions is that we get a society very much like our society today. We get a society where Jesus has lost His uniqueness, where Jesus is again just one prophet among many, one teacher among many, where the message about Jesus makes for some great bedtime entertainment, but doesn’t daily impact life. When the authority of Jesus has been lost – or at least when it isn’t recognized for Jesus cannot lose His authority – friendly community basketball and baseball games get scheduled on Sunday mornings and no one complains. When the authority of Jesus has been lost, children’s birthday parties get scheduled on Sunday mornings. When the authority of Jesus has been lost, Sunday mornings become the only day of the week when sleeping in is possible. When the authority of Jesus has been lost, an afternoon Super Bowl trumps morning worship.

A second answer to all those questions is provided us in tandem this morning by Moses in our First Reading [Deuteronomy 18:15-20] and by St. Paul [1 Corinthians 8:1-13] in our Second Reading. That second answer is an answer that doesn’t make us very comfortable. We would rather – and we, in fact, do – allow society to simply go the way that it wants to go instead of ourselves becoming the modern embodiment of Jesus Himself in our society, to our family members and to our friends. Both Moses and St. Paul – one living before Jesus Christ and one living after Jesus Christ – knew that the Lord God would rely upon ordinary human people, people like you and like me who have come to see and recognize and marvel at the authority of Jesus Christ, to become Jesus to those around us.

“There is a balm in Gilead.” As much as this world and this society have changed and grown away from Jesus Christ, one thing hasn’t changed and that is Jesus Himself. Jesus’ love for all people has not changed. Jesus’ desire to meet people in their time of need, to become their “balm” has not changed. Jesus’ ability to heal the sick and even to raise the dead has not changed. The only thing that has changed is people’s reception of and belief in all that.

There continues to be “a balm in Gilead” and today that “balm” carries names like Barbara and Brian, like Carol and Chad, like Shirley and Scott.

When people in our modern society hit a rough spot in the road of life, they often don’t pick up the phone and call the pastor. I often hear about those rough spots second-hand. When people in our modern society get a pink slip attached to their paycheck or get a note handwritten by their doctor on some lab reports that says “Please make an appointment,” they often don’t come to church. When people in our modern society encounter problems in life, they often turn to family and friends long before they turn to the church or to the pastor, long before they turn to the authority of Jesus. When people in our modern society encounter problems in life, they turn to you, to “prophets” like them among them.

That’s exactly what Moses predicted. While He was certainly pointing forward to the greatest Prophet Himself, He also knew that before the coming of the Christ and after the coming of the Christ, God would need “mouths” to speak His Word. Moses knew that God would need flesh and blood to inhabit.

The importance of being God’s prophets, God’s ambassadors, is emphasized by St. Paul. Paul knew what Christian freedom was. Being a Roman citizen, he knew the freedoms he enjoyed. Yet all that, he was willing to voluntarily sacrifice for the sake of others, because he knew that people were watching him. He knew that he was “God” to some people, that they would turn to him and that he couldn’t blow it, even for one second.

But we do all blow it, don’t we?

Aren’t there those times we’ve not been ready to be God’s balm in the lives of others? Are there those times we’ve not known what to say? Aren’t there those times where people have turned to us and only later we realize that we’ve probably failed them because we’ve not spoken to them the Word of God like they probably were looking for when they turned to us? Aren’t there those times when we have exercised our Christian freedom without concern about how that might affect others?

I am going to guess we can all answer “Yes” to all those questions. I am also going to guess that we all need to hear that for each and every one of us there continues to be “A Balm in Gilead.” For those of us who have come to recognize and accept the authority of Jesus Christ, to recognize and accept His uniqueness as the Savior of the world, hear this “balm:”

“My son, your sins are forgiven you. My daughter, your sins are forgiven you. Go, now, in My peace and become My prophet, My hands, My feet, My voice and my love to those around you.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena