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Mark 1:14-20

The Good News of God

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Mark 1:14-20

The Good News of God

By The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel

GLORY TO THE FATHER AND TO THE SON AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW AND WILL BE FOREVER, AMEN.

The first Protestant missionaries were Moravians who went to Greenland in 1733 to work among the Eskimo people there. The Moravians thought they should first instruct the people in the doctrines of natural religion—the story of creation and so forth.

The Moravians went seventeen years before they had a single convert. But one day Kajarnak, who was a very wicked man, entered the missionary’s hut and by accident heard him read the story of the last week of Christ’s life. Somehow this wicked Greenlander got a glimpse of the fact that Jesus suffered and died for sinners and that through Him, a sinner might be saved. “How was that?” Kajarnak asked. “Tell me again, for I, too, wish to be saved.” The missionary was astonished. It was not long before Kajarnak, his wife and children were baptized. They became the first fruits of Greenland and they taught all the missionaries to follow that the first things they should preach is Christ crucified and risen.

NOW JESUS CAME TO GALILEE, PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD. Jesus went preaching the Gospel. So Mark begins his story of Jesus’ ministry—Jesus went preaching the Gospel—good news—to tax collectors and prostitutes, lepers and the blind, people who were insignificant like fishermen mending their nets, people just like us. The Gospel of God is simply this: In Jesus Christ, sinners are forgiven, wicked people are made holy, blind people can see, lame people can walk, rejected people find acceptance, and insignificant people are proclaimed of great worth. Along with Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of God, we find a startling response: When the Gospel was heard, people repented of their sins and immediately followed Christ. What was true of Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John, Kajarnak and his family, is true for you and me. We hear the Good News of Jesus, we believe it is for us personally; we repent and we follow.

Ever since that day so long ago when Jesus passed by on the Sea of Galilee, encountering Simon and his brother casting a net into the sea and Jesus called them to follow, people have heard the Gospel and been willing to follow Jesus. Some have proclaimed the good news with resonant, eloquent voices. We think of Billy Graham, for instance, and his years of preaching faithfully and forcefully the good news about Jesus. One of you just sent me a story about Dr Graham and I’d like to share it with you.

In January 2000, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, invited Billy Graham to a luncheon in his honor. Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because of his struggle with Parkinson’s disease. But the Charlotte leaders said, “We don’t expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.” So he agreed.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd and said, “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist, who has just been honored by Timemagazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his other pocket. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat by him. He couldn’t find it. The conductor said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.”

Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.”
Einstein looked at him and said, “Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”

Having said that Billy Graham continued, “See the suit I’m wearing? It’s a brand new suit. My wife, my children and my grandchildren are telling me I’ve gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. You know what the occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to immediately remember the suit I’m wearing. I want you to remember this: I know not only who I am… I also know where I’m going.

“I may forget who I am, but God is the Great I AM and God will get me where I once knew I was going.”

This is a wonderful message from a man who has done so much over half a century to bring the Good News of God to this world. He has been the minister to presidents from Dwight Eisenhower down to the present George Bush who credits Billy Graham for turning his life around. There have been many great preachers through the years—perhaps the greatest of all time was St. John Chrysostom who preached eloquently in Constantinople around the year 400. Chrysostom –his name means simply, “golden voice.” Charles Spurgeon, Dwight L Moody, Friedrich Schleiermacher in Berlin of whom it was said, that when he quit preaching, no one went to church anymore—and they haven’t, in Berlin, for about 150 years.

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But there is more to preaching than eloquence—in fact some of the most powerful messages have been simple and direct. Jesus preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” That is simple and direct and it changed the lives of Simon and Andrew and James and John and millions down through the ages.

And don’t imagine that preachers don’t need to hear that same preaching. Gardner Taylor speaks truly when he says, “The magnificent anomaly of preaching is to be found in the fact that the person who preaches is in need himself or herself of the message which the preacher believes he or she is ordained to utter.” And Helmust Thielicke, “The office of the preacher does not stand over against the congregation, but is established in its midst.”

Pastors and preachers offer God’s Word through their messages but also need to hear that same word they speak to others. We are all the same no matter the education or ability, the experience or enthusiasm, we remain sinners who need to repent and hear the Good News of acceptance and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. We need to hear over and over again about God’s love for us in Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. We need to be reminded that we are called to repent and believe and follow.

As I was reading today’s Gospel, I was struck by how busy the disciples were. They were fishing people who had to make a living by their work. They were not Scribes and Pharisees who had the luxury to debate the finer theological points or the independence of means to take some time off to go with this new rabbi of Nazareth who was preaching and teaching. They were mending their nets when Jesus came to them preaching the Gospel.

AND JESUS SAID TO THEM, ‘FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISH FOR PEOPLE.’ And what happened? The text says that immediately they left their nets and followed him. The same with James and John– immediately they left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus. The word “immediately” is used in both cases. What is striking is not only how busy these men were but that they immediately dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus.

This is convicting to me. It seems that for most of us, everything takes priority over our Christian response—work, weather, health, vacations, family, friends, a good TV program—just about anything and everything before coming to worship or Bible study, truly repenting, believing, following Jesus.

In Jesus Christ, we have God’s good news for us. It is a Gospel preached so that we might have life and eternal life. The good news is proclaimed so that we might know the Lord and know who we are and where we are going.

I found a clipping this week about the late Paul Tsongas who was senator and presidential candidate. He wrote regarding his diagnosis of incurable cancer:

“I was no longer the senator from Massachusetts. I was a frightened human being who loved his wife and children and desperately wanted to live…In my desolation I had to reach deep into my beliefs. Those beliefs had never been sorely needed before—not like this. Now it would be different. God would be more part of my life, no matter what happened. This was not a born-again experience. Not at all. Just a realization that while I had taken myself this far in life and done quite well, from here on I needed to recognize who was guiding me. I had to be more aware that one does not go through life without God’s presence.”

Hear the Good News of God. Repent, believe and follow Jesus. Amen.

Copyright 2006, James D. Kegel. Used by permission.