Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
- Amos 7:7-15
- Psalm 85
- Ephesians 1:1-14 (15-23)
- Mark 6:7-13
“Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants.”
Do we believe that God hears us? We should. We have evidence that God does hear us and does answer us. We may not receive what we think is the right answer nor in a time that we think is most convenient. However, God answers us from the depth of his love and his knowing what we really need to be whole and safe in his presence.
Today we will look briefly at the ancient prayer we prayed from the Psalms and the answer to the prayer found in the good news of Jesus Messiah. Then we’ll discuss our part in delivering God’s answer to our neighbors’ spoken and unspoken prayers.
We’ll start with Psalm 85. Commentators are uncertain when this psalm was written. The way the psalm starts makes me place it sometime after the exile.
Lord, you have been gracious to your land;
you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.
The Israelite first praying these words has perhaps returned to the Land of Israel after leaving Babylon. He speaks of the nation having been forgiven, of their sins being covered. God has turned from his indignation or his offense. A more literal translation would be, God, “you have turned from your hot nose.” Does your nose get hot when you’re angry? May we could say, God, “you have turned from your flaring nostrils.” This more colorful language helps us picture, not an impersonal wrathful God, but God as the the wounded husband of Hosea or an offended and hurt father. That offense that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians has passed. The exile is over.
But the psalmist continues, “Restore us then, O God our Savior, and let your anger cease from us.” The captivity is over but something is not right. Israelites are back in the Land, but the restoration is incomplete. One theory is that there was a drought in the land and that Psalm 85 is a prayer for rain. The psalmist is hopeful that “Indeed, the Lord shall show goodness, and our land shall give its increase.” He hopes that God will show mercy and send rain so that the crops will grow.
While this prayer may have been for rain, the greater prayer – whether they saw it or not – is for God to complete their restoration. They are no longer in Babylon, but they are still nowhere near the heydays of Solomon and David nor approaching the bliss of fellowshipping with the Creator in the garden as before the fall.
Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
I will hearken to what the Lord God will say,
for he shall speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, that they turn not again.
The psalmist says he will listen, hearken to, even obey the word of the Lord. The word is sh’ma, the same word from the greatest commandment, “Hear O Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is one. You shall love him.” Sh’ma. Hear. Listen. Obey.
What is the psalmist hearkening to? To God’s message of shalom, of peace. Shalom is more than serenity or calm. Shalom speaks to total well-being. In Psalm 85, shalom speaks to the restoration of fellowship with God as well as the life-giving agricultural prosperity that comes with rain in its proper seasons.[1] The psalmist is praying for a restoration of relationship with God and provision from God. He says he’s ready to listen to the message of peace.
Surely, the Lord heard the psalmist’s prayer. The psalmist shows he reverences the Lord and surely God sent life-saving rain in the psalmist’s time. God is faithful. But what about the greater prayer asking for complete restoration? Nearly 500 years later, at the opening of the New Testament narrative, the Israelites were still in the Land but heaven had not met earth as in the Garden. They were not even ruled by a Davidic king but by the sword of Rome.
God is faithful. He just doesn’t work on our limited timeline. He sees all humanity from first to last, while we only see our personal scope of seventy to a hundred years. Here we are 2,500 years after Psalm 85 was likely first prayed. Has God answered the prayer yet? Yes, he is still answering it. Like a lot of the promises of the Bible, the answer is in process. The answer starts to be seen by the creation 2,000 years ago, and God is still unfolding the restoration of Israel and of creation. Even all this time later, you and I have a part to play. First, let’s move on to the Gospel of Mark.
In Mark, we hear a human voice speaking: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” No, I’m not talking about the wildman by the Jordan River. I’m talking about the general contractor named Jesús from Nazareth.
Seriously, Jesus appears in Mark 1 and says: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Or said another way, “It is time. God’s reign of fellowship and provision is beginning. Repent and believe the word of shalom.”
Repent. This is the word that drew me to consider the Gospel passage. In Mark 6, which we read and will get to soon, we see the disciples going out and proclaiming that people should repent. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell this story of Jesus sending out the disciples for the first time. Only Mark, though, tells us explicitly that they called people to repent.
“Repent” it turns out is an inadequate English word in the biblical context. Oxford defines the verb “repent” as to “feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing or sin;” to “view or think of (an action or omission) with deep regret or remorse;” to “feel regret or penitence.” That doesn’t capture the sense of the Hebraic idea of repentance of which Jesus would have been reminding his countrymen. Biblical repentance is not only remorse but it is changing how you think about what you were doing before. Repentance is changing course by 180 degrees and turning to face God instead of giving him your back.
I have a colleague who owns several biblical costumes and does dramatic presentations of Bible personalities. No costume gets him in trouble like his John the Baptizer outfit. I suppose it’s less the outfit and more the dramatic presentation that catches people off-guard. The most memorable story is when he burst into a room full of bishops shouting, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!” They were surprised and shocked and somebody called security. Every story I’ve heard of my colleague wearing his camel hair coat ends with a version of “and somebody called security.”
The point is that when we hear the words, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand,” we hear in our heads a wildman shouting from a riverbank. Rather than remembering John the Baptizer, we must hear Jesus speaking this word of shalom. How do we know the call to repent is a word of peace? Because of the actions that accompany his sermon.
Jesus’ message of repentance is not one of fire and brimstone. Jesus called his countrymen, calls us, to repentance by showing us all mercy. The Gospels tell the stories of Jesus’ acts of mercy, how he healed the sick and liberated those oppressed by demonic forces. Where John the Baptizer connected repentance to judgment, Jesus connects repentance to life.
When Jesus calls us to change our minds about our sin and calls us to return to God’s care, he demonstrates God’s care. He heals us. He comforts us. He resists the enemy and causes Satan to flee.
Back in Mark, the disciples are basically spectators to Jesus’ miracles for five chapters. They are following him and watching and marveling and processing. Now we get to Mark 6:7:
Jesus summoned the Twelve and started sending them out in pairs, giving them authority over the unclean spirits.
All of sudden, Jesus calls the disciples and says, “Boys, I’m sending you out. Travel light. Trust God to provide. If they don’t like what you’re preaching, keep moving.”
So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
The disciples go out and preach repentance. But they don’t do it like John the Baptizer. John was expecting the wrath of God to be poured out on the unrepentant in his lifetime. This is why he has friction with his cousin Jesus.
Jesus’ disciples had many months to observe how Jesus ministers. Their classrooms were the villages and fields of Galilee. Now, the lab portion had begun. They will do what they saw their rabbi do: call their countrymen to repentance through acts of mercy. The disciples are now proclaiming the word of shalom that answers the prayer of Psalm 85. They are speaking peace to their countrymen, to God’s saints, so they will turn back to God and not turn away again.
Friends, Jesús the Contractor is calling us to repentance. Jesus of Nazareth is speaking God’s word of peace to us. Jesus the Messiah of Israel is God come down to call us back to himself, not with threats but with healing, restoration, salvation. Salvation, like shalom, is another word that has much more packed into it. Salvation is more than a one-time rescue from calamity or from God’s impending wrath. Salvation is healing, restoration, freedom, forgiveness, belonging. Salvation is an ongoing loving relationship with the Creator.
Jesus is also calling us to be his disciples, his students. The call to be a disciple is an invitation for us to not only serve Jesus but to imitate him. It is in imitating him that we will know true human flourishing, joy, and satisfaction of life.[2]
After we accept his call to imitate him, he also sends us out into our boroughs, towns, and cities to preach repentance. The message is “Repent because God loves you.” We must also act out God’s word of shalom. How? By visiting the sick and offering prayer. By sitting with the lonely and broken-hearted. By feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, clothing the naked. By ministering to the imprisoned. By confronting evil, demonic forces, some of which today are called anti-Semitism, racism, human trafficking, domestic violence, and greed.
One word of caution. This calling is not safe or easy. The story of the disciples’ first mission is told within the context of John the Baptizer’s arrest and beheading. Confronting evil is dangerous, as Jesus knows first hand. God’s word of shalom, the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand threatens the would-be gods of this world. They would crucify us all. Still, Jesus beckons us, “Come imitate me and find eternal life.”
With the psalmist, let us answer:
I will hearken to what the Lord God says
for he speaks peace to his people and to his saints,
so that we do not stray again.
For his salvation is near to those who revere him
that glory may dwell in our land.
Amen.
[1] Mark D. Futato, “The Book of Psalms,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 277.
[2] Parts of this sermon were inspired by David Pileggi, “Hit the road and travel light,” 4 July 2021, Christ Church Jerusalem, https://soundcloud.com/christchurchjerusalem/hit-the-road-and-travel-light.