Mark 1:29-39 is the lectionary text for February 7.
After healing and casting out demons, restoring people to community and to well-being, Jesus prayed and when His disciples came to get Him, Jesus said, "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."
Jesus did not just tell Good News. Jesus acted on it.
Just as Agape Love is not a feeling, but committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy and especially the most vulnerable among us, so Jesus acted to restore Shalom to the lives of many.
First of all, it occurs to me that we can say anything as people who claim to be followers of Jesus. We can claim deep faith in Jesus, claim devotion, praise, prayer and even claim to have spiritual gifts. We might even speak in tongues or prophesy. But what are we doing? Are we living the Agape Love that Jesus commanded in active commitment on behalf of others? Are we working to restore the Shalom (completeness, wholeness, well-being) of those whose lives are broken, oppressed, exploited, trampled?
Jesus referred to His healing and casting out demons as "proclaiming the message," and said that it was what he came TO DO.
If the church that bears the name of Jesus would be the church, we would not stop at the proclamation of Good News, but would practice what we proclaim, acting on the Good News to BE expressions of Good News, to BE Good News to those in the world around us!
What are the physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual needs of those around us in the world? We can claim anything, but as followers of Jesus, to proclaim Good News apparently means to spread Good News and create a Good News world around us! It means to ACT on behalf of others in establishing or restoring Shalom in their lives. It means to BE Jesus' hands and feet (and not just mouths) in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.
Jesus' healing, restorative ACTION was His proclamation. In order to be followers of Jesus, must that not also be ours?
Let's go out and proclaim THAT message - THAT Good News!
Pastor Jamie
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