Necessary Roughness

At Bethel Lutheran in Fort Smith, the pastor presided over Divine Service II, Setting I, with Holy Communion. The notes that follow are again directly from his copy; were his sermons online I would simply link to them. Bible study was on Amos 6-7 from the same bible.org text.

The sermon was on Mark 1:15 and titled “It Takes a Turnaround.”

In what sense can we “turn our life around?” Is that a necessity—now, for you, as you hear the question posed?

The longer I live the less inclined I am to treat that as a rhetorical question. I see too much evidence in daily life that nothing short of a radical turnaround is going to get to the root of problems.

Two examples.

Years ago, she just turned up one Sunday in church, a young woman the pastor had not seen before. After a few weeks, he had the opportunity to speak to her and hear her story. It was a hard one. She had married her husband several years before. They had a young child. The husband had been confirmed at the church years before. He dropped out. Became an attorney. Met and married her. But the marriage was rocky. He had abused her, verbally and physically. He promised to change but didn’t follow through. Drank too much and did drugs as well. The toughest part of her story to take was her quoting his assertions that he was God-fearing, series about the faith, had come in to talk to the pastor on numerous occasions about her—all of which were lies. She had lost all trust in him and was ready to end the marriage. What would it take to change this picture?

Nothing less than a radical turnaround in his life.

Another story. He was in his mid-30’s, a page out of a physical fitness magazine. He, too, came out of nowhere, he simply showed up one Sunday and started attending. Then he came in for a get-acquainted conversation. He didn’t tell his whole story, but enough of it to let the listener know of a dysfunctional childhood and a rocky youth. But somewhere along the line, he has experienced a dramatic turnaround in his life. He takes his time talking about that. You know it’s there because all the signs of an inner change show up in the outward words and actions. He is like a man who has been to hell and back, no longer of a mind to trivialize evil to present himself as a paragon of virtue.

He had his life turned around.

Against this background of the mystery of the stubborn resistance to the truth and amazing response to it, hear the words Jesus spoke: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

Opening words count, especially in the case of Jesus’ opening words of His public ministry. Here, in St. Mark’s Gospel, are the very first words from our Lord’s lips. They set the tone and direction for all the rest of his ministry.

“The time is fulfilled…” He begins.

Do you know that word kairos?

Your salvation doesn’t depend on it, but make room for this very important word from the Greek New Testament. It means time, but not clock time, or summer time, or birthday time. It means time fulfilled. It refers to the purpose for which clock time and the other kinds of time exist. It is opportune time. Example: a courtship means dating over a space of time, and if the romance is really there, it leads up to the great moment at the altar: that’s kairos! Or—a figure skater practices and practices, time after time, but when the contest comes and all the judges raise cards with 9’s on them, it’s time fulfilled. That’s kairos.

You begin to see, now, do you not, what is at hand when the Messiah of God, long promised down through the ages, comes onto the scene in Galilee and proclaim this good news: “the time is fulfilled.”

He is here. Jesus, the promised One, newly baptized by John and affirmed by the father. He is also the temped Jesus, fresh from forty days in the desert against the Enemy at his subtle worst.

In declaring “the time is at hand” Jesus isn’t announcing a cakewalk to the Kingdom, adoring crowds, trumpets blaring, and all that. The kingdom that is coming in Jesus Christ will mean a crown of thorns, a cross as His throne, and only after that fulfillment at the empty tomb on the resurrection morning.

The time is fulfilled. The reign of God is at hand.

Now, says Jesus, repent.

Stay with that word. And read the screen of your mind for the images that are showing up. What do you see, as repentance is applied to you?

The barefoot, bearded prophet with the sign on Rogers Avenue, yelling about repentance to the folks hurrying home from work at 5:05p.m.? The fellow who sits behind the backstop at the World Series, or the goal posts at the Super Bowl, with John 3:16 on a board? Or Jimmy Swaggart, tears and all, dramatizing repentance in a barnburner performance several years ago after being caught with a prostitute? Or the tax collector in Jesus’ parable, head down, only able to murmur: “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner?”

There’s no point in caricaturing these or any other images of repentance. Each one of them may be a kairos moment. It’s not for me to pass judgement.

Varied as the way in which repentance begins, there can be no uncertainty about what follows the opening of the penitent heart.

It’s a godly sorry, truly mindful that your sin, my sin, has driven the nails in His hands, and a turning around of life that moves steadily in the direction of the changed behavior.

It’s the deeds of repentance, or “fruits” as the Bible calls them, that define the real thing. It’s a life turned around, not only the words about turning around, that count.

And that’s why this kairos of repentance and turning around 180 degrees in life is so radical, amazing, and miraculous. It takes nothing less than the power of God that created everything and keeps it all going to produce this. It takes nothing less than the death of resurrection of the Son of God to bring this about. It takes nothing less than the coming of the Holy Spirit, with fire and wind of the Word more powerful even than Pentecost, to sustain it.

We polite, civil tax-paying, church-belonging folks are called to this radical action! Turning life around, again and again, with varying levels of emotional awareness, not always with a vivid personal sense of what we are saying week by week: we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name.

As you know, the liturgy asks us to pause in silent reflection in self-examination before we say these words.

Would you agree that there are times when a half hour would not be enough?

There is good reason why we offer other wordings of the confession of sins throughout the year, simply because we wear meanings thin by frequent usage. Here is another form to follow: Faithful God, we have sinned against You by turning away from Your grace and mercy. We have broken Your commandments, neglected to serve others in Your name, and have sought our own security rather than the well being of all Your creation. Deliver us from our selfish ways, and restore us to the joy of Your salvation.

Lives turned around means saying No to the old sins, and Yes to the new tasks that come in the company of the Spirit and in community with the fellow forgiven.

Take up new tasks. Be open to new challenges, new opportunities. Say Yes to every Sabbath, looking forward to it as an oasis of comfort, strength, and hope through Word and Sacrament. There is a place for you in the life of the congregation. Are you finding it because you are looking for it? And are we sufficiently aware as a congregation of those who are on that search, welcoming them to the family of faith and doing all we can to give a good example of the freedom and joy of Kingdom service?

This is a lifelong process, turning around from sin to grace, and thus we grow to the full stature of Christ as the last. Long ago He came announcing Good News and calling for repentance and faith. That ancient reign is ever new. Believe it from your heart, and live by the power that governs the universe, that can turn a life around…your life, included.