Sermon
Mark 1:29-39
Found in the Midst of Crisis
Many of us can remember being children and having nightmares of being separated from our parents. I can still remember such a nightmare that I had repeatedly. It was so terrifying that even in remembering it after fifty years it seems to be happening again. Somehow my sister and mother and grandmother get separated from me while we are in a theatre watching a show. They leave the theatre and I’m left alone. It is dark, and I can hear them talking. I look out the door and see them on the street. I try to open the door but it is locked. I can hear my mother asking where I am and calling my name. I answer, but she cannot hear me. I wake up in terror.
Can you remember a similar dream? As children most of us have feared being lost.
I can remember one day that Judy and I went shopping with our son, Mike, while he was just a toddler. Perhaps we were sometimes overprotective, but we never let go of his hand or allowed him to be out of our sight in public places. On this day Judy and I both looked at each other and realized that neither of us had him. He had somehow wandered off by himself. We both ran off in opposite directions calling his name and we found him in only a matter of seconds, but during all of his young years nothing came close to bringing that feeling of panic we both felt at that time. It was a nightmare.
Many people get lost in war. With the possibility of a war with Iraq looming ahead of us many of us are concerned about the many lives that will probably be lost. The most important and most vulnerable lives are those of innocent children.
In Jerusalem is Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Holocaust. One room is dedicated to the memory of the children. In that dark room candles flicker and someone reads aloud the names of the hundreds of thousands of children who were lost.
It is not just children who are lost in war. Adults get lost as well. Have you visited the Korean War memorial in Keysville? I hope you will go to see it. It contains the names of all the service members from Charlotte County who served in that War. By the names of some of them there are stars — indicating that they were lost in the War.
If you go to the Viet Nam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. you will see the names of many people who were lost. Many Americans continue to long for and beg for word on our MIAs and POWs.But there are other ways of being lost. A friend comes to see me and talks about how difficult it is to talk with his son. The son is a freshman in college and wants to live life on his own terms. My friend says to me, “When it comes to knowing what to say to him — I’m lost!” Another friend tells me that she has been offered two jobs and does not know which offer to accept. She’s says, “It is overwhelming and I’m lost!”
Sometimes being lost is a matter is being in the middle of a crisis. Sometimes being lost is just a matter of trying to live life a day at a time. During Christmas I wrote a letter to an old friend. It was the kind of letter many of you send out with Christmas cards. I wanted to fill my friend in on all the news of events in the life of the Canada family in 2002. I read the letter back to myself and it seemed like I was reporting on one crisis after another. I mailed the letter and got a reply that said, “It sounds like there is a lot going on, but in all the big things you are doing all right.” Of course he was correct, and his response to all the crises of the last year helped me view it all from a healthy perspective. It was a reminder, however, sometimes just living each day is overwhelming and can leave one feeling lost.
This morning you may feel lost. Maybe it is about how to talk with your son, maybe it is about a job you have been offered. Whatever it is about, hear the words of our scriptures.
Hear Isaiah’s prophesy…spoken to a people living in exile. These people were displaced, separated from their home, and in many cases separated from their families.
Isaiah reminds the exiles that their true home is in the presence of the one who created them through love and sustains them through love.
In Isaiah 40:26 he reminds those folks who seem to be lost”…not one is missing.”
In the eyes of the powerful creator who brought you into being you are not lost, now will you be lost.
The beautiful message from Isaiah ends with a beautiful word of hope. It is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. These are truly words of renewal. Indeed, they are words of salvation.
With our hopes renewed let us look at our gospel lesson: Mark 1:29-39. During most of this year we will be following Mark, the first of the gospels to be written. This lesson takes place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He went to Capernaum. This town was to become his home. This was the home of Simon Peter. When Jesus arrived things began to happen. Word of Jesus’ authority spread quickly.
In this short passage of scripture we are told of many miracles. Simon Peter’s mother-in-law is sick, and Jesus heals her. Then people brought to Jesus people who were sick and people who were possessed of demons. Mark tells us that the whole city gathered at Simon Peter’s house to hear Jesus, to see Jesus, and to be touched and healed by Jesus. This continued throughout the evening.
Early the next morning Jesus went to a deserted place to pray. Simon and his friends went looking for Jesus. They found him and told him that many more people were searching for him. Jesus answered that they needed to go to the surrounding towns — this was all what Jesus had come for. So they went, the word continued to spread, and the healing and casting out of demons continued.
And so it continues today. You and I and countless others like us who are lost hear the word that Jesus loves us. And that word brings healing and wholeness to us. We discover that we are not lost after all. The one whom God has sent has found us.
Copyright 2003 David M. Canada. Used by permission.