Rev. George Miller
Jan 28, 2024
Mark 5:1-20
Last week, Carnide blessed us with the song “If it matters to me, then it
matters to the Master.”
It perfectly summarized the context in which we’ve been meandering
through Mark.
Scene after scene we have noted just how much Jesus is involved in the
mundane-
His moments with menders and Matriarchs, his being familiar with fishers
and farmers.
The possibility that his home became a haven for healing.
For someone so spectacular, Jesus is right where we are, not just in our
home or at our job, but even where death dwells.
Work, home, the soil, the grave. The
full human experience.
Today we enter a new world. After
Jesus has spent time on the west side of the water, he hops on a boat and heads
east.
But where he goes is not a place of sloping green or pot roast simmering
on the stove.
Jesus arrives at a graveyard full of death and decay, bones and
foreboding.
In this place is a man living in constant torment and sorrow. His days and nights are filled with howling and
self-harm.
Friends and family fear him, so they’ve deserted him. Shackled and strangled by chains, he is
living in total hell.
Filled with demons he runs to Jesus, throws his scabbed filled body against
the putrid soil.
Jesus casts the demons into swine, and jumping right off the cliff, there
goes breakfast!
A little while later, the man reappears, this time dressed clean and
sparkling like a diamond.
Jesus says “Go home to your people, tell them that what matters to them
matters to the Master.”
He who once howled with hurt is now glowing with the Good News.
Did you notice how artistically Mark paints this picture?
Images of doom and tombs, chains and chaos that seem like a monster
movie, not the kind of thing you’d expect for a service devoted to praise and
joy, pajamas and comfy clothes.
And yet it fits.
After being where people work, eat, and sleep, Jesus is now where imperfection,
wounds, tears, loneliness are the reality.
This is a 180 from the Christmas Season we just celebrated. This is sooo far from the light of the nativity.
Yet, this story holds great, good news.
Take a moment to think of our self.
Our true selves. The self that
most people never get to see.
Think of our morning self.
Yes- many of us today may be in our pjs, but this ain’t what we look like
first thing in the morning.
This is what we look like after an hour of preparation with a shower,
some deodorant and coverup.
If we saw each other in the morning, would we recognize one another or want
to get too close with our bad breath, messed up hair, baggy eyes?
But guess what?
The Lord does. The Lord recognizes
and see us, and the Lord is not scared if we have BO or pre-morning coffee
attitude.
If Jesus could interact with a man living in scabs and shackles, Jesus
could handle us.
Think about this.
Think of our own unique vulnerabilities.
Think of our own issues of self-worth.
Our times of self-doubt.
Think of those who spend time sowing demonic seeds of doubt, trying to
tell you-
that you may not be smart enough, light skinned enough, speaking the best
business English.
Think of all the self-appointed scribes and Pharisees who love to say who’s
in and who’s out, who is worthy or unworthy of rights, compassion.
How many here today or watching online have ever wondered if they truly
matter to Jesus, do you truly matter to God?
How many have you ever woken up in the morning and just wanted to get
back into bed and run from the day?
Who has ever contemplated-
Lord- in my pjs, in my comfy clothes, in my headwrap, in my bonnet,
With my whiskers, crusty eyes and dry mouth, with my aches and pains, fears,
and quirks,
Without my makeup, without a shave, without a suit and tie, without my
first morning cup of coffee-
Do you really care about me?
Do you really care about the things I do?
Do you really care about the things that have hurt and wounded me?
Do you really care about the things I do that hurt and wound me, that can
separate me from others?
And the answer is “Yes. Yes, Jesus
cares.”
We go a step further during this PJ service of praise and joy-
Just as Jesus is amongst those who work and those who are the Matriarchs,
Jesus is also a Morning Savior-
That Jesus is right there with us, regardless of morning breathe,
wrinkled sheets, messy hair, no makeup, baggy eyes and lack of coffee…
Jesus is there, Jesus sees us, Jesus hears us, and Jesus cares for us.
And with that knowledge, with that assurance, we discover something else-
If I matter to the Master, then I matter to me.
Let us repeat that- If I matter to the Master, then I matter to me.
And if I matter to me then I am more that what I wear, how I look, and
what others think.
And that, that is powerful, powerful good great news, worthy of all
praise and joy.
For that, let us say “Amen.”
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