September 19, 2021
/Proper 20
Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37
The Rev. Jeff Bohanski
Christ stands before you and peace is in his mind.
Christ stands before you and love is in his eyes.
Christ stands before you and strength is in his hands.
At some point this week I read somewhere, something like, as one reads the Bible, the Bible should be in one hand and the newspaper should be in the other hand. I take that to mean that one should bring the Gospel – the Good News – with them into one’s world. So, it was with me this week as I prepared for this homily.
Last Sunday evening I laughed when I read these readings. I laughed because, of course this first-grade teacher would have these words of Mark to preach on. These words where Jesus tells the twelve “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
After reviewing the readings, I mapped out my week. Monday and Tuesday evening I would work on my online class all first-grade teachers across Texas are required to take this year. Wednesday I would finish the assignment and thus on Thursday I would have a free and restful day off. I went happily to bed confident that my plans for my week had been neatly mapped out.
Monday morning, I woke up and learned things had changed. I heard tropical storm Nicholas was now expected to turn into Hurricane Nicholas and it was headed straight for Houston. Victor and I quickly reviewed our hurricane ready list. When I got to work, I learned I would still have half my class missing because these missing children were still in quarantine due to a Covid-19 exposure from the previous week. At that point I clearly saw that even my lesson plans for the week were going to have to change. It was then I remembered and gave thanks for having found this verse a few weeks ago:
Christ stands before you and peace is in his mind.
Christ stands before you and love is in his eyes.
Christ stands before you and strength is in his hands.
Tuesday morning around 1:30, we were awakened to the sound of a great big BOOM! With great disgust we watched the ceiling fan slowly grind down to a halt. We saw this because our backyard neighbor’s patio lights were still on and were shining brightly through the cracks in our blinds. I rolled over, put the pillow over my head and as calmly as I could I recited my verse in my head and went back to sleep.
The next morning, I realized that with no electricity I wasn’t going to finish my online class. So, I decided to work on this homily instead. I reread our reading from Mark. This time, the words “…and when he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’” drew my attention. I visualized Jesus in the house with the twelve asking that question. I wondered what it was like in that house that day. It was then the words of my verse popped into my head.
Christ stands before you and peace is in his mind.
Christ stands before you and love is in his eyes.
Christ stands before you and strength is in his hands.
With these words in my head, I once again reread the Gospel. As I read, I could see in my mind’s eye this Jesus, the Christ, with peace in his mind, love in his eyes and strength in his hands, teaching the twelve. He was teaching them the difficult lesson about how he will one day be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again. I could see this Jesus who was peacefully, lovingly, strongly teaching them the difficult lesson that those who want to lead must put others first and serve as he serves.
I could see this Jesus pick up the child and look longingly at the twelve, hoping for them to receive his peace that he knew they will one day need, look longing at them wanting them to feel the love he had for each of them even though they could not see it, longing for them to feel the strength he had in his hands that he knew one day would be punctured by nails.
My friends, I invite you to embrace this Jesus who I believe longed for the twelve that day. Embrace this Jesus who also longs for each of us.
Today I hear many voices in the world that don’t embrace this peace giving, loving bestowing strength sharing Jesus who was in that house with the twelve. There are voices who say people who don’t look like you are out to get you, people who don’t think like you are stupid, people who don’t speak like you are out to take your job, people who don’t vote like you should be denied the vote, people who don’t love like you should be cast out, people who don’t pray like you aren’t going to heaven, people at the border looking for a better life should be walled out.
My friends, I invite us all not to listen to these voices. I invite us to instead look at people who don’t look like us, who don’t think like us, who don’t speak like us, who don’t vote like us, who don’t love like us, who don’t pray like us as people who are also worthy of that peace, love, and strength I believe Jesus brought into that house where he was with the twelve that day.
This week did not go according to my plans. This week I learned that many of my problems of the week won’t go away if I embrace Jesus. This time we lucked out with Hurricane Nicholas. We survivors of the winter storm and of Hurricane Harvey know there will be more storms where we won’t luck out. I know my online class will be a stress that won’t go away until it’s completed in May. But I also know if I embrace the peace giving, loving, and strong Jesus who was with the twelve in that house that day, the Jesus who longs to bring me peace, who longs for me to know he loves me, who longs to share his strength with me, I know my problems will be easier to bare.
Christ stands before you and peace is in his mind.
Christ stands before you and love is in his eyes.
Christ stands before you and strength is in his hands.