Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins,
and give us the liberty of that abundant life
which you have made known to us
in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
That was today’s collect,
and I love its simplicity.
I wouldn’t say it collects the themes of today’s passages.
Isaiah reminds us of
the awe, might, and wonder
of God the creator
and how those who wait for God
will run without weariness
walk without fainting
and renew their strength
mounting up with wings like eagles.
The Psalmist echoes that
reminding us of God’s faithfulness
in healing the broken hearted
and binding up their wounds.
The psalmist calls us
to give thanks for God’s goodness.
Paul, writing to the church in Corinth
and we can talk about their issues another time,
writes about the liberty of abundant life
that God gives us in Jesus
which our collect points us to.
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins,
and give us the liberty of that abundant life.
Finally we hear in Mark,
Jesus giving so much abundant life
as he lives a very full day.
Between last week’s passage
where he cleanses a man of an unclean spirit
and today, after the synagogue,
we’re getting a snapshot
of a Jesus day.
We’ve observed in Bible study
that Matthew can be read
to have more of a focus on what Jesus says
think about the Sermon on the Mount
or other big teaching portions.
Mark, however,
has to be read with a focus
on what Jesus does.
In 10 verses today Jesus
heals Simon’s mother in law;
cures many who are sick and afflicted by demons
in the evening;
gets up in the dark of morning
to go pray by himself;
decides to leave Capernuam
when the disciples find him;
moves on, preaching his message,
and casting out demons.
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins,
and give us the liberty of that abundant life.
Today’s passage from Mark ends,
“And he went throughout Galilee,
proclaiming the message in their synagogues
and casting out demons.”
We have to look back a few weeks and verses
to remember what this message is.
“Now is the time!
Here comes God’s kingdom!
Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”
Or in more traditionally churchy language,
“The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God has come near;
repent, and believe in the good news.”
As Jesus heals people and casts out demons,
he’s calling them to repentance,
and giving them the liberty of God’s abundant life.
As Isaiah and the Psalmist proclaim the full goodness of God
and Paul reminds the Corinthians of God’s liberty,
Jesus – God incarnate –
is demonstrating that goodness
and giving that liberty.
Notice that Jesus and the collect
don’t spell out the sins that are being called to task.
Simply a call to repent from Jesus
and asking for release from sin in the collect.
A colleague recently told me that she got some feedback
about her sermons.
A congregant wanted to know why
she never preached on sin.
She responded in a beautifully pastoral way
and with some good open-ended questions.
Wondering together
they mutually discerned that what this person was asking
was “Why don’t you ever preach on
what I think are other people’s sins?”
Part of that discernment
may have been asking if he’d like to hear sermons
on issues in his life that she knew
were separating him from God and his neighbor.
We’re moving toward Lent
where the church will again invite us
to change our hearts and lives,
and trust this good news
that God’s reign is at hand.
The church asks that of us every week
when I bid us to confess our sins
against God and our neighbors.
In none of our texts today,
not in the collect today,
not in the invitation to confession
nor even the confession itself
is there a harping or dwelling on
how bad and evil we are.
There’s simply the acknowledgment
that we fall short,
that we miss the mark,
and only through God’s goodness and love
can we see where we’ve failed,
make amends,
and try to do better
with God’s help.
In being set free from the bondage of our sin
do we receive the freedom of the abundant life
made known to us in Jesus Christ.
While the Western church has done away with
a dedicated season of Pre-Lent,
we don’t want it to sneak up on us, either.
We get to wonder what we might need to set aside
so that we can embrace the reality
that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
How do we need to change our hearts and minds
in order to believe this Good News?
After Jesus does all this healing on the sabbath,
finally gets some sleep,
and goes to rest and pray,
he knows he can’t keep the message
just in Capernaum.
He’s got good news to share
and so he needs to go share it.
Perhaps we fear the realities
of God’s realm drawn near
and thus fear talking about it.
Perhaps we’ve forgotten
all the goodness and wonder that Isaiah writes about
so have forgotten
that the news we have to share
is indeed good.
What do you need to change?
What do you need to remember?
How might you believe?
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins,
and give us the liberty of that abundant life
which you have made known to us
in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.