A Mission Trip to Our Own Neighborhood

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
St. John's Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA
Mark 1:29-39

“Being SJLC 2015: A Mission Trip to Our Own Neighborhood”

So what’s an “everyday missionary?” We’ve spent the past several weeks of our Epiphany season Being SJLC emphasis talking about and looking at what it means to be “Joining Jesus on His Mission.” We’ve covered a lot of ground, so if you’ve missed out on any of the past weeks – or if you’ve been here and would like a refresher – I encourage you to go back through the sermons from those services on our website and read the related chapters of the book we’ve been using each week. At its core, this year’s Being SJLC emphasis has been encouraging each of us to reconsider what it means to be a part of Jesus’ mission, the mission of every Christian, to be agents of the gospel in our everyday life. So while our congregation’s “Joining Jesus on His Mission” focus might be concluding in this weekend’s services, it’s really a new start for everyone who would follow Jesus into all those other places where you go throughout the rest of the week.

In today’s Gospel text, we’re there in the very early days of Jesus’ public ministry. Last week, we heard Jesus teaching in the synagogue and freeing a man who was trapped in demonic possession. This week picks up right where we’d left off, with Jesus going to Simon’s house there in Capernaum. And what’s the first thing that Mark records, the first thing that Jesus does as he enters into the homes and lives of the people in that community after leaving the synagogue? He heals. No sooner does he come to Simon and Andrew’s house than they tell him about Simon’s mother-in-law, who’s burning up with fever. So instead of avoiding her, he goes to her, takes her hand and lifts her up – and the fever’s gone. But don’t stop paying attention there.

That evening, the whole city turns up at Simon and Andrew’s house to see and be healed by this miracle worker, this man who drives out both demons and sickness from the ill and afflicted. People want what he’s got to offer. But is that why Jesus came?

We hear that he does something odd the next morning, getting up before dawn and going off to a remote and empty place. The last time that Mark recorded Jesus going off to the wilderness, it was to be tempted by the devil. This time, though, Jesus goes to spend time with his Father in prayer. Given the people of Capernaum’s overwhelming response to his work that Sabbath and the evening that followed, it makes sense that Jesus goes out to pray to seek direction on where his ministry should be going. When Peter and some other disciples eventually find Jesus, they let him know that the people want him to come back to town, probably to have him do more healing or other miraculous deeds! But Jesus’ mission wasn’t going to be limited to such amazing, albeit small-scope, acts. He came to do something even greater.

Jesus’ mission continues on throughout the communities of Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God’s grace, the breaking-in of His kingdom into our world. Those miracles he’s doing, healing the sick and casting out demons, that’s God bringing His divine power to bear against those forces opposed to His kingdom. Jesus is ending the enemy’s occupation. He’s liberating the people, going from one neighborhood to the next and changing lives in each community, bringing them back to the God who loves them. Jesus brings the fulfillment of the word spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” And Jesus is still doing that.

When you think about a “mission trip,” what comes to mind? You don’t have to go to a different country where they speak a different language to join Jesus on his mission, though that’s one way to do a mission trip. In fact, we’re going to be praying for and sending off our Haiti Servant Team this weekend as they go to deliver donated supplies and work on a number of different projects for a week. They’ll be spending time with schoolchildren and orphans, yes, but they’ll also encounter regular people going about their daily lives. They’ll be joining Jesus on his mission, because he’s already at work there – and here.

This weekend also marks the occasion of congregation’s annual re-chartering of our Cub Scout pack and Boy Scout troop. We serve as the sponsoring organization for these Scouts because, in part, it’s a way for St. John’s to connect with these boys and young men and show them that they are valued. We appreciate the dedication they’re demonstrating in living out their vocations as sons and citizens and friends, each an area in which Jesus is at work for them and through them. Part of being a Scout is being actively engaged with your community, making connections with others in pack or troop meetings and in serving the neighborhoods around us. And that, in turn is part of what it looks like to be an everyday missionary.

Following Jesus as an everyday missionary doesn’t have to mean going to another part of the world. For most of us, that’d rarely be an option. But when you also see that joining Jesus on his mission doesn’t require doing more homework or attending more service projects, it might be easier to understand that being an everyday missionary mostly bears on being aware of how Jesus has positioned you to connect with the people who are there in the places you’re already going each day.

A lot of being an everyday missionary is just being near to people and listening to them, developing friendships. In time, by God’s grace, those people may come to know Jesus through you and your being there. Ask: “Who these people are that God has put in my life? What is Jesus already up to in their lives? How can I join in?” Even as he connected the people of Capernaum with God’s grace and the breaking-in of His kingdom being there at Simon and Andrew’s house, Jesus is at work to do the same in your neighborhood, in your school, in your workplace, in your home – and you get to be a part of that.

Problem is, even though being an everyday missionary doesn’t depend on your going to a far-off land or adding a bunch of activities to your day, a lot of Christians don’t feel up to the task. Others might think that Jesus’ mission isn’t something that’s for them. But the truth is that every Christian is called to be part of Jesus’ mission to proclaim God’s grace and make the breaking-in of His kingdom known in the world. What about you? What do you most need God to change in you to become an everyday missionary? Because He will do it.

Jesus’ mission is for you, just as it’s for all those people who he has placed in your everyday life. Jesus still brings His divine power to bear against those forces opposed to his Father’s kingdom, even as they take different forms in this time and place. Jesus is the one who came to liberate you and me from the power of sin that kills us and holds us in fear. He is the one who has come to change our lives and the lives of the people in this community so that we all may know God’s kingdom has entered into our broken world.

What’s an “everyday missionary?” It’s not a role that requires long-distance travel or a laundry list of things that must be done. Spending unhurried time in proximity with the people that God is putting into your life, you’ll begin to see Jesus’ work as he builds connections. By God’s grace and in His love for your neighborhood, your school, your workplace, and your home – the grace and love that Jesus delivers – you are an everyday missionary.

Amen.