The Danger of a Gospel without Words

"The Danger of a Gospel without Words"

Epiphany 5, February, 8, 2015

Mark 1:29-39

You might be familiar with the following quotation attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”  This quotation is a phrase that I have resorted to many times especially when I find myself in conversation with our more fundamentalist/evangelical brothers and sisters who sometimes use too many words. 

I also hear this phrase uttered a lot at meetings when fellow Episcopalians start talking about what it means to be an evangelist.  In the Episcopal Church we sometimes prefer to do our proclaiming of the gospel through our actions instead of through our words—actions speak louder than words, right?  While I agree with the intent behind this quotation, I believe the power of the gospel message loses something in translation when it becomes more about our actions rather than about proclaiming what we believe.

What do I mean?  First of all, as elementary as it may sound, let’s unpack what we mean when we say, gospel or good news.  What is the gospel that we preach and proclaim?  Fundamentally, the good news of Jesus Christ is the story of how God is rescuing us and the world from evil.  The gospel means that Jesus is inviting us, through repentance, to live in a world where the powers of evil and death no longer have the power to control our lives.  The good news tells us how God is putting the world back together through the reconciling love of Christ. 

In today’s lesson, the good news is proclaimed when Jesus takes Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand and lifts her to a life of service.  Through this healing, Jesus is giving us a glimpse into God’s ultimate plan to restore all people to life and health.  This glimpse supports the gospel announcement that Jesus has come to deliver us from evil so that we might live in his everlasting kingdom. 

So what is the impact of the good news in our lesson this morning?  What is the result of the gospel of Jesus?  Well, an entire town takes notice and congregates around Jesus to ask for healing.  Scripture says he heals many, notice-not all but many, and casts out demons before he retreats for prayer.  Jesus’ prayers are interrupted by his disciples who basically tell him to go back to the town because not everyone has been healed.  How does Jesus reply?  He says, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

Jesus’ response gives us another clue as to what the good news is all about.  Jesus didn’t simply come to be a medicine man.  He didn’t come to make us feel better so we can go on with our lives.  Jesus’ mission is to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.  The gospel message reveals something even more important than physical healing.  Jesus has come to share the good news of salvation and to restore us to a right relationship with God so that we may be one with each other.

At this point, I hope you are starting to see that the gospel is not really about what we do but has everything to do with what Christ has already done in order to rescue us and the world from sin and death.  Preaching the gospel isn’t about making God active in the world through our actions.  Preaching the gospel isn’t about manufacturing God in our midst through good works.  Preaching the gospel is about witnessing to how God is already delivering us from evil through Christ, to how God is already present in the world through his Son. 

Maybe it would be helpful to think of it like this, I don’t make God present in the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood with my hand gestures or by reading the right combination of words.  Instead, Jesus is present in the sacrament because Jesus willed himself to be present when he said to his disciples at the Last Supper, “Do this in remembrance of me.”  And that is what the church has done for generations. 

As a priest in the church, I am charged with helping us remember that Jesus is present in world, and one of the ways I do this is through the sacraments.  Yes, those words and hand gestures are instrumental in naming the presence of Christ but they aren’t a part of some magic formula to make God come alive.          

I hope that it is becoming clear to you why this passage from St. Francis can be dangerous.  Fundamentally, the preaching of the gospel is about using words.  It is about naming how God is active in our world.  The gospel is about telling others how God is making us one, about telling others that God is bringing the whole world to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 

I am afraid that if preaching the gospel is reduced to only our human endeavors, then we are in danger of replacing the gospel with our own good works.  A gospel without words is dangerous because the message of the church will become more about what we do or don’t do instead of about what Christ is doing.   If the good news is replaced by what we do, no matter well intentioned our actions are, then I am afraid we will start to worship our own good deeds instead of worshiping the God who makes good possible through his Son. 

This reminds me of a troubling trend in the church that is gaining momentum.  According to one author, he says that the church should base active membership on how many are active in service in the community versus the traditional measure of counting the number of people in the pews on Sunday morning.  While I don’t totally disagree with the thought, I believe this idea is a symptom of a church that is trying to be relevant in a world where fewer people are sitting in pews on Sunday morning.  Yes service is important, but it cannot replace worship, it cannot replace the hearing and receiving of the good news. 

One article I read recently says, “Worship is the unique, distinct, set-apart thing the Church does and is called to do…Service is important but church must be more than that.”  The reason worship is so important is because it refreshes, renews, and invigorates us with the message of the gospel.  Worship gives us a way to be nourished by the Christ’s Word and Sacrament.  In other words, worship gives us a way to be nourished by the hope of the good news so that we can go out into the world and serve the world in Christ’s name. 

Like I asked earlier, the next question we have to ask is what impact does hearing and receiving the gospel have on our lives?  And I believe this is the question that St. Francis is trying to answer as well.  When we leave these pews today after hearing and believing the good news, our lives and our actions become a direct result of believing in the gospel through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

 And the result of believing in the gospel means that we feed the poor, visit the sick and prisoner, cloth the naked, care for the orphan and widow and the list goes on.  The impact that the gospel makes in our daily lives is not the same thing as preaching the gospel otherwise the gospel is in jeopardy of being confused with what we do instead of what God is doing in Jesus Christ.     

I want to end with an example of what kind of fruit the proclaiming of the gospel is doing in Selma.  This past week I met with a group of pastors and church leaders to talk about the upcoming Unity Walk on March 1st.  While the group was trying to name the significance of the walk, it was said that the walk is naming what God is already doing in Selma.  In other words, the walk is the result of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The spirit of the walk is a direct result of hearing and believing that we have a God who is restoring us to right relationship with God and each other through a relationship with his Son.  The walk itself isn’t the preaching of the gospel.  Instead, the walk is a direct result of a gospel that is being preached in our churches, in our homes, in our reunion groups, in our work places, in our community meetings and so on.  The walk is a sign that God is reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ.

We aren’t making the gospel known through what we do.  The gospel is made known today because of what Jesus said and did 2,000 years ago.  The gospel is made known through only the actions of Jesus, through the one whose words matched his actions, through the one who healed and cured the sick and lame, through the one who cast out demons, through the one who taught in parables, through the one who died for our sins, through the one who rose victorious over the cross.  The consequence of preaching and believing in this good news of Jesus is a people who are committed to the renewing the face of the earth by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

So what might our new motto be?  What can we say that really captures what St. Francis is trying to tell us?  I know this isn’t quite as catchy or easy to remember as the St. Francis quote but how about this?  Believe in the good news so that when others see the impact that the gospel on your life and the life of the world around you, they too may come to believe in the good news.  Amen.