We are gathered on this Palm Sunday with some of the grimmest moments in our recent national history. 14 people are murdered in the town where I grew up and a place to which I still return for fun and relaxation. I bought my Christmas tree this year in Binghamton, New York and brought it back to the city. I have followed the news closely over the weekend because I know that building, know that street, and cherish the Chenango and Susquehanna Valleys. I grieve in a special way because I know something of the refugee challenge and the burden of living in a new culture after your father has sacrificed unbelievably to make it possible. The only words you can say are ‘thank you’ even if the radical change is impossible to absorb. It is still hard to comprehend why he would make others suffer more who are walking very similar paths to his own.
That atrocity has been followed quickly by the three murders of police in Pittsburgh by a white racist and the 5 murders of children yesterday in Washington State. We mourn with Tamils and Sinhalese as the killing continues in Sri Lanka. The fundamental structures of our society are occasionally shaken and tested and we have entered again such a period.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as a King is not a whimsical moment on the part of a Supreme Being. It is another key moment in God’s plan to reclaim the world and usher in a peace that hammers the world of guns into garden hoes, a sharing that asks every person with two coats to make sure that everyone has one, and a justice that celebrates possibility that every child can grow up to be President.
As you can see, getting from the excitement of a motorcade to the bright hopes that our ideals will fully come to pass is a complex task.
I frequently comment on our social world because it is also a metaphor for your personal world. In a congregation of this size, I cannot believe that someone has not had broken relationships this week. The gospel of Matthew says that spiritually there is no difference between hate and murder. There is someone here who has an illness that has become a constant companion, never completely leaving for a week or even a day. There is someone here who is caught between governments as you go from one society to another. The same spiritual force that can deliver Jerusalem and Binghamton is offered to you and to me.
In the Scriptures today, Jesus is confronted with a boy with a demon. His response and Mark’s teaching give us guidance for living in the happiness that is God’s plan for you and your human right.
God tells us to pray. I want each person here to take a clock and time your prayers this week. Do you pray for five minutes a day about any matter that bothers you? I’ve got to admit that I have a hard time getting prayer into my very lifestyle. I was horrified by the news from Binghamton. I probably spent an hour on the internet over the last two days reading the local paper there, but my prayer was brief and could not have lasted over one minute.
As Christians, why does it even make sense to us that we can ignore God’s requirement that we pray?
In this account, the disciples have failed to cast out the demon. This is the same group of disciples that just saw Jesus revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration in power and glory. The Sanhedrin is watching and quickly moves in to accuse the disciples of fraud. They claim to be part of the Jesus group and this proves that Jesus and the disciples are just snake oil salesman.
The exorcism failed because the disciples were not certain of its success. They knew they were amateurs but the lack of faith was not in their skills but whether God’s power could reverse this level of destruction. As we look at the broken and hating world today, that is our question. Can God reverse the destruction? And even more keenly, it is the question as you look at the broken pieces in your own life – can God reverse the destruction?
This section of Mark is arranged in a chiasm. A chiasm is where you take two key ideas and twist them back and forth symmetrically in a text to emphasize your point. The two points here are the faithlessness of the disciples and the determination and power of God to reclaim humanity. I want to show you this beautiful literary way in which Mark makes his chiasm.
The key text in the passage is the confession of the father, I believe, help my unbelief. There is no one who cannot pray that prayer and it is on the right side of the chiasm. That means its part of Jesus argument and God will accept a prayer like that.
There are spiritual forces arrayed against you to keep you from prayer. If there is any power to evil, and if there is any power to prayer, does it not make sense that the power of evil wants to prevent you from getting the power of prayer? One of my strongest joys in college was the advocacy of prayer partners. I met with my prayer partner once a week to pray with each other and specifically to ask each other how our prayer life was going. It helps you to pray if you have the accountability to pray.
Last week, I invited you with means to give a $1,000 to children and youth ministry and join me. Today we have heard about Corona Plaza. Now I'm challenging you on the practice of prayer. My view of Christian faith is that its good for something. Why do we go to all this effort and build these buildings and interrupt Sunday breakfast if our faith does not actually move mountains?
This passage of Scripture challenged me. I’m going to pray five minutes this week for Binghamton. I want Corona Plaza to open and I’m willing to pray five minutes for that. My heart has been drawn to the struggle in Sri Lanka and I promise 5 minutes for that. May I ask you all to close your eyes. I’m challenging you to make a gift of a five minute prayer of faith this week for some issue. It could be these or any other way you want the world changed. Would you raise your hand if you can also promise a five minute prayer this week? And may I ask one last question. Is there something about your life that you want changed? Can you promise another five minutes for that? God bless you. Amen.
