Crazy Jesus. Sermon by Deacon Pete preached on June 7, 2015 Proper 5

Just how crazy was Jesus?  Using the book of Mark as a resource, let’s do a little forensic psychology.  Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus.  Jesus doesn’t head to the temple to solicit the blessing of religious leaders before beginning His ministry. He heads to the muddy old river Jordan and into the clutches of a wild man. Jesus doesn’t look for the approval of the folks who are in charge before beginning, He goes out to encounter John and the Holy Spirit, and He hears a voice from heaven saying “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased”.  How crazy is that?
After hearing the voice Jesus immediately is sent by the Spirit out into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  Jesus meets evil and darkness head on with no weapons other than His faith in God and His faith in His ministry.  How crazy is that?
Jesus heads to Galilee preaching that the kingdom of God has come near and it is time to repent and believe the good news. He heads to the sea and recruits 4 fisherman with whom to journey along the path He believes God has set before Him.  At Capernaum Jesus teaches in the synagogue, amazing the people with His authority and drives out an impure spirit from one of His listeners.  The people are amazed and word of Him begins to spread.  At the home of Simon and Andrew the whole town gathers and Jesus healed many of their diseases and drove out many demons.  How crazy is that?
A few days later Jesus is in a house packed to the gills with folks who want to hear His message.  It is so crowded that a group of men open a hole in the roof of the house to lower their paralyzed friend inside for Jesus to heal.  Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven”, knowing that this will mightily anger some teachers of the law who are listening in, knowing that this will spark confrontation.  How crazy is that?
Next Jesus heads to the lake and calls Levi the tax collector to join Him.  A tax collector, a traitor to the Jews, a collaborator of Rome’s, someone hated and feared by the Jewish people.  Jesus eats dinner at Levi’s with other tax collectors and sinners.  When questioned why, His response was that He comes not for the healthy but for the sick, not for the righteous but for sinners.  How crazy is that?
The list of suspect behaviors goes on…Jesus doesn’t make a big deal out of fasting, a major and important piece of the Jewish religion. He allows His disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath, He heals a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath, impure spirits fall down before Him saying, “You are the Son of God”.  How crazy is all of that?
So, it is no wonder that by today’s Gospel Jesus’ family is all fired up and ready to take control of Him, saying, “He’s out of his mind.”  Jesus is their brother, Mary and Joseph’s son, raised with all of the teachings and practices of mainstream Judaism.  Who is He to be preaching and teaching in synagogues instead of following in Joseph’s footsteps? Why isn’t He getting married and raising a family?  He must be crazy to have gathered up this rag tag band of followers, He must be out of his mind to think He is curing the sick and banishing demons.  He must be a bubble off level to be so intentionally infuriating the secular and religious leaders of the day.  He must be nuts to think that He is doing the will of God, showing us who God is and showing us what God would have us do.
There you have it, our forensic analysis is complete.  According to the norms of His times, according to His family, and according to the events recorded in Mark, our diagnosis is clear…Jesus is crazy!
And that’s a bit of a problem for us.  Jesus, our savior, our role model, and our icon of how to be in right relationship with God is out of his mind.  We spend a large portion of our days holding it all together, doing our best to fit in, to do good works, to pay our bills, to behave as decent members of society and after all of this, Jesus is modeling crazy behavior.  Are we wrong? Does He expect us to be nuts too?
If that’s true, if we’re supposed to be a little crazy, how are we doing?  Let’s take a look; let’s do a forensic analysis of ourselves.  We are crazy enough to be running two food pantries, one for people, and one for pets.  In these pantries we warmly welcome people of all sorts and conditions with no judgment, no hostile messages that they should be doing better.  We are crazy enough to open our building for community gatherings with no proselytizing on our part. We are crazy enough to think that our time and presence at School 54 will make a difference, that building this relationship is one way to address the issues of poverty and illiteracy that haunt our neighbors. Ascension is crazy enough to let go of 16 Linwood, trusting that God is not in the building but in the community of believers.  Good Shepherd is crazy enough to welcome Ascension into 96 Jewett, believing that hospitality is a virtue.  Thanks to our own Kristen Grandinetti’s work and advocacy the city of Niagara Falls raised the rainbow flag for the first time in the city’s history and this was announced  on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, that’s pretty crazy.  Today many of us will don the t-shirts made by Liz Marshall, quoting a sermon of Mother Cathy’s, and march in the Pride parade, representing the total inclusion that marked Jesus’ ministry on earth, that’s pretty crazy.
So, all in all we’re not doing a bad job of being ‘out of our minds for Jesus’.  But, there is always more…As we enter the summer months, hopefully planning some time for rest, relaxation and reflection, our homework is this….Are we crazy enough?  What else could we be doing that will cause people to say, “Why are they behaving that way?  Who do they think they are?  Are they nuts?”.  AMEN.