Meeting Jesus in the Parking Lot

Baptized. Beloved. Spirit. Wilderness. Tempted. Proclaiming. Repent. Believe. Good News.

In these few words, we can summarize the verses we have just heard from Mark’s gospel. Mark is brief, he is to the point, and easy to remember. This is always Mark’s way. He is in a rush to tell us the story and to get us to Jerusalem. His is the shortest of the synoptic gospels. Matthew and Luke take longer. They take many verses to explain the baptism of Jesus and his relationship with John the Baptist. In their versions of the temptation, they give many details, even dialogue between Jesus and Satan.

If we were to translate their styles into today’s communication media, we might say that Luke is writing a historical blog, Matthew sends us detailed emails about Jesus, and Mark writes tweets, pithy word pictures which summarize in few words, a world of sacred story.

With Marc’s brevity comes a certain power. We know what is important. And he brings us these words, good ones as we begin our Lenten journey: repent and believe the good news.

Let us pray: Gracious God of all truth and mercy, be with us as we begin this time of lengthening days and Lenten focus. Open us to the power of your word, which can help us understand your will for us, a life healed of self- centeredness, a world healed of violence. As we ponder the meaning of repentance, may we discover good news, for ourselves, and for your precious world. We pray in Jesus name, amen.
 
A few years ago, when I was the associate pastor in Naugatuck, I was asked to give a welcoming statement and opening prayer at the annual meeting of the Naugatuck Valley Association, which was to take place on a Friday night at the church. The NVA is a community organization trying to push for a new industrial policies and programs in that part of Connecticut.  They work for job creation and to reduce pollution in towns from Waterbury to Shelton.   I had been told to be there at 6:30 pm.  And to expect to speak at 7.  

The ride there was without incident.  I thought that I was running right on schedule. But when I turned the corner onto the green, I noticed that there were a lot of cars in the area, and when I pulled into the parking lot, it was full.   So full that I couldn’t even get past the portico. I was clearly late or everyone else was very prompt. Knowing that I was at the top of the program, I got anxious. O my word, I am late. I hate to be late.  I pride myself on being on time. How could this have happened?   I frantically scoped out the space usually designated for me with a sign: Reserved:  associate minister.  But someone had already parked there. A young man was directing traffic in the lot and he came over when he saw me. He said,  “You’ll have to park on the street, there is no more parking here.” I looked at him with shock. I had to get into that church in a hurry and I didn’t have time to go looking for a space on the street. Maybe I could convince him of my need.  “Listen, I have to give the opening prayer.  I am a minister. I have a staff parking space. I am just going to go right in and take the space I want, I see there is room for me to squeeze in.”   I was getting angry now; my voice was getting louder as I spoke. But he didn’t seem interested in my plight.

Then he said to me: If you are from this church, if you are a minister in this church, why are you speaking to me that way?

In our scripture today, Jesus is seen beginning his ministry in Galilee.  He has come from being baptized by John, then tempted during a fast of forty days and nights and has come through that time of testing to announce his message.  He uses this phrase; repent, and believe the good news.  The two are linked. He calls us to change, yes. And also that as we change, we will find that we are met by God’s good news.

Now repentance is a word that we may not like. It is kind of old fashioned and it also has the flavor of the hard nosed preacher, of any denomination, who is always telling people what they have done wrong, and what great sinners we all are.  It doesn’t fit well into our culture of self-esteem and entitlement.  And if we have come to this church community from a church or family, which was heavy on the penance, sin, guilt and remorse, then when we hear this word we may have a bit of an allergic reaction.  We don’t want to be told to repent, even if it is Jesus who is telling us to do so.

In general, I think that we are more comfortable with a softer image, a Jesus who is welcoming, comforting and who does not seem to require any change on our part nor ask us to turn round and look the way we are acting or living our lives.

This word repentance in New Testament is metanoia. It carries the sense of making a complete change, a 180 degree turn. It’s not a simple adjustment or a revision of a self -improvement scheme.  It isn’t about a few half- hearted new years resolutions.  Rather it is a call to a new way of being. It has the sense of what one might do when one truly realizes that the old games of hide and seek with God are not working any more and the need to begin again is profound and telling. It has the sense of hitting bottom and finding the first glimmer of light in the darkness of all our troubled ways. If you attended the lunch and learn meeting a few weeks ago, and heard the testimonies of the participants, you got a good sense of the meaning of repentance. Indeed, anyone who is familiar with recovery groups can attest that profound change is necessary to overcome addictions, and to walk a spiritual path.

That being true, it is also true that we may not understand this step very well. It is not about feeling guilty and badly for the things we have done wrong. We tend to over - use guilty feelings to get ourselves to make changes in our lives. It usually doesn’t work very well. Guilt can be just another way to get stuck in the past, reviewing the fault and sometimes even reveling in it, all in the service of not having to do anything about the behavior. We can even glory in our guilt.  But nothing moves.

Repentance, the turning around that Jesus calls us to, is not about that. Dr. Ellen Davis, who taught at Yale and is now at Duke Divinity School, put it this way, in a sermon preached here in New Haven. God is not interested in our sin, but getting us out of it.

Jesus can be quite matter of fact and goes straight to the point, not without compassion but not coddling either.   He asks a paralytic: do you want to be healed?  Then take up your bed and walk.  No histrionics, no drama. Just do it.  And so when we find ourselves swimming in guilt, we might ask ourselves the question that Jesus did: do we want to be healed? And if so, then turn around, repent, take the necessary first step and then all the steps in between, but don’t stand there complaining about how guilty we feel that we haven’t yet done it. But it is hard to get the balance right. We are prone to confess too much or too little.

Now, you may be thinking, well do I really need this 180 degree turn? I have been doing OK, trying to live a good life, a faithful life. I think that as we age, as we mature, the sense of repentance changes too.  Make room for an insight, a renewed focus, a letting go of something that holds us back from full discipleship. A shift, even a small one, can shift how we view the world.

In the parking lot that night, when this young man met my aggression with firmness, I realized I had to make amends. I reached out my hand and asked his name. He said it was David. We spoke for a while and then I asked him, Where are you from? What brings you here?    He answered, I am part of this NV project and my church asked me if I could come and help park the cars.  

Oh, I said, what church is that?   He answered:  the church of love and forgiveness.  My friends, you cannot make up stories like this. Standing before me was a Christ like figure, showing me a truth about the way I acted, and offering love and forgiveness.  After this encounter, I felt embarrassed, unmasked. Something that I needed to change had been found out. But rather than be met with condemnation, I received good news that Christ came to preach.

Love and forgiveness, that’s why Jesus came.  The repentance is only part of the story. Yes, the necessary first step, but not the whole picture.  On its own, repentance is not enough.  The reason for repentance is to create a space for the good news to rush in. It is making an opening within so that the realm of heaven can be seen and received.  We are loved, we are cherished.  God is with us. We are forgiven.

Jesus came to share this news:  God is merciful and loving and looking for people to help and save, even from ourselves.

When the prodigal son returns home, when the lost coin is found or the one sheep, which has strayed, is brought back, God is rejoicing.

The one who is lost has been found.  Kill the fatted calf; throw a party, the realm of heaven is here right here, right now!

Repentance is not the point of the story: the reunion with God is.

When we look back over our story this morning, in its condensed format, we see that Mark has given us an outline of what we are to focus on in Lent. As we begin 40 days of preparation for Easter, we could not do better than this: remember our Baptism.   Recall that we are beloved of God, as Jesus is. Know that temptation is present, but that we have the last word in the dialogue with the tempter, if we make the choice to do so. And as we repent of the times that we have not fasted from wrong behaviors and encroaching on the lives of others, we will be met with good news, that we are forgiven, and we can begin again.

This Lent, as the days get longer, as the harsh winter fades, we pray into a time of spring renewal, and heavens knows that can’t come fast enough, what will each of us do to prepare? Our church offers many opportunities, as we have heard in our announcements this morning. The blood drive this Wednesday, and the month long Christian Community Action food drive, both of which epitomize Lenten service and self -giving. Upcoming is a movie night, and a book study on what it means to be a saint. Next Saturday, we gather for a progressive dinner. In two weeks time, the chance to experience the love feast also known as an agape meal, much like the early Christians did. The women’s retreat focuses on the subject of self-acceptance. Later in Lent, we have an art auction which showcases creativity within our faith family.

We can deepen our relationships with each other and learn about things we might not have thought about very much. A presentation on how the environment is affected by coal production in Appalachia is upcoming, and will help us as a whole church to understand the importance of our service project in Appalachia which begins right after Easter. A resurrection project if there ever was one.

All these events and opportunities help us in our Christian faith, to put together the pieces of the way God would have us be. Open to God’s world, connected to each other. A Lent of strengthening our faith, and walking with Christ to Jerusalem.

And as we begin, may we heed the words from Jesus as he meets us in our daily life, in all the places we might not expect to find him.  Yes, even in a parking lot. And when we do, may we hear Jesus say, “Repent. You are beloved of God, called to the full meaning of your baptism, to resist the tempter, to walk these 40 days together with me, and to hear, and believe. For this is good news, and I have come to preach it today.” Thanks be to God. Amen