Mark 5

 We desperately need to know God’s will for America. In an election season, people will say anything. And Christians need to know what God wants and need to offer hope to neighbors who have heard about fear and show life to friends who fear death. The 5^th anniversary of 9-11 is different from the first four. With 2,600 American deaths, 100,000 Iraqi deaths and 20,000 Americans wounded, the average American has started to reckon the price and worth of this battle.

 It is not an academic discussion. 27 bodies were found yesterday in Iraq, one was American. And a group of experts on terrorism met in NY this week and concluded that New York is still the number one terror target in America, and the risk of a terror event here is significant. Friends, if George Bush is wrong in his speech tomorrow and if he is leading the world to more terror through the trials without evidence, trials with torture, and possible war with Iran, then you or I may pay for that error with our lives.

 Conversely, if I open the Scriptures in a careless way or even make an honest mistake , I can encourage you also in ways that could threaten your very safety. In any normal argument, there would be no question as to who is right. The President has secret intelligence and reports from all over the world and I have the news and the Bible. Which is likely to advise a successful safety plan?

 So you must choose what advice to follow. I want to lead you into the key passage in all of Scripture that deals with the faith and the fear of death. I have chosen illustrations from letters written in wartime. We are reluctantly in a war. The Social Security trust fund has paid for it instead of extra taxes. The planes of caskets returning have been off limits to media. So we have been slow to realize that we are part of the 9-11 story and now part of the war in Iraq. We need God’s words for a time of ear. All the letters and excepts that you see on the screen today are accurate. They are not a docudrama. There is an excerpt late in the service from a Vietnam veteran is a story of grace, but I cannot watch it without tears. My sisters and brothers, welcome to a service of fear and faith. 

 We are about to open the longest section in the Bible on fear and faith. Mark, chapters one thru eight are the most familiar ground in the Scriptures for me. I have been teaching a course on them since 1979. The situation in Israel was grim. On the surface, the society looked stable, if unhappy. Rome was in charge, but Rome left internal control to the Jews as long as taxes were paid by collectors like Zaccheus. There were occasional groups for liberation – Simon was named as a Zealot. And Jesus was murdered by the Romans, Pharisees, and Sadducees together because they thought he might overthrow the government.

 Jesus came to proclaim a new kingdom in Mark chapter 1. It is a radically different way of life but one that a child can understand. Jesus welcomes the children and they come to him because they understand his message. Be fair to all others. Every person is of sacred worth. Make sure everyone has enough to eat. Don’t kill others. Help the sick. This is the message that scared Rome and Israel. And the leaders cleverly used fear to turn crowds from praise of Christ on Palm Sunday to rejection and crucifixion five days later.

 Jesus starts the Scripture today by showing people that he understands the destructive power of a society caught in evil. Jesus shows in this passage that his kingdom is great enough to deal with evil powers operating in foreign areas. He has left Israel and is in the province of Gerasene. The destructive power that he finds there is like that of bin Laden. A possessed man of 2,000 demons. Jews used the number 1,000 like we use 1 million in English. At times, it means exactly that number. I borrowed a million dollars. It can also mean that you borrowed an incredible amount of money. So the Bible record takes the idea of a great many demons and doubles it to 2,000. Then, the destructive power is shown further when it is released into the herd of pigs and they are destroyed.

 The point is that if we trust Jesus, he will handle the destructive forces in our lives. It means that as you go to work and school this week, if you simply say to God, I trust you, then it means that God will shield you from the destructive powers that are there. There may be a coworker who wants to cut you down. There may be another student who wants to steal your ipod. The point is that God acknowledges that the world has dangerous forces and that Jesus is greater than the powers of evil for those who believe and live the new life.

 Notice that I say that you have to live the new life. We have a huge group of Christians and pastors in this country who want to believe the Bible with their minds and support torture and wickedness with their hands and taxes. No man can serve two masters, the Bible says.

 Are we scared of the evil forces. Of course. Any psychologically healthy person would be. But I don’t want the President or anyone else to use that fear to manipulate people. Jesus says, you must not live your life motivated by fear. You have to live motivated by faith. Is living by faith scary? Well, yes, it is. The disciples are amazed in this account. They probably did not want to see the man with demons to begin with and certainly are shocked by the power of deliverance. The people of that country are scared and ask Jesus to leave. Isn’t that ironic? Jesus delivers them of a problem that haunted them and they turn against their deliverer. We are at the same national moment now where people are scared of how poorly the war has gone. The President urges that the chains of the demon be doubled to keep us secure.

 If you are scared, I hope that you will be here tomorrow to pray. And I believe that every Christian has a duty to express your opinion on Tuesday in voting and at all times by writing to our leaders. The internet makes it so easy. But even by mail, its easy. Billy Graham used to say, write to me, Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was always charmed that he was so well known that he needed no street or zip code. But Mr. Bush is easy like that too. President Bush, The White House, Washington, DC.

 The Scripture goes on with two accounts more on fear and faith. The first is a child on the point of death and the second is a woman who is bleeding. The child dies while the Jesus stops to hear the woman. I want you to notice for the number 12 that is mentioned in both of their lives.

Mark now comes back to Israel to warn people that the nation is on the point of death . In actual fact, it was. Rome was doing more and more oppressive acts. The emperor Caligula wanted a statute of himself in every temple. Roman soldiers did sexual acts in the temple in Jerusalem, stole much of the sacred silver in the temple on the last occasion and people assumed that God would protect them as they attacked Rome and defended the temple. Alas, it was not to be in AD 66. Jesus correctly predicts here that the nation would die unless it followed him. The number 12 is significant because Israel was the land of 12 tribes. Any Jew hearing this account would immediately see that the double number of 12 means that the child and the woman were metaphors for Israel. Israel is on the point of death. Israel is desperately ill. Israel has even already died spiritually by the time Jesus appears.

 And in these miracles, Jesus is still able to turn things around. Again he causes fear even in the good miracle. The woman approaches him, healed, but afraid and trembling. The crowd is amazed and shocked when the child returns to life. Jesus has to prove that he has not done a trick by telling them to feed the child and prove to themselves that she really is alive once more.

 I hope that in your job, with your neighbors, in your life, you will pray to God each day for faith instead of fear as your motivation for living your life. We will experience fear. The point is not to be driven by it. Realize that the destructive forces around your life are small compared to God’s great power to protect you. And we have to live our lives according to the ways of Christ. And we must encourage our leaders to do the same. In these letters on war, I found one from Vietnam which seemed like a man who has tried to find a new way to live after that experience. I hope he has found peace from the Lord. In moments of terror and war, I truly think that the Bible verse that I have the hardest time with is Matthew 5:44, love your enemy.

I encourage you to take some part of tomorrow for prayer. This is a day for national as well as personal reflection. We need to all participate. And I hope that the Scriptures today give you new confidence to live life God’s way and expect God’s protection. And lastly, I hope that you will pray for the President and leaders of Congress and Disney and Youth With a Mission, that they will call America to live by its ideals instead of its fears. We are living in a defining moment for this nation. The wisdom or folly of our national life will probably be felt first in New York. Fear or Faith? Death or Life? Choose Life!