WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.140 Many years ago, I was told that if you're ever giving a talk of any kind whatsoever, 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:12.179 you must be really careful in choosing your opening lines. That's because listeners will 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:17.219 decide within the first few seconds whether they're going to either keep listening or switch 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:23.600 off. And ever since we've been doing these online services, I've been even more aware that you 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:31.600 really can quite literally switch off. Are you still listening? Good. I mention this because 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:40.020 in today's reading, the opening verses of Mark's gospel, Mark starts by saying the beginning of the 00:00:40.020 --> 00:00:48.140 good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark, whose account of Jesus is the shortest and most 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:54.160 succinct of the four gospel writers, has a style that is notoriously to the point. His narrative 00:00:54.160 --> 00:01:01.679 is fast moving as he wastes no time telling the story of Jesus. That's all in great contrast with 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:08.620 Matthew and Luke who begin their stories with accounts of the birth of Jesus, and John who 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:15.859 opens with a deep reflection on how Jesus is the incarnate Son of God. But for all his succinctness, 00:01:15.859 --> 00:01:23.340 even Mark begins his story of Jesus by going way, way back hundreds of years to the prophecy of Isaiah, 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:31.039 and then telling us about how John the Baptist prepares the way. You see, Mark knew, and we need 00:01:31.039 --> 00:01:39.879 to know this too, Mark knew that when we begin to hear that story of Jesus, there is so, so much more 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:46.879 to it and first meets the eye. We need to keep on listening. We need to keep on finding out more and 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:55.719 more. On the 18th of June 1815, the Battle of Waterloo was over. The British had won. Wellington 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:02.280 needed to send news of his victory to England. His men set up a series of line of sight communication 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:09.039 stations, and a coded message was sent. But only the first part of the message got through. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:14.599 Halfway through sending the message, the fog set in and the signalers couldn't see each other. 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:23.159 All the English received was the terrible news that said, Wellington defeated. It was only later, 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:29.359 as the fog lifted, that the whole message could get through, which was not Wellington defeated, 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:39.800 but Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. If you switch off too quickly, you miss the message. 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:46.379 Now, there would have been many who would have taken one look at John the Baptist and just written him 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:53.340 off as some weird eccentric preacher. And many responded to Jesus in much the same way. And of 00:02:53.340 --> 00:03:01.280 course, 2000 years on, many people do the same now. But isn't it intriguing how 2000 years on, 00:03:01.799 --> 00:03:08.219 we're still talking about him? My message this morning is simple, and it's this. 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:16.099 However much we think we know about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to keep listening. 00:03:17.099 --> 00:03:23.659 We mustn't switch off or we'll miss something very important. When Mark opens his account of Jesus 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:31.079 by saying, this is the beginning of the gospel, he really means it. Our first hearing of it is just 00:03:31.079 --> 00:03:37.019 the beginning. And you can never get so much of it that you've heard it all. Let me break that down a bit. 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:44.620 First, at any given time, there will be vast numbers of people who will say they know about Jesus 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:49.800 and they like what he stands for. But they're just not that sure about whether they want to go so far 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:56.080 as to say that they would confidently regard him as the son of God. They might say that they like his 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:02.819 teachings. And in that regard, they would say that they uphold Christian values. But they wouldn't feel 00:04:02.819 --> 00:04:09.420 that they could go so far as to call themselves Christian believers as such. Now, to anyone in that 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:15.439 position, I would simply say that while Christian faith does involve belief and of course involves 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:22.800 values, it's more than that. Essentially, it's about relationship. It's about knowing Jesus Christ 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:28.379 as a real living presence in your life. For example, you could tell me all about a friend of yours that 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:33.899 I've never met, to the point that I know quite a lot about them. I could have all sorts of information 00:04:33.899 --> 00:04:40.500 about what they're like and what they stand for. But I won't really have an understanding of what 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:46.839 that person is or who that person is until I've met them and experienced their friendship for myself. 00:04:48.219 --> 00:04:54.679 That's what Christian faith is, friendship with Christ. It's freely available to anyone who wants it. 00:04:54.919 --> 00:05:02.299 But if we do want that for ourselves, we've got to keep listening and keep listening and keep listening. 00:05:03.899 --> 00:05:10.259 Secondly, there will be a great many of us who do regard ourselves as Christian believers and have 00:05:10.259 --> 00:05:16.199 done so for many years. And if we're in that position, it's especially vital that we remember 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:23.759 the importance of ongoing listening. There's a danger that can become more acute the longer we've been 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:33.139 Christians. I'm talking about our perceived familiarity. Over time, we can dry up spiritually because 00:05:33.139 --> 00:05:37.779 the more we pick up our Bibles, pick up our hymn books, pick up our prayer books, 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:44.699 we can start to kid ourselves that by now there's not a lot we haven't discovered already. 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:53.219 The good news is that's total nonsense. No matter how much experience of faith you've had, 00:05:53.779 --> 00:06:00.300 you can't exhaust the Spirit of God. You never can. There's always, always, always more. And it's 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:06.379 always better, always bigger, always wider, always deeper, and always richer than we've previously 00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:09.420 encountered. So keep listening. 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:18.740 On Wednesday morning, I picked up a headline piece of news. I didn't get anything other than the headline, 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:25.300 but the headline was enough. The headline was simply that a COVID vaccine had at last been approved, 00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:33.040 and that the mass rollout is about to commence. Now, when I heard that headline, I suddenly found 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:38.740 myself asking a lot of questions. Like everyone else, I suddenly wanted to know more details and to 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:45.639 find out and work out the implications of it. But in a sense, the headline was all I needed. 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:52.560 Something really life-changing for the world had just been announced. It was good news indeed. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:59.980 When Mark says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he means the beginning of the good news. 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:07.319 It's his headline. Working out what that headline means for us is an invitation and a challenge that 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:15.300 can and should take place every day for the rest of our lives. As we unpack it, our faith becomes more 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:21.920 deeply rooted. We get to know God more. We discover new riches. We become stronger and better equipped 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:31.100 for life. And we grow. It's what we call discipleship. It's good news. And we should expect to be taken by 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:40.759 surprise by it more and more because it only gets better. So keep listening. Keep listening.