Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life! — A Sermon on Mark 2:18-22

Date: 2019-08-11
Title: Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life!
Scripture: Mark 2:18-22
Speaker: Rev. Ngeo Boon Lin

(Summary by Hilda)

Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins. Jesus began his ministry only after John was imprisoned by King Herod. Herod sought to marry his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, and John opposed it; for this John was imprisoned. Half of John’s disciples followed Jesus; the other half followed the Pharisees. According to the Law, Jews fasted once a year; the Pharisees made fasting a sign of piety, fasting twice a week. While fasting, they noticed that Jesus’s disciples were not fasting, and asked Jesus: “Why do your disciples not fast?” — accusing them of impiety.

Jesus replied with three parables: the bridegroom and the wedding companions; sewing a new patch on an old garment; new wine in new wineskins. He said that if you pour new wine into old wineskins, the wineskins burst — and both wine and wineskins are lost. New wine must go into new wineskins. The wineskins of old were animal skins; new wineskins were elastic, but old ones were brittle. As the new wine fermented and expanded, the old skin would split — and both wine and skin would be lost.

Through this Jesus called for change.

Jesus called Levi the tax collector to follow him, defying the religious view of tax collectors as traitors to the nation. He healed on the Sabbath, saying “the Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.” He broke through religious ceremony to meet human need.

Today’s Calling

Today, we are called to the same change. Love conquers all; only with love in the heart can we be invincible. Today’s violence comes because too much weight is placed on outcomes — willing to do anything for success. As Christians we may give our utmost effort, may stand up for goals, but the outcome we entrust entirely to God, because we trust that there is a best arrangement for all things. This is the spirit of living in the present — to do what should be done now, free from the pressure of caring about outcomes. Even if the world were to end tomorrow, we would still plant a tree today, because the future is not in our control — our responsibility is to do what should be done in this moment.

We do not seek to be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back — but we seek to make sure we are one of the straws. Whatever the outcome, we are at peace and full of faith, and at night we sleep peacefully. Peace be with you all.