Well I have to hand it to President Barrack Obama.  When it comes to preaching, he’s got the Law part down. 
I finally got a chance to watch the inaugural address online Tuesday evening.  President Obama didn’t pull any punches.  Frankly, some of the things he was saying were a bit of a buzzkill.  I just had to find out what they were saying in print, so I scrambled the next morning to find a place where there was still a New York Times available. 
The article on his address agreed with my impression, “Mr. Obama seemed to chastise the nation, quoting Scripture to caution that ‘the time has come to set aside childish things.’  It seemed a call to end an age of over consumption, and the presumption that America had a right to lead the world, a right that he reminded ‘must be earned.’” Truth is, this country is not the only nation that’s suffering “gathering clouds and raging storms.”   The world economy is hobbling, and that may be an understatement. 

• We see the Gaza Strip reeling from the wanton loss of life. 
• War continues in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• We hear reports of terrorism, people being persecuted, tortured, and trafficked.

Its true, this president, his fellow elected leaders…heck, our entire nation has some serious changes to make if we are going to do our part to confront the problems that surround us. 
The question is how?  How can we change?  Knowing what we know about the depth of human brokenness, what lasting effect will “Picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off and beginning the work building a new country” actually have?  The whole of President Obama’s inaugural address energized millions, but will it last?  Is this new president the one who instills lasting hope, or is it someone else?
In today’s gospel text, Mr. Mark continues to opt for “someone else.”  From the very beginning of this gospel, the evangelist ascribes a title to Jesus the world reserved for Caesar.  Emperors were called “Son of God,” not some homeless Jew from Nazareth. 
This evangelist doesn’t waste any time…next thing you hear God’s speaking - apparently to Jesus -  through the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.”

• Then there’s John,
• Then the Baptism
• The heavens part. 
• The Spirit goes in. 
• The voice.
• The Temptation…

And poof! Jesus is on his way, and what a Way it is.  To borrow from Shakespeare, “Why man, he doth bestride the world as a Colossus.”  He moves about Galilee preaching with impeccable brevity.  (Oh, if we were so lucky) “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news” 
Jesus is on the move.  He spots fishermen casting out nets at Lake Galilee, and he says “Come on!  I’ll make you to be fishers of people.”  We don’t even get a little internal deliberation.  No weighing of options.  They just follow. To another pair of fisherbrothers Jesus just calls…and they follow too. It’s crazy stuff.   Jesus doesn’t go into his credentials.  He makes no campaign promises.  He doesn’t even entice with amenities.  With a strident economy of words, this evangelist cuts to the chase: 
God’s time of salvation is now.  God’s reign has drawn near in Jesus.  God’s prepared his way, and God has put the Holy Spirit into God’s beloved.  Boddabing, baddabang, baddaboom. 

• It’s this one who has true authority. 
• It’s this one who begins a new age. 
• It’s this one who leads followers on a ministry of sure and lasting hope: a ministry that seriously engages a despairing world.

For our 21st century ears, Jesus’ alarming brevity yet penetrating authority is startling to say the least.  I’ve yet to hear a preacher who can stand up, say as little as he did and get such amazing results.  Two young men drop their nets and leave their livelihood.  And as for the other two…the way they leave their dad standing, I’m reminded of that country song about taking this job and shoving it.  Today’s gospel text is startling, sure…but wow, is it energizing! 
Jesus goes through Galilee, and you can’t help but notice the inexplicable change in life as these early-first Century Palestinian citizens knew it.  The change didn’t come through proper means.  It didn’t even come through some grand inauguration.  Jesus means are as much in violation of proper order as the results violate rationality. 
The reign of God Mark speaks of isn’t ushered in by Jesus’ hearers repentance and belief.  God’s reign comes because Jesus comes, and because Jesus comes God’s reign is up close and personal.  The fishermen don’t drop everything to follow Jesus because their good enough, smart enough, and doggonit, people like them.  They follow because it’s Jesus who calls.  And its in their following that these disciples learn to go where Jesus goes, to teach as Jesus teaches, to restore as Jesus restores, to suffer as Jesus suffered.
Christians throughout history have felt threatened by persecution, tempted by false messiahs, and distracted by misplaced priorities. The church both in Mark’s time and ours, needs to be reminded what true authority is and where true authority resides. It resides in Jesus, our God, who is always out in front with us in tow showing  us how to repent and proclaim call and gather, fish and mend.
This season of Epiphany is God’s time of manifestation and appearance during which we are blessed, this day, to learn who Jesus is and what Jesus does.  He is God’s son, the beloved endowed with the Holy Spirit and with the authority to commission us with a splash, a Word, and a taste in this pregnant time of God’s reign drawn near.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are members of the City of God where only one can sit on the throne.  But we also travel on streets of the cities in this world.  On our journey of life together as the Church, God calls us to recognize and honor the loves bound up in other communities.  So long as those other communities remain secondary to our primary heavenly citizenship. 
We know only one who can pick us up by the bootstraps and dust us off.  That one is Christ.  Whether during “rising tides of prosperity, still waters of peace, gathering clouds or raging storms,” we are called to live and labor not for ourselves alone, but for our neighbors, to proclaim the good news of Christ in word and deed, to serve all people according to the example of our Risen Lord who leads us. 
This is the call we have received when we receive the gift of faith through the waters of Baptism.  This is the call God gave us when we were bound to our crucified and risen Lord.  In the words of the psalmist, “In God is our deliverance and our honor; God is our strong rock and our refuge.”  Put your trust in God always, dear congregation, and pour out your hearts before the one who poured himself out for us:  our rock, our refuge…Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God.  AMEN.