Tawa Baptist

Both / And

Scripture: Mark 6:6b-13

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Rejection and expansion
  • Powerful and vulnerable
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some things in life are both/and, while other things are either/or. Some things go together and other things don’t.

For example: bread and butter, love and marriage, worship and sacrifice, breathing and singing, creativity and mess. These sorts of things are both/and, they go together.   

Then there are those things which are either/or, things that should never really be put together. Like ice-cream and vegemite…

Now, at this point, some of you may be thinking, ‘Wait a second. This sounds familiar. I’m pretty sure we heard this last Sunday.’

Well, fear not. This is not ground hog day. You are not going to get the same message two weeks in a row.

Last week we heard about the either/or of Jesus’ earthly mission. How Jesus’ new way of doing things cannot be patched on to the old Jewish ceremonial law. This morning we hear about the both/and of Jesus’ mission. 

Today marks the third week of the annual Tranzsend prayer and self-denial campaign. Tranzsend is the sending and resourcing arm of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society. For the three Sundays of the self-denial campaign we have looked at different aspects of Jesus’ mission from the gospel of Mark.

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 6, page 53, near the back of your pew Bibles. In this reading Jesus sends out 12 of his disciples to help him in his mission work of preaching and healing. From Mark 6, verse 6b we read…

Then Jesus went to the villages around there, teaching the people. 7 He called the twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two. He gave them authority over the evil spirits 8 and ordered them, “Don’t take anything with you on the trip except a walking stick—no bread, no beggar’s bag, no money in your pockets. 9 Wear sandals, but don’t carry an extra shirt.” 10 He also said, “Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that place. 11 If you come to a town where people do not welcome you or will not listen to you, leave it and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a warning to them!”

12 So they went out and preached that people should turn away from their sins. 13 They drove out many demons, and rubbed olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In this Scripture passage we note two both/ands. Jesus’ mission involves both rejection & expansion and Jesus’ missionaries are both powerful & vulnerable.

Rejection & expansion:

Has anyone here not heard of the name Google? [Wait] That’s what I thought.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin were still studying at Stanford University when they tried to sell their idea for $1,000,000 to George Bell, the CEO of Excite.

George Bell rejected their offer. Five months later two other companies agreed to inject $25,000,000 into Google, not as a buy-out but simply as an investment. The rest is history. Now Google has a market value of over one trillion dollars.   

Van Gogh, a now famous and celebrated painter, faced a lot of rejection in his lifetime. He didn’t start painting until he was 27 years old and, while he was alive, he only sold one piece for very little money.

Van Gogh’s work was often criticised for being too dark but despite the lack of encouragement he kept painting, eventually producing over 900 pieces. His work wasn’t really appreciated until decades after his death. In 2017 a Van Gogh painting sold for $111 million.

In 1919 Walt Disney was fired from one of his first animation jobs. The editor said he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. Walt responded to that rejection by starting his own animation studio. It went bankrupt in 1923. But that did not deter him. Walt and his brother moved to Hollywood and started Disney Brothers Studios which is pretty big now.

Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, was fired from a number of jobs before he started cooking chicken at the age of 40. It took him over 10 years to perfect his secret recipe. He was rejected many times before finding a business partner. Now KFC is one of the world’s largest restaurant chains.

Stephen King, the famous author, struggled to write his first novel (Carrie) while living in a caravan and teaching English. That first book was rejected by 30 publishers before it finally went to print. Since then he has published more than 50 novels.

I could go on but the point is, each of these people persevered. They were not deterred by rejection and their work and enterprise eventually flourished. Their stories show us that rejection and expansion are not necessarily either/or, they can be both/and.

Our Bible reading today describes the expansion of Jesus’ mission, as the Lord sends out 12 of his disciples to preach and heal in the surrounding villages of Galilee. But immediately before today’s passage, Jesus was rejected by the people of his home town of Nazareth. From verse 1 of Mark 6 we read…

Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown, followed by his disciples. 2 On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? 3 Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him.

4 Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.”

5 He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.

Despite the rejection he faced, Jesus’ belief in himself and his mission was stronger than the opinion of others and he did not dwell on it or take it too personally. He figured the problem was with their perception, not with him. People are sometimes blind to what is staring them in the face.

In any case, Jesus responded to that rejection by empowering his disciples and expanding his mission.

Verse 12 tells us the disciples went out and preached that people should turn away from their sins. Their message was quite challenging. No one likes to be criticised. It was inevitable that some would reject their word.

With this in mind Jesus tells his disciples, in verse 11, how they should deal with rejection saying,

“If you come to a town where people do not welcome you or will not listen to you, leave it and shake the dust off your feet…”

In other words, don’t let it get to you. Don’t waste your time banging your head against a brick wall. Shake it off and move on without making too much of a fuss. There will be other people and places who do accept the message.

Rosalie Macgeorge, New Zealand’s first Baptist missionary faced some rejection in her work in India. It was tough going. While some did not mind her Bible teaching there were others who asked her, ‘Do you intend to teach that Jesus is the Son of God?’ When she said ‘Yes,’ they said point blank, ‘We don’t want you.’

The men grew noisy and vehement.  But Rosalie quietly and bravely held her ground. She said a Bengali hymn and gave out tracts, offered to come into the homes and talk to the women if they invited her.  During this tense moment, Rosalie asked to be allowed through the crowd and walked away quietly, followed by the children.

Soon she had permission to enter 30 homes weekly where there were about three women in each. God’s Spirit is able to turn rejection into expansion.

All of this is easier said than done. Rejection still hurts. Some personality types can more easily shake it off and move on. Others are more prone to brooding and feeling defeated. This may be one reason why Jesus sent the disciples out in twos, rather than on their own. Having someone beside you helps to remove the sting of rejection and keeps you both on track.

So that’s our first both/and. Jesus’ mission involves both rejection and expansion. Our next both/and seems just as unlikely. The disciples were both powerful and vulnerable at the same time.   

Powerful & vulnerable:

Some of you may be in to superhero movies. The thing with superheroes is they each have a special power, whether that’s x-ray vision or flying or running really fast or invisibility or super strength or whatever.

There’s a scene in the movie Justice League when the Flash asks Bruce Wayne (aka: Batman) what his superpower is and Bruce says, “I’m rich.” Power comes in a variety forms.

Whether you are a DC fan or a Marvel fan, probably at some point you have dreamt of having a superpower.

In verse 7 we read that Jesus gave the twelve authority (or power) over the evil spirits. It was like Jesus shared some of his superpowers with his disciples. Or to use another metaphor, it was like Jesus was the sheriff and he deputised his disciples by giving them a spiritual badge and gun.

Then in verse 13 we are told the disciples drove out many demons and healed many people who were sick. Clearly the disciples were powerful. But it was a power borrowed from Jesus.

Acts of power in mission can come in a variety of forms, not always miraculous. Quite often mission power comes in the form of some special knowledge. Missionaries often serve as teachers or doctors or nurses or builders because these professions carry the power of knowledge to help people.

Rosalie Macgeorge’s main superpower was teaching English. She was also gifted in working with children. But on one occasion she saved a child from a snake bite through her quick thinking and practical first aid.    

Sometimes when I’m at the supermarket buying groceries, I get an electric shock picking canned goods off the shelf. Not sure why that is. I guess there’s some power that needs to be earthed and I’m effectively the earth wire. Happens on trampolines too.

If power is not earthed with a low resistance wire, the one touching the power source is vulnerable to getting a shock. In order for power to be safe it needs to be earthed.     

Jesus’ approach was very down to earth. Jesus’ instructions to his disciples, in verses 8-10, provide an earth. They keep the disciples’ feet on the ground…  

“Don’t take anything with you on the trip except a walking stick—no bread, no beggar’s bag, no money in your pockets. 9 Wear sandals, but don’t carry an extra shirt.” 10 He also said, “Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that place.

Jesus is basically telling his disciples to travel light. Take only what you need and rely on the hospitality of strangers. This is not a rule to be followed for all time irrespective of the circumstances. No. These are specific instructions for a specific situation. This is a short term mission trip in a cultural context quite different from our own. Later, in the gospels Jesus tells his disciples to kit up and be self-reliant because people are not going to be friendly to them. [1] 

Thinking of the context of Mark 6, in that culture it was not the responsibility of the travelers to find their own accommodation, like it is today. Rather, it was the responsibility of the village to find accommodation for the visitor. If the village failed to provide hospitality to those in need, then it brought shame on the people in that village.

Nevertheless, there is a certain powerlessness or vulnerability to Jesus’ approach here. The disciples are being sent out into the world without any money or food or motel bookings.

Jesus wants his disciples to trust themselves to God and to the goodness of those they visit. In this way they are showing faith in humanity. Or said another way, they are modelling the example they want others to follow. Jesus wants people to respond to him and his message with openness and trust.

The disciples are to stay in the same house until they leave. This is about showing respect to the host and not dishonouring them by leaving if you get a better offer.

Living with the locals also helped the missionary disciples to get to know the people of that place and their ways. There is nothing like living with real people (as opposed to staying in a hotel) to keep one earthed and grounded.

Rosalie Macgeorge took a similar approach during her time as a missionary in India. She chose to live with a Hindu family and earned her keep by teaching some of them English and other subjects. This enabled her to understand the culture more.

The word vulnerability is interesting. It derives from the Latin word vulnus which means wound. To be vulnerable is to leave oneself open to injury. It may also mean letting people see our wounds. When you let people see your wounds (your vulnerability) this helps to create trust.

Of course, being vulnerable requires some wisdom. You don’t make yourself vulnerable to everyone and showing people your wounds is not normally the first thing you do in building a relationship. Share, don’t scare.  

Again, Rosalie Macgeorge’s story is instructive. Rosalie’s witness was most powerful when she was vulnerable with an illness and living with a Hindu family. One evening a small boy peered into Rosalie’s room and saw her praying to her God. When Rosalie asked her house owner for some goat’s milk she carefully checked that the woman’s child would not receive less milk because of her. The boy saw this and later, as a grown man, became a Christian.   

Henri Nouwen used to talk about the followers of Jesus being wounded healers.

Nouwen writes: “The great illusion of leadership is to think that humanity can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.” When people have seen the scars you got from being in the desert, but also that you survived and found a way out, that speaks volumes.

If we try to separate vulnerability from power, it doesn’t usually end well. Straight after this account of Jesus empowering his disciples and sending them out in vulnerability we read the account of king Herod killing John the Baptist.

Herod had power but he wasn’t prepared to be vulnerable, at least not in the right way. Sadly, as a consequence, John lost his head.    

Conclusion:

What is your superpower? What special gift has Jesus shared with you to help others? And what is your vulnerability? What is the wound that keeps you earthed (grounded) so that others don’t get a shock when they touch your power?

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Have you had an experience of being rejected (perhaps because of your faith)? What happened? How did you feel? How did you respond? Would you do anything differently? How did God expand (or bring good out of) that experience?
  • Why did Jesus instruct his disciples not to take money or food or an extra coat?
  • If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? Why? What power (or special ability/gift) has God given you? How can (or do) you use this power?
  • What is your point of vulnerability? What is the wound that keeps you earthed so that others don’t get a shock when they touch your power?
  • When is it appropriate to make oneself vulnerable? When is it not appropriate?
  • Today’s message touches on two both/ands of Jesus’ mission. What other both/ands can you see in these verses?  

[1] Refer Luke 22:36

Tawa Baptist

Either / Or

Scripture: Mark 2:18-22

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Fasting v feasting
  • Fixed v flexible
  • Ritual v renewal
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some things in life are both/and, while other things are either/or. Some things go together and other things don’t.

For example: bread and butter, love and marriage, worship and sacrifice, breathing and singing, creativity and mess. These sorts of things are both/and, they go together.   

Then there are those things which are either/or, things that should never really be put together.

Like ice-cream and vegemite, drinking and driving, children and violence, fasting and feasting, love and apathy. These sorts of things are either/or, they don’t go together.   

Today marks the second week of the annual Tranzsend prayer and self-denial campaign. Tranzsend is the sending and resourcing arm of the New Zealand Baptist missionary society. Next week, on the 28 March, we plan to collect a special offering to support the work of New Zealand Baptist missionaries.

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 2, verse 18, page 47 near the back of your pew Bibles. For the three Sundays of the self-denial campaign we plan to look at different aspects of Jesus’ mission from the gospel of Mark. Last Sunday we heard about 24 hours in Jesus’ mission, from Mark 1, where Jesus spent a day communicating and caring for people as well as communing with God.

In this morning’s passage we read about the newness Jesus brings. The new way of Jesus is an either/or thing (not both/and). The newness Jesus brings cannot be mixed with the old ways. From Mark 2, verse 18, we read…

18 On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and asked him, “Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?”

19 Jesus answered, “Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that. 20 But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

21 “No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole. 22 Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Mark chapter 2 deals with a series of controversies and criticisms Jesus faced as he went about his mission. At the beginning of chapter 2 Jesus is criticized for forgiving a man’s sins. Then he calls Levi (a tax collector) to be one of his disciples and is criticized for eating with sinners and outcasts. In today’s reading Jesus’ disciples get some flack for not fasting. And in the verses that follow Jesus’ disciples are criticized for plucking a handful of grain on the Sabbath.

Clearly Jesus’ approach to life and mission was different to that of his contemporaries. Jesus’ way did not fit with the traditional approach of that time. Jesus’ response is not to criticize the old traditional way. Rather, Jesus defends his disciples by affirming the new way. 

In the passage we just read, Jesus offers three parables or metaphors to make the point that his new way cannot be mixed with the old way. You don’t mix sadness with a wedding. You don’t patch an old garment with new cloth and you don’t put new wine into old wineskins. Each of these things is either/or.

This is not to say that the old should be done away with completely. It just doesn’t work to mix the two, that’s all.

Fasting v feasting:

We have had three weddings in the church so far this year. Weddings are a time for joy. In fact, the person who officiates at a wedding is called a marriage celebrant, from the word celebration. That’s because a wedding ceremony is a celebration of love and commitment and family.

Even though the first meal after a couple are married is usually dinner, it is called a breakfast because a wedding marks a new beginning, a new day and indeed a new covenant.

In the first of our three metaphors today, Jesus responds to the question of why his disciples do not fast. To fast, in this context, means to go without food. The Jewish Law only required people to fast one day in a year, on the day of atonement. [1] But over the centuries some of those who were more zealous or strict had volunteered to fast two days a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. This kind of fast was not for 24 hours, it was just during the daytime.

The purpose of their fast was to express mourning over Israel’s sins and grief over the fact that the longed for salvation of Israel (predicted by the prophets) had not appeared. [2] The fasts were a protest, a call to repentance.

“The Pharisees had assumed that the way to hasten and prepare for the coming of the new age was through stricter adherence to the Old Covenant. They did not seem to see that the coming of the new age was a gift of God’s grace.” [3]

In verse 19 Jesus says: “Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that.”

In this little parable Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom and his disciples as the guests. Jesus’ coming, his work on earth, is like a wedding in that it celebrates God’s love. It marks the beginning of something new, a new day, a new family and a new covenant. In and through Jesus, the promise of salvation (predicted by the prophets) is fulfilled.

Jesus’ appearance was cause for celebration, not cause for sadness. Feasting was a more appropriate response to Jesus’ coming than fasting. The meals the disciples enjoyed with Jesus were like a foreshadowing of the future heavenly banquet.

We might not think anything of it and perhaps it went over the heads of Jesus’ questioners at the time, but it was quite a thing for Jesus to refer to himself as ‘the bridegroom’. This is a title used of the Lord God (Yahweh) in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus was aligning himself very closely with God here.

The other thing that is a bit shocking are Jesus’ words in verse 20…

But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Normally the wedding guests leave when the party is over and the groom gets on with married life. But in this scenario the groom is taken away from the wedding celebration by force. There is a strong hint of violence here. Jesus is anticipating his arrest, suffering and death.

The point with the wedding parable is that Jesus’ coming is a time for feasting, not fasting. It is a time for gladness, not sadness. A time for celebration, not mourning. So the disciples’ behaviour is entirely appropriate to the occasion. In fact, it would be rude and offensive if Jesus’ disciples did fast while he was still with them.             

After having answered the question about fasting, Jesus then goes on to tell two more parables which address the bigger issue of the relationship between Jewish ceremonial practice and the arrival of the kingdom of God. [4]

Fixed or flexible:

If you have ever had a flat battery in your car, then you may have used jumper leads to get your car going again. The trick with jumper leads is to match the positive terminal on the donor battery to the positive terminal on the receiving battery.

Likewise, the negative terminal on one battery needs to be matched to the negative terminal on the other battery. So you match like to like. Positive to positive and negative to negative. Don’t get your wires crossed or sparks will fly.

In verse 21 Jesus says: “No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole.

The old coat would have done its shrinking but the new cloth still had flexibility in it. Why waste new cloth on an old coat? Just as you do with jumper leads and car batteries, match like with like. Old to old. New to new.

I have here in my hand a rubber band. In its relaxed state it is about 6 or 7 cm’s long. How far do you think I can stretch this rubber band? Anyone want to take a punt?

Who thinks 10 centimeters?

What about 20 centimeters?

Any takers for 30 centimeters or more?

Well, let’s find out. Don’t try this at home by the way.

[Stretch the rubber band as far as it will go]  

That stretched probably about 35 centimeters I reckon.

In verse 22 Jesus gives another pithy little parable which is related to the one before it. Jesus says: “Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”

The wineskin parable needs a bit of explanation. Back in the day people did not store their wine in glass bottles. They stored it in leather animal skins that had been sewn together. You had to put new wine into new wineskins because the new wine gave off gas as it fermented and the gas caused the wineskin to stretch and expand.

If the wineskin was old, it had already stretched and had no give left in it, like our rubber band at full extension. New wine which was still fermenting would burst the old wine skin and both would be ruined. New wine needed a fresh skin which was supple and flexible and still had some stretch in it.   

In both the parable of the cloth and the wineskin, the old coat and the old wineskin are fixed, while the new cloth and the new wineskin are flexible.

The new wine and new cloth that Jesus brings require a certain flexibility or elasticity of mind.

To translate this into the context of the first century, Jesus was basically saying: the old things of the Jewish ceremonial law (things like animal sacrifice, clean and unclean foods and male circumcision), no longer fitted with the new covenant and the new day that Jesus was ushering in.

Jesus was doing something new which could not be patched on to the old traditions. If we attempt to put the new wine of Jesus’ teaching into the old wineskin of Jewish ceremonial law, it just won’t work.     

This is not to imply that Jesus came to do away with the law. No. Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses. So, if the baby is the moral law and the bath water is the ceremonial law, then we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. We still need to obey God’s moral law.

Faith is still what saves and God still looks for faithfulness. But the new wine of righteousness that Jesus calls for is greater than the old righteousness of the law.   

If you were here a couple of weeks ago you might remember the story of Rosalie Macgeorge, New Zealand’s first Baptist missionary. I imagine it took some real flexibility and elasticity of mind for the church of the 1880’s to send a woman as a missionary from New Zealand to India. 

Indeed, Rosalie herself stretched things on occasion by refusing a salary and by publicly saying, at a missionary conference of Baptists in Bengal, that if a missionary was convinced of trying a new method from the others, she should be allowed to move to a branch station and do so.

Christian missionaries can never afford to be too rigid or fixed in their ways. Missionaries are often required to be flexible and adapt to the changing environment they find themselves in.

Ritual v renewal:

So far this morning we have talked about the either/or dichotomy between fasting and feasting, and between being fixed and being flexible. Today’s Scripture reading also touches on the relationship between ritual and renewal. 

Ritual and renewal is not always a hard and fast dichotomy. It is not necessarily either/or. Ritual often provides a helpful transition to renewal.

Rituals tend to be external, physical type things like fasting. Giving up something during Lent can be helpful to your faith. It can help you to identify with Jesus and his suffering. But when Easter Sunday comes and Lent finishes you can stop the ritual of fasting.

Communion is another ritual for Christians. Communion helps to reminds us of Jesus’ presence. But when the Kingdom of God is realised in its fullness there won’t be the need for the ritual of communion because we will have the reality of Jesus’ presence. 

Not all rituals are religious though. Scanning QR codes has become something of a public health ritual for us over the past year. As long as COVID is a threat, we need to keep up the ritual of scanning QR codes. But one day, when we have immunity and COVID is no longer a threat, we will hopefully be able to do away with the ritual of scanning. 

Rituals serve a good purpose for a period of time but they are not an end in themselves. Rituals point to a reality beyond themselves, the reality of renewal.

Last year our national leader, Charles and some others came up with this descriptor of the Baptist churches of New Zealand…

 “We are a collective of faith communities bringing gospel renewal to people and places within our local neighbourhoods.”

This statement describes who we are and what we are about. The part in the middle there, about bringing gospel renewal to people and places, seems to be a pretty good description of Jesus’ mission.

Gospel is a word that simply means ‘good news’. The gospel also refers to the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) which tell of Jesus’ earthly mission.

When we read the gospels we get a picture of Jesus bringing the good news of renewal to people and places wherever he went. Jesus came to make all things new. Gospel renewal happens in all sorts of ways, through Jesus’ work of healing and setting free people free and forgiveness and restorative justice and so on. 

There is a wonderful scene in the movie Forrest Gump, where a young Forrest is running away from some bullies. The doctor had prescribed special braces (or calipers) for Forrest’s legs. These braces were helpful for a while. They made his legs and back stronger. But there came a point when they actually got in the way.

In the scene from the movie, Forrest is making slow progress in the leg braces, trying to get away from his tormentors. It was an either/or scenario. Either, Forrest kept the leg braces on and got overtaken and beaten up. Or, he got rid of the braces and outran the kids chasing him.  

As Forrest stretches out his legs and begins to run faster, the steel braces fall apart and Forrest is running free. (‘Run Forrest, run’.) Forrest doesn’t need the braces after that.

The rituals of the Jewish ceremonial law, like fasting and animal sacrifice and observing special holy days and only eating kosher food, were like Forrest’s braces on the legs of Israel. They were necessary for a time. They provided strength and support. But there came a point in God’s plan of salvation when they got in the way. Jesus’ coming brought renewal so that his disciples could run free.

In Acts 10 we read how God gave the apostle Peter a vision of all kinds of ritually unclean foods with a voice from heaven saying, ‘Get up Peter; kill and eat.’ At first Peter resisted the idea. ‘Certainly not Lord! I have never eaten anything ritually unclean or defiled.’ But Peter received this vision three times.

Then some men came knocking, asking Peter to come with them to the home of a Gentile called Cornelius. Normally Jews would not eat with Gentiles because it made them ceremonially unclean and they couldn’t participate in worship. But the vision he received unshackled Peter from the leg braces of ceremonial ritual, so he was free to preach the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles.   

Sometimes the work of mission requires us to move beyond our set rituals in order to find and bring renewal. It’s not that rituals are bad. They are good up to a point. But, if Jesus is going to use us to bring gospel renewal, we need to have some flexibility.

Now when I say, we need some flexibility, I am talking about backbone flexibility, as opposed to being a jelly fish or a brick wall. In the process of bringing gospel renewal there are some things we should not compromise on. We can be flexible with rituals up to a point but moral stuff is not negotiable.

The gospel renewal that Jesus brings is a renewal of the heart. A renewal from the inside out. Jesus’ new way is less concerned with the externals of relating with God and more concerned with one’s heart attitude to God and neighbour.

Or to put it other terms, with Jesus’ new way, character is more important than ritual. Quality of relationship is more important than the number of activities or programmes we are involved in.

God longs for a heart that celebrates his presence by responding to him and caring for others. [5] That’s the kind of gospel renewal that Jesus brings. It is the sort of work our Tranzsend missionaries are involved in and it is the sort of work that Jesus calls the local church to be involved in too.

Conclusion:

One last thing to say. Gospel renewal, and in particular the renewal of the human heart, is often a long and painful experience. We need to trust ourselves to God’s Spirit and we need to have grace for ourselves in the process.

May the Spirit of Jesus help us to walk in freedom and in righteousness.    

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is the main point of Jesus’ three metaphors (or parables) in Mark 2:18-22?
  • Why does Jesus use the image of a wedding feast to describe his coming and mission? (What does this image show us about Jesus’ mission?)
  • What do the twin parables of the cloth and wineskins show us about the relationship between Jesus’ new way and the old ways of the Jewish ceremonial law?
  • Discuss / reflect on the relationship between ritual and renewal. What rituals do you practice? Are these helpful to you? When is it better for ritual to give way to renewal?
  • What might ‘gospel renewal’ look like in your life, in your home and in your neighbourhood?  

[1] Leviticus 16:29

[2] Refer Larry Hurtado’s commentary on Mark, pages 45-46.

[3] Refer Ben Witherington III’s commentary on Mark, page 127.

[4] Refer Donald English’s commentary on Mark, page 71.

[5] Refer Darrell Bock, NIVAC on Mark, page 173.

Tawa Baptist

24 Hours

Scripture: Mark 1:21-39

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Communicating with confidence
  • Caring with wisdom
  • Communing with God
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

There are 24 hours in a day. That’s 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds.

How do you spend that time?

The answer will differ from person to person and from day to day of course but if we say the average person works 8 hours, sleeps for 8 hours, spends about 2 hours eating & drinking, around 2 hours shopping or doing housework, maybe 30 minutes to an hour on personal care (depending how long you take in the shower and how many times you have to go to the toilet), and say 30 minutes to an hour travelling places. Then that leaves maybe 2-3 hours of spare time. The remains of the day.

Today marks the beginning of the annual Tranzsend prayer and self-denial campaign. Tranzsend is the sending and resourcing arm of the New Zealand Baptist missionary society. In two weeks’ time, on the 28 March, we plan to collect a special offering to support the work of New Zealand Baptist missionaries. On the table in the foyer are some A5 sized brochures explaining a little about Tranzsend, with a detachable bookmark to remind us to pray for our mission workers. You are welcome to take one per household after the service.

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 1, verse 21, page 45 near the back of your pew Bibles. For the three Sundays of the self-denial campaign we plan to look at different aspects of Jesus’ mission from the gospel of Mark. In this morning’s message we read how Jesus spent 24 hours, one day, near the beginning of his ministry. From Mark 1, verse 21, we read…

21 Jesus and his disciples came to the town of Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught, for he wasn’t like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.

23 Just then a man with an evil spirit in him came into the synagogue and screamed, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are—you are God’s holy messenger!”

25 Jesus ordered the spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of the man!”

26 The evil spirit shook the man hard, gave a loud scream, and came out of him. 27 The people were all so amazed that they started saying to one another, “What is this? Is it some kind of new teaching? This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits, and they obey him!”

28 And so the news about Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the province of Galilee.

29 Jesus and his disciples, including James and John, left the synagogue and went straight to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and as soon as Jesus arrived, he was told about her. 31 He went to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them.

32 After the sun had set and evening had come, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had demons. 33 All the people of the town gathered in front of the house. 34 Jesus healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases and drove out many demons. He would not let the demons say anything, because they knew who he was.

35 Very early the next morning, long before daylight, Jesus got up and left the house. He went out of the town to a lonely place, where he prayed. 36 But Simon and his companions went out searching for him, 37 and when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

38 But Jesus answered, “We must go on to the other villages around here. I have to preach in them also, because that is why I came.”

39 So he travelled all over Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

I’m not sure this was a typical day for Jesus but it was certainly a full day. At a guess he might have spent about 6 hours communicating with people, maybe 6 hours caring for people and probably around 6 hours communing with God. Which left him with roughly 6 hours for everything else, like eating, sleeping, walking, washing and toileting. 

It’s impossible to be certain about these numbers but what we do know for sure is there was no screen time in Jesus’ day.

I don’t hold this pattern up as an example for us to follow necessarily. Most days we should be aiming for more than 3 or 4 hours sleep. If you tried to follow Jesus’ example in Mark 1 every day you would soon burn out.

The point is, Jesus’ mission appears to have consisted of three main things: communicating with people, caring for people and communing with God. First let us consider Jesus’ communication. Jesus communicated with confidence.

Communicating with confidence:

When I pack the car to go away on holiday I always put the larger, less flexible, items in first. So the suitcases and chilli bin go in before anything else. If I can get the suitcases in, then I have confidence I can fit everything else in as well. Shoes and sleeping bags and raincoats and miscellaneous stuff like that can squeeze in the corners and gaps.

Communicating is like packing a car. Some topics are more important than others and if they are left unsaid that’s like leaving the suitcase of essential items behind. But once you have said the big stuff, the stuff that is weighing heavy on your mind, then you can have confidence that the other things will fit as well. The less bulky topics of conversation can be fitted in around the main suitcases.

There may be something important your family needs to discuss. You don’t try talking about those big issues when you are in a rush trying to get everyone off to school in the morning. You wait until a time when you can all sit down together, around the table at dinner, to talk things through in an unhurried way.

By the same token there are often little gaps in the day when you are walking or driving somewhere and are able to say something small but significant. How was your day at school? How was that meeting at work? Do we need milk? Life has felt quite full lately. Shall we try and get away this weekend?

I remember the day Robyn and I were married. We were being driven by a friend of my grandfather’s, Mr Ken Pike. Ken was a lovely guy and he used the time to make conversation with us. One of the things he said was, ‘Never let the sun go down on an argument.’ In other words, make it a priority to communicate. Don’t let the seed of bitterness or resentment take hold. 

A big part of Jesus’ mission was to deliver a message; a suitcase of ideas if you like. He needed to make sure that packing that suit case in the boot of people’s minds was his priority.

I estimated before that about 6 hours of Jesus’ day was spent communicating. Some of that would have been formal public speaking, when Jesus preached in the synagogue in the morning. That was like the suitcase that he had to get in first.

But much of the communication would have been informal personal conversations with people, perhaps while he was walking to and from the synagogue or while he was having lunch at Simon & Andrew’s place.

Some of those informal conversations would have been significant but Jesus had to get the suitcase of preaching & teaching in first. His suitcase of ideas set the agenda for the little conversations that squeezed in the gaps of the day. Indeed, Jesus’ suitcase of teaching has set the agenda for the past 2000 years.     

Today’s Scripture passage doesn’t tell us exactly what the content of Jesus’ preaching and conversation was but we get an idea from reading all four gospels. Probably it was about the Kingdom of God, the centrality of love, the dynamic between repentance and forgiveness, the importance of grace and the need for faith.

At this stage, Mark is more interested in pointing out that Jesus communicated and taught with authority. I take this to mean that Jesus spoke with confidence. Jesus’ words were original, they were his own words and ideas, and not someone else’s. More than that though, Jesus’ words had the ring of truth. They were not light weight. They had a substance and meaning that resonated in people’s hearts, minds and experience. Jesus’ words carried an eternal significance.

Verse 22 says that people were amazed at the way Jesus taught. Unfortunately, amazement is not really an adequate response. The obedience of faith is a better response to Jesus. In other words, we need to move beyond amazement to trust. The kind of trust that is willing to put Jesus’ words into action. When we do that, understanding follows. Not just understanding what Jesus’ words mean but understanding who Jesus is.

Last week we heard the story of Rosalie Macgeorge, the first New Zealand Baptist missionary. Rosalie left New Zealand in 1886 to reach women in Bengal. Most of her mission work centred around communication. She spent her first two years learning the language and most of the next two and half years talking to women and children about Jesus and the Bible. It was hard graft.

Communicating who Jesus is along with the content of the Christian faith is not easy in our land today. Like Rosalie Macgeorge and other overseas missionaries, we have to learn the language of contemporary New Zealand society. We have to find words and stories that are original and authentic to who we are. Words that relate and resonate with people.

It seems the church has lost something of its authority too. That means we have to build trust and confidence in the gospel by living the message we preach.

Caring with wisdom:

If the message Jesus preached was the suitcase, then Jesus’ wise care for people puts handles on that suitcase. Communicating and caring go together.

In today’s reading from Mark 1 we are told Jesus did two main things to demonstrate his care for people. Jesus cast out demons and he healed the sick. In other words, he cleansed people and made them functional again.

Ironically the demons recognised who Jesus was (the Holy One of God) but Jesus silenced them. Jesus did not give the demons an audience. It is not for evil spiritual beings to dictate the agenda.

People these days, people like us in the Western world, are heavily influenced by a materialistic mind-set. We find it difficult to accept anything non-material or non-physical. The fact remains there is a spiritual realm all around us which we don’t see but which is nevertheless very real. Christian mission is engagement in a spiritual war.

It’s not that Jesus or his followers go out looking for a fight. Rather, when one proclaims truth and does good, evil reacts in a defensive way. As Bono says: ‘Darkness gathers around the light’.

Once again Mark emphasises Jesus’ authority. After seeing Jesus cast out a demon the people in the synagogue remark how even the evil spirits obey Jesus.

Following the morning synagogue service (which was sort of like Jewish church) Jesus goes to Simon and Andrew’s house for lunch. As soon as he arrives Jesus is told that Simon’s mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever. Without saying a word Jesus takes the woman by the hand and the fever leaves her. In this case Jesus is not casting out a demon, he is healing a physical illness.       

The woman responds to Jesus’ care for her by showing care for him and serving them lunch. As is so often the case in the Bible, it is a woman who shows us the right kind of response. We are saved to serve.

After sunset the people of Capernaum brought to Jesus those who were sick or demon possessed and Jesus cleansed and healed them. The people waited until sunset because it had been the Sabbath day, a sacred day of rest, and the Sabbath ended at sunset.

By this stage it was after six at night. I imagine Jesus was quite tired and yet he summoned the energy to care for people where they were at.

A couple of things we note about Jesus’ care for people. Firstly, it was personal or one to one. Jesus did not apply a one size fits all protocol or procedure. He didn’t perform a mass healing. He dealt with people on an individual basis. This means he treated each person according to their need. The man screaming in the synagogue received a different kind of care to Simon’s mother-in-law who had a fever.

Dealing with people on a one to one basis like this is not efficient. It is time consuming. But it also makes the person receiving the care feel particularly loved and special. 

The other thing we note is that Jesus’ care for people was wise. Although Mark doesn’t put a great focus on the wisdom of Jesus’ care we know from a wider reading of the gospels that Jesus cared in a wise way, a discerning way.

Jesus had the ability to accurately diagnose the problem at a glance. So his care was wise in that it treated the cause of the issue. We also know that Jesus was careful not to create dependencies. Jesus empowered people to be restored to inter-dependent relationships with others in the community.

The key to caring for people in a wise way is understanding what the individual can and can’t do for themselves. Jesus did not do everything for a person. Jesus’ care addressed the thing that person could not do for themselves. That’s wise. That’s empowering care.    

We are not all able to do great things. We might not have the ability to drive out demons or heal people miraculously, like Jesus did, but we do have the capacity to care in practical ways, like Peter’s mother-in-law did when she waited on Jesus. Often it is simple acts of care and concern (small things done with great love) that communicate most powerfully the Christian message that God is love.

You may remember, from last Sunday, the power of Rosalie Macgeorge’s care. How when she asked for some goat’s milk for herself, she made sure the mother would not reduce the small boy’s share of milk. And how this impressed the small boy so much that, as a grown man, he later became a follower of Jesus.

After a full and busy day of communicating with and caring for people, Jesus spends probably the better part of six hours communing with God.        

Communing with God:

In the old days of sailing, before satellite navigation and radar technology, sea captains set their course by the stars and by hand drawn maps. If you were heading for a small group of islands in the pacific you had to be pretty accurate with your bearings or you could easily sail right past the very place you needed to stop for water and provisions.

Navigating by the stars meant staying up late at night. We don’t know what time Jesus got to bed that evening. If people didn’t start turning up at Simon’s house until 6pm, then they probably didn’t leave until maybe 10 or 11pm. Verse 35 tells us that Jesus got up very early the next day, long before daylight. If daylight was around 6am then that means Jesus was up in the early hours of the morning, maybe 1 or 2am. That doesn’t leave much time for sleeping.

Verse 35 tells us that Jesus went out of town to a lonely place, where he prayed. On this occasion at least, Jesus felt that communing with his heavenly Father was more important than sleep.   

We know from reading the other gospels that Jesus often went off by himself to pray and commune with God. However, Mark’s gospel only mentions three occasions. Here at the beginning of his public mission, then in the middle of his ministry (after the feeding of the multitudes), and finally in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion.

Each of these three times marks a significant stage in Jesus’ journey to the cross. On each occasion Jesus needed to keep his perspective and get a bearing (not from the stars) but from God.

Mark chapter 1 describes the beginning of Jesus’ mission and the passage we heard this morning describes one day in particular when Jesus became famous and popular. The risk with popularity and fame is that one can be carried away by the adulation of the crowd and, in the process, lose perspective and direction.

Just as the sea captains of old needed to get up in the middle of the night to navigate by the stars, Jesus needed to spend time communing with God, in prayer, in order to stay on track and not lose his way.

The band Six60 have a song ‘Don’t forget your roots my friend’. It’s about remembering where you come from, who you are and where you belong. It’s about staying on track through life and not losing your way.

Taking time apart to commune with God was Jesus’ way of remembering his roots and his purpose. God the Father is Jesus’ roots and bringing in God’s kingdom (His reign) was Jesus’ purpose.

In order to stay true to God and his mission, Jesus needed to keep moving around preaching the Kingdom of God to other people. He could not allow himself to be side tracked or domesticated by the people of Capernaum. Jesus was not a people pleaser. He was a God pleaser. It made him unpopular and misunderstood at times but it resulted in our salvation.   

In some ways this single verse about Jesus going to a lonely place to pray is really frustrating. I want to know how Jesus did it. How did he get close to God? How did he find that intimacy of communing with God? How did Jesus hear God’s voice with such clarity and find his direction? Mark doesn’t give us an answer. Jesus’ communion with God is cloaked in mystery

All we know is that it involves slowing down and setting apart time (a decent amount of quality time) to be with God. Now, in my experience, setting apart sacred time to listen to God does not automatically guarantee that you will hear God speak. Sometimes you hear God clearly and sometimes you don’t.

Whether you hear from God or not, there is still value in making time for him. If nothing else, it restores our perspective and reminds us that we are not in control. God is. 

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard about three aspects of Jesus’ mission: communicating the suitcase of God’s message with confidence, caring for people with wisdom and making time to commune with God.

Communicating, caring and communing. These are not three separate things. They are all inter-related and overlapping. Caring for people gives credibility to our communication of the gospel message. And communing with God keeps us faithful to God’s mission and message.

The other thing that needs to be acknowledged is that Jesus is out of our league. Compared to us Jesus is a spiritual superman. He was able to do what he did as an individual but we can’t. We need to take a team approach to mission. We shouldn’t try to do it all on our own.

Whenever someone is baptised I’m conscious of the many people who have contributed to that person’s decision to be baptised. Whenever someone becomes a Christian it is usually because more than one person has cared for them and communicated to them the love and truth of Jesus in different ways.

It is God’s mission and it is our part to be available to serve him as He requires. In order to serve most effectively we need to stay close to God. We need to be still and commune with him.   

The musicians will come now and lead us in the song: Be still and know…

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • How do you spend your time in an average day?
  • What was the communication like in your home growing up? What is it like now? Are you happy with your communication? If not, what would you like to change? 
  • How often is Jesus (and his ideas) in your conversation?
  • In what ways was Jesus’ care wise? Who do you provide care for and how do you do this? 
  • Why did Jesus sacrifice sleep (at the end of a long and tiring day) to commune with God? Why is it important for us to make time to be with God? 
  • Thinking of the three aspects of Jesus’ mission (communication, caring and communing) which do you think you are strong in? Which aspect(s) do you need to develop?
  • What is your part in God’s mission?    
Tawa Baptist

Rosalie Macgeorge

Scriptures: Mark 4:30-32, Matthew 9:36-38, Mark 4:3-8 & John 12:24-26.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Leaving NZ
  • Reaching out
  • Difficulties
  • Conclusion

Credits: The information about Rosalie Macgeorge in this message was gleaned from the following web page…

https://www.bwnz.org.nz/womens-history-month-rosalie-macgeorge-1859-1891/

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Can anyone tell me when New Zealand held its first general election. [Wait]

That’s right, it was 1853.  

Can anyone tell me when the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society (or NZBMS) was founded. [Wait]

That’s right, it was 1885.

Just one year after that, in 1886, the NZBMS sent their first missionary overseas. Her name was Rosalie Macgeorge.

Today is Women’s Sunday, and the beginning of missions’ month. With this in view our message focuses on the story of Rosalie Macgeorge, New Zealand’s first Baptist missionary. But even if it wasn’t women’s day or missions’ month I would still want to tell Rosalie’s story because it is quite incredible really.

The newly founded New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society of the 1880’s had heard of a special need in Bengal. The seclusion of women in zenanas.

A zenana is an Indian term to describe the inner apartments of a house where the women of the family live. Some say a zenana is the Indian sub-continent’s equivalent of a harem. Essentially women in the zenanas were isolated or secluded and therefore not able to hear the Gospel of Christ.

The NZBMS took this need so seriously they were seeking only women missionaries to reach the Indian women in the zenanas.

In August 1886 two women from Hanover Street Baptist Church in Dunedin volunteered to go: A Miss Fulton and a Miss Rosalie Macgeorge. The idea was that the two should work together. This follows Jesus’ practice of sending apostles out in twos. Unfortunately, Miss Fulton pulled out.

I am not sure what motivated Rosalie. I don’t know if she had some mystical experience in which God spoke to her and told her to go. Or whether she simply felt an unction in her spirit. In any case, Rosalie stayed the course.

Leaving New Zealand

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s go back a step. Rosalie was born in Australia, in 1859, the third of nine children. She had seven sisters and one brother. It is thought she probably came to NZ when she was about five.

In her mid-twenties, Rosalie is described as “A young woman of fine appearance, strong character, and deep devotion to her Lord.” She had been baptised 12 years before, had become a church member, served in many departments of church life, and was an able speaker.

Rosalie’s family were respected and active members of the Hanover Street Baptist church. Rosalie herself was held in high esteem also. She was a trained teacher, and had a special love for children — a love and understanding that was demonstrated later in the many letters she wrote to them from India.

Rosalie’s departure was a rush. Her farewell was on the 28th September, 1886, barely a month after she had signed up. Rosalie would travel with English Baptist missionaries, Mr and Mrs Kerry, to Calcutta. Rosalie asked for the prayers of God’s people. She was 27 years old when she left NZ.  

The minister, Rev Alfred North, noted that the occasion was unique as Rosalie was the first missionary from the Baptist denomination in New Zealand to go overseas, and the first woman sent by any NZ group for mission work.

Alfred North said something else that proved to be very true: ‘The work which lies before you is exceptionally hard and exhausting.’ He mentioned disappointments, pity, compassion, hope deferred, ignorance, time-consuming language study, separation from loved ones and climate.

In saying these things Rosalie’s pastor was essentially paraphrasing the words of Jesus, that going into the world as his representative would not be easy. That his followers would face many hardships.

The Rev North charged her,

…Go! In the assurance that His presence yields. Go! In simple faith in the power of the Gospel of His love. Go! Your heart over-brimming with love to all on whom His love is set, and for whom His blood was shed. So shall the blessing of the Lord Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, rest upon you for ever.’

The faith of Rosalie Macgeorge was truly remarkable. We need to remember that in 1886 there were no aeroplanes and no internet. One couldn’t skype or text or email or jump on a plane if things got tough. People travelled by boat over the ocean and they sent hand written letters which could take months to arrive.

This wasn’t like a short term mission trip. Once a missionary left they were gone for many years. Rosalie’s family and friends back home did not know if they would see her again (in this life at least).  

The other thing to remember is that the 1880’s were not a time in history when women enjoyed equality. Rosalie Macgeorge left NZ six years before women anywhere in the world were given the vote.

Rosalie was an incredibly brave woman with a deep devotion to her Lord. She was walking by faith and not by sight. Like Peter, Rosalie stepped out of the boat to walk on water with Jesus. Unlike Peter though, she did not begin to sink.   

Rosalie reached Calcutta in December that same year (1886), so it took her about 2 or 3 months to get to India. Once in Calcutta she travelled to Faridpur to join women on the South Australian mission society while she studied Bengali.

The next month she wrote to the children at her church how a woman who was helping her learn was crying bitterly because her baby had died. Rosalie was deeply distressed that she had no words to tell of Jesus and his love. She was impatient to start work but recognised she must do about two years of study.

There was bookish, classical Bengali but that was a little different from the common spoken language. One time she got her words mixed up and called her teacher a cow. He was not amused. But Rosalie was never content with the books. She insisted on gaining colloquial words, tones and twists of language, even asking local children to correct her. She wanted free conversation style, something many missionaries had missed out on.

Reaching out

By early 1888, after just over a year in India, Rosalie could write, ‘I feel I could do a little in the zenanas if necessary, but it would be blundering work, and would cripple me in the language for the future.’ Rosalie wanted to lay a good foundation before reaching out. She knew the way to build that foundation was by listening and learning, so she kept studying.

Rosalie prepared a short talk to give to the women in the zenanas, carefully correcting her pronunciation. Her joy was great when seven weeks later, she found she was understood by the women in a house. Yay! She was getting somewhere. She visited five houses a week and talked to the women for an hour.

Later in the year Rosalie started a young men’s Bible Class for Hindu boys who were learning English. Rosalie told them, ‘Of course, my motive is to teach you about the Bible, but at the same time you will have the advantages of hearing English spoken and of having your mistakes corrected.’ I like the way Rosalie was up front about her agenda. 

The class grew from three to eight, to eleven… Soon the boys were more interested in the Bible than in English. By May two of this class wanted to know more of Jesus and by the end of the year 100 students had been through her class at some point.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed, saying: “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like,or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

In Christian work we do not despise small beginnings. God can work with small. Rosalie’s English class started with just three boys but it grew. Not only that but the seed of the gospel grew in people’s hearts and minds.

As Mother Teresa said: ‘We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.’

An Indian Pastor was preaching at a mela (festival) and Rosalie, together with an Australian woman, Miss Newcombe, helped by giving out tracts and singing hymns. Rosalie played on her concertina.

Miss Newcombe told the story of Rosalie saving a little girl’s life. The girl was bitten on the leg by a snake, and her father saw Rosalie walking past and called her to help. ‘Rosalie ran and applied a ligature above the bite, and then sucked out the snake poison. Her quick resourcefulness undoubtedly saved the life of the child, who, within a few days was almost completely well again. [As a consequence] the parents sent two sons to the Sunday School.’

I like this little vignette. It demonstrates how God uses people. Rosalie’s response was very practical. The miracle was in God’s timing, that Rosalie was walking by at just the right moment to help. We notice too, the response of faith by the boy’s father. Rosalie’s action inspired the parents to trust so they sent their sons to Sunday school.  

The New Zealand Baptist mission wanted a site of their own from which to work. Dacca (Dhaka) was suggested, but Rosalie wanted somewhere smaller, so they chose the sizeable river port of Narayangunj. The Australians and Rosalie asked the committee in NZ to send them more workers as soon as possible.

This reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew 9…

36 When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Rosalie’s sister Lillian offered to come, and soon another woman, Hopestill Pillow, offered as well.

Rosalie started by walking the streets of Narayangunj with a muslin saree over her dress to indicate she wished to identify with the people. Initially she spoke to a few women who were willing to learn to read.

It was tough going, though. Hindus did not mind her Bible teaching but on occasion Muslims asked her, ‘Do you intend to teach that Jesus is the Son of God?’ When she said ‘Yes,’ they said point blank, ‘We don’t want you.’

The men grew noisy and vehement.  But Rosalie quietly and bravely held her ground. She said a Bengali hymn or gave out tracts, offered to come into the homes and talk to the women if they invited her.  During this tense moment, she asked to be allowed through the crowd and walked away quietly, followed by the children.

Soon she had permission to enter 30 homes weekly where there were about three women in each. Some women listened happily. Some didn’t. Some babies cried too loud for lessons to happen. Some women chattered non-stop. Some asked questions. ‘Why don’t you get married?’ ‘What soap do you use?’ ‘Will you have a smoke?’ ‘What did you eat for breakfast?’ ‘How do you twist your hair up?’ ‘Let us see the colour of your feet.’ ‘How much money does the government pay you?’ [The government didn’t pay her anything of course.]

Sometimes we can romanticise the work of ministry and mission. While good things do happen it does not always feel meaningful. Missionaries are not immune from frustration. It was hard work for Rosalie, especially with the language difficulties, but some women were also interested in the Bible stories. Children loved Rosalie and she loved them and taught them songs that helped them remember her lessons.

We are reminded of Jesus’ parable of the four soils in Mark 4, where Jesus says,

3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

The seed is the gospel of Christ and the soil is the human heart.

Difficulties

Sadly, Miss Newcombe became unwell and in 1889 doctors told her to return to Australia and not to return to Bengal. This was a big blow to Rosalie, who longed for and needed a fellow-worker.

Rosalie’s health had been good but in April 1889 she became unwell and was sent to the cool of the hills, in Darjeeling, for some respite. In June she returned to Narayangunj feeling much better, but was promptly dragged down in health and by July was unwell again.

On top of all this Rosalie was beginning to feel affected by the loneliness. She had been expecting her sister, Lillian, to set out for India but Lillian was given a negative health report and told to stay in New Zealand. Hope deferred.

Remaining in India was becoming more difficult. No land had been bought for the NZ mission base and no decision made. But Narayangunj itself added to Rosalie’s difficulties. Her biographer notes that ‘The sights and sounds appalled her, the smells, the poor hygiene, the lot of women, the plight of the widows, the sad little child-wives, the rudeness and discourtesy of the men, the poverty, the disease, and the godlessness of the English residents, the idolatry… She was never free of it and she had no one to share it with.’

This is the experience of exile.

Still, there were some good things. There was a woman who, in great discouragement, turned to Jesus for help and continued to pray. Another, at the end of Rosalie’s long day visiting homes, who said she believed in Jesus Christ and her husband had concluded the Bible was a true book. Rosalie now had some new converts to nurture.

During 1889 Rosalie worried the NZBMS committee back in New Zealand by refusing to accept a personal salary. They tried to dissuade her, fearing she may no longer obey them if not in their pay.

But Rosalie had prayed about it and was determined. She believed God would bless a simple life of trust. She felt receiving a salary compromised people’s view of her, making them think she was a government agent. And she wanted to free up mission funds to support others.

So instead she lived with a Hindu family and earned her keep by teaching some of them English and other subjects. This would also enable her to understand the culture more.

The apostle Paul took a similar approach. Paul was a tent maker by trade and, at times, he supported himself financially by doing that. Better to give than to receive, I suppose. But Paul didn’t always refuse financial help. There were times when he did have the grace to receive. 

The Baptist Assembly in New Zealand made a resolution that they were highly satisfied with Rosalie’s usefulness, her devotion and success but regrets that she does not accept her salary and hopes there may be no cause for divergence between them.

Rosalie wrote and delivered a ‘paper’ at a missionary conference of Baptists in Bengal to the effect that if a missionary was convinced of trying a new method from the others, she should be allowed to move to a branch station and do so.

At this time the NZBMS enlisted the help of Baptist missionaries of Australia and the UK to try to settle on a place for a New Zealand mission site. They chose against Narayangunj (which was prone to flooding), and got Rosalie to move to Comilla, to the south-east.

They then considered Pabna at the request of the Australians, but eventually, with Rosalie’s encouragement, they chose Brahmanbaria. Rosalie was caught up in this stressful indecision.

Rosalie moved to the town of Muradnagar and told schoolboys she would like to meet their mothers. This worked. A Hindu man invited her to stay in a bamboo hut on their family grounds.

It turned out he had given up worshiping idols, forbidding his wife and children to do so as well, and wanted to learn about Christ and God from Miss Macgeorge. Rosalie enjoyed her 10 days there, so many people wanted her to teach them.

About this time Rosalie again became ill. She stayed in her hut and one evening a small boy peered in and saw her pray to her God. When she asked her house owner for some goat’s milk she carefully checked that the woman’s child would not receive less milk because of her. Small things done with great love.

Two new companions and an experienced middle-aged couple arrived from New Zealand to work with Rosalie. Wonderful! Miss Hopestill Pillow worked with her for a while and then went to Faridpur to concentrate on language study. The next was Miss Bacon, also going to Faridpur. This was a relief to Rosalie, who had spent so much time alone.

In January 1891 Rosalie wrote home that she was well and strong again and ready for another year’s work. However, at a routine doctor’s visit, she was told to return to New Zealand immediately. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

A dispirited and unhappy Rosalie left East Bengal to go home via Calcutta and Sri Lanka (which was then called Ceylon). Old friends, the Carters, met her in Ceylon, finding her ill with a fever, and immediately arranged a stay inland.

Even though Rosalie was attended by a skilled doctor she passed away six days later on 12 April 1891. She was 31 years old. (Women had still not been given the vote.)

Missionaries and Tamil Christians sang as they carried her to her resting place in the garden town of Kandy. In four and half years of missionary service Rosalie had, with devotion and zeal, forged a pathway for others while winning a number of converts.

Conclusion

But Rosalie’s story doesn’t end there. Many years later a man asked at a nearby mission station to be baptised. The pastor enquired as to how he was converted. He said he was the small boy that Rosalie had been concerned about. At Rosalie’s request, his mother had pledged not to decrease his milk. He had been deeply impressed by this, and by Rosalie’s piety, unselfishness and gentleness. So years later he had searched for and found Rosalie’s Saviour.

In John 12, Jesus says…

24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep itfor eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant will be also.My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Not everyone is called to overseas mission, as Rosalie Macgeorge was. Some are called to serve God in the home, others in the work place and others in the local church. Where has God called you to serve Him?

Sources

Summarised from ‘Rosalie Macgeorge—Missionary Pioneer’, by R.J. Mardle, a Paper of New Zealand Baptist Historical Society, published November 1960.

NZ Missions Interlink https://missions.org.nz/about/ 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/199041739/rosalie-macgeorge

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • How do you feel hearing/reading Rosalie Macgeorge’s story?   
  • Indian women in the zenanas were secluded and not able to hear the gospel of Christ. Who do you know who has not heard the gospel?
  • Not everyone is called to overseas mission. Some are called to serve God in the home, others in the work place and others in the local church. Where has God called you to serve Him?
  • Discuss (or reflect on) Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed in Mark 4:30-32. What small thing can you do with great love?
  • Discuss (or reflect on) Jesus’ parable of the four soils in Mark 4:3-8. How does this fit with your experience of being a Christian and sharing the gospel?
  • What would you like to be remembered for?