After Sunset

​5th Sunday after Epiphany – B                                                   LSB #’s 461:1-4, 878:1-4, 461:5-8
Text – Mark 1:32-34
 
That evening after sunset they brought to Him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.  And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, & cast out many demons.  And He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him.
 
AFTER SUNSET
 
 
My spirit has been lulled lately
By the sweet whispers   of eternal rest. 
My eyes burn with exhaustion.
I sleep too much   but am never rested.
Going up stairs causes me to lose my breath.
It has been a misty, tiring couple of days.
But in the midst of it all    today
I could pray   for the first time.
It was the strength I needed and I rejoice, for the battle has already been won.
I am healed.
I am healed.
I call for health.
I call for healing.
Jesus has won.
By His stripes   I am healed.
 
 
That poem was written by a young man,   Spenser Somers, who fought cancer for 5 years before being called home to his Lord at the age of 18.  It was published in a book titled, “Eating LIFE Cereal with a Bigger Spoon than Most.”   In the sinful world we live in, some people do have to cope with bigger problems than others.    It is not a fair world.   It is a sinful one. 
The OT lesson for this morning is also the expression of a man who is suffering.   Job describes it this way, “Has not man a hard service on earth, & are not his days like the days of a hired hand?  Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, …so I am allotted months of emptiness, & nights of misery are apportioned to me.”  (Job 7:1-3 ESV) 
Job has reached bottom & expresses it with the closing words of the text: “My eye will never again see good.”    Job feels that he’s reached the sunset of his life.  He speaks as if he’s
given up hope.  That may not be how you picture prayer.   Yet, looking at the context of the entire book of Job, we see that here in chapter 7, for the 1st time, Job turns his thoughts directly to God.   Job is so tired, weary & frustrated that he’s become angry with His heavenly Father, but at least he’s talking to Him. 
Job has turned back to God, proving that he still recognizes a relationship with his Lord & Master.    However angry he may be, Job has not completely given up on his Lord, or he wouldn’t be talking to Him.    Many people listed on church membership roles are no longer talking to God.  They’ve drifted so far away they don’t even remember that He still exists. 
And so it is that God allows suffering into our lives.  Often, it seems that God is calling us back into relationship with Him, even if it’s an angry one.   However unpleasant it may be, God is able to use suffering to regain our attention, to turn us back to Him, to get us talking again.  God is big enough & patient enough to endure our anger.   
Though we may not feel a need for God when things are going well, many of us will remember Him when things are not.  It’s like during a long hard day’s work, we remember how pleasant rest can be.   Then we long for the sunset, for after sunset we can rest from our labors.  We can tend to our weary soul & tired body.   We can relax & enjoy some re-creation. 
For me, the sound of taps recalls those feelings,   feelings of exhaustion & weariness.  Yet also feelings of hope, because the day would soon be over.  Rest & recovery could begin.  
The people of today’s sermon text were looking for rest.  Their workday was over & now they could recall the OT promises of Messiah as they came to Him for relief.   They turned to Jesus with their problems.  He healed them & cast out their demons. 
Our lives are one of luxury compared to theirs.  They barely eked out a subsistence living.  They didn’t have hospitals or grocery stores.  Death was far more common & life expectancies were short.  The people of Jesus’ day were intimately familiar with being slaves as it was a common practice.   That’s why the Bible uses the concept of slavery so often   to describe our struggle with sin & its effects.  
Sin has brought cancer into our world.  Sin brings divorce into our lives.   It brings weariness, depression & end of life decision making.  It brings struggle, unwanted pregnancies & death.  So when the day is done, people are left searching for help, searching for relief.   The people in Mark’s gospel found that in Christ Jesus.  
We know from the later chapters of Job that he also found restoration in Christ.  Over a 1000 years before Jesus was born, Job penned the words, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”   On Easter Sunday, as two disciples were on the road to Emmaus, & distraught over His death, they urged a stranger saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening & the day is now far spent.”[1] 
Unknowingly, they were talking to their very own risen Lord & Savior.    He’s waiting for you as well.     He is waiting with the peace of forgiveness you so desperately need.   When you are weary, burned out or depressed, do you look to your Redeemer for strength?    Do you pray to Him for restoration & for courage? 
Do you take your anger & your pain to Messiah,   & leave it there with Him?       If not, then listen again to these words from the sermon hymn: “Swift to its close   ebbs out life’s little day;   Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away; change & decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not,   abide with me.”  LSB 878:4    PAUSE
Sunset,   like suffering,   can be a call to turn back.    It can be a call to remember   our Heavenly Father & the rest, comfort & healing   He alone is able to bring.    Today’s sermon text speaks of such a remembering.    So does the poem by Spenser Somers. 
My spirit has been lulled lately
By the sweet whispers   of eternal rest. 
My eyes burn with exhaustion.
I sleep too much but am never rested.
Going up stairs causes me to lose my breath.
It has been a misty, tiring couple of days. 
But in the midst of it all    today
I could pray   for the first time.
It was the strength I needed and I rejoice, for the battle has already been won.
I am healed.
I am healed.
I call for health.
I call for healing.
Jesus has won.
By His stripes   I am healed.  Amen.
 
 
 
 
The peace of God that surpasses all human understanding will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.


[1] Luke 24:29b ESV