Just a Rumor

I don’t know of anything that hurts church attendance more than rumors of nasty weather. I used to think the worst words a weather forecast could contain were the words "wintry mix." They don’t know exactly what sort of precipitation it’s going to be, but it will definitely be a mess. I don’t know of anyone who, given the alternative of a wintry mix, would not rather have snow, even lots of snow. If something’s going to come out of the sky, please not a wintry mix. But then yesterday when I checked in on the weather channel and saw the words "significant icing possible" in Sunday’s forecast, I thought, this is even worse. With rumors of ice, absolutely no one will be in church tomorrow.

Rumors of ice. Rumors. That word has negative connotations for most of us, but if you think about it, weather forecasts are rumors. What is a rumor other than information we have received from someone else? A rumor is word passed on to us from someone else, usually containing information that we are not able to absolutely confirm or corroborate on our own. As I looked out my window yesterday, it was pretty clear by the middle of the afternoon that some sort of change in the weather was coming. On my own, that’s about all I could determine. But there were rumors. Lots of rumors passed on to me by other people either on TV or over the phone. Different people were spreading different rumors. All the rumors were bad, unfortunately, with respect to today’s weather.

From Mark’s Gospel, chapter 2, verse 1: "When [Jesus] returned to Capernaum after some days, it was [rumored] that he was at home." Our translation doesn’t say "rumored", of course; it says "reported." It was reported that Jesus was at home. Just for curiosity’s sake I checked a few other English translations of Mark’s gospel. The King James says that "it was noised that Jesus was in the house." Several other translations say that "word got round". Rumors. We’re talking about rumors. Information passed from person to person. And based on those rumors—those rumors that Jesus was at home—so many people gathered at the house that there was no room for them. As the King James says, "And straightaway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door." It was just a rumor… a rumor that Jesus was in the house, and it brought people streaming to the door.

And rumors of ice have kept them away today. I am not suggesting that folk should risk dangerous weather to come to church, but I am wondering why we are so powerfully influenced by rumors about the weather and so apparently oblivious to rumors that the living God is present in this house of God. It is reported that Jesus is at home right here in this house. That’s a rumor we seem to find it easy to ignore. And not only do we ignore it in our own lives, Lord knows this particular rumor is one we would never spread! Never pass on to others!

Odd, isn’t it, that we’re more likely to credit a rumor from a weather forecaster than from the gospel? Remember again what rumors really are. They are information passed on to us by someone else. Remember that the original source of rumors is some real person’s expertise or experience. They are sharing something they know, or something they have actually experienced. Weather forecasters may not always get it right, but they speak truly out of their own experience and conviction. And back in Capernaum somebody actually saw Jesus return to town and enter the house. Maybe she was drawing water at the well when he walked passed. He was there. She saw him. And she ran home to tell her sister, who told her neighbor… And before you knew it, the rumors were flying and a huge crowd had gathered at the door.

They gathered because the fact that Jesus was in town was not the only rumor circulating about him. Another rumor about Jesus was that he taught and spoke God’s word with compelling authority. Some fellow had heard him somewhere else in Galilee and he told a friend, who told his wife, who told her sister… And Mark tells us that as the people gathered at the door to the home, Jesus preached to them.

You know, there’s a rumor that there’s a halfway decent preacher at St. Patrick’s. Nothing near Jesus’ league, of course, but usually worth listening to. It’s just a rumor. I heard it from the Bishop of Maine, who told me she heard it from the Bishop of Texas, who must have heard it from someone who heard this preacher. That’s how rumors work. They begin with an actual experience and then are passed from one person to another.

Another rumor that was going around about Jesus was that he could cure the sick. And so a group of people brought a paralyzed comrade of theirs to Jesus. They must have had great faith in the rumors they had heard because they went to extraordinary efforts to bring their friend to Jesus. And Jesus said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven. Stand up, take your mat and go to your home." Jesus freed the man from his paralysis. Just think of the stories that man could tell of his own experience of being healed. And all of those in the crowd as well who saw the miracle… Mark tells us that they said, "We have never seen anything like this!" You can bet that that was not the last thing they said about the experience. They went home and shared their experience, told what they had seen, passed along what they knew to be true, that Jesus spoke God’s word with authority and that Jesus even freed a man from paralysis. They told their families, their neighbors, strangers they met along the road. Rumors about Jesus spread like wildfire. It’s called evangelism. Passing your beliefs, your experiences along to someone else.

Jesus is here in this house today. He is here. Without a doubt. We encounter him here. You have heard his voice speak from the pages of Mark’s Gospel. In a few moments, through Christ, your sins will be forgiven. In a few moments more you will find full Communion with Christ at this altar. This… is… my… body. This… is… my… blood.

And, if you wish, Jesus will free you from paralysis. If you ask him to, he will set you free from whatever paralyzes you. Remember the words of the old spiritual? "There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul." Like so many spirituals, this one has its roots directly in slavery. It tells of people who found spiritual freedom and wholeness even before they knew physical freedom. It tells of people’s actual experiences when Christ healed their sin-sick souls. Many things in our minds, in our souls, in our bodies can paralyze us. "There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul." That balm isn’t just in Gilead. It is everywhere Christ’s love and touch are found, even right here in this house.

If you happen to run into any of the folks who couldn’t make it today because of the weather you might let them know that Jesus was here this morning. Or you might tell your neighbors and friends that you found him here. Share your experience. Pass it on. As you do, your news will become just a rumor, of course, but surely this is news that you cannot keep to yourself. One of the verses of this same spiritual says: "If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul, you can tell the love of Jesus, and say, "He died for all." He died for all. At least that’s the rumor…

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