St. Mark 1:12-15: "12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. 14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'"
For the second morning in a row the temptation of our Lord Jesus is mentioned. However, this reading is not just about our Lord spending forty days in the wilderness. This pericope is about the end of St. John the Baptist's preaching, and the beginning of the preaching of our Lord. Our Lord begins His preaching by carrying on the preaching of St. John the Baptist, that is by preaching, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
The time that is fulfilled is the appearance of our Lord God in our flesh. Our Lord God has come to us born as one of us to fulfill the Law for us, and suffer and die for us. What a great thing! Our Lord begins to preach about Himself, the basis for all good preaching. And He immediately begins to preach about His work, another sign of good preaching. Good preaching, such as our Lord Jesus and St. John the Baptist preach, is always about our Lord and His work of redemption.
Bad preaching includes pop-psychology, which puts forth a sort of 12-step program of religion, that is, do these certain things, and your life will be great. Besides the fact that our Lord Jesus states that men will revile and hate and persecute His followers, this is wrong because it places the focus on man, and not on our Lord God. Included in this type of preaching are the so-called "success" preachers, who claim that if you truly love God enough, and you are a good person, God will reward you. Again, this places the focus on you and what you must do, and not on our Lord Jesus.
Bad preaching also includes the so-called preachers who use the pulpit to promote some political agenda. And along the same lines, are those who carry on about some facet of social justice. Having a good government and just citizens may be a good thing to have, but again, it takes the focus off of our Lord Jesus Christ, or worse yet, it drags Him into the picture, as if only a certain form of government and social action is pleasing to our Lord. None of this has to do with our Lord's true work of salvation for mankind, which is basically two things, His active (His fulfilling of the Law) and passive (His death on the cross) obedience.
Another form of bad preaching is the type of preaching that simply tells a bunch of stories, most of which have nothing to do with each other, or the text appointed for the day. Along these same lines is the preaching that uses the pulpit as a place for stand-up comedy. I suppose these can be entertaining, except when you get the preachers who think they are funny or entertaining but are really not, but again, preaching is not about being entertaining, it is about proclaiming our Savior and what He has done for us, and still does for us, through His Blessed Sacraments. Now that is not to say that preaching should be dull or boring either, but entertaining should not be the main focus.
Let's look at our Lord Jesus's preaching, which is the carrying on of St. John the Baptist's preaching. Our just states the facts. "The time is fulfilled." That is to say, "I, the Messiah, have come to fulfill the Law which you are unable to keep." "The kingdom of God is at hand." That is to say, "I am here to suffer and die in your place, taking on your punishment, so that I suffer all of your pain, and you get all of My reward." "Repent." That is to say, "Turn from yourselves and your works; turn from the things in which you trust in this life, and rely and trust in Me. For those things in which you trust are false gods, and I am the One True God and Savior. Trust in Me, for in Me only will you find the salvation and True God which you seek." "Believe in the Gospel." That is to say, "Believe in My work of fulfilling the Law perfectly, which you are unable to keep perfectly, and believe that My suffering and death in your place has won for you forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation, in order that you may receive these things through the means of grace given out by the Holy Ghost.
Our Lord preaches Himself and what He has done. All good preaching will put the focus on our Lord Jesus, and not some other thing. It is our duty as hearers to make sure that we are hearing about our Lord, and not being puffed up in our works, or our success, or our emotions, or feelings, or our social action, or our politics, but solely in what our Lord Jesus has done for us. This is the type of preaching that will actually save you, for it will place the mantel of the Holy Spirit upon you, and give you true peace.
May God's peace be with you!
Deacon Dulas
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