Epiphany 4 January 31, 2000
Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb
Today's lesson begins a section
of the Gospel of Mark that may be entitled, "A typical day
in the life of Jesus." It was a Sabbath day and as was Jesus's
custom, he was at the synagogue. He began to teach. There was
something unique about his teaching, however; he didn't refer
to Moses and the prophets for his authority. He spoke as though
he were the authority. All the people who heard it were amazed.
Then out of nowhere, a heckler appeared. He cried out, "What have you to do w/us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy 1 of God." For not having a long chance to talk before Jesus silenced him, the demon sure had a great deal to say. First he asked two rhetorical questions. Of course Jesus had God's perfect purpose in being there and that purpose included defeating exactly the likes of the demon who was possessing the man. The demon spoke in fear because he knew that his boss, Satan, had recently been bested by this Holy 1 of God as he tempted Jesus in the wilderness.
The demon called Jesus by name. Folk wisdom declared that if you knew someone's name you had authority over them. The demon, hoping to gain some advantage over Jesus knew his name and spoke it plainly for all to hear. This is a characteristic of the Gospel of Mark--the demons know who Jesus is, but those who should know are unclear about his identity and marvel at him because of his powerful teaching.
Jesus's words were so filled with authority and power that what he spoke came to be. He told the demon to keep silent and to come out of the man. No sooner had Jesus spoken the word than it happened. It is no wonder the demon cried out--it demonstrated the intensity of the spiritual battle going on inside the man and the utter defeat the demon was experiencing. Jesus even at the point of our story bore the power and authority to defeat the evil one. This was but a foreshadowing of the defeat that evil would suffer just when Satan thought he had gained the ultimate victory as Jesus was on the cross; but looks were deceiving and in the end Satan was the loser. Christ rose in victory!
He did what he said he would do; Jesus's teaching was as authoritative as his words. Let's look at what his teachings included. We look at Jesus's encounter with the rich young ruler to hear what Jesus thought was really important. He summarized all the law and prophets in the teaching of 2 commandments--to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. This is the teaching that has authority because it expresses God's original intent for all humanity.
And we are here today because we have all come to Jesus to be freed and to hear his authoritative teaching. As we come we are given a purpose for our lives. The primary goal of the Christian is to love God. We do that by giving the things of God a high priority in our lives. We make every effort to worship weekly, to read Scripture and pray daily, and to give of ourselves in God's service. This often shows itself in service to and love for our neighbor.
We are called to love and serve our neighbor by bringing the holy presence and authority of Jesus into all the situations of their lives. That is what brings freedom and wholeness. When Jesus is present there will be harmony of purpose that finds ways to meet the needs of others as well as our own, for Jesus is the embodiment of love.
The loved one recognizes it is for everyone; love just has to be shared. That is what is so beautiful in the song the youth offered [at the 8:00 service]. The words to the verses are "From the woman who comes crying leaving tears at Jesus' feet to the man who knows the right way but cannot see. From the ones who feel forgotten those who sense their place is gone to the ones who live in hunger, here you belong. Go into the streets and cities to the farms and families, tell about the splendid table [of] God's mercy," and then the chorus says, "All are welcome friend and stranger at the banquet of the Savior. All are welcome. All are welcome here." [Hans Peterson and Larry Olson, "All Are Welcome" Dakota Road Music]
Jesus welcomes all--the demon-posessed, the hurting, those who have lost their way, those who think they know who they are and have it all together--each is invited into his presence to learn from him, and to go out to bring his presence to others. It may be easy to do this within the confines of this building, though we are a people of varied ethnic origins and socioeconomic groups, we are united by our kinship with Jesus our Lord, but out in the world it is another story. How well do we embody Christ and bring his teaching to those who need to hear an authoritative word out there where we have no common understanding of right and wrong or anything other than our common humanity to unite us? If we are truly living as children of God then we can acknowledge each person as someone God has created and wants to free from the demons that bind him or her. We are given Christ's authoritative word to preach and power to free.
The authoritative word we are called to preach is that Jesus can and does defeat the demons in our lives that would hold people captive. The demons may not be actual spiritual beings, but may be things that hold people captive nonetheless. They may be things like fear of failure or rejection or the unknown. They may be demons of misunderstanding or discord or gossip. They may be demons of abuse or abandonment. They may be demons of depression or physical illness. They may be demons of food, drug, or sexual addiction. They may be deep-set feelings of prejudice or ingrained systems of discrimination. They may be materialism or company policy that says the bottom line is all that matters.
But Jesus can come into each of these situations and bring freedom. He muzzles the evil and casts it out. We can be sure that he has the power to do this because he not only cast out demons during his time on earth, but has demonstrated that he has vanquished the devil for all time by rising from the grave and sitting in the power seat in heaven. He has given his authority and power to his Church on earth--to us his disciples who bear his name. We are the agents God uses to defeat the demons in our world today. We are signs of hope that one day all evil will be defeated.
Barbara Johnson in her book Splashes of Joy in the Cesspools of Life tells of a letter a woman sent her that said, "PRETEND YOU'RE A STAR AND POKE A HOLE IN SOMEONE'S DARKNESS." [The Best of Barbara Johnson, p. 409] What a fitting image for the season of Epiphany! And that is exactly what we are called to do--we are to take the light of Christ by his authority and poke holes in the darkness that the demons of this world create. When we bring Christ's light and love to bear on any situation the darkness cannot win. Love is the most powerful force in the world and the love shown through Jesus's death on the cross is the most powerful symbol we have to share with a hurting world. Go now and share Christ's love by his authority and with his power to free. Make this a part of your daily routine. It will amaze all those around you.
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Laurel Bobb