Sunday, February 4, 2018

Authority



Isaiah 40:21-31
21Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out like the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
30Even youths will faint and grow weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
31but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Mark 1:21-28
They came to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching - with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.


Last week was the beginning of the good news. The start of Jesus’s earthly ministry, where the Son of God joined the human condition and adds to the meaning of baptism, keeping the cleansing and adding a commissioning.

From there, Jesus called his first disciples, declaring that the kingdom of heaven has come near. They, of course, drop what they’re doing and follow Jesus.

This morning, as we encounter Jesus, he’s in Capernaum, teaching in a place where folks gathered for worship.

If this were Matthew, we’d have an account of Jesus’s teaching, full of references to the Law and the Prophets. It’d be a multi-part sermon full of quotable sayings that would challenge believers to this day, and we could go through, line by line, and see how our life together compares to what Jesus taught his early followers. But this is not Matthew’s gospel.

If this were Luke, we’d still have an account of Jesus’s teaching, but it would show special concern for the poor, for the oppressed. It would be full of literary devices and references and call-backs to other parts of scripture. We go through, reference by reference, and marvel at the way that the gospel writer was able to re-interpret the scripture from which he pulls in ways that call us to be a better community. But this is not Luke’s gospel.

If this were John, Jesus’s teaching would be poetic, circling back on itself again and again in ways that bring us closer to God, emphasizing that Jesus has been active since the beginning and is God in a very real way. It would be a joy to read and a pain to preach because of the way it repeats itself again and again. But this is not John’s gospel.

This is Mark. There is no account of Jesus’s teaching. Mark doesn’t have time for the details. Rather than tell us what Jesus said, Mark shows us the reaction of the crowd that had gathered together. “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” From the first time he addresses the crowd, Jesus sets himself apart.

Now I’ll tell you, preachers have pored over this text for centuries trying to figure out how to teach like Jesus. They’ve done the research to figure out how religious scholars in 1st century Palestine must have taught, and then speculated at what made Jesus’s teaching different. They’ve tried to grasp at how to preach compelling, life-changing sermons by being like Jesus and teaching “as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” The obvious problem being that “Jesus is unique among all ‘teachers’ in that he is the kingdom of God drawn near.” Nobody else can be Jesus, teach like him, heal like him. “To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.” Only Jesus is the Holy One of God. This is not a story of “how to preach like Jesus.” When Jesus steps up to teach, he brings the authority of kingdom close with him.

There is, however, room for the rest of us in this passage. And by the rest of us, I mean the “not Jesus” demographic. As followers of Jesus Christ, we don’t have his authority, but we do have the experience to tell others what we have seen. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?” We are witnesses Jesus at work in the world around us. We can point to the one with authority and say “listen to him, because he changed my life.” None of us have the authority to be Jesus, but we can point him out when we see him.

“Just then, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Now we get to the way Mark tells stories. While the other gospel writers focus on the teaching, Mark show’s Jesus’s authority by what he does. His authority isn’t just about teaching in impressive ways, it liberates those who are consumed with unclean spirits. But Mark doesn’t just tell us that Jesus has authority to heal, we get to see the showdown.

“There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’” Throughout Mark, the only beings that consistently recognize who Jesus are the unclean spirits. And every time, Jesus goes through the same process we see here: “Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”

Any time an unclean spirit makes an appearance, which happens quite a bit in the gospel of Mark, the folks with whom I’m reading scripture focus in on that. Unclean spirits are assumed in 1st Century culture. They are not assumed in 21st century culture. When we discussed this passage at Lunch Bunch, we spent most of our time together discussing what an unclean spirit was, what it looked like, how it works, and how we’d diagnose it in our scientific, post-Enlightenment age. That’s a conversation, perhaps, for another time. Mark doesn’t go into it. Those questions are not going to help us know who God is. Suffice to say, an unclean spirit separates the one who has it from the holiness of God.

Jesus has no patience for such separation. An unclean spirit will not keep the Holy One of God away from those whom he came to save. What’s even more important, here in this passage, is that Jesus of Nazareth has the authority to silence them and cast them out. No cosmic duel, no test of other-worldly power, just a rebuke from the one who teaches as one having authority, “And the unclean spirit, convulsing [the man] and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.” This is not a story of a man with an unclean spirit, even though the editors of our Pew Bibles have added that unhelpful subtitle. Mark is showing us that Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God, has authority to change our lives and set us free from anything that may separate us from God. Even the unclean spirits of the world.

That’s where we come back in. “The miracle stories are significant as expressions of the authority and power of Jesus and as signs of the kingdom of God.” We, the Church, have experienced Jesus’s authority at work in our own lives, and we have seen the signs of the kingdom of God in the world around us. We do not have the authority to cast out unclean spirits, but we do have the authority to tell the stories. I don’t know about you, I haven’t met many people with unclean spirits. I have, on the other hand, met people who love a good story. We, the Church, have a story to tell. We have a story about “A new teaching - with authority!” “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?” Every member of the Church is charged with sharing that story. Every member of the Church is charged with identifying Jesus of Nazareth as the Holy One of God, and teaching others to recognize him at work in the world. We cannot be Jesus, but we can point to him.

If we do not…
If we do not point to Jesus…
If we do not point to Jesus of Nazareth…
If we do not point to Jesus of Nazareth and say “I know who you are…”
If we do not point to Jesus of Nazareth and say “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

Then the only ones left to do so are the unclean spirits of the world.

Word will still get out, even if we forsake the calling of our baptism. Jesus has authority over all heaven and earth, “He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” But Christ has called us to tell the stories we have heard. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?” Christ has called us to share his teachings, even if we lack his authority. Christ has called us to take the good news, the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand, the good news that nothing can separate us from the love of God, Christ has called us to be transformed by that good news, and to share it.

There are days when we will lose sight, whether we want to call it an unclean spirit, or disillusionment, or frustration. There will be days when we look up at the heavens and shout as though they are empty, or uncaring. “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God.” That’s just a part of life. But those days will pass away, even if they pass with convulsing and crying out with a loud voice, as happened to the man in the synagogue. “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.” Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God, has the authority to restore us, to heal us, and to send us out empowered to spread the good news. When we are faint or powerless, we can find renewal in the authority of Jesus, and tell the stories again and again, recognizing that Christ is our help forever, and our confidence alone. Then we will see “At once his fame [begin] to spread throughout the surrounding region…”

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