Epiphany 4 – Series B (February 1, 2015)
Deut.
18:15-20; Mark 1:21-28
The traveling rabbi enters the
seaside village of Capernaum. Four of
his fisherman followers accompany him.
Just before this he had invited these sun-baked, calloused, rugged men
to learn from him. He had great plans
for them to be “fishers of men.” His
authoritative call impelled them to leave their business behind and travel with
him and sit at his feet.
Now it is the Sabbath. The day to set aside all work so that you can
go to the synagogue and let God’s Word do its work in you. The traveling rabbi enters the synagogue in
Capernaum to teach, and the people are astonished at his teaching. Like the fishermen-followers of Jesus, they
noted that his teaching was with authority, not like the scribes they were
accustomed to hearing from.
A recent commentary on this text
says that Mark’s language here gives the sense that Jesus was “exuding”
authority. How did Jesus exude
authority?
First, let’s consider how people
exude authority today. In the office,
you dress for success. Wear a suit and a
power tie. Stand up straight, no matter
how tall or short you are. Look
confident. Make eye contact. Use a clear, direct, commanding voice. On the football field, you send the Legion of
Boom out to crush Tom Brady and the Patriot’s offense (I promise, that is my only Super Bowl reference today).
How did Jesus exude authority? Was there something about his
appearance? Probably not. The prophet Isaiah described the coming
Messiah this way: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no
beauty that we should desire him” (Is. 53:2).
Other than his appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration, his divine
presence was not noticeable. He looked
like an ordinary human being. Yet he
taught with authority, and “not as the scribes,” Mark states. In other words, he spoke his own words and
never quoted other rabbis, as would have been the custom of other teachers in
those days.
Jesus is the “prophet” promised in
today’s reading from Deuteronomy 18. As
they prepared to enter the Promised Land after their wilderness wanderings,
Moses says to the people: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet
like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen –
just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly,
when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this
great fire any more, lest I die.’” Back
at Sinai, the people had heard the fearful thunder and flashes of lightning and
smoking mountain and they were terrified.
When God speaks unveiled, fear and terror strike sinful human
beings. No one can stand before his glory
and live. Even in the Old Testament,
when God spoke, it appears that he veiled himself in some way, sometimes as the
Angel of the Lord, once as a burning bush, at other times as pillar of cloud or
fire.
And so, God promised one final
prophet to come of whom he said, “I will put my words in his mouth, and he
shall speak to them all that I command him.” “The Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall
listen.” At the Mount of
Transfiguration, this is exactly what the voice from heaven said. Surrounded by Moses and Elijah, two of the
great prophets of the Old Testament, God the Father said “This is my beloved
Son … listen to him” (Mark 9:7). Jesus
is that prophet like Moses … but more than a prophet, of course: “Veiled in
flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’ incarnate Deity,” to quote a famous Christmas
hymn. He is the very Son of God who
speaks the words his Father gave him, the authoritative words we listen to in
the Scriptures today.
The authority of Jesus is challenged
by demonic forces. Here in our reading,
it is challenged in the synagogue, no less.
The very place where God’s Word was read and explained. Other than our Lord’s temptation a few verses
earlier, this is the first place where opposition to Jesus’ teaching arises. The man with unclean spirit cries out, “What
have you to do with us?” That is to say,
“We have nothing in common with you!”
We gather here, safe and snug in our
pews, and look out at the evil in the world today. We forget that here in the Church is where opposition
to Jesus and his teaching begins. The
devil attends church, too, you know. Now,
his opposition is not as obvious as in our text, where demons cry out with loud
voices. It’s much more subtle. False teaching and false teachers infect our
ranks. The devil wants us to doubt and question
the truthfulness and authority of the Scriptures. He also loves to cause division … division
between fellow Christians, and division over the teachings of the Scriptures. Both are a poor witness to the unity that
Christ desires for his Church.
You and I are also tempted to ask, “What
have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”
Our sinful nature is moved to say that we have nothing in common with
Jesus. God’s judgment and wrath convict
us, like that terrifying voice from Sinai, and we ask, “Have you come to
destroy us?” We fail to hear and believe
the words of Jesus which teach us, “For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him”
(John 3:17). Jesus has plenty in common
with us. Hebrews 2 says, “Since therefore the children share in
flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through
death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and
deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery … Therefore
he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14-17).
The sinless Son of God came to share in flesh and blood with you in
order to be the perfect atoning sacrifice for your sins and mine. He came to call all of us back into God’s
kingdom by faith in him. God had
said through Moses that the prophet who presumes to speak a word that he was
not commanded to speak should be put to death.
And the great divine prophet Jesus came, speaking nothing but truth in
the name of the Father, and was unjustly put to death on a cross … a death he
endured willingly, lovingly, so that you and I might be given life eternal.
Jesus did not come to destroy us,
but came instead to destroy the evil forces arrayed against him and against his
redeemed people. He muzzled the demon in
our text and cast him out, a preview of the day in which the devil and all that
is opposed to God will be eternally silenced and cast into outer darkness. 1 John 3:5 says that Jesus “appeared in order
to take away sins,” and then verse 8 says, “the reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the works of the devil.”
And Jesus said that on the Last Day, “The Son of Man will send his
angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and
law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace” (Matt. 13:41-42).
The authority that Jesus displayed
is the authority of his Word. With a
word he created the world. With a word
he silences demons and casts them out. The
one who ordered all things comes to destroy the one who brought disorder. The unclean spirit is cast out by the one
bearing the clean Spirit, given to him at the Jordan. At the font, you were given the clean
Spirit. Now, you can sing, “Create in me
a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take
not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore
unto me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free Spirit.” The Holy Spirit cleanses you, forgives you,
brings you in and keeps you in God’s kingdom.
He makes you a new creation now and keeps you ready and watchful for the
day when Jesus returns in glory and the new creation will come in all its
fullness.
The night before his crucifixion, Jesus
prayed to his Father, “Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you
have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you
have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:2-3). And then, before his ascension, he told his
disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations,” by baptizing and teaching them in the authoritative name of the Triune
God. Jesus silences the demons, but he
sends forth his Church, cleansed and redeemed, filled with his clean Spirit, to
boldly declare him as the Holy One of God.
Trust his authoritative Word today that gives what it says … the
forgiveness of sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.
Amen.
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