Gravitas
Mark 1:21-28
Anyone who watches the
T.V. game show Jeopardy knows that all the answers come in the form of a
question. For example if Alex says, the
capitol of Pennsylvania, you hit your button and ask, “What is Harrisburg?” If he says, “world’s greatest musician” you
click your button and ask, “Who is Randy Yoder?” If he says, “best preacher
ever”, well you get the idea.
Alex seems to know that
all the important answers are found in questions. Ask the right questions and
you’ll get the right answers. So it is in today’s scripture. When Jesus
encounters a demoniac in Capernaum he is asked, “What have you to do with us
Jesus of Nazareth?” Demons are not the only ones who ask that question. Many today wonder the same thing. What does
Jesus have to today with a world fraught with conflict? What does he have to do with contemporary
America? What does he have to do with me
and the way I live my life? Those are
the questions. Before we look for
answers let us pray:
O God, light of the minds
that know you, life of the souls that love you, strength of the thoughts that
seek you: Help us so to know you that we
may truly love you, so to love you that we may fully serve you, whose service
is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Right after Jesus calls
together a few disciples down at the fishing docks he goes to the synagogue in
Capernaum on the Sabbath and he begins to teach and to preach. That is a natural place to start because God
for a thousand years had prepared this particular people to recognize and
receive his messiah. They had been chosen by God so they knew the stories of
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Moses, David and Goliath. They had read the prophecy
of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel so Jesus could assume some knowledge
here. He wouldn’t have to start at the
very beginning. God had prepared beachhead for this messianic invasion.
Jesus was no sooner
finished with his first sermon when the Bible says, “the people were astounded
at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes”.[1]
Now that’s an interesting
observation and a bit of a dig because the scribes were all about
authority. They were the ones who had
the diplomas tacked on their walls. They
were the ones who sat up front on the dais at the Rotary meetings. They were the ones who said they had all the
answers to all the important questions about God.
Yet, after listening to
Jesus for about five minutes the people concluded that maybe the scribes didn’t
know as much as they let on. They
realized there is a difference between someone who has authority because of a
title or degree or position and someone who has authority because they really
seem to know what they are talking about.
Over the years I’ve heard
many a veteran say the same thing. When the bullets start to fly they have told
me they listen more to the battle-tested seasoned gunnery sergeant than to some
green-as-grace shave-tail second lieutenant fresh out of officer training
school. The difference between the two
is that the first knows war first hand from experience and the second just read
about it in a book. If your life depends upon it you go with experience.
That was the difference
between Jesus and the scribes. Jesus
seemed to really know about God from personal experience and the scribes just
read about him in a book. So, it is the same thing, if your life depends upon
it you go with experience.
The problem today is that
many do not recognize authority in any way.
It started in the late 60’s when my generation began to question the
authority of the government, of the schools, of the church, and of our parents.
We didn’t want anyone to tell us what to do. We never grew past the childhood
complaint, “you’re not the boss of me.” This underlies every protest we make
when in anger we say to someone who is trying to correct us, “Who do you think
you are to tell me what to do?”
This characteristic of human pride has a long
history. We find it first described in
the third chapter of Genesis. There the satanic serpent questioned the
authority of God and asked Eve, “Did God really say you should not eat of this
particular tree? Did God really set the
law, this restriction? Did God really
say this will be the death of you?”
“Surely not, because if you eat of this particular tree your eyes will
be opened and you will be like God and what could be wrong with that?”
Eve bought the serpent’s
line because she didn’t want anyone, God included to tell her what to do and it
became the death of her and us.
That demonic temptation
followed Jesus into the synagogue. The
Bible says, “Just then a man with an unclean spirit 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.”[2]
Recognition
of demonic influence runs throughout the New Testament. Jesus faced his own 40
day temptation in the wilderness only days before his first sermon in this
synagogue. He believed there is a
willful darkness that can capture the soul and destroy a life. As Jesus saw and experienced and understood
the love and grace of God so did he know the heart of humanity and see the evil
that men do. He believed there is
something demonic that goes beyond economic, or psychological or sociological explanation. Sometimes we just don’t know what has gotten
into people to make them do the things they do.
Sometimes we just don’t know what comes over us.
Keith
Sadler, the police chief of Lancaster city made the same observation last week
when he described the brutal beating and death of a one year old child by her
own mother. He said, “It is true
evil. I don’t know how anyone could do
anything like that.”
I
feel the same way when I read another story about a mother in Harrisburg who
was caught in the process of dumping her
baby in one of those clothing collection boxes in the middle of
January. I feel the same way when I hear
that I.S.I.S. had beheaded another innocent victim or that Boco Haram has
slaughtered two thousand defenseless villager in Nigeria. The list of atrocities
grows longer every day. So I have no
problem believing Jesus when he speaks of these demonic powers.
They
are part of life today and they asked the same questions many ask today, “What
have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth?”
Clearly there are many today who feel the same way. They don’t believe
Jesus has anything to do with the way they live, the decisions they make, or
the words they speak. They have decided
they want nothing to do with Jesus and he has nothing to do with them. More than that they sometimes become angry if
you even bring up his name. That’s how
Christmas concerts became holiday concerts or winter festivals. Many people are just not comfortable talking
about Jesus at all and try to write his influence out of our history books and
out of the stories of our nation’s founding fathers.
I’ve
experienced this first hand at, of all places, the golf course. Sometimes when I come to the course by myself
or with one other person I’ll be paired up with other golfers who I do not know
to fill out a foursome. We usually begin
with a handshake and exchange of names and then tee up. By the third or fourth hole we fall into
conversation that usually begins with the question, “What do you do?” When I tell them I am a pastor this fledging
relationship will often change. They
will act different and sometimes apologize for using the name of Jesus
irreverently when they missed the three foot putt on the last hole.
Now,
I have done nothing to merit this kind of response. I have not preached a
single sermon between the second and third holes. I have not quoted chapter and
verse the “wages of sin is death.” I have not asked them if they were in church
last Sunday, and if not why not…because I already know. I have done none of that, but still they
become defensive. If they pray at all it
is to ask God how come they got stuck with the preacher.
They think, or at least
act like they think that Jesus and by extension his servants are out to get
them for every little mistake they make. They wonder, I think, like the demons
did, “Have you come to destroy us?”
Where did they get that
idea? I’m convinced that people think God is out to judge them because they so
often judge themselves when they look in the mirror. They learn to do that because along the way
they have heard others say to them, “you’re not good enough to get this job,
not smart enough to be promoted, not strong enough to make the team, not skinny
enough to fit in that dress.” Every
commercial we will see tonight when we watch the Super Bowl will tell us we’re
drinking the wrong kind of beer, eating the wrong snack, or driving the wrong
car. There is no shortage of voices to
tell us we don’t measure up, so we assume that God will be at the head of that
line.
After a while this “you
better try harder” kind of theology wears you out. It erodes the soul and weakens the spirit. It’s kind of like the problem our
congregation is facing right now. The roof of our sanctuary is held up by eight
beams that are in varying degrees of decay.
Water and weather have eaten away the strength of the wood. This has not happened all at once. It has happened over time. Now, don’t worry they are still strong enough
all on the own to hold up the roof right now, or else we wouldn’t be here. We could ignore the problem until that day
when a heavy snowstorm piles up enough weight on the roof to bring it crashing down,
but just so you know at the first crack in the timbers I will be the first one
out the door and I am already standing up so I will have a head start. The wiser and more responsible course is to
address the problem right now, to fix it so we won’t have to wonder and worry
about the next snowstorm and in fact that is the recommendation from Session. But, this will only be possible if we work
together and contribute together to save our roof.
When Jesus encountered
this man torn apart by demonic doubts and fears, he could have passed him by
and said, maybe tomorrow. He could have
ignored the problem, but he did not. He cast
those demons out of the heart and soul of their victim. In doing so he freed
this man to become of the kind of person God intended and not the person the
demons had twisted. He gave him an
opportunity to listen to his voice and not the others.
He does the same for you,
but that can only happen when you also see him as the “Holy One of God”.
So, how do you answer the
question, “What have you to do with me Jesus of Nazareth?” Will you acknowledge him as Lord with the
authority to direct your steps, shape your thoughts, open your heart, and guide
your hands? When considering the deep
questions about God will you turn to him as one who knows more deeply and
profoundly than anyone else the length and breadth, height and depth of God’s
love for you?
The answer to that
question can make all the difference in your life. It can provide the strong foundation that
helps you stand tall and straight. So, if someone asks what has Jesus to do
with your life – say and pray “everything”.
Let us pray:
O
blessed Lord Jesus, you ministered to all who came to you. Look with compassion
upon all who are possessed or who have lost their health and freedom. Restore
to us the assurance of your unfailing mercy. Remove from us the fears that
beset us. Strengthen us in the work of our recovery, and give us all patient
understanding and persevering love. In your name we pray. Amen.
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