A sermon based on Mark 1:21-28
SERMON ‘What do you want with us, Jesus?’
Sometimes, I
think before you begin reading the Gospel of Mark,
a wee sign
should flash up somewhere saying:
‘Warning:
fasten your seatbelts!’
Because the
pace of this particular gospel’s recounting of the story of Jesus is breathtakingly
fast.
Like a small
child feeling a little overwhelmed by the
sheer speed
of a car,
reading the
Gospel of Mark can feel a bit like watching those oh-so-fast cars in Formula
One racing.
Like a
drum-beat,
like a
heart-beat,
the Greek
word ‘eutheos’,
meaning
‘immediately’, or ‘straight away’
courses
through this gospel - setting the pace,
setting the
rhythm within which Jesus’ life is portrayed -
a rhythm
showing Jesus as a man of action.
With
breakneck speed, it seems as if,
with every
few sentences, we’ve moved to
another
remarkable scene,
another
astonishing event.
And within
each speedily passing scene things change,
are
transformed:
will never be
the same again.
There’s the
coming of John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism;
and a
split-second later, Jesus is in the Wilderness
being tempted
by Satan
and being
tended by angels;
then, whoosh
- suddenly we find John now in prison for upsetting the apple-cart, and Jesus
beginning his public ministry.
Alongside
this, he’s also calling the first disciples.
No sooner has
Jesus called, and collected, his disciples by the seaside,
than we find
ourselves in Capernaum,
where Jesus,
while teaching in the synagogue, heals a man from what’s described as an ‘evil’
or ‘impure’ spirit.
All that, and
we’re still only in Chapter One.
As I said:
‘fasten your seatbelts’ -
you might
also just want to catch your breath.
Our text this
morning, in this action-packed first chapter,
looks like a
relatively straightforward story -
Jesus moseys
on in, into Capernaum,
heads to the
synagogue on the Sabbath -
entirely
normal behaviour for a good, Jewish boy.
Slightly less normal behaviour - he daunders up
to the front and begins to teach...
but okay, a visiting new rabbi - why not let him teach?
The people go
‘oooh’ at his authoritative teaching.
Obviously,
what he’s said has gone down very well.
In the midst
of it all - a chap disrupts the meeting,
challenges
Jesus, and is healed.
Once more,
the people go ‘oooh’ -
obviously
impressed by this show of power.
The news
spreads quickly.
But is this story quite so straightforward?
Well, I
suspect you already know how I’m going to answer that.
No.
It’s not.
There are a
few wee things bubbling away in this text,
so let’s dig
a little deeper - although we won’t cover all of them.
Now, if we
were to go back to verse 14,
we’d see that
Jesus had begun proclaiming the good news of God -
this, almost
immediately after John the Baptist is
imprisoned.
The timing is
interesting.
The timing is
brave.
Jesus’
audience, I suspect, would have understood it as that.
It begs a
question:
is it this
bravery that brings him to the attention of the folk
in the
synagogue at Capernaum?
Has he been invited to preach there, so that they can hear more?
Or does he
just wander in -
but they
already know a little about him,
because he’s
been out and about preaching?
Out of
curiosity, then, are happy for him to take to the pulpit?
Maybe an
impromptu invitation is offered:
‘As you’re
here, perhaps you might like to say a few words, Jesus?’
However it
happens, he teaches.
But the story
is remarkably silent about just what it is
that he teaches:
no mention of
scripture used, no mention of actual content.
All we have
to go on is, that whatever it is he says to them,
they are seriously impressed.
What we’re
left with, what Mark’s implying,
is that it’s
almost not what Jesus is saying,
it’s more
about how he’s saying it:
again, for
Mark, it’s Jesus’ actions more than his words, that are important.
We know that Jesus’
act of teaching leaves the congregation in the synagogue amazed -
amazed
because, as we’re told in verse 22,
he teaches
‘as one who had authority.’
...Okay, so
what’s that all about?
What were the
scribes, the rabbis,
the teachers
of the Law doing, if not teaching with authority?
Apparently,
backing up everything they said by quoting other learned rabbis
down through
the ages -
crossing
every ‘t’,
dotting every
‘i’,
playing it
very, very safe -
and, like any
good lawyer, making sure that if they said anything that might be vaguely
controversial,
there was
some kind of precedent to back it up.
Not quite
daring to trust that God might move through them,
or speak
through them,
and so, trying
to hem God in by their teaching style:
‘You have heard it said in Isaiah
that... x,y, z.
Now, Rabbi so and so thought that this
meant this and that.
And Rabbi such and such has this to
say on the matter.’
...And in comes
Jesus,
whose style
we see elsewhere in scripture,
whose style
sounds like this:
‘you have heard it said that...a, b,
c;
but I
say...this.’
Woah - wait a minute. 'I' say this?
Jesus, the
Word of God, comes in and opens up
the word of
God contained in Scripture.
There, in the
synagogue, he takes Scripture
and transforms the way it’s taught.
Suddenly,
Scripture feels fresh, comes alive -
becomes the living word in the hands of the Son of
God.
It’s this
transformative way of engaging with Scripture
that leaves
the congregation amazed.
But wait.
There’s more.
Even as
Scripture is transformed in front of
them,
is released
from the dead hand of countless cautious
anecdotes and
comments,
another voice
sounds throughout the synagogue:
‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have
you come to destroy us?
I know who you are - the Holy One of God!’
We don’t know
who this man is -
this man
troubled by an impure or evil spirit.
Truth be
told, we don’t know what it is that troubles him,
causes him to
call out in the way he does.
We could
spend time speculating about demon possession,
or talk about
advances in medical science
and the
beginnings of a pool of knowledge around the field of
mental health in the last
century.
But ...the
point is, whatever is happening in this man’s life -
he has a
troubled spirit, he’s a troubled soul.
We don’t know
who this man is,
and neither
do we know why he’s there, with his ‘impurity’,
in the midst
of those who would consider themselves ‘pure’, ‘righteous’...
he just
is: there.
How long had
he been living with this ...thing?
And why did
the folk in the synagogue seem not to notice that anything
might be wrong
before he speaks up?
Tantalising
questions, which we don’t have an answer for
this side of
heaven.
And, thinking of heaven -
if we were to
go back to Jesus’ baptism, you might remember in verse 11
the voice coming from
heaven saying
‘You are my
Son...’
a voice
identifying who Jesus is.
Interestingly,
the second voice in the Gospel of Mark, to identify who Jesus is,
comes from
this troubled man:
‘I know who you are, the Holy One of God’
And,
immediately, another transformation:
Jesus heals
the man there and then.
Done.
Dusted.
Not only has
he shown his authority through the way
he engages
with, and unpacks Scripture,
Jesus shows
his authority through his compassionate healing.
The man’s
life is suddenly transformed:
the light of
Light has shone into the hidden corners of this man’s soul -
the darkness
is lifted.
He’s released
from that which has weighed him down
and is
brought into a new way of engaging with the world,
a new way of living.
‘What do you
want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’ says the man...
and Jesus
responds by setting him free.
The teaching
of Scripture is transformed;
the troubled man is transformed;
but these are
not the only transformations in this story:
as they
witness Jesus, in word and in action, the community
is transformed.
They are left
amazed.
So much so,
that they spread the news of this astonishing
rabbi
with the power to breathe life into their bible,
to give new
life to the troubled in spirit.
They lose no
time effectively gossiping the gospel - proclaiming the good news.
‘What do you want with us, Jesus?’
It’s a
question we need to ask ourselves.
What does
Jesus want with us...?
You, me, and
our community as a whole?
...Transformation.
To take away
those things that trouble our souls.
To shine the
light of his love into those dark, hidden corners of our lives
that we dare not
face on our own;
to bring us
out of the darkness and into his
marvellous light.
To set us
free to be the people we were created to be;
and to love
God,
and our
neighbour,
and
ourselves, without impediment.
To live
fully, abundantly...joyfully...
And in that
transformation,
in word and
in action,
to show
others the power and authority that Jesus has still -
to shine
light in the darkness,
to heal the
troubled in spirit,
and to
transform the world -
this day, and
to the end of all days...
And to his
name be glory and praise forever,
Amen.
