Amazing Authority
Mark 1:21-28
January 28, 2018 – Redeemer
Demon possession. Did you worry about that at all this past week? Neither did I and that is why it is good, right, and salutary that Jesus takes on this demon possessed man in the synagogue and that Mark witnessed it for us.
Is there such a thing as demon possession? You have two possible answers a) Yes or b) Jesus is not the Son of God. Jesus did not say He was dealing with someone who was mentally ill or suffering from some great trauma. He spoke to this unclean spirit as an unclean spirit. He cast it out. If it wasn’t a demon in league with the Devil, then Jesus is a fraud and a liar.
What about today? Is there demon possession today? Once again you have two answers: a) Yes or b) Jesus is a liar. We might think it is rare or unseen, but to discount the active aggression of the Devil and his demons is to cede a victory to the Evil One. If you don’t believe the Devil is at work to destroy and possess you, he has already won a very important battle. If you want to read a book by a Lutheran Pastor who gives spiritual care to the demon possessed and oppressed in the United States there is a book in the resource center entitled Afraid.
The Devil and his demons are active and on the attack in our midst, right now. The good news for us on this Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany is that Jesus of Nazareth is revealed as the One who has authority to silence the Devil and send him running.
Jesus is in the Synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus goes to church. If Jesus needs the gifts of His Father, if He needs to listen to His Father’s Word and promises and commands, do you need any less? Jesus, as a Rabbi, would have been one of the men who read the Word of God in the Synagogue. Saint Luke tells us that He also did this in his hometown of Nazareth. There the people were captivated by His reading about the Messiah which he concluded by saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words – all of Scripture is about Jesus the Christ. This is what is meant when Saint Mark records that the “people [of Capernaum] were astonished at His teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority.” Jesus spoke from the source, as the source and subject and center of God’s Word. When He spoke it was like He knew Adam and Eve personally and had been with Abraham and counted David as his friend.
Wherever Jesus is being delivered to sinners in and through God’s Word the Devil will try to create chaos. The Devil hates Redeemer. He despises God’s Word. Don’t think for a minute he isn’t at work right now to lead you off into daydreams or make your phone buzz with an unimportant message, or pinch some baby so he cries out.
Immediately after Jesus finishes teaching a man with an unclean spirit interrupts the Divine Service. He cries 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.” The unclean spirit is speaking the truth. Jesus of Nazareth has come to destroy the Devil and his band of wicked brothers. Jesus is the Holy One of God – God’s own Son, the promised Savior, the seed of Eve, the offspring of Abraham, the final King of David’s line who would set us sinners free from sin, death and the devil.
So why does Jesus stop an unclean spirit from preaching the truth? Jesus silences him because Jesus knows that whenever the Devil speaks, even when he speaks God’s own word, his goal is chaos. He wants to lead you into despair, unbelief, and fear.
One of the Devil’s favorite sermons today is “God is Love.” That is a direct quote from 1 John 1:8. It is true. God is love, but that’s where the Devil’s sermon stops and love ends up being defined as tolerance and inclusivity. Love means you never say someone is wrong because it might hurt his or her feelings. The Devil’s sermon is true, but his sermon is sinister. He leaves out how God Himself defines the love that He is. He preaches vs. 8 but leaves out 9-10. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
God’s love calls us to repent. In love He tells us we are wrong – we have sinned. In love God tells us how He righted our wrongs in Jesus. God loved us in this way. He sent His Son to be pay the price, to offer His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is the propitiation – the payment that God’s justice demands. Because of your sins you deserve to die. You should suffer an eternity away from God. This is God’s love – He sent His Son for you, to be the propitiation for your sin, to die in your place, and put an end to your sin. In His great love God says to you, “Repent of your sin and receive what I have done for you in Christ.”
As Jesus, by His Father’s authority, puts an end to your sin, so also He silences the Devil. Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
The crowd at once realized again that Jesus speaks as one who has authority. What could you do if confronted with a demon possessed man? Could you control his chaos? Silence his vile sermon? You couldn’t do a thing, but Jesus can and did. He has authority. After all He is the One through whom His Father created the whole world. The Devil is a creature gone bad, poisoned by hatred and pride. Jesus is the Creator who uses His authority to do good for you. That is what the crowd saw and confessed that day, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
How does Jesus ultimately silence the devil’s lies? By telling you the whole truth. His last words on the cross were “It is finished.” That’s the truth – your sin is finished, your death is dead, the Devil is defeated. Jesus can say that because He is authorized – He is the Son of God, the Savior of the World, God’s revelation of love for you.
Looking back on the past week Jesus’ amazing authority is exactly what you need. You didn’t love as you should have loved. You were quick to anger and slow to forgive. Death troubled you. The Devil threw all the chaos of the world at you to terrorize you. He brought up all your sins to cause you to despair. To that unholy trinity of sin, death, and the Devil Jesus says, “Be silent and get out of here.” That’s His authority – He spoke with that authority in your baptism, in the forgiveness you heard today, and He speaks it along with His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. When Jesus speaks forgiveness to you He silences your sin, He opens your grave, and now it’s the Devil who is afraid and running. That’s the Epiphany from the Synagogue of Capernaum. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
27 January 2018 anno Domini