Mark 1:21-28 ESV
21 And they went into
Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue
and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished
at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as
the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their
synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “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.” 25 But
Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of
him!” 26 And the unclean
spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of
him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they
questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with
authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And
at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of
Galilee.
We All Need to Start Somewhere
Well, we all need to start somewhere. But in this way? Why
does Jesus start his ministry like this? Why does Jesus start in this place
with this little group? I think Jesus is giving his disciples a lesson here. A
lesson of where to start and a lesson of who He is.
In this passage of Scripture, we witness the first of four
exorcisms of Jesus. Jesus’ ministry begins by casting out a demon. Exorcisms! Really! Come on, Jesus, do you have
to start with this? Wow! In this season of Epiphany, Jesus, you really begin
with a bang in showing yourself to the world!
Lesson One --- Jesus begins his work with what is presented
to Him. Jesus begins with a small group in a synagogue. Lesson One for all
Jesus’ disciples… Just start proclaiming the Gospel, the Forgiveness of sin,
the Salvation of Jesus, with what God gives to you in your place and time, and
with those God gives to you each day. Start with what God presents to you. Run
and tell what God has done in your life and for you.
Jesus starts ministry in a Synagogue. The traditional
meaning of synagogue is a bringing together or an assembly of people. In this
passage it is a building that he enters. Jesus enters the synagogue as a lay
teacher. Jesus is a lay teacher because he is not educated as a scribe. Rather,
Jesus is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Well, that’s even a bit better than a
scribe! Jesus is inspired by God. In fact, He IS God! And evil is about to take
notice of this fact that Jesus IS God.
As Jesus teaches this small group in this one synagogue in
this huge universe; the people present are astonished. Are we astonished at
Jesus teaching today, in our time, in our place, with our own small group in
this universe?
My fear is that many Christians today, are astonished by
themselves. They are astonished at how they love one another and those like
themselves. I think the true astonishment with what Jesus teaches, is not that
we love. No! We can trap ourselves into thinking that if we love God, he surely
must love us and save us. That’s NOT astonishing. That’s self-works, that
self-righteousness!
What is astonishing is that God loves us! And here God is,
in the flesh of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, coming to our small building,
to our small group, in the midst of this infinite universe, to save us from
sin, death, and the devil!
1 John 3:1 ESV
3 See what kind of love
the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and
so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did
not know him.
We, me, you… being called a Child of God! That’s astonishing!
What does Jesus do for us, right from the start?
As we turn in our small building, in our small group, Jesus
has mercy on us. Jesus forgives us. Jesus casts out evil. Jesus can and does renew
a right spirit within you! Turn from the evil of your sinning and rely on God, and
for God to make you righteous, for God to make you holy, rely on God by turning
to him. God will awaken faith through the forgiveness of all your sin and save
you and redeem you as his, now and forever.
Now, let’s look at all this demon stuff. This is Lesson Two.
First off, let’s not dilute this moment in Jesus’ ministry.
Sure, Jesus loves and cares for and brings healing to the mentally ill; but
demon possession is NOT a mental disorder. To tag this whole thing on the suffering
mentally ill community is wrong! And with this in mind comes Lesson Two.
As mentioned earlier, Jesus IS God. Jesus IS inspired by
the Holy Spirit. And of all things in this world, this universe, the demons of
evil, certainly know Jesus as God. They knew more than we could know at the
time that Jesus’ ministry was to save all God’s people. The demons know Jesus
as God and they know they have met their conqueror. Demons know you, they know
me, they know us, and they want us to be part of this demonic world of sin,
death and evil. Demons certainly know God!
But, in this small synagogue, this small group, this small
place in the universe, where Jesus begins his ministry; Jesus reveals Himself.
And this revelation is going to spread. Yes! Jesus comes to destroy demons and evil
works.
1 John 3:8
8 Whoever makes a practice
of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
The demons
cry out to Jesus, “What have you to do with us?”
Everything!
Jesus is always concerned with the sin that haunts and tempts us. Jesus came to
cast out our own demons. Jesus came to take our demons upon himself and die
with them, and take our demons straight to Hell for us, and abolish all evil
forever and ever! The Word made flesh, this Jesus, casts out sin, death and the
devil. Why? Because God loves us and wants us to be his, forever and ever.
In this
ministry start, this small building in this universe, with this small group; Jesus
came to vanquish the powers of evil. For you, for me, for us!
Luke 23:34a ESV
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do.”
Lord, you put your Word in the mouth of the prophets. You
send us salvation in Jesus to cast out the demons of evil. May we not depend on
our own knowledge that puffs us up, but rather turn to Your Love, in Jesus
works to be built up by Your Love. For you and you alone came to cast out the
demons within ourselves and this world, to free us to live for you proclaiming
the Gospel of Your Love for all, even in our own small place in our own small
group… yesterday… today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen
In this Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, I leave you with this YouTube Video and song sung by Chris Tomlin that speaks.
O Little Town of Bethlehem - Chris Tomlin
Enjoy! And God bless…
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