Jesus Is In The House!

Scripture: Mark 1:21-28

Title: Jesus Is In The House!

Anytime we invite Jesus to be in our midst some amazing things will happen!

I. Things like receiving new insights and knowledge.

II. Things like knowing that Jesus is the True Son of God, the Holy One

III. Things like People experiencing True Freedom - bondages broken and lives set free

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ, our Messiah and Lord who came to take away our sins and the sins of the world!

It was the Sabbath, so, naturally Jesus went to the synagogue to pray, worship and enjoy a time of fellowship with other Jewish believers. This was something that Jesus had been doing this all of his life. It was what his mother Mary and his earthly father Joseph had taught him to do each and every Sabbath. Attending synagogue, spending time in community praying, worshiping and learning had become a part of Jesus' spiritual DNA. If you wanted to find Jesus on the Sabbath you would need to go around one of the local synagogues because that is where you would find him.

Mark doesn't make a big deal out of that fact. He just records it. Even though Jesus is more than forty miles from his home town of Nazareth he doesn't take Sabbath off. Instead, he gets up, eats breakfast, gets dressed and then leads his disciples to this particular synagogue in Capernaum.

It also appears that Jesus may have been asked to come and speak at this particular synagogue. Perhaps Jesus' preaching and ministry was already making quite a stir and a number of people around Capernaum wanted to hear him speak. More than likely the ruler of the synagogue had sent word to Jesus back in Nazareth that he wanted the young rabbi to come and share with his congregation.

Now, Mark doesn't tell us if the synagogue was pack in anticipation of Jesus being there or if it was one of those low Sabbaths because the regular speaker was either not going to be present or was not going to speak. You know how it is when it is announced that a special speaker is going to come. Some people scatter like the four winds while others change their plans to be in attendance. What mattered to Mark was that he wanted us to know that all of creation was already changing because of Jesus. This man called Jesus from Nazareth was stirring things up in ways that no one had witnessed for hundreds of years.

This morning, we find ourselves just 20 verses into Mark's Gospel and already he has taken us through the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus' baptism, the Wilderness trials and the calling of Jesus' first few disciples. Mark begins his gospel with breakneck speed and he doesn't slow down very much. He is on a mission to get us into the heart of the story. And the heart of the story is that in Jesus, God in Flesh, the Good God of Covenant and of Creation has showed up. In this living, breathing human being God's presence is very much alive in a new and amazing way. Israel's long awaited Messiah has come to rescue, redeem and restore the hearts of people everywhere.

So, Jesus is here in the synagogue sharing his thoughts on that day's passage. Since we don't know the exact time of the year we don't know exactly what prescribe passage was being read. What we do know is that the minute Jesus started speaking people sat up and listened like they hadn't listened either before or for some time.

Jesus words were powerful, they were full of authority and spiritual gravitas. I am sure they didn't expect him to speak this way. After all, Jesus' reputation was that of being a carpenter/stone mason. It isn't hard to imagine that Jesus had at some time worked in this area. Two days walk ( that is how far it was from Nazareth to Capernaum) wasn't that far and it was common for carpenters/mason workers to travel much farther to get work during that time. So, it is safe to say that maybe there were some present that morning that may have had Jesus in their home at some time or the other doing some construction work or fixing something that had broken. It is even more safe to say that he had at some time even shared worship with many of them.

What amazed them was that Jesus spoke differently than those that they had heard before. They had heard those with degrees and letters come and share their knowledge and insights. They had heard those who had chosen their very words carefully and those who had even memorized what they were going to say. Over the years they had heard quite a number of scribes, Pharisees and Levites.