Not Your Typical Sabbath Worship

January 31, 2021

Hope Lutheran Church

Rev. Mary Erickson

Mark 1:21-28

Not Your Typical Sabbath Worship

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

What do you expect when you attend a worship service? We have certain expectations of what we’ll experience in worship. If we’re at our homey church, we have our favorite spot to sit. Maybe the pew has “our name” on it. We’re familiar with the format of the service, who the regular attenders are. We know the particular cadence of the organist when they play hymns. Some are slow and meditative. Some are energized and lively, like Donna. We know when to stand up and sit down. And we’re familiar with our pastor’s preaching style.

So much of our worship experience is well anticipated. What do you come away with from worship? That’s a question I ask on the sermon notes for our confirmation students. What was your favorite part of today’s worship service? Their answers are surprisingly diverse. Sometimes it’s the children’s time. Or they can mention a song the choir shared, or a particular hymn we sang. Sometimes it’s the sermon or it could be a special witness from a member of the church.

What do YOU come away with from worship? The word “worship” derives from an Old English word “worthship.” It’s connected to worthiness. Who is the one worthy of our praise and adoration?

For the most part, we know what to expect when we come to a worship service. The curve balls come when we worship in a congregation different from our home church. Don’t sit in the front row, or you might be left standing when everyone else sits down! When a congregation has a guest preacher or when they call a new pastor, there’s a sense of anticipation when the pastor gets in the pulpit. What kind of message will they give? What’s their style? We don’t know what to expect from them.

There’s the old joke, you know. When people get home from church, they have “roast preacher” for Sunday dinner!

What words describe your experience during worship?

• Uplifted?

• Bored?

• Challenged?

• Energized?

• Disappointed?

• Edified?

• Entertained?

Whatever words you use, you probably would NOT use “astounded” or “amazed.” But that is what people felt when Jesus stepped into the Capernaum synagogue on that Sabbath day. It knocked their socks off!

This was the very first event of Jesus’ ministry. This worship service launched everything! Jesus had just called his first four disciples: Peter and Andrew, James and John. They came to Capernaum because that’s where Peter lived. Well, the Sabbath day comes, and so they all head to the synagogue.

Jesus is the guest preacher for the day. What were people expecting? Sometimes hearing there’s a guest preacher, you want to groan. Oh, no, not a guest preacher! For others, it’s a welcome stimulation. “Oh, goody, someone new!”

But for sure, nobody, not even Peter, Andrew, James and John, anticipated what was going to happen that day! Jesus “teaches.” It’s a significant word. He teaches. For good Jews, teaching is Torah. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy, are called the Torah. Sometimes we hear Torah translated as “law.” But the translation is more accurately “teaching.” So here’s Jesus, TEACHING. And what astounds people is that he’s teaching with authority. It’s like the very Torah itself is being spoken alive in their midst! It’s like they’re hearing it fresh, for the very first time!

What happens there that Sabbath morning is both astounding and amazing. For those worshippers, the word of God is being spoken into their midst. “What’s going on?” they say, “He’s teaching with authority, not like our scribes do!”

Authority. Authority is connected to the word “author.” An author creates something. They’re the originator of this new thing. We say that Jesus is the author of salvation. The book of Hebrews calls him “the author and perfecter of our faith.”

Jesus is teaching to them as one with authority over the word. He’s speaking like these teachings are HIS words. He’s not just reflecting on the holy scriptures. He owns them.

And then comes the real jaw dropper. There’s a certain man in the synagogue that day. He has an unclean spirit. Something destructive possesses him. When he sees Jesus – that is, when the unclean spirit sees Jesus – he knows exactly who Jesus is. And he’s not a bit happy to see him.

Our scientific minds don’t know what to do with a person dominated by an unclean spirit. So, we might feel more discomfort from what happens next than we do amazement. We just don’t know what to do with it! Is this merely thinking from a more primitive era of human evolution? Does the man really suffer from some kind of physical malady like epilepsy, or mental health challenge like schizophrenia?