4th Sunday after the Epiphany
Mark 1:21-28
"’The World of Words"
21 And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.
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;
24 and he cried 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."
25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"
26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying 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 live in a world of words. Words are all about us, words on TV, words on the radio, spoken words by family and friends, words printed in newspapers, books, on computers, and words on the Internet. The world of words have turned us into a people who have been overwhelmed, suffocated, and buried in the mounting pile of words. With so many words around us, words tend to loose their meaning, they become unimportant, they no longer have any real value or influence in life.
And there are some words which have more power than others.
The late Pastor Valbracht says in his book, Exit Interstate 0, the following about words, "It was in the early years of my ministry that one Sunday preaching my sermon and I had just gotten well into the sermon, when a baby started to cry down in one of the front pews. The mother, very much embarrassed, snatched up the baby and started out the aisle aisle. I stopped right in my sermon, and I said, ’Madam you don’t hove to take that baby out. He isn’t bothering me.’ She said, ’No?’ Well, you’re certainly bothering him.’
Words do have power, sometime.
In the following story we get an entirely different view of the world of words. "A New York columnist set out one time not long ago to prove that no one really listened to what anyone said at a cocktail party and, when he was invited to such a party, he always would arrive late. When he arrived the hostess greeted him and he explained why he was late. "I had to stop for a moment and murder my mistress, and it took longer than I thought." Without blinking an eye, the hostess said she understood perfectly, "I was almost late myself, everyone is quite busy. Enjoy yourself. Have u good time ."
As he mingled around the party, someone asked him what I he did for a living. "Oh, I am the executioner for the State Penitentiary." The person continued, "Well, that must be an interesting line of work How does business look this year?’’
We are caught up in a sea, a world of words. Some words do have special power and authority, others have no meaning at all. Sometimes our words only have meaning , power and authority, because of the listener, or because of the speaker.
In today’s gospel lesson, we learn how Jesus spoke God’s word and how that word had authority, power and hope for living. I would like to look at Jesus’ words this morning, and see because they are God’s word incarnate in this world, these words take on a special distinction for our lives. How Jesus’ words do have authority, power, and hope for the future.
First authority.
Our text says, "And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes." There was something very special about Jesus’ words. They were different from the scribes who usually taught in the synagogue. They would quote sayings from the past learned men, they would not offer any new truth, or new idea, but the scribes would always reinforce what had been said before.
But Jesus came and spoke with authority. He didn’t quote any past learned men, he was the sole authority for his words. He had authority, the authority of God himself. For in John’s gospel in the prologue, it says, 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
God’s word, the word that God used to create, the authoritative word of God that brought things into existence, that word was incarnate in Jesus. Jesus spoke with the authority which was present from the beginning of time.
That authoritative word of Jesus was a word which knew what was needed and what was best for God’s children. It was a word of liberation, a word of comfort, a word of release, a word of pardon which Jesus spoke at the very beginning of his public ministry as in Mark 1:15: "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel.’’
Jesus announced through his presence, God’s kingdom is now present in this world. Those words stood tall among the people, because Jesus had the kind of authority, the kind of presence which allowed people to believe that his kingdom was indeed God’s kingdom.
Next, we see the power of Jesus as he spoke God’s word.
The text says, 23 ¶ And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit;24 and he cried 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. 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
There was a power in Jesus’ words, a power to bring healing strength and forgiveness into the life of that man. Also with his words, Jesus brought that man into a relationship with him. The power of Jesus’ words affects lives.
I have thought that these words of Jesus are similar to the absolution which is spoken at the beginning of each worship service where through my words, Jesus’ action of forgiveness reaches into your lives.
One author says "Each week we assemble as the ones who carry the disease of sin. We cry out ’Son of God, have mercy on us.’ And Christ’s own powerful Word says, ’Arise, go forth and live. The demons obey him, they are out and away. The grip of sin and death is broken. We are free to live as a new people of God."
The cosmic battle of sin has been fought and Jesus has won. But this battle continues day in and day out for each of us.
And it is only through the powerful word of Christ that we can hope to win. It is only through His word and His word alone that victory for a fleeting moment is ours on this earth.
And that brings us to the final word, the word of Hope.
Because Jesus has authority, because he has power, because his words do affect our lives, then we are people who can and do live with hope. Hope that things can be changed, things can be different, things, lives, people can be made whole through the authority and power of Jesus Christ. We can live life as victor instead of victims because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ to redeem our lives, to bring forth his authority and power in our everyday Iife.
Maxie Dunnam says in her book, Dancing At My Funeral, "I am dancing in the face of tragedy over which I have no control except to trust God and life and circumstance. I am able to live in the presence of death because I trust myself as a victor rather than a victim."
There is a hopefulness in live as we hear and become empowered by Jesus’ words.
A Sunday School teacher illustrated this concept of hopefulness in life by drawing on the blackboard two pathways.
In the middle of one she placed a large rock, covering the entire path.
At the end of the other path she places a stairway, going upwards, seeming over some obstacle and she continued the pathway on from the top of the stairs.
She pointed to the large rock "All right’" she asked ’’what’s the problem."
Hands went up over the entire class "Something is in the way," one answered, another, "If people run into it, they’ll get hurt," another, "It will turn people bock."
"Good," said the teacher, "and what about this", pointing to the stairs. The children thought a moment, then one said, "The stairway will let you keep on moving the way you want to go."
Another ,"The stairway will take you little higher than you were before."
And another said, "the stairs will let you move along one solid step at a time."
Jesus is our stairway across the brokenness of life. He is solid because of his authority and power. He moves us a little higher, closer to him, as we allow him to bring hope, power, authority, release, forgiveness, renewal, and cleansing into our lives.
Because he is the son of God our stairway over and around the brokenness of the world also moves us closer to heaven and the promise of salvation which is ours through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
In this world of words, there is one clear, loud, gracious word which stands out against all others, and that is Jesus word of grace in our lives, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale January 27, 2003
