“Who’s in Charge Here?”
Mark 1:21-28; Galatians 2:19b-20
[Imperatives in this sermon:
1. Let Jesus be the Forgiver and Total Deliverer (Savior) of our lives.
2. Let Jesus be the Leader and Absolute Authority (Lord) of our lives.
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Scripture
Mark 1:21-28 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. 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." But Jesus rebuked him, 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. 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." And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
The Capernaum Synagogue
Jesus and his new disciples came to the Capernaum synagogue.
Please understand that, despite the names on modern synagogues (“Temple B’nai Israel” and so forth), a synagogue is not a temple.
There was only one true temple in Judaism, and that was in Jerusalem. A temple was where atoning sacrifices were offered, and priests of the line of Aaron and assistants of the tribe of Levi were in charge of the place. The elite Jerusalem priests were known as Sadducees.
In contrast to the one temple in Jerusalem, there were many synagogues in many locations. Every location where ten Jewish males could gather for instruction had a synagogue of some kind, and our best guess is that Capernaum had a substantial one. A synagogue was a meeting place for weekly instruction in the scriptures, and it was governed by laity. There was an elected ruler of the synagogue, and there were experts known as rabbis. Many of these rabbis were scribes by profession and Pharisees by persuasion.
Rabbis were experts in the scriptures, but, even more, they were experts in “the traditions of the rabbis,” elaborate discussions of how the law should be applied. When faced with a question about how to act in a given situation, a skilled Pharisaic rabbi could recite the traditions, giving a long discussion of the conservative and liberal views and then pronouncing a recommended solution.
The members of the synagogue invited different rabbis to speak on a Sabbath-by-Sabbath basis. In the time of Jesus, there were not yet established credentials for which rabbis were viewed as professionally qualified to speak, and so the leaders of the synagogue were free to invite any visiting rabbi who was a reputable speaker. On this basis, Jesus had been invited to speak at the Capernaum synagogue. Had there been professional standards, he would not have made it.
As One Who Had Authority
Jesus began to speak, and the people listening were astonished at his teaching, “for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.” Jesus had very little use for the quibbling style of the rabbis. He ignored their traditions which he saw as designed to do two things at once, to get them off the hook of things they did not want to do, and to lay heavy religious burdens on those less expert than themselves.
Jesus went straight back to the clearest indications of God’s perfect purposes in the scriptures and then spoke with directly inspired prophetic authority, not just, “Thus says the Lord…” but “Truly! Truly! I say to you….” Jesus explained, “I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things just as the Father has instructed me.” The words of the Son were the words of the Father. No wonder the crowds were amazed. No one had ever spoken like this before.
Mark does not report the particular topics about which Jesus touched on this particular occasion, but we know his underlying theme, the theme of all that he taught, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news.” His way of speaking expressed the reigning presence of God that was in his life and ministry.
The synagogue crowd was further astounded by Jesus’ exorcisms, for unclean spirits had to obey him. His authority is again the issue on their minds.
About Demons and Exorcisms
Jesus had authority over demons. How do we understand demons today? I am here to represent Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, not to argue that your worldview must include angels and demons. If you let Jesus Christ be your living Lord, and ask for his Spirit to live in you, he will show you what you really need to know about angels and demons when you really need to know it. But, so that your decision may be based on fact, not fantasy, we need to clear away a little garbage.
What is a demon? Forget the little red guys with horns and pitchforks. Forget chains rattling in the attic. Instead, think of angels gone bad. Like good angels, demons are ordinarily invisible, but able to manifest when they choose. Demons’ primary way of working is by lying, deceiving, and distracting. The main way we can recognize their presence is by their whispered lies in our minds. Our primary weapon against them is revealed truth enlivened by the Holy Spirit. We do not really need to know much about demons. For the most part, we just need to be able to recognize and correct their lies. They don’t hang around long where they can’t have fun messing with our minds.
Most of us are sometimes influenced by the lies of demons. Very few of us are actually controlled by demons. In order to be controlled by demons, the victim must have made a bargain to give them control. Often those who are controlled by demons have been abused by someone who pretended to represent faith. So they turned to the dark side in search of power to gain vengeance. The bargain turns out to be a poor one, leading to the degeneration and eventual destruction of their personalities. Jesus comes to give a second chance to victims who have made such deadly bargains.
Believe what you will about the existence of demons, but learn to resist lies with truth and choose to side with restoring the victims who have come under the control of destructive lies. If and when you need to understand more, the Lord Jesus will make that clear to you and prepare you to accept it.
In the synagogue a man controlled by a demon confronted Jesus. The demon knew Jesus from the spiritual realm. Perhaps the demon hoped to control Jesus by naming him. He called him Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God. Jesus had the authority to silence the demon, and he used his authority. Literally, he said, “Be muzzled.” He then commanded the demon to come out of the man, and it did. The man was set free from the control of lies.
Will We Acknowledge Jesus' Authority?
Jesus’ direct and sovereign authority often troubled the religious experts of his day; it would often do the same today. It may even trouble us. But we are forced to a decision about Jesus’ authority: will we acknowledge his authority over our lives or not?
Our mission requires that we represent the authority of Jesus and invite people to respond to him as their Savior and Lord. In doing that we must uphold the essentials of the faith. Week by week, at the table we recite our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Savior, and Lord. Do we really think about what it means to say that Jesus is our Lord?
The apostle Paul had been trained as a Pharisaic rabbi, but he said that, when he became a Christian, he had to consider his traditions as mere garbage in comparison to the saving gospel he had been commissioned to represent. He said that he had to view himself as leaving behind all things of his personal past and moving ahead toward his destiny in Christ. He put it even more sharply. He said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:19b-20 (ESV) [See also Philippians 3:1-21].
Letting Jesus be our supreme authority means that we must die to being governed by our own prejudices, preferences, desires, and whims. We will take our orders from the One who speaks with true authority unlike any other. We will not take our orders from the traditions of our denomination or congregation. We will not take our orders from the culture around us. We may need to understand our denominational traditions and our culture’s way of thinking in order to speak intelligibly in our place and in our time, but the content of our message and our mission, the governing authority of our lives as Christians, must come from the Lord Jesus.
The church is not to be a democracy of personal whims and opinions, of shared ignorance and traditions; rather, the church is to be submitted to its Savior and Lord, King Jesus, and to the scripture and Holy Spirit that were the authorities on which he relied in his earthly ministry. We are engaged in a great spiritual battle for the saving truth of the gospel. We have been commissioned as ambassadors for Christ. We represent him, not ourselves.
A New Commanding Officer
When my wife Judy was pastor of First Christian Church, Sherwood, AR, a young serviceman from the nearby airbase, a man whose name was Mark, visited the church. He had never attended church in his whole life, but was curious. There were a number of things he did not understand about the worship service. For instance, “Why do you play music that sounds like The Phantom of the Opera?”
But, most importantly, he wanted to know where he should start in learning about Christian faith. Judy suggested to him that he begin reading the Gospel that bore his name, the Gospel of Mark. When he next saw her to discuss what he had read, he said, “I have found the commanding officer for the rest of my life.” He got it. Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is not merely our helper, our co-pilot, the One to whom we go when we are in trouble. He is not just a good moral example, an inspiring teacher who tells us to be good and loving. He is all that, but much more, he is Lord, absolute authority, supreme ruler of all creation. Who is in charge here? If we really mean what we profess, we must answer, “Jesus!”
Sharing in Jesus' Authority
And now the amazing part: when we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord, he invites us to share his authority. By grace through faith, through Word and Spirit, through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, he brings us into union with himself, transforming us degree by degree into his image, and making us his representatives. He shows us how to find the perfect will of God in scripture. He sends his Holy Spirit to us to provide the immediate guidance of God. He teaches us how to discern what is central and essential, and what is secondary and nonessential. He equips us to represent him here and now.
When we let Jesus really be Lord of our lives, other people will sense that God is present in our lives as a divine authority demanding their response.
Please understand that I am not saying that as Christians we are permitted to run around dictating how everyone else will think and live. Nor are we to bludgeon people with the gospel. But I am saying that, in our humble and vulnerable living as ambassadors for Jesus, God’s authority will make itself evident and call others, inescapably, to decide how they will respond to the Lord Jesus.
Total Deliverer and Absolute Authority
One church of our day that is very successful in reaching unchurched spiritual seekers recognizes that people do not stop to think what the words Savior and Lord mean. So they speak of Jesus as Forgiver and Leader. That’s a little watered down for my tastes. Savior means more than Forgiver. Lord means more than Leader. But, speaking on behalf of the effort of that successful church, they have established a starting place. Savior never means less than Forgiver and Lord never means less than Leader. A person can start with the concept of Jesus as Forgiver and Leader, and then go on to see that he is Total Deliverer and Absolute Authority.
Where are we on that journey toward understanding who Jesus is? Is Jesus our Total Deliverer and Absolute Authority? Is he even our Forgiver and Leader? I am here to say that the journey can start from today, and it can move on from wherever we are along the path toward a fuller comprehension of all that Jesus is for us.
Who’s in charge here? I hope that our answer is ________ (Jesus)
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