Bible Passage: Mark 1:21-28
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: January 28, 2024

Bulletin January 28, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Have you ever left church stunned and amazed?  Once when I was a kid a man had a massive heart attack right during the service.  I left church sort of stunned and dazed that day.  I suppose there are some here who might remember being in church when a beloved pastor announced that he was accepting a Call to serve another congregation, or that he is retiring.  That can be sort of stunning.  But have you ever left church stunned and amazed by Jesus?

That is what happened in our text this morning.  The people go to church – they called it “going to synagogue” – thinking it will be just like every other Sabbath Day.  But this day they leave church stunned and amazed by Jesus.  Just what was it about Jesus that so stunned and amazed them?  Let’s get into the text to see.

Jesus is in the little lakeside city of Capernaum.  It is a Saturday.  The Sabbath.  The day of rest.  Jesus goes to church like he always did.  Only Jesus was not there merely as participant; he came as the guest preacher.  We are told, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. (v. 21)  We shouldn’t imagine that Jesus somehow usurped the pulpit in some kind of “takeover” of the service that day.  It was customary that when a recognized teacher was visiting a synagogue, he was given the opportunity to address the congregation.  And this honor was given to Jesus.

As Jesus spoke, the people perked up.  Eyes widened and became fixed on this teacher.  They were amazed at what they were hearing!  We are told why.  They were amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them as one who has authority and not as the experts in the law. (v. 22)  To understand their amazement, we have to understand something of the way religious instruction typically was done.  Our text mentions experts in the law.  Some translations call them “scribes.”   These men copied and studied the Old Testament scrolls.  They became the “go-to” guys when there were questions about the Law said or meant in application.  People began to call them, “rav” or “ravvi.”  “Rabbi.”  “Great one” or “my great one.”  There was a pecking order among scribes.  When lesser scribes taught, they often appealed to the authority of a greater rabbi.  “Rav Hillel says…”  “Rabbi Shammai says…”  “Gamaliel has taught this-and-this.”

Jesus didn’t do this!  And that is what amazed the people!  Jesus never appealed to Hillel, or Shammai, or Gamaliel.  Jesus would say, Amen, amen, I say to you…  With those words Jesus was claiming ultimate authority.  Jesus was saying, “The buck of teaching and interpreting and explaining the Scriptures stops with me!”  Jesus never had to consult a commentary on the Old Testament, because he is the ultimate authority of every word of it!  That is amazing!

Does that amaze you?  When you sit in church, you hear the authoritative Word of the Lord.  Our three appointed lessons each week are not opinions.  We underscore the authority of the Words we hear by saying after our readings, “This is the Word of the Lord.”  “The Word of the Lord.”  Amazing!  And in that Word, the Lord has the authority to address any part of my life.  He has the authority to talk to you about how you spend your time, how you spend your money, and how you use your body.  That means that when God’s Word says something is sin, I don’t reply, “That’s your opinion.”  My reply can only be, “Lord, have mercy!”  But this is equally true.  The Lord’s declarations of forgiveness of sin in the Bible are also spoken with the full authority of the Lord behind them!  When Jesus says, “You are forgiven,” you are forgiven!  That is amazing!

The amazement that day did not end with Jesus’ teaching.  Our text continues:  Just then there was a man with an unclean spirit in their synagogue.  It cried out, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (v. 24)  That had to be unsettling.  Can you imagine if in the middle of our worship service a man stood up and he cried out in a horrible voice not his own, but a demonic voice came from within him?  It’s the stuff that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up!

Consider the question of the demon.  Have you come to destroy us?  The answer is YES!  That is exactly why Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God incarnate!  John wrote in his first letter:  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8)  And the writer to the Hebrews wrote:  He [Jesus]…shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil. (Hebrews 2:14)  Destroying the kingdom of hell and the hold it has on people is exactly why Jesus came!  The full destruction would come.  There was a Friday and a Sunday on the not-so-distant horizon.  A cross and an empty tomb.  A defeated hell.

But this Saturday in the synagogue, for now, Jesus would deliver the man from his demon-possession.  With all the power and authority of God, Jesus speaks to the demon as though it was an irritating little pup.   Be quiet! Come out of him! (v. 25)  The demons of hell cannot defy Christ!  With one last shriek and convulsion, the demon exits the man.

Friends, does it ever occur to you that every week in worship we review the story of how Jesus once-and-for all freed us from the devil’s power?  Our talk in church centers on the cross because we know what happened there.  It was speaking about the powers of hell that Paul wrote, [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)  I once heard it said, “Jesus beat the devil with a big, ugly stick.”  And it’s true.  With that big, ugly, beautiful cross, our archenemy has been defeated!  We are free from hell’s accusations!  Free from hell’s power!  Free from hell’s claims!  Through Jesus of Nazareth!  Amazing!

Our text concludes, Everyone was so amazed… “What is this?  A new teaching with authority!  He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him!” (v. 27)  They left church that day stunned and amazed by Jesus.  May that also, and always, be true of us!

Amen.