What’s In a Name? (Jan 28, 2024) Mk 1.21-28

Mark is a gospel that advertises that there is something extra coming up in the story. It is short and to the point. There is something about this Jesus that hints that he is more than what he appears to be. And what is that? Mark begins by telling us that he is the Son of God and the Messiah. Then we are told of the baptism of Jesus where the Spirit descends upon Jesus and the ripping open of the heavens above.

Jesus is then sent to the wilderness where he is tested by Satan. Unlike Matthew and Luke, we are not told what the testing was, only that it occurred, and that Jesus was waited upon by the angels and was with the wild beasts.

But Jesus must have passed with flying colors because the next time that we see him, he is preaching the good news of the kingdom and beginning his ministry after John was arrested. His next step in this mission is to call the disciples to him. They come and the mission is a go.

All this in the first 20 verses of chapter one! It is like a novel that is a page turner: we cannot wait to see what happens next and Mark does not want to make us wait. In fact, the word “immediately” is used so often in the book that it gives us the sense that Mark’s story is of the utmost importance and needs to be told with the greatest haste.

It is the same with today’s text. We find ourselves reading not about what Jesus says but about what he does. This is filled with action with a purpose. The word immediately occurs 3 times in these eight verses. After each one there is something happening in the plot of what Mark is trying to tell those reading.

According to Mark, Jesus called his disciples from their work. This would not occur on the Sabbath because these men were good law following Jews. Therefore, their going to synagogue would be a day or two after their call. And in the synagogue Jesus begins to expound on the text that was read for the day. This was not that unusual. A teacher would be asked to do this if one was known to be well versed in the scriptures, so Jesus must be seen as one of these.

When he teaches, the people are in awe. Here is one who teaches not like the scribes, but with authority. What this means is that Jesus did not rest his teaching on what others had taught in the past but taught with his own authority. It would be nice to know what text Jesus read and taught so that we would be able to understand why the people were so in awe. But we do not. All we know is that he taught not as the scribes did.

Before we go and bash the scribes, it is important to know who they were. Scribes were not just ones who did writing for other people. They could, and did, do that. But they were so much more. They were scholars, lay people who knew and interpreted the Torah and the rest of Hebrew Scriptures as well as the commentaries that were written. Their teaching comprised of speaking about what the Scriptures meant and what the authorities said they meant. A lawyer today who is citing case law and precedents would be a close approximation to what the scribes were. They were not doing anything wrong nor were they leading the people astray. They were just citing and basing their arguments and teachings on those who had come before them. They would say that they were standing on the shoulders of giants.

Jesus is not doing anything like this. He is teaching with urgency and, as noted, with authority. And the people are listening. One can imagine them leaning forward in their seats trying to catch every word that is spoken by this charismatic newcomer who is teaching like they have never heard. It was probably about the immanence of the Kingdom of God about which the people listening would be waiting to hear more. Yet, in all this the people are not wondering who this man is. They know him as Jesus of Nazareth, but they do not appear to recognize just who it is that is teaching with such authority.

But there is one person who knows who Jesus is. We are told in the text there in the synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit. How this man came to be in the synagogue with an unclean spirit is unknown. We know not his name, his occupation, his standing in the community, nothing except that he has an unclean spirit. But the spirit recognizes and shrieks, not just cries out, asking Jesus why he is there. In the Greek it is asking why does Jesus not leave them (notice the plural) alone. The plural of this seems to imply that the spirit is speaking for itself and all those in the spirit world. They are asking if Jesus is there to destroy them. It is an indication that Jesus won his battle with Satan in the wilderness and that those who keep the humans imprisoned have been put on notice that their time of defeat is at hand. The spirit knows who Jesus is and what he can do. And the spirit wants to be, as stated before, left alone. Any of us would want the same if we knew that someone was there who could do what Jesus is about to do.

The spirit even tries to control Jesus by stating his name. The spirit names him as Jesus of Nazareth, which the people would already know, and then the spirit says, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!”[1] Here is one who recognizes Jesus for who he really is! And why would naming him be seen as trying to gain power over Jesus? It was believed that if one knew the name of the demon or unclean spirit, then one would have the power over them to cast them out of the person who was possessed. The same could be done if the demon or spirit knew the name of the person trying to exorcise it. So, here the unclean spirit is naming Jesus as the Holy One of God in an attempt to regain the upper hand. But the name game the spirit tries to work does not go as intended.

This is Jesus. If he can teach with authority and not like the scribes, then what make this spirit think that he can be bound just by saying his name? Jesus tells the spirit to be silenced or, literally, to be muzzled. To come out of the man and set him free. We don’t know if he spoke these words in a loud or soft voice, but it is certain that the tone was a commanding one. One that showed Jesus’ authority over the spirit and those that were a part of the “us” that is referred in the earlier verse. And with this authority spoken, the spirit comes out of the man after screaming and causing him to have a seizure. Then we hear nothing more of the man. One wonders what happened to him after this moment in the synagogue. Was he able to live his life as he had before the spirit possessed him? Did Jesus ever follow up on what happened? These are all questions that Mark does not answer because he is more interested in what Jesus has done.

The people are amazed. Their reaction, according to Mark, is rather…subdued. They ask who this man is. Or they could have been asking what this man is. He teaches with authority, and he commands the spirits with authority. There is something about him that they have never seen before. Yet, again, they seem to miss who he really is. They have heard what he says and seen what he can do. They have even heard the unclean spirit claim who this Jesus of Nazareth really is and yet they still do not understand. In fact, their reaction is one of shrugging their shoulders and commenting on what they have just witnessed. With these actions, a report goes out “immediately” to all the surrounding areas. People want to know what is happening and what took place in the synagogue. While some translations speak of Jesus’ fame spreading, news or a report would be a better word to use. The report could have been a bad one. Here was a man who did things in the synagogue that no one else was doing and he was doing it on the Sabbath! And he is casting out unclean spirits in a clean place?! What kind of example is he showing to those who are gathered around? But there is the issue of the authority. And so, you can hear the news being spread like the headlines that we see today, Extra! There is something new and amazing that is coming from Capernaum! Come and see what is happening. You will be astounded.

Now I want you to imagine what this would be like if Jesus came to our church. Would he be welcomed? (yes) Would he be allowed to give the sermon? (hopefully, though there may be someone who asks about his credentials and whether he has gone through the examinations committee to be allowed to preach in the presbytery) Would he find that our teaching was with authority, or would he find that we relied on those who came before us? Would he meet an unclean spirit? Now that is a question. Unclean spirits are all around us. They do not have to be ones that possess us as they did man in the text for us today. But there are ones that do possess us. They can be anything that turns our minds from God and turns our attentions to other things. These unclean spirits are idols and what they bring is idolatry. We can make idols out of anything. Calvin said that the mind is a perpetual factory that makes idols. And we are possessed by them. If Jesus came into our church, would he call out those unclean spirits? Hopefully he would. But what would our reactions be? Would we be amazed at his authority, or would we be upset that someone altered our nice and neat service? What would we say? Who or what is this man? Would we be able to say, like the unclean spirit, “Here is the Holy One of God” or would we wonder just who this person is that came and causes such a ruckus? And our idols. If they were exorcised from us, what would we do? Would we find freedom in their being gone or would we think that we were better off with them?

What’s in a name? Names mean something. Each of us have a name because our parents gave us the name for a reason. The name Jesus means “God is Salvation”, an apt name if there ever was one. Have you ever thought about your name and what it means? Do you live up to that name? Jesus stood before the people and showed that he lived up to his name by teaching and acting with authority. What will we do with that information?

Brian Blount says this about Jesus using his authority in a world that wants to keep people possessed: “In such a world you either go with the man and help him create the holy chaos he’s creating or you find a way to do everything you can to stop him so you can get your people back in line.”[2]Jesus comes to us with authority and upsets our preconceived notions of what is to come. Let us find out what is in his name. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2]Brian K. Blount and Gary W. Charles, Preaching Mark in Two Voices (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 33.