Epiphany 4B

4th Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are now 4 weeks into this season, which is about the revealing of Christ to the world. In the first week, we saw the Christ child revealed to Magi: Gentile - not Hebrew - wise men, perhaps even kings, who knew who the child really was. In the second week, Jesus gathered the first of his apostles and revealed himself through his extraordinary knowledge (“when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” John 1:48). Then last week, we heard St. Mark’s version of the story, where he called fishermen to leave their boats and become fishers of men. Now this week, Jesus identity is revealed as he is teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum…but not by faithful Jews, or by his apostles. He is revealed by an unclean spirit, a demon.

Remember, this is still in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel account; it is early in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was *from* Nazareth, but at some point he moved to Capernaum. When you visit that site today, you will see a sign on the entrance that says: “Capernaum, the town of Jesus”. It had become his home. At least one of the ancient synagogues is partially preserved. The floor and several pillars give you an idea of the size and shape of the building, but the roof and most of the walls fell long ago. They’ve preserved as many pieces as they could, but it can no longer serve as a place of worship; it is merely a place to visit.

But Jesus was not a properly trained teacher, Rabbi, or Scribe. He did not go through the schools and training that all other “experts” and teachers of the Torah would have had to go through. Isn’t it interesting that without that training, the people noticed that he taught differently. So differently in fact, that they people were “astonished”. Our English word really doesn’t do that scene justice. Dr. Lenski says that the verb here is “very strong; the people were struck as by a blow,... They were actually dumb with amazement.” [Lenski, 73] Scribes, history tells us, didn’t teach like that. They would show off their own knowledge without actually teaching the people anything. It was more about themselves than about teaching the people something about God and His Word. They were more interested in regurgitating what they could memorize, and were focused on things that were mostly about how worship was to be prepared and conducted, rather than about Who they were worshiping, or why they were worshiping Him. Jesus’ teaching was vastly superior to that of the Scribes.

And in the middle of this superior teaching, a demon-possessed man comes very suddenly into the synagogue. St. Mark is well-known for his use of the word “immediately”, and this is one of those times. He gives us the sense of a bursting into the scene, which would have been much like we are here, but with a much better preacher than you have. If someone came flying through those doors yelling right now, it would be quite a disturbance.

So this possessed man just starts yelling at the teacher. The most important thing he said was: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (Mk 1:24) This unclean spirit knows exactly who Jesus of Nazareth is, and he shouts it out loud to the whole congregation. And Jesus’ response is, of course, to silence him and then cast out the spirit.

The people have now heard the best teaching they will ever get. They heard an evil spirit call the teacher “the Holy One of God”, and then they saw him cast out the unclean spirit from the man. And how did they react? “A teaching with authority! And he commands even unclean spirits, and they obey him.” Gee, how do you think he’s able to teach you like that AND to cast out demons?

The Son of God is revealed to these people, and they don’t see him for who he is. Should they have believed the unclean spirit? Doesn’t seem like a credible source, does it? But as you read the Gospels, the unclean spirits and demons never once lie about Jesus’ identity, and they ALWAYS recognize Jesus in his deity - he *is* the Son of God, and they know it. If anything, they are announcing his identity before Jesus wants it to be known… but they always tell the truth about HIM. There’s no mistake about who He is, and they can’t do anything about that. So they instead try to foil his plans, to stop his efforts. It doesn’t work, of course. But they still try.

Why don’t the people recognize him for who he truly is? These are people in synagogue, after all. They are likely regular attendees, so they would know the Scriptures. They would know that God promised a Messiah, and that God keeps His promises. Why couldn’t they see him simply for his remarkable and authoritative teaching? Could it be that he didn’t meet their expectations? As good as his teaching was, that it wasn’t what they thought the Messiah would be? That’s a possibility.

Scholars seem to think that Jesus wants people to “discover who he really is by his words and his works. Jesus never proclaimed that he was the Messiah or the Son of God but let men draw this as a conclusion, and when they drew it, either in hostile or in believing fashion, he substantiated it.” [Lenski, 79] So if this demon was trying to hurt Jesus’ efforts, the Holy One of God just silenced him and cast him out. No more interference in the plans of the Messiah.

“Jesus had shown his omnipotent power in Satan’s own domain. This expulsion of demons by a single command of his exhibits the power of Jesus in the highest degree. Mark selects this as the first miracle of the many recorded in his Gospel. It fits most perfectly the theme of this first half of his Gospel, Jesus proving himself to be the Christ, God’s Son, by his mighty teaching and deeds.” [Lenski, 80] And on this Sabbath, in this synagogue, the power of Jesus’ word to cast out a spirit shows just how much authority he truly has. But no one in the congregation asked who HE was who held such power. What he did should have proved who he is…but the people failed to recognize that… or him. It simply made him famous.

These people knew about Jesus, but they didn’t KNOW him. He’s a good teacher! He preaches a great sermon! He can cast out unclean spirits! All this is true. But you can know that by simply being a spectator. It requires nothing of you other than just to watch and listen. This is simply knowledge.

Paul tells us that knowledge by itself … “puffs up”, makes you arrogant (this is not a good thing). Love, on the other hand “builds up”. What Paul is talking about here is the work of God’s Kingdom - building up the community of believers. And of course, this kind of love is agape - Christ-like love. Love that puts the needs of others first. Love that is self-emptying, not self-serving. Knowledge, as Mark helps us understand, is what the Scribes had. They used it to show off, to serve themselves. Love is what Jesus is teaching about. Love is what Jesus demonstrated. Love is what Jesus calls his disciples to…and that includes you and me.

Paul pretty well sums it up in verse 2: “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” As much as you could possibly study the Bible and learn it, you would never learn it completely. And to hear Paul say “he does not yet know as he ought to know” stings a bit. That’s the Law. *THEN* Paul hits us with the Gospel in verse 3: “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” [1 Co 8:2–3]

It is my role as pastor to teach you about Jesus. To impart knowledge about Him and what He has done for all of us. I make use of a variety of tools to help explain God’s Word, to help us understand and learn God’s Will for us as written in Scripture. But I can only teach you about Him. If you stop there, you will only know ABOUT Jesus. If you want to KNOW Jesus, you will have to go beyond merely listening.

I’ve said before that I think the world around us is in worse shape than I’ve ever seen it. Some of you have told me that our country is more divided now than even in the Civil Rights Era of the ‘60s…and I’m told that was a pretty rough time. Are you aware of what’s going on in Texas right now? With all the awful things we’re seeing, I can’t pretend there’s not a spiritual element to all of this. There is a spiritual battle of some sort going on, and that means spiritual people have a role to play. Know about Jesus is an okay start, but if we’re going to make a difference and not just be bystanders or spectators, then we would do well to KNOW our savior.

How do you get to know Jesus? The same as you do anyone else: you spend time with Him. Prayer, reading your Bible on your own, listening for how He wants you to be His disciple. And if you get stuck, or you know you want to do more, but you don’t know what, talk it through with another believer. Often another person can help you discern what God is calling you to. Or, come find me. That’s one area where I can help.

Certainly we have an abundance of information right now, but so much of what I receive in that information flow just does not look good…and it certainly does not look Godly. So I look to God for comfort, for guidance, and for peace. When I look to Him, I am reassured that God loves me just as He does all of us, and so I pray that He would show me what He wants me to do. My obedience to that guidance is the best way for me to show my love for Him. That’s the root of discipleship. How you do that - how you obey Him - is different for everyone. But God has a way of showing you the way He wants you to go. Just listen to Him.

The more time you spend with Him, the more you’ll know Him. And the more you know Him, the more you’ll realize how much He loves you. You won’t find anything in all the universe more comforting or peaceful than that knowledge. If you want that knowledge, you’ll find it in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

I pray that all of us will grow closer to Him, so that we can be agents of peace and calm. I pray that this chaos that seems to be growing will find in us nothing to hold onto, and that no matter what the world shows us, we’ll keep our eyes fixed on the Holy One of God - the Messiah that even the evil spirits recognize as having complete authority. Let us all trust Him to guide us in these times, and to show us how to bring others to know and trust Him too.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.