Experiencing Jesus
EPIPHANY 04
Mark 1:21-28 – Year B
“Experiencing Jesus”
Mark 1:21-28 (NIV)
Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil a spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
How do you feel about Jesus? Interestingly, people can go through life without giving that question too much consideration. I mean, if a person has been blessed to grow up in a Christian household, they have likely always lived a life knowing that God was there and have never experienced living a faithless life. Paradoxically, they may have lived their life without ever thinking too much about Jesus. From their perspective, He’s always been there, maybe lurking in the background of their life somewhere, but always there as a constant companion – even though we may only really call on Him in times of crisis.
Then there are those who have had a ‘life defining event’ and they came to faith. People like this remember clearly their life before they had a God given faith and can recall in great detail the events that led to them coming to believe in Jesus and in effect allowing Him to be lord of their life.
I have a couple of friends who are both pastors and they grew up in families where the Christian faith was not practised. They can recall when that life changing event happened to them – when they experienced Jesus.
For one he was running his own business mowing lawns. While going around in ever decreasing circles as he mowed lawns for a living, he would often ponder the ‘why’ of life. As he pondered he wondered and began to ask those big questions. Then one day, while out doing his mowing rounds, under a tree, the answer came and God literally ‘hit’ him. He left that place a different person. Another friend had also grown up in a home without any faith background. One day while in his teens he asked his mother if he was baptised. She said that as an infant he’d been baptised in the Lutheran Church. He said no more to his mother on this matter but under the pretext of visiting a friend would go out on a Sunday evening and attend worship at a local Lutheran Church.
In these two cases we have men who can clearly see the change in their life. They know what it is like to live a life outside of the love, care and grace that comes from God and they also know what it is like to leave that ‘godless world’ and enter into a life of faith.
The man cited in the reading from Mark for today, I feel would have felt somewhat the same as the two men I’ve spoken about. He would clearly remember his life while under the dominion of the evil one and see the stark contrast. Under Jesus he left that world of darkness for a world bathed in the light of God.
The public ministry of Jesus begins in Mark with the call of the disciples[1]. This initial glimpse starts with Jesus collecting a small gathering of followers and ends with His fame spreading all around the regions of Galilee[2]. In between this comes the teaching and the exorcism of an unclean spirit as found in today’s reading. The first recognition of Jesus in Mark comes not from an angel appearing to Mary or from Magi falling before an infant with gifts. Yes, John the Baptist predicts the “One who is more powerful than I”[3] is coming, but it is the unclean spirit, however, who recognises Jesus for who He really is and grants Him His divine title.
“Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One sent from God!”[4]
For Mark, the person and work of Jesus maintains that ‘cosmic dimension’. The heavens that are torn apart at His baptism now listen in as the evil spirits pronounce the Lord’s divine nature.[5] This is the reason that Jesus gives the evil spirits strict instructions to, “Be quiet”[6] before He commands them to, “Come out of him”[7]. Note this clearly. Evil always gives way to Jesus. The spirits have no alternative but to obey Jesus. They obey Him firstly by remaining silent and secondly by relinquishing their claim on this man. They do not even endeavour to refuse Jesus’ command. While we see in other passages the evil spirits making entreaties of Jesus, for example requesting that they be spared the abyss[8] or seeking permission to enter into pigs[9], they never endeavour to argue or refuse Jesus’ command. They know His power and as noted here they know that Jesus is the “Holy One sent from God”.
When Christ came into the world, He was first recognised by the evil spirits and as Jesus was not ready for this fact to be immediately made known, He first silenced them before taking any further action with them.
Now it always intrigues me to wonder about Biblical characters that appear and for whom nothing further is said. Some of them pop up in legends – but for the majority, they are simply a person (often unnamed) who appear, are impacted on by Jesus, and then are never heard of again. For example the centurion who was at the foot of the Cross as Jesus died and who uttered these words:
“Surely this man was the Son of God!”[10]
was reputed to have commenced a Church and dedicated his life to following Jesus.
It is not just people who appear and then disappear from the pages of Scripture. There is a legend connected with the spear that pierced Christ’s side on the Cross. It is known as the ‘spear of destiny’ and is imputed to have special powers and appears throughout history.
Today we are faced with a man who was in the synagogue and who was possessed by evil or unclean spirits and who cried out. It is important to understand that it was not actually the man himself who cried out in the synagogue, but the evil spirit. Demonic possession is intended to torment and destroy those who are created in the image of God[11]. However the demon recognised who Jesus was and knew that He was the only adversary that was capable of destroying his master – satan. Therefore the evil spirits were rightly afraid and this is attested to by their first question of Jesus.
“Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One sent from God.”[12]
What, I wonder became of that man who was released from the power of satan in his life? Did he go on to become a devoted follower of Jesus and seek to bring others to a saving faith in Christ? Did he dedicate his life to the poor and needy and seek to serve them and alleviate their suffering in this life? Did he enter a life of contemplative prayer and intercede for the needs of others. Or did he, having experienced the power and might of Jesus in his own life, simply return back to a godless life and there again be a target for evil spirits?
Scripture tells us what happens to people who under Jesus are ‘cleaned up’ and then revert (backslide is a term sometimes used) to living a life outside of the care and providence of God[13]. They wind up being in a worst condition than they were before they were cleansed of the evil in the first place.
Of course this raises the question I’ve been waiting to ask. Can a person who has experienced the saving power of Jesus Christ in their life ever go back to living a godless life – living their life as they used to? Of course the answer is “Yes, they can”. It may be hard for some to imagine how someone, having experienced the saving and life changing power of Jesus could ever go back to the way things were before. But unfortunately it happens, and it happens all too often.
I’ve had adult children, who following the death of a parent, have told me that they intend coming to Church from now one to accompany the surviving parent. My general experience to date is that this does not normally last more than five Sundays – if we are lucky.
When someone has experienced God in their life in a powerful way, one would think that to go back to living a godless life would be an impossibility – but it’s not. It’s a little like a couple who are madly in love and get married. They delight in one another and life for them is such a joy. But as the years unfold, they stop talking to one another and slowly drift apart. While there is no animosity present, they simply find that they no longer really care for each other and finally they may drift into the arms of another partner. It’s much the same with God and us. We may have a wonderful relationship with God to begin with, but if we don’t care for that relationship and tender it and endeavour to grow in Christ – we will die, spiritually speaking. We will leave behind that experience of Jesus in our life and live a godless life.
This happens all too easily because the issues we are dealing with are not ‘flesh and blood’[14] but spiritual matters. Therefore we are unable to fight these battles in our own strength. In fact if we were to try we are condemned to failure, we are condemned to defeat. Yet foolishly too many people endeavour to do this. Maybe human pride is at the root of the problem?[15]
We need God in our life. It’s as simple as that. There is no way around it. A life lived without God at the centre is no life at all. In fact it’s a hollow life, it’s a life which appears to give us all that we could possibly want, but herein is the lie. It’s a life lived for which we will never find the real satisfaction that we and indeed all humanity is seeking.
It is difficult today to imagine demons being driven from our lives, enabling us to become radically new and different people. The security and ties of the material world bind us tightly. We are busy with work, our families, and the thousand demands of daily life. We cannot easily imagine surrendering them and heading off to a new place because the Lord has freed us. So we are tempted to seek a lesser god, one who will never ask us to do anything we do not want to do, or go to a place we do not want to go.
So I wonder; if that’s how we feel, are we already bound and a prisoner of the demonic needing to be freed by Jesus?
Freedom is found in our God who has promised Himself to us.
Amen.
X The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. X
Information, illustrations, literature and themes, for this sermon are gleaned from a variety of sources. If I have violated copyright held by an individual, then please contact the writer of the sermon and your source will be acknowledged, or removed at your request.
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a Greek unclean; also in verses 26 and 27
[1] Mark 1:16-20
[2] Mark 1:28
[3] Mark 1:7
[4] Mark 1:24 (NLT)
[5] Adapted by JOK from Emphasis Feb 2, 2003
[6] Mark 1:25 (NIV)
[7] Mark 1:25 (NIV)
[8] Luke 8:31 (NIV)
[9] Mark 5:11 (NIV)
[10] Mark 15:39 (NIV)
[11] Genesis 1:26,27 (NIV)
[12] Mark 1:24 (NLT)
[13] Luke 11:24-26
[14] Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
[15] Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
