Jesu Juva
St. Mark 1:21-28
January 31, 2021
Epiphany 4B
Dear saints of our Savior~
If you attend church regularly, then you know the routine. There’s certain predictability whenever God’s people gather for worship. There is an order of worship because the God we worship—the God who is present here to serve us—is not a God of confusion and disorder, but of peace. St. Paul stressed to the Corinthians that when it comes to worship, “all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t disruptions and distractions during worship. All sorts of disorderly things can happen during the divine service. Toddlers throw temper tantrums. People pass out. Cell phones go off. It happens. But I’ve never encountered a disruption quite as spectacular as the one Jesus had to deal with when He was teaching at the synagogue one Sabbath in Capernaum. More on that in a moment.
St. Mark tells us that it was the Sabbath Day. And if you wanted to find Jesus on the Sabbath Day, the synagogue was the place to look. The Sabbath
Day was a holy day in the Old Testament—“Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” At its heart, the Sabbath Day was a day designed for rest. But rest didn’t mean sleeping late and going out for brunch. No, the rest mandated by God was for the purpose of hearing God’s Word.
Rest meant rest from work, in order to worship. And this main point of the Third Commandment still applies today: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” Coming to church to hear God’s Word takes some effort (especially on a morning like this), but worship is not work—it’s rest. It’s rest from all the hassles and cares of life in this world to be refreshed and renewed by the Savior Himself. Jesus summarized Sunday mornings in one sentence: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
And so it’s no surprise that Jesus and His four new friends (Peter and Andrew, James and John) all made their way to the synagogue that Sabbath Day. Jesus began to teach, and all were astonished at His teaching, for He taught with authority. That means that Jesus didn’t just quote what other famous rabbis had written. He didn’t give His hearers footnotes and a bibliography. He gave them divine doctrine directly from the mouth of the Lord. To hear Jesus preach was to hear God speaking. Jesus’ words were God’s words. And His hearers were delighted and amazed.
What Jesus gave His hearers that day was doctrine. That’s what “teaching” refers to here. I mention that here because there are some Christians who don’t much care for doctrine. “It’s boring,” they complain. Or, “Doctrine divides,” you sometimes hear them say. The truth is that doctrine unites; error divides. The truth unites us and sets us free. Division in the church doesn’t come about because doctrine is being taught and confessed. Division in the church happens when doctrine is ignored or challenged or denied all together.
It was right about at this time—as Jesus was dishing out His doctrine to the delight of His hearers—that the mother of all church service disruptions suddenly erupted. A man with an unclean spirit began shouting right there in the synagogue: 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. That kind of bellicose behavior in church might lead some people to suspect that perhaps mental illness was to blame. After all, that tends to be the assumption whenever we read about unclean spirits or demon possession in the New Testament. We just assume those superstitious first-century rubes didn’t know what we know about mental health and proper brain function.
But it would be a mistake to assume that the disruptive man in the synagogue was suffering from mental illness. It was something far worse. It wasn’t a mental problem, but a spiritual affliction. For as surely as there are angels, there are also evil angels, demons, unclean spirits. They desire to inflict harm in the worst possible way. Oh, they’re not looking to scare you or go bump in the night, but to strip you of your faith in Jesus the Christ. Write them off as a silly superstition at your own peril. A far safer course of action is to take the Word of God at face value. Believe what it says.
Jesus would encounter many such evil spirits during His earthly ministry; but I’ve always been intrigued at how this very first public encounter with the forces of evil happened in the synagogue—happened in church—in worship. Why then and there? Because the doctrine of Jesus Christ was being taught, preached and proclaimed—and the devil can’t stand that. There is nothing more disruptive to the work of devils and demons than for people to be hearing and learning the Word of God—for you to know what you believe about Jesus Christ and why. It’s often assumed that the devil does his best work in crack houses and strip clubs, in bars and brothels. But just the opposite is true: the devil works to do his worst in the sacred space between pulpit and pews. He saves his most sinister assaults for where the truth is preached, where sin is condemned and grace is proclaimed, where Christ is present with His people giving forgiveness, faith and life. Right there—right here!—is where the devil tries hardest.
Jesus called the devil a liar and the father of lies. Notice how in the devil’s mouth even the truth becomes a lie. The unclean spirit said to Jesus, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” That was an accurate statement, right? That’s a phrase lifted right from the pages of Old Testament prophecy. But in reality it was a devilish distraction. Jesus was indeed the Holy One of God. But the Holy One of God had a destiny to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. That unclean spirit spoke-up not to praise Jesus, but to short-circuit His trip to Calvary—to prematurely proclaim the secret of Jesus’ identity and why He had come. The devil was desperate to keep the Christ from the cross.
Still today the devil uses the truth to promote his lies. He loves to whisper into your ears the truth that you are a holy child of God . . . so that means that God will forgive you, right? So therefore, why not pursue a little pleasure? Go ahead and sin boldly because, after all, doesn’t God delight to forgive sinners? It’s a very clever, demonic logic. It’s using the truth to promote a lie. Or have you ever heard this: You’re supposed to be a holy child of God, so what’s wrong with you? Your life is a mess. You’re not holy. You’re no Christian. What you’ve done and said is unforgiveable. It’s a demonic doorway to shame and despair. It takes the truth that we are sinners and then uses it to snuff out faith and hope.
When you hear that demonic voice accusing you and misleading you—twisting the truth to trip you up—remember how Jesus dispatched the devil and his minions. Remember how—with a word—Jesus silenced the unclean spirit in the synagogue. And that word, by the way, translated into modern English is . . . “SHUT UP!” It’s almost never appropriate to say “shut up.” It’s disrespectful and impolite. But the devil deserves neither our respect nor our politeness . . . so feel free to talk to him the way Jesus did, and tell him to simply shut up. It’s actually the same word Jesus used to silence and wind and the waves which threatened to sink the disciples’ boat. Shut up. Be silent. When that unclean spirit disrupted the synagogue services Jesus didn’t look to the ushers for guidance. He wasn’t flustered, flabbergasted or surprised. Jesus just spoke His Word. And that was enough. That did the trick.
Jesus “commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And if even the demons obey His Word, then what is there that Jesus cannot do with His Word? Change water into wine. Calm the wind and waves. Cleanse lepers. Forgive sins. Raise the dead. Declare sinners to be saints. The sky’s the limit.
His Word comes backed by His cross. On several occasions Jesus predicted both His crucifixion and His resurrection. He told His disciples that He would lay down His life only to take it up again. And that’s exactly what He did. He shed His blood to earn your forgiveness. For all of the times when we have willingly and readily bought into the lies of demons, Jesus set His sights on the cross. Nothing could deter Him from saving you. When He says, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” He’s got the scars to back up those words. When He says, “I am the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in me will never die,” His own empty tomb is proof enough for us. The devil could not distract the Christ from His cross; and nothing can distract the Christ from saving you. If Jesus is for you, who can be against you?
So the next time you are troubled by the devil or by your own sinful nature, and you begin to doubt your identity as a loved and forgiven child of God, you just tell them all to “shut up” in the name of Jesus and go away. Jesus Christ is Lord, the Holy One of God, and He declares that you are forgiven and holy and justified. That’s a word you can count on. That’s a word by which you can depart in peace. That’s a word with divine authority.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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