Sermon-Sunday Feb 1, 2009
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Gospel lesson for this morning speaks of Jesus entering into this synagogue and teaching. And it says that the people in the synagogue were astounded at His teaching because He taught them as One having authority, and not as the scribes.
The scribes were generally understood as being those who were called upon to teach from the scriptures. But the teaching of the scribes had basically just become a discourse in borrowing from one fallible source after another, one scribe quoting another scribe, maybe asking a few questions with little to no deference to scripture. One resource that I use in studying the texts described the teaching of the scribes as “…trying to draw water from a broken cistern.” They were trying to deliver the Word of God from human authorities.
But Jesus drew from Himself, the fountain of living waters, as it says in Jeremiah 2:13. Not only did His teaching have the authority that the scribes lacked but He was the authority. Jesus didn’t come merely speculating and philosophizing, He came teaching with authority, bringing a Word that cut right to the heart.
It’s no wonder that they were astounded at His teaching. For many of them, it was probably the first time they had ever heard the Word of God as it is revealed in scripture, and for those who had heard it before, certainly they had never heard it presented to them with anywhere near the same authority and clarity. Jesus came with the authoritative Word of God that convicts us of our sin, and comforts us with the Gospel.
And then, we see this man with an unclean spirit, crying out to Jesus “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.” Something very interesting about this is that Mark writes “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” It doesn’t say, “Just then a man with an unclean spirit came into the synagogue.” It says that he was already there. This unclean spirit had already been there and been exposed to the teaching of the scribes, for who knows how long, and it didn’t phase him.
But then along comes One who not only teaches with authority from God, but is the manifestation of that authority, He is God incarnate and the Word of God made flesh. He comes bringing the Kingdom and new life.
And now, the unclean spirit knows that this One who has burst upon the scene, teaching with authority poses a threat to what he is trying to do. As long as the scribes continued to drone on and on with their man-made precepts and rules and pointless speculation, then the unclean spirit was fine and wasn’t going to make waves. But when he was confronted with teaching that was validated by authority from God and not merely human knowledge, then the unclean spirit had to attack.
And so the unclean spirit tries to cast doubt on the authority with which Jesus teaches by saying “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.” He tries to present Jesus as a threat who has come to destroy them. But, Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit by telling him first to be silent, and then He tells the unclean spirit to leave the man.
This shows just how completely powerless we are to the deception of sin and the devil, without Christ Jesus. Even the unclean spirit knew who Jesus was, while the people in the synagogue did not appear to know who He was. They were astonished by the Word that Jesus brought them, but it was only the unclean spirit who was able to identify Jesus for who He is; the Holy One of God. But it proved to be his undoing because Jesus recognized the unclean spirit also and so He silenced him and then ordered him out of the person whom he had possessed.
But the attacks of sin and the devil continue today. The fact that the unclean spirit sat idly by for who knows how long shows us that the devil is not looking to try to get people to worship him, but rather he is simply looking to get people to not repent and believe upon Jesus, and specifically what He has done for you in His perfect life, death, and resurrection. The devil only wants to attack your faith, if your faith is in Christ Jesus.
And so the attacks continue. To this day, the name of Jesus is portrayed as being one that destroys and divides. And His promise of salvation is cast aside for matters of social justice. The attacks of sin and the devil continue as the gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone is replaced by a more “relevant” gospel of being purpose-driven, or having your best-life now.
And it’s delusion and deception that we are all willing to buy into; because it’s more convenient. It’s more convenient because it takes our focus off of the very thing that Christ Jesus came to free us from; the bondage to sin that we are all born into. It’s delusion and deception that seem to free us, not only from having to confront our own sin, but the sin of our neighbor.
There is a scene in the biographical movie about Martin Luther that came out a few years ago called Luther that really reflects what’s going in today’s gospel lesson. It’s pretty early on in the film. Luther is still a monk at this point and is convinced that if he works hard enough he can actually be perfectly obedient to God’s law. But what happens is actually quite the opposite. The harder he works at it, the more he realizes just what a sinner he is. In other words, the more he relies on God’s law, the more he is just driven further and further into despair until finally all he can do is cry out to his mentor Johann Staupitz “Where can I find a gracious God?”
And does Staupitz reply with a bunch of questions for Luther to reflect on? Does he give him seven steps to figuring this out? Does he tell him first he has to find his purpose? No, he takes off a cross that he was wearing around his neck, gives it to Luther and tells him “Look to Christ.” That is how you find a gracious God, look to Christ.
You see, the problem with making the gospel about purpose or, social justice, or advice for daily living or anything other than our salvation coming through the perfect life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, is that ultimately that just turns us back to ourselves. And that is just law. It may not be hell-fire and brimstone but it has the same effect in that it gets us looking not to Christ but to our best efforts, and our good works which scripture tells us are as filthy rags. For no amount of purpose or social justice from your best efforts can overcome the power of sin and death in your life.
And so we look outside of ourselves to the Triune God of scripture, as the apostle Paul tells the people of Corinth to do in the second lesson; God the Father from whom all things are made and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. And now as we remember the Sabbath, once again Christ Jesus comes to you through the Holy Spirit bringing to you an authoritative Word of promise, bringing not a bunch of questions but real hope, real forgiveness of real sin, real redemption from real guilt, real salvation from real death. And in a few moments you will come forward and receive the real and bodily presence of Christ Jesus in the bread and the wine; His real body given for you, His real blood shed for you, saving you from the very real sin, death and the devil.
For you see, the same Christ Jesus who appeared in that synagogue and commanded the unclean spirit to be silent and come out of the one whom he had possessed, comes to you with His Word spoken over you at your baptism, silencing the devil and relinquishing any claim that the devil ever had on you. And it’s nothing short of that going on as Christ Jesus comes to you daily in Word and sacrament.
And so you have been freed from the burden of having to fumble around looking for purpose or your best-life now. You are free to focus not on yourself but on Christ and your neighbor, loving and serving them in Word and deed, taking care that this liberty of your’s does not become a stumbling block to the weak, but a means to share with them the good news that this Christ Jesus commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Gospel lesson for this morning speaks of Jesus entering into this synagogue and teaching. And it says that the people in the synagogue were astounded at His teaching because He taught them as One having authority, and not as the scribes.
The scribes were generally understood as being those who were called upon to teach from the scriptures. But the teaching of the scribes had basically just become a discourse in borrowing from one fallible source after another, one scribe quoting another scribe, maybe asking a few questions with little to no deference to scripture. One resource that I use in studying the texts described the teaching of the scribes as “…trying to draw water from a broken cistern.” They were trying to deliver the Word of God from human authorities.
But Jesus drew from Himself, the fountain of living waters, as it says in Jeremiah 2:13. Not only did His teaching have the authority that the scribes lacked but He was the authority. Jesus didn’t come merely speculating and philosophizing, He came teaching with authority, bringing a Word that cut right to the heart.
It’s no wonder that they were astounded at His teaching. For many of them, it was probably the first time they had ever heard the Word of God as it is revealed in scripture, and for those who had heard it before, certainly they had never heard it presented to them with anywhere near the same authority and clarity. Jesus came with the authoritative Word of God that convicts us of our sin, and comforts us with the Gospel.
And then, we see this man with an unclean spirit, crying out to Jesus “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.” Something very interesting about this is that Mark writes “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” It doesn’t say, “Just then a man with an unclean spirit came into the synagogue.” It says that he was already there. This unclean spirit had already been there and been exposed to the teaching of the scribes, for who knows how long, and it didn’t phase him.
But then along comes One who not only teaches with authority from God, but is the manifestation of that authority, He is God incarnate and the Word of God made flesh. He comes bringing the Kingdom and new life.
And now, the unclean spirit knows that this One who has burst upon the scene, teaching with authority poses a threat to what he is trying to do. As long as the scribes continued to drone on and on with their man-made precepts and rules and pointless speculation, then the unclean spirit was fine and wasn’t going to make waves. But when he was confronted with teaching that was validated by authority from God and not merely human knowledge, then the unclean spirit had to attack.
And so the unclean spirit tries to cast doubt on the authority with which Jesus teaches by saying “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.” He tries to present Jesus as a threat who has come to destroy them. But, Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit by telling him first to be silent, and then He tells the unclean spirit to leave the man.
This shows just how completely powerless we are to the deception of sin and the devil, without Christ Jesus. Even the unclean spirit knew who Jesus was, while the people in the synagogue did not appear to know who He was. They were astonished by the Word that Jesus brought them, but it was only the unclean spirit who was able to identify Jesus for who He is; the Holy One of God. But it proved to be his undoing because Jesus recognized the unclean spirit also and so He silenced him and then ordered him out of the person whom he had possessed.
But the attacks of sin and the devil continue today. The fact that the unclean spirit sat idly by for who knows how long shows us that the devil is not looking to try to get people to worship him, but rather he is simply looking to get people to not repent and believe upon Jesus, and specifically what He has done for you in His perfect life, death, and resurrection. The devil only wants to attack your faith, if your faith is in Christ Jesus.
And so the attacks continue. To this day, the name of Jesus is portrayed as being one that destroys and divides. And His promise of salvation is cast aside for matters of social justice. The attacks of sin and the devil continue as the gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone is replaced by a more “relevant” gospel of being purpose-driven, or having your best-life now.
And it’s delusion and deception that we are all willing to buy into; because it’s more convenient. It’s more convenient because it takes our focus off of the very thing that Christ Jesus came to free us from; the bondage to sin that we are all born into. It’s delusion and deception that seem to free us, not only from having to confront our own sin, but the sin of our neighbor.
There is a scene in the biographical movie about Martin Luther that came out a few years ago called Luther that really reflects what’s going in today’s gospel lesson. It’s pretty early on in the film. Luther is still a monk at this point and is convinced that if he works hard enough he can actually be perfectly obedient to God’s law. But what happens is actually quite the opposite. The harder he works at it, the more he realizes just what a sinner he is. In other words, the more he relies on God’s law, the more he is just driven further and further into despair until finally all he can do is cry out to his mentor Johann Staupitz “Where can I find a gracious God?”
And does Staupitz reply with a bunch of questions for Luther to reflect on? Does he give him seven steps to figuring this out? Does he tell him first he has to find his purpose? No, he takes off a cross that he was wearing around his neck, gives it to Luther and tells him “Look to Christ.” That is how you find a gracious God, look to Christ.
You see, the problem with making the gospel about purpose or, social justice, or advice for daily living or anything other than our salvation coming through the perfect life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, is that ultimately that just turns us back to ourselves. And that is just law. It may not be hell-fire and brimstone but it has the same effect in that it gets us looking not to Christ but to our best efforts, and our good works which scripture tells us are as filthy rags. For no amount of purpose or social justice from your best efforts can overcome the power of sin and death in your life.
And so we look outside of ourselves to the Triune God of scripture, as the apostle Paul tells the people of Corinth to do in the second lesson; God the Father from whom all things are made and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. And now as we remember the Sabbath, once again Christ Jesus comes to you through the Holy Spirit bringing to you an authoritative Word of promise, bringing not a bunch of questions but real hope, real forgiveness of real sin, real redemption from real guilt, real salvation from real death. And in a few moments you will come forward and receive the real and bodily presence of Christ Jesus in the bread and the wine; His real body given for you, His real blood shed for you, saving you from the very real sin, death and the devil.
For you see, the same Christ Jesus who appeared in that synagogue and commanded the unclean spirit to be silent and come out of the one whom he had possessed, comes to you with His Word spoken over you at your baptism, silencing the devil and relinquishing any claim that the devil ever had on you. And it’s nothing short of that going on as Christ Jesus comes to you daily in Word and sacrament.
And so you have been freed from the burden of having to fumble around looking for purpose or your best-life now. You are free to focus not on yourself but on Christ and your neighbor, loving and serving them in Word and deed, taking care that this liberty of your’s does not become a stumbling block to the weak, but a means to share with them the good news that this Christ Jesus commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him.
Amen
posted by Steve at 5:18 PM
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