The holy gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Mark.
And they went into Kapenaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he
entered the synagogue and was teaching.
And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as
one who had authority and not as the scribes.
And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an
unclean spirit, and he cried out, 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.
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come out of you.
And the unkeen spirit, convulsing him and crying out
with a loud voice, came out of him.
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among
themselves, saying, What is this?
And you teaching with authority, He commands even unclean
spirits, and they obey you. And at once his fame spread
everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the House
of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Now Simon's mother-in-law let I'll with a fever.
And immediately they told him about her, and he came and took
her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and
she began to serve them. That evening at sundown they
brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons, and the
whole city was gathered together at the door.
And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast
out many demons. And he would not permit the
demons to speak, because they knew him.
The Gospel of the Lord. Well, good morning 2025, my wife
and I. My wife and I were were watching
an old sitcom this week where a character gets an iPad for the
very first time and they use it and they exclaim loudly.
I feel like I'm living in 2025. We exchanged knowing looks and a
little bitter chuckle and a responsive actually, actually,
sorry to disappoint Phil Dunfrey.
Actually living in this moment, in this city, we aren't
experiencing the euphoria of some technology utopia.
We're living in a city that's marked by so much anxiety, by a
lot of fear, and at least for me, by this really just ever
present sense of grief. And today we are adding to this
a lament for the state of our denomination and the state of
our church. We cry out together.
Lord, have mercy. And I invite you not to leave
behind these emotions, but to bring them to our reflection on
the gospel text today as we continue in a series called
Simply Jesus. If there's ever anything we
needed at this moment, it's simply Jesus.
In Mark 121 to 34, which was read just a moment ago, which
you can find in your program, which we're going to be
reflecting on, we see Jesus, the Son of God, make his first
public appearance in the Gospel of Mark.
We're still in the introduction. We're still in chapter 1.
He comes to Capernaum, a lake town on the North Shore of the
Sea of Galilee, a town of a few 1000 people, a town with a Roman
Garrison, a town with a Roman tax office.
And Jesus comes to this town that is suffering from political
and spiritual oppression. And this text doesn't tell us
what he says. It doesn't doesn't give us his
message, but what it says twice in verses 22 and 27, is that he
taught with authority. Authority.
When I read this word, and as I was preparing for this sermon, I
could feel myself getting tense, feeling uneasy.
Is this really what we're going to talk about?
Feeling defensive? And yet I believe our gospel
today is asking us to think afresh about the authority of
Christ, to bring it wants to bring healing and hope even as
we lament the misuses of worldly authority we see so present
around us. But before I begin, I'm going to
tell you what I'm not going to say today.
I'm not going to say that we need to submit to every person
in every institution that claims to be an authority.
And I am not going to say that people who have misused their
positions of authority to hurt you or to hurt other people
should somehow be excused. And I am not going to say that
we should not ask critical questions, know quite the
contrary. And finally, I am not going to
say that it is right and just to use fear and violence to impose
your rules and your laws on our neighbors and on their children.
It's not right. Instead, instead, I believe that
the authority of Jesus, the Son of God in Mark One, stands apart
from the distorted and damaging uses of authority common in our
age. That Jesus provides a new and
fresh image of what authority can be.
It's an authority that dignifies all of us, all of us as objects
of grace and worthy students to hear the great promises of God.
It's an authority that silences evil and liberates us from the
demonic narratives of destruction.
It's an authority that extends an invitation to us, even us, to
join in the good and meaningful work of God.
In a world where so many experienced authority is maybe
at best mind numbing, as it were, soul crushing.
Jesus comes and he engages our mind with beauty and truth, and
he liberates our souls to be free from the weight of sin, to
soar with him. In this brief passage, I want to
divide it into three acts and we'll talk about them in turn.
The first act is the teaching is teaching.
The second act I'm calling the confrontation, and then finally
the invitation. So let's read now verses 21 and
22 of Mark chapter 1. And they went into Capernaum.
And immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was
teaching. And they were astonished at his
teaching, for he taught as one of had authority, not as the
scribes. Having been baptized, having
gone through the wilderness of temptation, having called the
first disciples, Jesus is now beginning his public ministry.
He's now addressing the Israelite people.
And he begins, He makes his debut in the synagogue of
Capernaum, way up in Galilee, far away from Jerusalem, the
town on the lake. And I found it interesting that
Jesus chooses to enter the scene not as a king, not as a lawgiver
proclaiming thou shalt do this and thou shalt do that, not even
as a prophet speaking words of challenge, maybe words of of
judgment, but instead he enters as a teacher.
And what 9th grade me did not really understand is it teaching
is really a humbling position. And when you step in front of
the class, your success, you're putting your success in the
hands of those students. So there's no glory as an
educator and failing all your students.
Success as a teacher is bound up with your students, getting the
point with them, coming to understand it with them, making
connections and putting it into practice and acquiring new
knowledge and new skills. And Jesus comes.
I want to explain, I want you to understand, I'm here to teach.
And the students Jesus chose, they're not especially
prestigious. They don't have any renowned.
This is a very ordinary synagogue in a very ordinary
town. It's full of mothers and
fathers, men and women, merchants, tradespeople,
fishermen, laborers. Throughout the Gospels, this is
a pattern we were going to see. Jesus speaks great spiritual
truths to very common people. He entrusts these pearls of
wisdom. He doesn't go immediately to
Jerusalem, to the temple precincts.
He comes to the ordinary people, but he gives them extraordinary
teaching. There's no prerequisites for
this course, but the course what Jesus teaches can.
It has changed the world. And they were astonished.
The the Latin, this comes from the Latin word for
thunderstruck. They were thunderstruck by his
teaching for he taught them is one who had authority.
And now I think you might be asking, and I'm asking as I'm
reading this text, well, what did he teach?
What an amazing thing did Jesus tell these people.
And this is where we have to remember we're in Mark chapter
1. Like this is precisely the tease
that Mark is, I think, leaving for us because he wants us to
keep reading. You're going to find out.
This is just the beginning of the podcast where after the
commercial, he's going to come back and and pay all this off.
But but we can Fast forward a little bit.
And I know we're going to be looking at this in weeks ahead.
So I don't want to get too deep into this, but let's just look
forward to chapters 2 and 3 where we're going to see the
message of Jesus contrasted with the scribes over and over again.
So what he's setting up here that he's not teaching like the
scribes, he's going to pay that off.
And what we're going to see is that Jesus is going to proclaim
the forgiveness of sins. He's going to welcome tax
collectors and sinners. He's going to feast when
everybody else is fasting. He's going to publicly heal
people on the Sabbath. See, I believe Mark is preparing
us to be astonished at the grace of God, at the promise of the
Kingdom. This is not the same.
Stay calm and carry on message of the scribes.
Change is coming not and it's not also it's not the empty try
harder, you know, message of so many influencers.
No, this is Jesus speaks with both clarity and he speaks as
one who not only can see the problems of the world, who calls
out the problems of the world, but who also says that he and he
alone can fix the problems of the world.
There's an urgency to this message.
This is leave your Nets, leave your taxes, tear a hole through
the roof. For heaven's sakes, you got to
get this. This is real forgiveness being
on offer. This is real change and real
transformation. The bridegroom is here.
Now is the time. See, Jesus is bringing very
radical, very strong words of hope, the very words of life, to
a very ordinary city with Roman soldiers walking outside,
astonishing the confrontation. And immediately there was in
their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out
the spirit, 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.
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent and come out of him.
And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out
with a loud voice came out of him.
And they were all amazed. So they questioned among
themselves, saying, what? What is this?
A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean
spirits and they obey him and at once his fame spread everywhere
throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
If you ever had that prove it moment, you know that time where
you've just been talking the talk and suddenly people look
and say, can you walk the walk. So some of you, many of you
maybe know that I work at a university.
In one spring, I had the opportunity to address parents
who were on campus with their high school sons and daughters
to to get a chance to preview the college.
And so I gave this talk and I talked about how myself and our
colleagues, how caring for students is our number one
priority and how we have all of these services that we can help
students with their academics, with their mental health, with
their physical health. And we finished this talk and I
was leading this group out of the classroom to their next stop
on their itinerary. And very dramatically, right in
front of me, a student walked by and then just collapsed on the
ground. And I could feel all of those
parents seeing their son or daughter in that student.
And I could feel them all looking at me out and they were
all behind me. But I should feel them looking
at me and thinking, what are you going to do?
You just talked about how much you care for students.
What are you going to do for that student?
And even though I'm a librarian, so I'm much more accustomed to
helping people with research or bibliographies, finding, you
know, texts that are hard to find, I knew I had to act right.
And, and I was able to do that. I've had some training.
We were able to get medical attention.
The student was fine, but here we find Jesus in that moment
where he's been teaching on the grace of God.
He's been teaching on this radical hope that things are
changing. This New Hope is coming.
Lice is here and now can he back up this astonishing teaching
right here? There's a man in need of
liberation. What can he do?
But before we get there, before we we conclude that moment, I
want to just pause on verse 23. I think there's a sobering truth
here. This man I've been wrestling
with and I want to share with you in verse 23, we read and
immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean
spirit. He said we've just concluded in
a manual over the summer, a whole series on the sacred
spaces where we meet God. And I believe many of us, I know
myself, we long for these places to be refuges where we can stick
a step back from the spiritual battles of the world.
We can catch our breath. We can kind of have a moment to
collect ourselves. But I think what we're learning
in this verse is that the churches and synagogues of our
communities, they're not, they're not places of retreat
away from the spiritual war. They so often are on the very
front lines of the spiritual war.
Jesus does not seem to be surprised that we have a demonic
appearance right in the synagogue.
The very places where we call upon the Spirit of God to come
in power to change the world is also the same places where the
spirits of darkness are doing everything they can to stifle
that power. And so, so often as we come to
worship, we're coming into a spiritual battle.
And this might look like it works, looks here of an an
actual confrontation with the forces of evil.
It might look like it did in Corinth.
And we considered this last Saturday where there's
infighting and some parts of the body trying to exert power and
take control over other parts of the body.
It might look like, I don't know, construction noises when
you're trying to preach. Or it might look more seriously
like a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing or maybe shepherd's
clothing. So as we gather, I think we are
wise to heeds Jesus's words that we need to pray and watch, pray
and keep watch. We need to listen to Saint
Paul's admonishment that we put on the full armor of God even
when we come here, especially when we come here.
Now back to the story reading on the demon here is speaking 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. Now commentator suggests that
the demon here is trying to exert control by naming Christ
that there was a the the the tradition was if you know, if
you could name your spiritual opponent, you could gain power
over them. And then it's also interesting
that he reframes the message of Jesus in the one of destruction.
You're not here to bring life. You're here to destroy us.
You're the fear in that so many people afraid we're going to be
destroyed. But Jesus, he doesn't take the
bait. Jesus rebuked him saying be
silent and come out of him and the unclean spirit convulsing
him and crying with a loud voice came out of him.
It is this is very it's noted. This is in contrast to
traditional exorcism accounts of this time where usually there
would be some kind of liturgical formula or prayer or or a rite
that would be said to counter the forces of evil or that there
would be some kind or and also some kind of holy object was
easily involved. Something that would be sacred
that could could bring restoration to one who was
possessed. That Jesus, he doesn't use the
props, he doesn't use fancy words in this account.
He just simply says come out. He also doesn't try to name his
opponent. He doesn't meet him on a equal
playing field. I'm not here to play that game.
I'm in charge. He also doesn't even counter the
libelous accusation of being there for destruction.
He lets the liberation speak for itself.
I'm just going to show you what change I'm going to bring.
You know, you decide if this is destruction, I'm going to free
this man. In the crowd.
As they watched, they were all amazed.
So they questioned him on themselves, saying what is this?
A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean
spirits and they obey him. Crowd is amazed at the authority
of Jesus. I talked at the top, how
authority, the concept of authority, how it can be
triggering. But let's just take a moment to
reflect with the crowd on this authority, the authority of
Jesus. In this passage here we see
Jesus come to them, even them, and all of their ordinariness,
just common people in a common village.
And he comes as a teacher. He's investing time opening up
the Torah, opening up the writings of the Old Testament in
the Hebrew prophets and explaining the great truths to
them. And we can look ahead and we can
anticipate that what he's teaching is he's teaching
forgiveness. He's teaching grace.
He's seeking teaching that there is hope for everybody, even for
those who you think are outside the pale, for the the tax
collectors and the sinners. He's giving the words of life.
And when the forces of darkness appear, immediately, suddenly
Jesus isn't caught wrong footed. He stares him straight in the
face. He just speaks a word of
command. He silences those dark voices.
There's grace in the teaching. There's grace in the exorcism.
Jesus uses authority to connect with people and build them up to
bestow dignity. You're important.
You count to bring hope. He's backed by the power to
change and free people. This is real authority.
He can issue commands even to the spiritual forces, but it's
wrapped in real love. He cares for these people, a
love that would ultimately lead Jesus to lay down his life.
Real authority combined with real sacrificial love.
We need more of that. What does this mean for us?
Let's consider the third, the third movement here, which I'm
calling the invitation. And immediately he left the
synagogue and entered the House of Simon and Andrew with James
and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay
I'll with a fever. And immediately this is Mark's
favorite word. They told him about her, and he
came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever
left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick
or oppressed by demons, and the whole city was gathered together
at the door. And he healed many who were sick
with various diseases, and he cast out many demons.
And he would not permit the demons to speak because they
knew him. So one time I tried to nominate
a fellow leader in our field for an an industry award.
This was somebody I've been on committees with, I attended
meetings to and I always looked up to.
So I'm like, I should nominate him for this award.
So I reached out to the people of his staff in his library and
said, hey, would you like to join me in writing a letter of
nomination? And they very politely declined.
You see, who a leader is when they're on stage, when they're
in public, can be very different from what a leader is when the
crowd's not watching. And I think Mark, having
established Jesus as a person of authority, now wants to take us
behind this, behind the curtain. Is it, if you will, What was he
like when he wasn't in the synagogue?
When there weren't crowds of people sitting at his feet
listening to his teaching? And the first thing I notice is
how Jesus can transition with so much grace from this cosmic
encounter, from this in breaking of the Kingdom of God into human
history. This thing that's literally
going to change all of time that we mark our, you know, we still
mark our history by this event to the concerns of a single
household that he stops and he sees his team, his team members
and he sees them as human beings with human concerns.
I think I would have been tempted after this synagogue
teaching to gather the team and like, let's debrief.
I, I know you have some issues, but let's just talk about what
just happened. That was kind of amazing.
Or maybe we want to celebrate like guys, like there's going to
be some tough days ahead, but let's just think about this.
Like, did you see how that crowd responded?
Or even possibly to start thinking about next steps?
Like we need to follow up tomorrow.
John, I need you to go and visit that household.
Peter, can you check in on that man and just make sure he's
still OK? But Jesus, he doesn't get to any
of that. He comes and he sees Peter.
He sees that Peter is concerned and what's going on?
How can I, what do I, what do you need?
Peter? Let's go talk to your
mother-in-law. She seems sick.
And it's unclear here whether this fever was serious or not.
It could have been, it could not be.
Even today, fever can be a range of experiences.
My sense is that maybe it wasn't a life threatening fever, but it
was important to Peter. And I want to think just for a
minute about the gift he gave to that woman.
That mother-in-law, when he takes her by the hand and he
welcomes her up from the sick bed and he's not just restoring
her to health, he's inviting her.
Come be a part of this. Come be a part of this moment.
You see, this was going to be the greatest single moment in
the history of that house. The entire town was going to
come to their door and find healing and find restoration.
This would be a story that would be talked about for generations
and generations. We actually think we know where
that house is today, by the way. It's still still something
that's known. And and her part of that story
could have been you slept through it.
You remember you were in the backroom.
Remember how you didn't even wake up when the crowds were all
celebrating? And have you ever been part of
that? I know one of the biggest
stories in my family happened my freshman year in college.
So I was away. And it's the story we tell when
we get together over holidays and, and we pass on to the the
newer members of our family. And I always, you know, I almost
feel like I was there because I've heard it so much, but I
wasn't there. And I always remember I missed
that. I wasn't there.
So I think Jesus, by allowing this woman to get up and
allowing them to serve her, he's inviting her to.
This is a great day of redemption.
I want you on the team. I want you to be a part of this
so her part in the story could be.
Remember how hungry they all were?
And I break those rolls. He ate so many rolls.
I never knew he was that, you know, he could eat that much.
I remember when we brought the cheese and wine out after, you
know, you've been healing and it was like 2 in the morning.
Remember how there was so much laughter?
Remember how good it all felt to just be with Jesus?
Remember how we were all part of the team?
Remember how I was part of that team?
He gave her the gift of being part of that moment, part of
that story. So I think it's remind, it's a
reminder to us that Jesus has time for us, that even though he
is engaged in this ultimate contest between good and evil,
and he is the victor, the lamb who is conquered, he still sees
the needs of our household. He sees the needs that we're
bringing here today. And I think he wants each of us
to be a part of his team, that he is doing great redemptive
things. And I believe that he's going to
do and is doing great redemptive things in the city of Chicago
right now. And he's inviting us to be part
of that and be part of that story.
And I hold on to hope and belief that he's going to be doing
great and redemptive things in the Anglican Church of North
America. And I wonder, what is his
invitation to our congregation? What is the part we're going to
play in that story? I think there's an invitation
for us. So as I conclude, authority is a
word that can make us uneasy, can make me uneasy.
We carry the scars of unholy authority that has that have
been used to maim us. We fear the possibility that
powerful people even now seek to harm our city, to harm us, to
harm our neighbors, to take away our freedom.
And maybe even we bring some regrets of times we've been in
authority and we haven't been the victims, but maybe the
perpetrators. We have not used authority well.
I think this text invites us to find in Jesus a man of true
authority who comes to teach us about forgiveness, to teach us
about the liberating power of the Holy Spirit of the gospel.
Will you come and sit at his feet?
Come back next week. As we get into more and more of
the deeds of Jesus, maybe take time to read through Mark or
read through the first few chapters.
Just listen again to the message that Jesus is bringing.
This text reveals to us Jesus who is more powerful than all
the dark pretenders who attempt to exercise authority over us.
He can silence and banish demons.
He can bring liberation. Are we willing to call out to
him? We willing to take time and say,
Jesus, here I am, I need help, we need help.
Just make time to call out to Jesus.
This text reveals Jesus as a kind and gentle leader who
offers us a place on his team, a part in his story of redemption.
Will we take him up on that invitation?
Do we want to be part of the gospel story, the gospel story
of 2025? In a moment?
We're going to take communion. And after communion, we'll have
prayer ministers on either side. And if you are here and you want
to take up any of these offers, if you want to come and just
hear from Jesus, if you want to experience the liberating power
of Jesus, if you're looking for and saying Jesus, here I am.
What part do you want me to play?
I would encourage you to meet up with one of the the prayer
ministers. Let them pray for you.
Let's start a conversation. Today can be the first day of a
new a new chapter. Come, King Jesus, we pray in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.