15“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers — it is to him you shall listen — 16just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’”
Psalm 111
1Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. 2Great are the deeds of the Lord! They are studied by all who delight in them. 3His work is full of majesty and splendor, and his righteousness endures forever. 4He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 5He gives food to those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. 6He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the lands of the nations. 7The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; all his commandments are sure. 8They stand fast forever and ever, because they are done in truth and equity. 9He sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant forever; holy and awesome is his Name. 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; those who act accordingly have a good understanding; his praise endures forever.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
1Concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 4Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords” — 6yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 7However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28
21{Jesus, Simon, Andrew, James and John} went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath {Jesus} entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24“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.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
Authority and Freedom
I bet if I were to take a poll this morning, everyone here would agree that each of us have had at least one day where we simply felt miserable, awful, ornery, or grouchy. Maybe it was someone or something that set us off, or, maybe nothing in particular happened at all. The most common phrase associated with this phenomena is, “getting up on the wrong side of the bed.” Let’s face it, we all have days when our spirits sag, and no matter what, it seems we can’t lift our own spirits. Even the steadiest, most stable and secure people among us have days when they just feel “off.”
There is, however, a difference between feeling down in the dumps or even grouchy, and feeling nasty, vicious, hateful, or vengeful. Sadly, there are a few people who seem to have an ongoing case of the “nasties,” and nothing or no-one can seem to change their outlook. These are people who seem to harbor no empathy, feel no compassion, act upon compulsion, and house a frighteningly aggressive and sometimes even murderous spirit. Often, these are people, who have turned away from God.
Someone with a “nasty” spirit may just be someone, whose spirit has been somehow corrupted, overtaken by anger, or destroyed by abuse. Or, in cases we know exist, it may be someone who appears to be downright soul-empty. Whatever the reason, whether we call that person disturbed, angry, or evil, we know those people exist. And sadly, they can even exist in our churches.
Recall if you will Jesus’ story of the wedding feast, in which one man somehow gets past the gates and appears at the wedding feast without wearing the appropriate “robe of righteousness.” Well, today’s scripture looks at that kind of scenario in “real time.” Somehow in the midst of a synagogue, a man with an “unclean spirit” confronted Jesus. This account takes place early in Jesus’ ministry in the town of Capernaum.
Capernaum was a settlement on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and was not only Jesus’ home, but also the home of Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew as well. Capernaum and the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee was where Jesus spent a great deal of time in His early ministry. This area was also where Jesus fed the 5000, walked on the water, healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and healed the Roman Centurion’s servant.
As our gospel text for today begins, it was the Sabbath and Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. The people who heard him “were amazed at his teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” Authority. It’s an interesting word that can imply many things. A person can have authority over certain situations, but not others. Authority can be earned or given, and it can be used in a good way or, it can be abused. It’s like the Drug Enforcement officer who stops at a ranch in Texas and talks with an old rancher.
He tells the rancher, “I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs.” The rancher says, “Okay, but don’t go in that field over there,” as he points out the location. The DEA officer matter-of-factly says, Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government. Then, reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removes his badge and shows it to the rancher. See this badge? This badge means I have the authority to go wherever I wish…. on any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand? The rancher nods politely, apologizes, and goes about his chores.
A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the DEA officer running for his life being chased by the rancher’s big longhorn bull. With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer, and it starts looking like he might get gored before he reaches safety. The officer is clearly terrified. The rancher throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs, “Your badge, officer! Show him your badge!” Having authority, in almost all cases, doesn’t mean that authority is absolute. But the same can’t be said for Jesus.
Suddenly, while Jesus was teaching a man cried out, “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!” Here we have the testimony of an evil spirit as to the true nature of Jesus. The demon, obviously afraid of the power and authority of Jesus, proclaimed that Jesus, this teacher whom they all knew, was in fact, not simply a carpenter’s son, He wasn’t simply another itinerant rabbi who’s come to preach the law, Jesus was indeed “The holy One of God.” But this was more than the acknowledgement of who Jesus is, this demon also feared the absolute authority Jesus had over him. And at Jesus’ command, the demon left the man. Think about this for a moment. If you had been there that day, how would you have reacted?
Interestingly, the account recorded here closely parallels another story found in Mark 6:2. Again, Jesus enters the synagogue and preaches. But this time the synagogue is in Nazareth. Just as before, the people were astonished at His teaching. These two stories then become representative of describing Jesus’ teaching and the affect it had on the people. There is, however, a slight difference between these two stories. The account in Mark 6:2 highlights Jesus’ wisdom; today’s lesson focuses on Jesus’ “authority.” Jesus possesses the wisdom needed to use His authority correctly. This is the problem we face today. There are many who have the authority to act, the problem is, they lack the wisdom to wield that authority properly.
The word for authority in the Greek is exousia, and is related to the verb exesti, which means “it is free” or “it is permitted.” In other words, exousia is the “sovereign freedom” of one who has the wisdom to act properly without hindrance or abuse. Paul picks up on this in our Epistle reading for today as well. Mark, in his gospel, wants to show that Jesus teaches with the authority for the good of all who will listen. This he contrasts with the teaching of the scribes.
The difference was that the scribes’ teaching and authority depended on their knowledge of and adherence to human tradition, especially the traditional interpretation of the Torah. But, as we all know, Jesus teaches with the authority of God. And this divine authority was attested to by the evil spirit when he addressed Jesus as the ‘Holy One of God”. The scribes had bound themselves to tradition. Jesus on the other hand is free of human instituted traditions; His wisdom and authority comes directly from the ultimate source of authority, God the Father.
Why Mark doesn’t give us the content of Jesus’ teaching, we don’t know. But we can find examples of the difference between His teaching and the teaching of the scribes elsewhere in the gospels. For example, in Mark 12:35-37, Jesus asks why the scribes say the Messiah is the Son of David when Scripture indicates that David called the Messiah “Lord.” Scripture itself bears out that the scribes’ traditional interpretation was somehow inadequate. Jesus came to set the record straight; not to do away with the words of the law and prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17).
Jesus taught with an authority that broke with the traditional Jewish understanding. Recall if you will the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus didn’t hesitate to teach that the traditional interpretation of the commandments was inadequate. His point was that what God demands of us, goes far beyond what the scribes required. Jesus expanded the teaching of the religious leaders that while tradition has its place in our understanding of God, Jesus taught that there was more. What Mark is trying to show us is the limitlessness of Jesus’ authority.
What Mark is pointing us to, is the fact that Jesus’ authority isn’t bound to Jewish tradition and authority, this is why verse 27 is so important: Jesus’ teaching is a “new teaching—a teaching with divine authority. This is in fact, the issue for Mark, to show the divine authority of Jesus. For example, in Mark 2:10 Jesus says that “the Son of Man has freedom on earth to forgive sins,” by doing this He openly declares His divine authority. The whole section in chapter 2 and 3 portrays Jesus as the one who brings something so new, that it threatens to break the old mold. Of course, not everyone was open to this new teaching. As we will rediscover in Lent, Jesus’ new teachings will bring Him into deadly conflict with the worldly authorities.
For Mark, this new teaching is a break from the old. Just as putting new wine into old wineskins will cause the wineskins to break and the new wine to be lost (Mark 2:22), so Jesus’ bringing of the radical newness of the kingdom, will lead to the breaking of the old and the spilling of His “wine”, the shedding of His blood, for the sake of many. The world resists God’s reign, and the world’s sinful resistance led to the death of God’s own Son. And through His death, God fulfilled His purposes.
From a worldly perspective, Jesus didn’t have any power at all; this is the way the religious leader of Jesus’ day saw it. Jesus wasn’t a worldly king with political or military power. He wasn’t one of the priests, who had the power in Roman Judea. He wasn’t even a scribe with the authority of Jewish tradition. Jesus claimed His authority was from God the Father Himself. His authority lay in the sheer power of His words and in the example of His deeds. His authority lay in His obedience to God’s sovereign will. The thing that’s hard for many to grasp is, Jesus didn’t used His authority to obtain power, prestige or wealth, He used what God gave Him to serve humanity out of love. This is the same kind of exousia, or sovereign freedom, of which Paul speaks of in today’s second lesson. The sovereign freedom that is exercised for the good of others.
Jesus’ acting in authority brought blessings to people; the blessing of freedom, health and healing. His authority possessed an irresistible power that drew people not through manipulation, but simply by the person that He was, the truth of His own existence, the gifts that He gave and from the love that He showed to others. How different that is from the concept of power and authority in our world today.
Too often people try to manipulate others. They’ll say one thing and do something else. They use their authority primarily for self-enhancement. They look for the short-term gain, even if that means doing the wrong thing, rather than doing what’s right and trust that in the long-term, history, not to mention God, will vindicate them. Jesus’ authority and kingdom ministry invite us to imagine a different world, and to live towards it. This is the point Paul was making to the Corinthians.
In our epistle lesson, Paul addresses the question of whether it’s permissible for believers at Corinth to eat the meat that remains after animal sacrifices have been made at pagan temples. This was a question of importance not only then, but also now. The issue then was limited to food that had been offered to idols, the issue for us today is the same in context. To rephrase the question Paul is asking is, just because something is legal, does that suddenly make it right?
For the Christians of Corinth, those who refused to eat food offered to idols considered it a matter of conscience. Paul argues that idols have no real existence; therefore, one has freedom in regard to this question. Interestingly both Mark and Paul use the same Greek word for authority and liberty, exousia. In essence one has both the liberty or freedom and authority to make a choice. By tying these together, the issue then extends beyond the simple ability to choose; the issue at hand involves how this choice affects others.
What Paul is getting us to ask ourselves is, does the activity in question have a detrimental impact on someone else’s faith? Paul gives us the answer in verse 9, “take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block for the weak.” We cannot let our liberties in Christ destroy the faith of others. Paul at the outset of this chapter also places two terms in contrast: “knowledge” (gnosis) and “love” (agape).
The two need not be opposing, but Paul initially uses the word “knowledge” in a derogatory sense. Paul isn’t talking about knowledge in general, but of a religious sophistication that’s arrogant. All we need to do is look at the prayer of the Pharisee and the tax collector to see an example of how knowledge can “puff up”. The lack of love on the part of the Pharisee caused his prayer to go unheard, while the prayer of the tax collector was received. The love Paul speaks about, is a self-giving kind of love.
The love Paul speaks of is modeled on God’s own love, a love that was seen when He gave His own Son. It’s a love that isn’t based on the worth or attractiveness of the other person but generated from within. This kind of love builds up or edifies the whole community. Paul then sets the two against each other: “knowledge” can lead to spiritual self-centeredness, whereas “love” promotes a healthy, vibrant, spiritual community. However, Paul also recognizes that knowledge can be good as well.
Paul goes on to speak of knowledge in a positive sense “we know” that idols do not “really” exist. But he wanted the Corinthian Christians to also know that some who have come out of a pagan background didn’t have such “knowledge.” What’s important here is, this isn’t a matter of indifference. Our knowledge and actions as Christians have an impact on others. How we approach the liberties we enjoy, must be done with love and concern for those who may still be struggling in their Christian faith.
In the case of the Corinthians who saw that eating meat sacrificed to idols as acceptable, they were to use their “liberty” in a way that did not cause “the weak” to stumble. In other words, eating this food could cause a misunderstanding. Those who are weak might think Christians can worship both God and idols, and thus, revert to pagan rituals. If this was the case, then it’s better to refrain from any activity that could cause this type of confusion. I grew up in a tradition that had a list of do’s and don’ts.
For the Christians in my early tradition, dancing, movies, drinking and smoking were all considered sinful. For some, these were activities invented by the devil in order to trip us up and cause us to sin. On the other hand, many of my friends grew up in traditions that had a different set of Christian values. For them, many of these activities were acceptable and one was free to participate in without harm to their soul. It all boils down to how we exercise this freedom or authority.
So the question for us is, how do we use the “liberty” and “authority,” given to us in a way that’s responsible. The old inhibitions and restraints, served as a sort of social glue, holding people together in a common consensus. Losing these behavioral guidelines within society and the church can be perilous for many people. Paul’s message for the church is that one may well have freedom in Christ, but it must be used with discretion and, in particular, with care for the sake of others. One’s own liberty in some matters of behavior, may need to be put aside, when the faith of another is at stake. To relinquish one’s freedom isn’t losing it; it’s simply one way of using it.
This message, while more difficult when applied to corporate matters, can also apply to congregational life. When a congregation faces an issue in which some members call for change, and others seek to preserve what’s familiar, it’s all too easy to consider one group as “in the know” and the other as “the weak.” We should avoid thinking this way, it could lead to feelings of superiority or of being “puffed up” among some and the sense of not being heard among others. We must remember that we have freedom in Christ and when we exercise our liberties in love, our actions will never tear down, but will build up and edify each member of the Body of Christ.
Amen
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.