“Authority. Obedience. Discipleship” Epiphany 4 Lectionary 4 February 1, 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Mark 1:21-28)

The Bible is full of such strange stories! As an example, take the story we read this morning, from the gospel of Mark.

We’re still in the first chapter of Mark, and the action has been proceeding at a break-neck pace. In only 20 verses, John the Baptizer has appeared to fulfill prophecy in Isaiah, Jesus has been baptized, Jesus has been tempted in the wilderness, Jesus has called two disciples, and then he has called two more. (All in 20 verses!) And now, in the story: They went to Capernaum, and when the sabbath came, [Jesus] entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus and his disciples are observant Jews. (Even throughout the first several generations of the Jesus movement, Jesus’ followers continue to be observant Jews! So the hatred of the Jews, taught throughout history in some Christian traditions, makes absolutely no sense.) It is important to notice that the setting of this story in Mark is sabbath worship – which is presented as a place and time to encounter God! And, indeed, that’s what happens. But notice who recognizes God! Who in the room understand what is going on here?

The groups discussing the study book, Opening the Book of Faith, are talking about the “literary reading” of the Bible. Here’s a tip off: a literary tension throughout the gospel of Mark, which we’re reading this year, a tension that the gospel writer builds into the story, is between understanding and misunderstanding. And so, here’s what we read: They (that is, the human beings) were astounded at [Jesus’] teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then 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 him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching --with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Who understands who Jesus is? It is the unclean spirit! Who are astounded, who are amazed, who keep on asking one another: “What is this? What is going on?” The human beings!

What a strange passage. In fact, isn’t this a passage that we simply dismiss? You and I have been educated to look at reality objectively, to leave superstition behind, to be precise about what’s real and unreal, to use the scientific method. So – C’mon! An unclean spirit? The guy is suffering from epilepsy or something, right? It’s some kind of nervous system disorder that causes seizures, right?

Well, maybe. Probably. But here’s something that gives me pause. In the cultures where the majority of Christians live around the world, Christians read this passage as describing daily life. In most countries of Africa, for instance, exorcisms of evil spirits are regularly performed. On the Sunday morning that I worshiped at the Mongai Parish in Tanzania, a major part of the service was to give thanksgiving for miraculous healings. At the Sunday morning services of both parishes I visited in Tanzania, worshipers who had been excommunicated and who had proven that they deserved to be restored came forth to be welcomed back into the faith community. In an African culture ravaged by AIDS, with no medical care to speak of, where someone can be healthy, then sick and then dead within a matter of days; in fact, in the cultures where the majority of Christians live around the world, demons and unclean spirits and the forces of evil are experienced as daily realities. And so, it simply gives me pause. If the church is dying in western cultures, but wildly flourishing in Africa and Asia and Latin America, do we simply dismiss most of the Christians in the world as being superstitious? Or are they more cognizant of the powers at work? It’s a question that’s been in my mind since visiting Tanzania.

Indeed, it is interesting to ask someone in our culture who is addicted to alcohol or drugs to describe her experience. An addict describes his addiction in a way that sounds an awful lot like there is something inside him, that is alien to him, possessing him; an addiction that he would like to have removed from his body and mind! Talk to someone fighting cancer, or a fungal infection in the lungs: isn’t there something evil inside my body, needing to be eradicated?

Scientific knowledge about bacteria and viruses and chemical addictions and psychology and psychiatry are tools that God gives us for healing. Certainly that is true! I am saying, however, that we should pause before poo-pooing a story such as this one from Mark – because it does describe a power that is real. Do we call it the power of illness? Is it the power of evil? If an “unclean spirit” is not a literal description of what is going on, it certainly has value as a metaphor. God’s new age of salvation and health and healing is confronting the entrenched powers-that-be. Do you think those powers will give up without a fight? They crucified Jesus!

The gospel of Mark witnesses to the reality and movement of powers in creation. It is not only power that is in opposition to Jesus. In the earlier verses of chapter one, there is the power that causes Simon and Andrew and James and John to respond to Jesus’ call immediately. There is the “astounding” authority of Jesus. We read: They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching -- with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."

There is authority. And there is obedience.

Those, of course, are important to the life of faith for you and me, day-to-day! There is the authority of God that Jesus embodies in his human flesh, the Word become flesh: the Word of conviction and forgiveness, grace and salvation. And there is our response to that Word. There is obedience. First comes humility, a gift of the Spirit, which opens us to the obedience of formation in the way of Jesus the Christ. In this, we become disciples.

I am often amazed at how my early-morning prayer and reading clarifies what I’m stumbling through, as I work on sermons, week after week. Here is something I came across in my daily devotional book this past Tuesday – words from the 20th century theologian Gerhard Ebeling, who writes about the life of faith from a thoroughly modern, scientific world view!

"The authority of Jesus reached its climax in the call to discipleship. This is something strange and unique, in contrast with the this world around him. Rabbis had pupils, and revolutionaries had adherents. Jesus’ call to discipleship could be misunderstood in both directions. But he asked neither for pupils nor for revolutionary action, but only that [people] should share in his way….[T]hey were to let their way be determined, without anxiety, by the rule of the God who is near. The call to discipleship is in the last resort simply the call to faith. For faith cannot be more concretely expressed than by saying, Be not anxious, for the heavenly Father knows what we need.

"These elements in the message of Jesus – the nearness of the rule of God, the clarity of his will, and the simplicity of discipleship, with joy, freedom, and lack of anxiety – are the interpretation of one thing, the call to faith. But it is all seen in the context of the remarkable authority of the Person of Jesus. If discipleship means sharing in the way of Jesus, then understanding his preaching of the will of God means sharing in his freedom, and understanding his message of the rule of God means sharing in his joy, his obedience, and his courage in the face of the nearness of God." (From The Nature of Faith)

Authority. Obedience. Discipleship.

In the name of God who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia