B, Epiphany 4 - Mark 1:21-28 "Teaching & Authority"

When Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and taught with authority the people were amazed by what he taught and how he taught it. Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son, taught with greater power than the scribes of the Law; no wonder they who gathered for the Sabbath service were amazed at what they heard.

Nevertheless, the power and authority of Jesus' word came not because he was a gifted man, but because he was, and still is, the Christ, God the Son, the Word of God veiled in flesh - in the man from Nazareth. Jesus came as the Saviour of humankind; he came as Christ - anointed by the Father as the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

On the other hand, there was one confronted by his authority and teaching that Sabbath Saturday. A man possessed by an evil spirit cried out in opposition to the very presence of Jesus. It's interesting the possessed man seemed content to be in the synagogue hearing the Law in the first place. Yet he wanted nothing to do with Jesus, nor did he want to submit to his authority, or be discipled by his teaching. The spirit within the man wanted neither the person he possessed to be saved, nor to have his sins taken away.

What happened on that Sabbath at Capernaum might seem rather extraordinary. Yet, similar things occur when people come into God's rest every Sunday.

This might come as a surprise to most of us. Evil spirits are not regularly seen these days, but they do exist. We must not be too quick to dismiss the spirit world because we cannot see it. Both good and bad spirits do exist. We place our trust in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus himself gives us the petition in his Lord's Prayer, "deliver us from evil, or the evil one." Therefore, there is an entourage of evil hidden from our regular sight.

We also can't be too quick to see this evil in others, thinking we are void of these evil powers. Again we are returned to the Lord's Prayer and must ask ourselves why Jesus gives us the petition, "deliver us from evil".

When we come into God's presence on Sunday we come into a holy place where things happen like no other place on earth. Firstly, sin is named. Not just named as a general concept, but sin is specifically named in us - personally named. Then we're called to repentance for our sin so we might remain in submission under God's authority, and be disciplined as disciples through teaching and preaching from his authoritative word.

Teaching and authority, being disciplined and living in submission, are seen as negative things these days. The trend is to only hear and learn what we want, and submit to no one except ourselves, or at the most, to those who say what we want to hear. So when someone comes along and speaks the truth, personally naming sin in us and the need for a Saviour, it's bound to stir us as Jesus did to the man possessed by the evil spirit.

One of the saddest things to occur in the church today is when those called to proclaim the truth of God's word, to teach and preach with authority, bow to pressure from society's rationale that truth is subjective. In other words, that truth is what one wants to believe is true. So in a bid to be accepted, teaching about sin and grace become clouded, as called ministers avoid the issue of repentance, and misuse the authority they've been given to preach and teach the condemnation of the Law and the salvation we all need from the Gospel.

When authority and teaching are misused in this way, one of two things usually happen - either the pastor submits to the authority of the people, or the pastor imposes his own authority over the congregation. Either way God's authority is thwarted by authoritarianism driven by humanity. And guess who has been behind this type of misguided authority since day one, encouraging individuals to impose their own wills and their own rights? The devil - the epitome of evil - and his whole entourage of spirits!

But when the Law and Gospel are proclaimed and taught with the authority that gives glory and honour to God alone and intimately names who we are before God, expect to be amazed at God's almighty saving power and to be unsettled as God confronts the evil in you.

Jesus of Nazareth, revealed as the Son of God, comes to us in authority to fight and forgive the Old Adam deceived in all of us. The devil, his evil entourage, and our sinful selves are content up until this point. But when their cover is blown and they're exposed, a spiritual battle rages within as the Old Adam is defeated.

Having been forgiven, and we're returned to the promise of God made in baptism, he feeds us with his Word, and the Holy Spirit continues his good work, engendering faith. So with faith we are opened to being taught, being discipled, even being disciplined, so the devil is defeated by our forgiving of each other, so we are led away from the temptation to disbelieve God's baptismal promises, and to be continually delivered from all evil so that when Christ comes again we might be taken with him into eternity forever.

With the baptismal promise, God the Father and the Holy Spirit reside in you, through God the Son. Jesus lives in you by God's grace, through faith, so that no one can boast. Jesus' submission to the Father enabled him to humbly submit to the cross and bear our sin in death. And because Jesus did this the Father raised him to all glory and now he lives in us, walking with us, saving us from ourselves, and the evil that always appears so enticing to our human nature.

But as Jesus lives in us, he calls us to live in him. He calls you to submit to his authority, just as he submitted to the authority of our Father in heaven. When we allow ourselves to submit to his authority, the Holy Spirit works to kill the sin in us by moving us back under Christ where death and the devil, where sin and satan's evil entourage, have no authority in our lives anymore.

As Jesus does this, expect to be amazed at what the Almighty can do! But also expect there to be longing of need, and at times grief, as the holiness of God conquers evil, to bring you peace and eternal relief.

Let this good news shed light in every hidden part of your body and soul. Let God be God in you; let his kingdom come to you with all authority and power, to forgive and fight the sin within. Amen.