“AUTHORITY”

Text: Mark 1: 21-28

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 
22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 
23 And 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." 
25 But Jesus rebuked [commands] him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"
26 And 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."

28 And at once [immediately] his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. †

wrong way to tell a joke

Ever known someone who really knows how to butcher a good joke? I’m pretty sure I’m in that category, but years of doing youth ministry taught me more ways to ruin a joke than I ever wanted to know. So here’s a joke:

A man walks into a bar with a cheese sandwich under his arm. "A pint of Guinness for me and the cheese sandwich," he says to the barman. "I'm sorry, sir," replies the barman, "we don't serve food here.”

Now there are many ways you could have ruined that joke for us.

1. 1.Announcing: Oh yeah, I’ve heard this one before.
   
2. 2.Blurting out questions about the details as soon as you hear them. What kind of cheese was the sandwich? You didn’t say whether or not is was grilled!
   
3. 3.Laughing hysterically a few words before the punchline.
   
4. 4.Laughing way too hard—sarcastically—as soon as the punchline’s been said.
   
5. 5.Asking after the joke, Then what happened?
   

These are ways the listener ruins a good joke, but the teller can be just as bad, as I think I probably demonstrated. I want to share with you how Mark would tell this joke:

A man walks into a bar with a cheese sandwich under his arm. "A pint of Guinness for me and the cheese sandwich," he says to the barman. "I'm sorry, sir," replies the barman, "we don't serve food here.”

“Well I guess we’ll have to do without the Guinness then!” Immediately the man and his sandwich walk out of the bar.

It strikes us as strange, but the middle eastern story always puts the punchline—the most important phrase—right in the middle of the passage. You climb up to it and then walk down from it using the same steps.

Our text today is such a story. Let’s walk through it briefly and hear God’s Word to us.

WALK THROUGH THE TEXT

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.

Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, we can call Capernaum the hometown of his ministry. With his four new disciples—Simon, Andrew, James and John—he immediately on the sabbath enters and teaches.

22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 

Mark explicitly reports the effect of Jesus’ teaching. People were amazed and astounded by his teaching. Apparently, when Jesus taught, people’s jaws dropped open. More than that, they perceived in his teaching that central quality lacking in their education previously: authority.

The funny thing is that for all the reporting of the impact of what Jesus said, Mark doesn’t quote a word! Wouldn’t we love to know what it was that Jesus said that knocked the listeners back on the heels? Isn’t this where Mark should have told us at least one or two of the teachings that had such authority and amazed the synagogue goers?

a whole new school

The people said, “he teaches as one with authority, unlike all the others.” What was this authority the people saw in Jesus that was lacking in the other teachers and scribes? We live in a culture that is pretty well obsessed with authority issues—especially questioning all authority—but I think the answer may be simple.

All of us, when reading and studying scripture, have to acknowledge our limits of what we know and what  can be known from the written word. We read the Bible and then we are left to fend for ourselves in a world of differing interpretations and commentaries.

Put in brief, a denomination is really nothing other than a community which agrees to particular interpretations of scripture. If we hold to this set of interpretations, we’re Baptists; this set of interpretations, we’re Catholic; this set, Presbyterians; this set, Nondenominational (that’s right, there’s no neutral on this—non-denominations are just as denominational, for they too are gathered around their interpretations).

Jesus’ world was the same, only it was differing rabbinical schools in ancient Judaism.  Rabbis had their followings, and their popularity and social mobility depended upon their body of interpretations. Jesus did not lead as they led, nor teach as they taught. Jesus is a whole new school.

It comes down to this: Jesus, unlike all the others, didn’t rely on commentaries. He didn’t have to quote the experts to give weight to his proclamations. His special authority is this: he spoke as one who truly knows God, not merely one who knows things about God.

Like Moses, Jesus spoke directly with God and knew God’s heart, so why would he need anything else? Jesus not only teaches the Word, Jesus is the Word. There is no higher authority. After Jesus speaks, no former commentary has any weight or authority left, except that it be in or out of alignment with what Jesus says.

That’s still the code today. We hold scripture to be authoritative because in it we hear Jesus speak. His authority directs, exhorts and encourages our lives today just the same as he did that sabbath morning in Capernaum.

IDENTITY BEFORE TEACHING

So back to our question: if what Jesus taught was so astounding and amazing, why didn’t Mark give us one or two quotes? The answer is that Mark—by his silence—is telling us something very profound that we must not miss; namely, that what Jesus taught—as important as that is—is less important than knowing Who he is.

The center of Mark’s proclamation is that Jesus is Messiah and the Son of God. Remember Chapter 1 verse 1:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

That’s Mark’s title and every page will support that theme. It is far less important that we know things about Jesus than we know Jesus himself.  Mark establishes in these verses the prescription for all church health. A person can know tons about Jesus—seminary degrees and doctorates—but if he doesn’t know Jesus personally, he is lost.

Mark doesn’t tell us the whats that Jesus taught with authority—we don’t hear what was so amazing—because Mark is trying to show us that what was amazing was Jesus himself. Mark wants us to love him and worship him, not just his ideas or teachings.

And here’s the good news: just as Jesus knew—really knew—the Father, we can really know him.

OUR KNOWLEDGE IMPERFECT

What Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 rings true in every age: 

Our knowledge is imperfect and I know in part

We are limited in the English language by having only one word for knowledge, to know. If I were to ask you, “Hey, you know Harrison Ford?” You’d probably say, “Yeah, but I don’t know him personally I just know about him.”  Well come on, do you know him or not? We seem to be short of a verb here, because we have to make this clarification: I know of him, but I can’t say I know him personally.  It can be confusing, can’t it?

The Old Testament had a word for knowing God personally, and it translates badly into English. The word we have for it is fear.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.

I think that is not good translation. In my opinion, a better translation would be:

The personal knowledge of God—knowing God personally—is the beginning of all wisdom.

Which sounds awful and shows us why we need a new English verb. The point here is that Jesus teaches with a new teaching—one that offers not just a lot of ideas about God, but a teaching with authority—that is, a personal knowledge of God.

Bono of U2 has a great quote. He said:

Religion is what is left

once the Holy Spirit has left the building.

Faith is not about an adherence to a set of ideas or walking in a cultural tradition (no matter how otherwise valuable); it is either a first-hand knowing of God in Christ or it is “religion”—what is left once the Holy Spirit is gone.

Religion is what the scribes and other teachers had. Religion was the substance of their teaching. They were interested in carrying on a tradition—a culture—and preserving a body of ideas. Jesus has no interest in religion. Hear me again: Jesus has no interest in religion. Rather, Jesus wants us plugged in directly to the source. He wants us to know God the Father which we can do through knowing him.

UNCLEAN SPIRIT BLURTS OUT

23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,

Question: Where is the unclean spirit found? In the Gentile landscape? Out in the streets? From a cave, a river, or the lake? No, the unclean spirit comes right out of the midst of the synagogue gathering.

Note: Mark does not call this a demon, but an unclean spirit. There is a difference—there are demons that possess people elsewhere in Mark—but here he never uses the word; he is specific about it being an unclean spirit.

People of that day who were called demon-possessed tended to be known quantities. Perhaps they were what we would call mentally ill—schizophrenic, hallucinatory, Tourette’s syndrome, etc.—but most of them had visible signs of their ancient diagnosis and—more to the point—they were not allowed into the synagogue.

This one was an unclean spirit. This doesn’t mean dirty or unhygienic, but Old Testament unclean—ceremonially impure. The word means something like spiritually radioactive or invisibly toxic. The word unclean suggests that which repels holiness and the presence of God. We might say “unholy” to keep it simple.

This was a man with full rights and ingress to  the synagogue gathering. He was a member. He walked in on his own two feet, greeted people at the door, put on his nametag and sang the songs like everyone else. Yes, he was possessed, but not by a demon, but by an unholy spirit—Mark means for us to see a difference.

In every other way, this possession looks like demonic possession. He  blurts out:

24 "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

Are these the words of a host of spirits within him or is he the spokesperson for the whole species of unholy spirits like him?

Notice that this same question is at the heart of what the High Priests, the scribes, the Pharisees and the other Rabbis might have said. “Have you come to destroy us and unmake our power structure?”

The spirit recognizes who Jesus is:

I know who you are--the Holy One of God."

Here is one of Mark’s great ironies. Who is it that recognizes Jesus as Messiah and Son of God? This is the first—an unclean Spirit. It doesn’t come from a disciple or a religious leader; it comes from a possessed man. This man is the first time in Mark that God’s truth is spoken specifically about him.

Is this odd? Isn’t the whole point that the word should get out and it be known that Jesus is the Holy One of God? Why does Jesus tell him to shut up (literally: “be muzzled!”)?

Unholy spirits can be welcomed at the door, greeted and ushered into their pews with their families. They sing along with the songs, pray the prayers and go through the motions, but when Jesus appears—when the Word of God is met—they show themselves, threatened and fearful.

There are congregations—perhaps even denominations—that do just fine by themselves. They are happy families, contented as cows. Then comes Jesus with a teaching that they find threatening and they go unclean, unholy.

As if to say: “You know, Jesus, we were just getting comfortable with our religion when you came in and messed things up!”

The man with the unclean spirit says (in today’s terms):

“We know who you are, Jesus—yes, you’re the Messiah and even the Son of God—buuut, we get the feeling you’re going to do things differently, and some of your words are, well, a bit harsh—we’re really not used to teachings that demand something from us, soooo, you see what I mean? Every time you open your mouth it’s like you expect us to change. Come on, this is a nice place  with nice people, and it’s taken us a long time to establish our current equilibrium, so please, don’t mess things up for us!”

25 But Jesus rebuked [commands] him[the spirit], saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.

There is only one solution: the unholy spirit must come out.

Notice: the unclean spirit does not lie, nor does it speak blasphemies. Every word it utters is true (Isn’t that interesting?). Sometimes speaking what is true can nonetheless be unclean and unholy.

This is how gossip grows—because something might be true gives people the idea that it is okay to spread. The problem is: distortions always spread faster and wider than truth.

Winston Churchill said it well:

A lie gets halfway round the world before truth
   has a chance to get its pants on

The only thing to do once we are called out for an unholy attitude is to let it come out an let it go.

Jesus is amazing. He doesn’t cast out the man, but the unholy spirit within the man.

QUESTION OF FOLLOW-UP

The good news—perhaps the biggest surprise—is in the part of the story we don’t see. Mark doesn’t tell us, but I wonder how that congregation received that man after the spirit was cast out? Did they welcome him or were they wary of him in a new way? Remember, they had welcomed him into the synagogue—the unholy spirit was smuggled in—were they ashamed that he had been part of the congregation in the first place? Now exposed, would the people accept his healed, redeemed state or would they begrudge him  because he had been possessed? Did they steer their children away from him? Did they become so focused on him and his episode that he was now the center of attention?

Let’s hope that the reverse was true—and that with the healing of one man the whole synagogue was truly made clean. This is clearly the story of Jesus, and how his personal relationship with God empowers his ministry. His word can be like a sharp sword, dividing us from our wants and comforts, but all for our healing—our own true good.

DIFFERENT DAY; SAME GOSPEL

The invitation comes to us from Christ and his example. Our first interest is not in Jesus’ teachings or his earthly example. Those are fine, but they are secondary to the main message, which is that Jesus is Lord, Messiah, Son of God. That knowledge is more than all the religions of the world in value.

The good news is that God wants to be known by you and me more than known about. In Jesus we are invited to that truly-knowing, personal relationship that is life-giving.

I know a few things about Jesus, and scripture and theology—but I consider it all rubbish compared to the reality that I—like all his disciples— can say I KNOW HIM PERSONALLY. I know him; I really know him.

May our central joy become introducing people to him. †