Imagine
yourself inside a church building anywhere…
The
preacher is uninspiring and we find our minds wandering. He seems to be going
on and on and on, and we wish he would shut up because the pew is hard and we
want our dinner. There is no spiritual nourishment in the experience. Have you
been there?
The
sermon seems to last three hours, and when you get home, you can’t remember a
word that was said. So boring! I wish he/she wasn’t planned here so often! I
love that old story of the preacher who, in the middle of his sermon suddenly
stopped. He looked out at the congregation and said to a man at the back,
“
Would you mind waking up that woman asleep next to you? ”
“
No, ” said the man, “ you put her to sleep, you wake her up! ”
We
have heard an account in the Gospel about Jesus’ work in the synagogue. His
teaching was compared with that of the scribes, people folk heard week in and
week out. They spoke about keeping rules, and perhaps were uninspiring.
We note that people there were amazed at
Jesus’ teaching, as he spoke with a note of authority.
The
scribes perhaps gave opinions about God’s way, whereas Jesus brought them the
word of God directly.
Imagine
being in his audience. Imagine suddenly after years of being bored rigid,
someone lively comes along, imagine after Sabbath after Sabbath of do nots,
suddenly here is a man claiming to be God doing positive things!
We
heard today about an encounter with evil in our reading. In Jesus’ day, there
was a belief that Satan had control of the present age having gained temporary
control of the earth, and held sway over its Kingdoms. People believed that
unclean and evil spirits that took up residence inside a person caused much
illness; both physical and mental, and professional exorcists used various ways
to cast them out.
But
what did Jesus do? Just one sentence came from his mouth. “ Be silent, ” he said to the spirit, “ and
come out of him! ” and the spirit was banished. Mark recorded before this, his
call to the disciples by the lakeside. His words of “follow me ” were powerful
and inviting for them to leave everything and go with him: words of invitation.
The demoniac, however, saw Jesus’ words as a threat, he reacted violently, and
he knew as Jesus spoke, the days of the evil within him were numbered.
Who
we would have been within it had we been there?
Would
I be among the scribes --- accustomed to
and pretty good at talking about holy things --- but suddenly thrust aside by
this new one who 'speaks with authority?
Or
am I most like the man with the unclean spirit -- the one who calls out Jesus
for who he is --- and in that calling out demonstrates how profoundly
threatened I am by this one who would 'destroy me' and so much of what I have
come to at least take for granted if not actually count on?
Would
I be among the crowd --- those so astounded by what they have heard and seen
--- that I could not help but join in as they spread the news?
Would
I have gone home and talked about his teaching for ages. Because the message he
shared was not mere legalism, ways to please God by being good, but heralded an
exciting event, God’s Kingdom, long awaited, was near.
This
is still the church’s task today – God’s word to his people is to be proclaimed
and its relevance to today worked out. People need to hear it in a fresh and
invigorating way.
The
word of God is not something that sends us to sleep, but should renew us and
challenge us. Of course, how we receive that word is important. We might be
unreceptive or not want him to challenge us, despite the best efforts of those
who bring his word to us. We may have come to worship today expecting very
little to happen. It may be a nice service and that’s all we expect. But God
may want to say something wonderful or something revolutionary to us in this
service. The authority of his word to his people.
Jesus,
of course, did not come to bring just words, but words in action. He showed God
to people and how God can act in any situation. His word was life changing: he
brought an authoritative word to the world.
As
I read the Gospel, it seems to me the intention of the Gospel writer here is to
say something of the power of Jesus in the world.
He
was sent by God to do something about the mess humanity had got into, to defeat
evil, to have a struggle against all the bad things contrary to the will of
God, indeed a struggle unto death, but ending in his victory over it in rising
again, showing us that all the dark things, the evil of the world can never
have the final say.
It
was Holocaust Memorial Day yesterday, and its theme this year is the power of
words. Tonight if you come to our bible study service we’ll look at what
happens when evil words or selfish words are believed and how things turn very
ugly very quickly. Words are all around us, we’ve bombarded with
instant news on the television, on news apps on a tablet or phone, instant
sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp. Authoritative words provoke a reaction in us
or should do.
I am a sad individual and will watch President
Trump in conversation for an hour with Piers Morgan, I don’t like either of
them but it may give us some insight into this President who just retweets
stuff without thinking.
Pope Francis preached on Fake
News on Wednesday this week and ended his homily like this:
Lord,
make us instruments of your peace.
Help
us to recognize the evil latent in a communication that does not build
communion.
Help
us to remove the venom from our judgements.
Help
us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters.
You
are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of goodness for the
world: where there is shouting, let us
practise listening; where there is
confusion, let us inspire harmony; where
there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity;
where
there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity;
where
there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety;
where
there is superficiality, let us raise real questions;
where
there is prejudice, let us awaken trust;
where
there is hostility, let us bring respect;
where
there is falsehood, let us bring truth.
How
do we react to authoritative words?
Well,
three little scenarios.
I
went to the national launch of the Holy Habits resource material in Birmingham
yesterday. I nearly didn’t get there. I arrived on Euston station to see
carnage, hundreds of people standing motionless staring at information boards
saying “delayed” “delayed” “cancelled” “delayed” then a voice said “services
north are severely disrupted because of an earlier derailed freight train in
Kings Langley.” Some people started to give up and go home as it all looked
pretty desperate and I was tempted to do the same. But then came another
message “the train that was due to leave an hour ago is now on platform 3.”
There
was a mighty crush and several elbows in the face to get to platform 3 but it
was a train and it was going north. Had I not waited for the second message my
whole trip would not have happened. We easily hear the bad and we don’t expect
the good. God has a plan for us, to defeat the bad and embrace us with good.
Even the Psalmist knew that – he has trouble in today’s Psalm: who will deliver
me from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man? He prays God will not cast
him off and he has hope that one day it will be sorted. That can be hard but we
are called to trust.
Then
I think we easily forget the word spoken to us. Husbands do that, don’t we,
husbands? It is just me then! We’re told things and we do other things and
well, we drive our wives up the wall. How
often we are told, and then we forget. Today we make our Covenant.
God
reminds us he is here, through good and bad, uncertainty and assurance, and we
promise in our response we can be his people and we will remember that promise
every day, but then we forget, and we need reminding again and again. No wonder
Wesley described the covenant like a marriage. We need to keep working at it,
and God like a faithful partner, stays with us. The words of the Covenant
prayer are a new teaching, God is with us in a new and exciting way, it takes
some getting and we’ll make mistakes but let’s try hard and when we get it
wrong and forget let’s say sorry and try harder.
Then
this. I was coming home on the Underground yesterday afternoon, and at Angel
station two men and two women got on. One of the men had a trumpet, one of the
ladies had a tambourine. The other man shouted “Musica!” and they began to
blast out when the saints go marching in at top volume. I was next to the man with
the trumpet! People could not help smiling and joining in with it.
They got out at the next stop, and they
shouted “have a nice day.” For a while, for about three minutes, people forgot
their problems, looked up from their phones, and there was lightness and
laughter.
And
you know what? I think that’s what the Church should be offering. .. Hope out
of despair, divine stick ability when we make mistakes, and laughter and
lightness and a different way opposite of the all the other words we hear around
us.
To
live in the shadow of death, which is the normal human experience, is to submit
to ever decreasing possibilities. To take Jesus seriously is to believe in a
world of ever increasing possibilities. It is a simple step of faith which says,
I know, or at least, I will live as if I know, that something more is possible.
Because
the reign of God has begun, all sorts of amazing things are happening.
There
is amazing news friends! Think of the worst thing you face at the moment. Then
know this. Power,
specifically no demonic power, has authority over Jesus. The unclean spirit recognizes Jesus'
authority immediately and begs to be spared, but Jesus shows his authority by
casting the spirit out. This is the good
news of Jesus Christ, the heart of the Covenant, the raison d’etre of the
Church, and the foundation for us travelling on together worshipping,
witnessing and transforming for another year.
What is this? A new kind of teaching. May we, Jesus people speak with
authority, may we be centred on him, and believing his way, who knows where
that might take us.
