A New Teaching

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February 1, 2015

Mark 1:21-28

²¹Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. ²²They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ²³Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, ²⁴and 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.” ²⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷They 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.” ²⁸At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Sermon: A New Teaching

As far as early days on the job go, Jesus wasn’t doing too shabby.  He’d been baptized by John his cousin, overcome temptation in the wilderness, and then he’d scooped up some fishermen named Andrew, Simon (that’s Peter), James and John to join his posse.  They waltzed into Capernaum and did what good Jewish boys did on the Sabbath – went to a synagogue. 

We know that Jesus had taught in a synagogue at the age of 12.  We don’t know if he’d done it in the intervening 18 years since, but you can be sure there was a wee bit of pressure at this the official start of his ministry.  The congregation would have been about the size of ours – synagogues in those days weren’t usually like Lakewood or Willow Creek megachurches.  They were family operations: 10 families = a synagogue.  And a lot of them didn’t have rabbis.  So a traveling rabbi coming to speak was a pretty big deal.

Jesus got up to preach, and he did it with authority – everyone present saw this man was remarkable.  He might have covered the 10 commandments, and the shema to love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and shared some wisdom from Isaiah or Jeremiah.  He was probably feeling pretty good about things as he prepared to wind up that there sermon with a nice, powerful ending.

But nothing is predictable when the Son of God’s in town.  And so a possessed man started shouting!  The polite churchgoers fixed their eyes on Jesus more intently, while the more curious of them turned and stared.  “Oh, it’s just him,” they thought.  Poor possessed Bob (we don’t have a name for him, so I’m calling him Bob.)  Bob always shouted at about this point in the service, but Jesus and his cronies were just visiting town, so they didn’t know this.  Usually it was some sort of inane babble.  But today, Bob was making sense!

“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.”

The people who usually snoozed during sermons (it happened in Jesus’ time too) woke up at this point.  “What did Bob say?  Holy One of WHO?!”

Jesus wasn’t really interested in a big revelation about who he was at that point – he wanted to be taken seriously for what he said and did initially, and not just an impressive title.  And he certainly didn’t want demons to be the ones revealing his true self so early in the game.  “Hush!” he told those demons.  “Leave Bob alone!  In fact, leave him entirely.”  Bob started jumping around and screaming and even the polite people were staring at him now.  Suddenly Bob stopped moving, and looked at them all with eyes clearer than they’d ever been.  He was free.

Of course, casting out demons did a lot more to prove who Jesus really was than anything those demons could’ve said.  And then we have the most hilarious reaction in all of scripture:

“What is this? A new teaching?  Now, he has authority!” those churchgoers (or synagoers perhaps) said.  It might have been the understatement of the decade.  A new teaching?  Really?  It’s not like he decided to use powerpoint or put them in small discussion groups.  Jesus had just cast out demons!!   The word they used means “doctrine.”  Goodness, the man didn’t just write some powerful words down – he freed Bob from demons!  Our text makes it sound like those who were there didn’t really understand the magnitude of what Jesus had just done.  Or maybe they understood it all too well.

Maybe Bob wasn’t the only one who was possessed.  Maybe demons aren’t supernatural, external forces but the very real, earthly things that possess all of us at times. 

Maybe there was a husband who struggled with feelings for someone other than his wife.  Maybe there was a wife who kept her health problem secret from everyone, even her spouse, because she was the caregiver and didn’t want anyone taking care of her.  Maybe there was a teenager dealing with bullying from other kids.  Maybe there was a little girl who felt ignored, like she didn’t even matter.  Maybe every single person in that room was held captive in one way or the other.

Perhaps that healing hit a little too close to home – if Jesus could cast out the obvious demons – like Bob’s – could he also cast out those that were hidden so very well with excuses and politeness?  Only the Holy One of God could cast out those sort of demons. 

Afraid to let anyone else see their demons, those polite pew dwellers settled for the understatement of “a new teaching” because I think they didn’t want to admit they needed an exorcism just as much as Bob did.  They needed their lives ridded of unclean spirits. 

So do we.

We might call those unclean spirits self doubt or decade-old bitterness.  We might name them depression or anxiety or guilt.  But we all have our demons.  And Jesus, he didn’t just come for Bob.  He came for everyone in that synagogue in Capernaum.   He came for us. 

He came for all, and demons be damned, he doesn’t give demons the sort of power we do.  He names them, refusing for them to be hidden away and fester.  And he sees the human beings behind the demons – us fragile children of God, sometimes functioning very well, and sometimes not quite as well.

I’m not sure Jesus always casts out demons in as dramatic a fashion as he did in Capernaum that day.  Perhaps he casts out our demons over years of talking with someone we trust, or slowly changing our patterns of behavior or finally having the courage to be honest about how we’re really doing, or ask for help when we need it.  But he still does what he did on one of his first days on the job – brings wholeness, to Bobs, and to the rest of us. 

Jan Richardson captures this well in her poem titled Blessing for a Whole Heart.

You think


if you could just

imagine it,


that would be a beginning;


that if you could envision


what it would look like,


that would be a step


toward a heart


made whole.

This blessing


is for when


you cannot imagine.


This is for when


it is difficult to dream


of what could lie beyond


the fracture, the rupture,


the cleaving through which


has come a life


you do not recognize


as your own.

When all that inhabits you


feels foreign,


your heart made strange


and beating a broken


and unfamiliar cadence,


let there come


a word of solace,


a voice that speaks


into the shattering,

reminding you


that who you are


is here,


every shard


somehow holding


the whole of you


that you cannot see


but is taking shape


even now,


piece joining to piece


in an ancient,


remembered rhythm

that bears you


not toward restoration,


not toward return—


as if you could somehow


become unchanged—


but steadily deeper


into the heart of the one


who has already dreamed you


complete.   

Whatever demons you might be struggling with, however silently, imagine the Holy One of God, Jesus Christ, who has already dreamed you complete.  And bit by bit, day by day, trust him (and perhaps those beside you) to set you free.

Because Jesus didn’t really teach with words, though he used them a lot.  He taught through seeing the people behind the demons and seeing the demons behind the systems of oppression.  It was a new teaching, indeed.  The very best lesson this world could ever learn.