TITLE: “They Were Amazed at His Teaching”

 

In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  Our text for this morning is from the Gospel lesson just read, with particular emphasis on the words, The people were amazed at His teaching.

We sometimes miss the fact that Jesus was a Rabbi, or teacher.  But unlike most rabbis of His day, Jesus traveled around to various places and went to teach.  But where did He usually go first?  He usually went to the Synagogue.  The synagogue was the place of worship for the Jews, where they went to hear the word of God.  They would sing psalms, hear readings from what we would call the Old Testament, and then would listen as the Rabbi expounded on some point from the Torah, or the Law.  The roots for the first half of our service today, the part we would call the Service of the Word, are actually in this Jewish synagogue.

And so it is that as Jesus was traveling around Galilee, he went to Capernaum.  Jesus went to the Synagogue, and at the proper time, he began to teach.  But there was something different about this man, this teacher.  The people were amazed at His teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  What were they so amazed about?  What made the teaching of this carpenter-turned-rabbi so very different?

Well, there is one word that unlocks how this came to be.  Jesus taught as one who had authority.  When we think of authority today, we often think in negative terms.  Authority is about someone over you, someone who is trying to oppress you or keep you down.  Maybe that’s what we’ve inherited from the 60s, an anti-authoritarian outlook on life.  Order is bad.  Freedom to do whatever we want; now that’s good.

But Jesus taught as one who had authority.  Where did this authority come from?  You are my Son, whom I love.  With you I am well pleased.  Remember those words?  Those are the words the Father spoke to Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan River.  With those words, the Father established Jesus’ authority as one who spoke for the Almighty God.  Indeed, Jesus is the very image of God Himself.  So when Jesus spoke, He spoke with authority, because His words were from the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  In our Old Testament lesson we hear that the Lord would raise up a prophet who was like himself.  Jesus is that prophet, for He knows the will of His Father perfectly.  He is the messenger of the Lord, and He came to earth to preach that message.

And what was the message that Jesus spoke?  The kingdom of heaven is at hand: Repent and Believe the Gospel!  We heard about that from last week.  Jesus called them to be turned from their way of sin and death, and to be made alive by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That was the message of Jesus which was so amazing to these people in Capernaum.

They lived in a time not unlike our own.  They believed that if you follow a certain code, if you do certain things, then God will be pleased with you and you will be saved.  So there came to be a constant argument and squabbling about particular points of the Law.  How many steps can I make on the Sabbath?  Which kind of foods are we to eat?  How should I dress?  Their life was defined by their behavior.  In many ways the focus had moved away from the God who brought them out of both Egypt and Babylon, and had turned into the God who watched what they did, to make sure they did the right things.

But we shouldn’t be so hard on them, for we do the same thing.  Pop-Christianity today would define the Christian life as basically being about behavior.  Almost a hundred years ago a man named Charles Sheldon wrote a book called In His Steps, maybe you’ve read it.  In this book Sheldon recounts the story of a town which tried to ask the question “what would Jesus do,” before doing anything.  And in the book, this town became a little heaven, where everyone was nice to each other, kind, honest and friendly.  Many people in Christianity today would have us make that into what it means to be a Christian.  Being a Christian is doing good things, essentially keeping the Law.  So to this way of looking at Christianity, it is a religion of works.  Deeds not creeds is a motto you hear even today.  God doesn’t want your belief, he wants you to do good things!  It’s a very sneaky trick that Satan is playing with this so-called faith, because every Christian knows that God demands perfection.  Why shouldn’t we measure our faith by our works?

It is a hard existence.  You are in Christ, and so your actions do have an effect on those around you, particularly your family.  So how often have you caused other Christians to stumble, when you decided that you had something more important to do Sunday morning than to have your sins forgiven?  What are you teaching your children, when you teach them that what you give to God is last on the so-called bill paying schedule?  Our actions become a stumbling block for the weak, particularly our own families.  And Satan knows that.  So he either tries to get you to revel in how great a Christian you are, or he tries to drive you to despair because of what a failure you are in your Christian life.

And when the focus is away from Christ and on what you do, you are left with that terrible, plaguing question, Is it enough?  Have I done enough?  Have I been friendly enough, have I helped others enough, have I done enough to get me into heaven?  It is a terrible existence, for there is no certainty with that way of life, only questions.  For the answer is simple: no, you haven’t done enough!  You can never do enough, because you are a sinner that can never please God left to your own devices.

As Saint Paul wrote in our Epistle lesson, The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.  If Christianity is finally about keeping the Law, then it is no longer about Christ.  And that was what was so amazing about Jesus’ teaching.  These poor Jews were living under the oppression of the Law.  They believed that if they obeyed these certain laws that they would be saved.  It isn’t true for them, and it isn’t true for you now.  It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “Get over yourself!  You don’t know what you’re doing, and stop pretending.  You can’t save yourself.  Only I can save you.”

And almost as if to demonstrate His point, Jesus has an encounter with a man possessed by an evil spirit.  This evil spirit, this demon that had possessed this poor man, knew who Jesus was, and s cried out, What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God! (Mark 1: 24)  This demon, this fallen angel sent only to destroy and kill, this demon knew who Jesus is!  He knows, and He is afraid, for this demon thinks Jesus has come to destroy him.

He’s right.  All the way back to the Garden of Eden God had promised that the offspring of Eve would crush Satan’s head, but that Satan would bruise His heel (Genesis 3:15).  God was talking about Jesus, the one who came to destroy Satan, at the cost of His own life.

This demon demonstrates that knowing the right information isn’t enough.  There are plenty of people that know about Jesus.  They can give you facts and figures and tell you His whole life story.  But without faith, it is all nothing.  The demon knew who Jesus was, but He did not have faith.  He did not trust God as the giver of all good things, and so his life was one of a cursed existence, where all He could do was lash out and try and destroy others.

And so Jesus says to the demon, Be quiet!  Come out of him!  And so the demon left with a shriek and a violent shake.  Both Jesus’ teaching and His actions were amazing, for they showed Jesus to be the Son of God, or the Holy One of God, as they demon called Him.  And this Holy One of God came to earth for a purpose.  As we confess in the creed, who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.  Jesus did not come down to earth to teach us how to live better lives.  He didn’t even come down to earth to make us happy.  No, Jesus came to earth for one purpose only.  He came for our salvation.  He came to crush Satan’s head, and to buy us back, to redeem us from the crafts and assaults of the devil.

And this is the place where He destroys Satan.  Right here, in Church, every time we have a baptism, the power of Satan is trampled underfoot and the kingdom of God comes down to earth to reign in the heart of a new child of God.  And He comes in His own Supper, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus does not want you asking have I done enough?  Jesus wants you to receive all that He gives to you.  For He has done enough.  He has come into our flesh to be our Savior, and He gives you that very gift of life and salvation now, today, in this house of God.  Come, then, and receive His body and blood for your healing.  Satan cannot overcome the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.  For it is here that all your fears and shortcomings are set at the food of the cross, and cleansed by the Water of Life.  Satan has no place in your life.  For Jesus has come and brings pleasure eternal.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Epiphany 4B (Jan. 30, 2000)

Mark 1: 21-28

 

 

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Last Revised: January 30, 2000