Above: Woodcut by Gustav Dore (1832-1833)
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From my January 28, 2018 sermon.
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Mark 1:21-28 — They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit 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!”
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
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How about these future sermon topics?…
“You have heard it said, that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but I say unto you that God had nothing to do with it.”… Or, “You have heard it said that on the third day Jesus rose from the dead, but I say unto you he did not rise.” … Or perhaps, “You have heard it said that that you should love and forgive those who wrong you, as you yourself have been forgiven, but I say unto you that if you can get revenge, then stick it to them all you can.”
Would you have any problems with any of those themes? Well, of course you would, and you should. To begin with, all three statements contradict basic teachings of the Christian faith. If you do not believe that God created the heavens and the earth, and if you do not believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, you are by every definition not a Christian. The Christian faith is defined by acknowledging some basic beliefs, and those are two of the most basic. And the Christian life is defined by certain principles; principles taught and lived by Jesus Christ himself; and one of those principles is that we are to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
But not only are all three statements the complete opposite of true Christianity, but there is something very wrong even in the way I said those things. In each of those three statements, I put my false statement in the context of this phrase, “You have heard it said… but I say unto you.” That is wrong because what I say unto you is of absolutely no value apart from what has already been said in God’s Word. As your pastor, I have been called to preach and teach to you from God’s Word, and I have no authority to go beyond that Word to bring you anything new and different. I might try and find new and different ways to teach, preach, or illustrate these ancient truths, but I have no authority to add anything to it, subtract anything from it, or to come up with anything new. I have no authority of my own.
However, it was this very thing which got Jesus into so much trouble with the church authorities of his day. Jesus would often say in his sermons that very line that I told you that I must never say. Jesus would say things like, “You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (and of course they heard it, it is repeated three times in the Old Testament Law of Moses). Yet, after saying that, Jesus was bold enough to go on to say, “BUT I say unto you, not an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but if someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also, and love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” You have heard it said, Jesus would say, and then go on to say, but I say unto you. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus used that phrase six consecutive times, going above and beyond what the Scriptures themselves had said. The religious leaders of the day saw that as blasphemy; as a man putting himself above the written word of God. Of course, if they would have accepted that Jesus was who he said he was, that would not have been a problem. But not everyone was yet of the opinion that Jesus was the divine Son of God. So when Jesus started talking like that, some of the leaders began talking about ways to get rid of such an arrogant, dangerous radical.
But Jesus had the support of many people, as seen in the Gospel reading for this morning. Look again at verses 21 and 22, which say, “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. And the people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the teachers of the Law.” What was the matter with the teachers of the law? Well, they had to work under the same restrictions I have to work under. They were not allowed to come up with anything new, but they had to preach and teach on the basis of and according to their recognized authority; and what they had for their entire Scriptures is what we have now as the Old Testament. Of course they weren’t supposed to preach and teach on their own authority, they were they to preach God’s Word by His authority. They were right about that. They were just wrong about Jesus. So in order to back up what they said, they had to do the same thing I do, which is to support everything I say with Bible verses. Jesus would quote Bible verses too, but he would often quote them only to go on to add his own twist.
I am a ‘by the book’ kind of person. Therefore, had I lived back then, I would have probably been on the Pharisees side—at least for a while. I don’t like it when so many liberal theologians these days feel free to go beyond the clear teachings of the Bible to come with all kinds of new things because they think we know more now than they did back then. Sure, we know more about computers and that sort of thing. But the Bible doesn’t tell us about computers and that sort of thing. The Bible tells us about how to get along with each other, and we still need to do that. The Bible tells us about forgiveness and reconciliation, instead of hate and revenge. We still need that, and the Bible’s way still works better. The Bible tells us about life after death, and we still die; and I have yet to learn of a credible solution to that problem other than the one offered by Jesus. And sex was a part of life then, as it is now, and the Bible still has the best advice about our sexual desires; which is that is that sex should be kept within marriage. The great promise of the sexual revolution of the last 50 years was that men and women would be freed from all of those old restrictions and we would all be better off. A new and liberated sexual ‘free for all’ has been “taught, modeled, laughed about, and marketed non-stop in movies, television, fashion, and colleges. Multiple sexual partners, sex outside marriage, sex on-screen, sex to get along, and sex to get ahead, all became a normal part of the newer, freer world. And in this new world, the sexually pure have become oddballs and losers.” (adapted from A Great Sexual Reckoning, Mindy Belz, World magazine, 12-30-17)
But have you noticed lately; it looks like not everybody has been having fun? Have you picked up on not only the disgusting evil and abuse of power, but also now the mass confusion about relationships and the widespread failure of relationships? We are made to work and live together in certain ways, and sex within a lifelong commitment seems to work better than what we have going on now. I don’t think we know more about sex now than what God told us in the Bible, even if some theologian with a Ph. D thinks so. Like I said, the Pharisees had good reasons to stick with the book. (continued…)
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