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21 And they went into Caper'na-um; and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue
and taught. 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; 24 and 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." 25 But Jesus rebuked him,
saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying
with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And 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 his fame spread everywhere throughout all
the surrounding region of Galilee.

Meditation: Do you believe that God’s word has power to set you free and to transform your
life? When Jesus taught he spoke with authority. He spoke the word of God as no one had
spoken it before. When the Rabbis taught they supported their statements with quotes from other
authorities. The prophets spoke with delegated authority – “Thus says the Lord.”When Jesus
spoke he needed no authorities to back his statements. He was authority incarnate – the Word of
God made flesh. When he spoke, God spoke. When he commanded even the demons obeyed.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) remarked that “faith is mighty, but without love it profits nothing.
The devils confessed Christ, but lacking charity it availed nothing. They said, 'What have we to
do with you (Mark 1:24)?' They confessed a sort of faith, but without love. Hence they were
devils.” Faith is powerful, but without love it profits nothing (1 Corinthians 13). Scripture tells us
that true faith works through love (Galalatians 5:6) and abounds in hope (Romans 15:13). Our
faith is made perfect in love because love orients us to the supreme good which is God himself as
well as the good of our neighbor who is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis
1:26,27). Hope anchors our faith in the promises of God and purifies our desires for the things
which will last for eternity. That is why the word of Christ has power to set us free from all that
would keep us bound in sin, deception, and despair. Bede the venerable abbot of an English
monastery (672-735) contrasted the power and authority of Jesus' word with the word of the
devil: “The devil, because he had deceived Eve with his tongue, is punished by the tongue, that
he might not speak” [Homilies on the Gospels 1.8].

Faith is both a free gift of God and the free assent of our will to the whole truth that God has
revealed. To live, grow, and persevere in the faith to the end, we must nourish it with the word of
God. The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds that we may grow in his truth and
in the knowledge of his great love for each of us. If we approach God’s word submissively, with
an eagerness to do everything the Lord desires, we are in a much better position to learn what
God wants to teach us through his word. Are you eager to be taught by the Lord and to conform
your life according to his word?

"Lord Jesus, your word is power and life. May I never doubt your saving love and mercy, and the
power of your word to bring healing and deliverance to those in need."
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I remember from my Soccer Mom days feeling sorry for the boys whose parents tried to
outcoach the coach. I still remember the confused look on the boys' faces when their mom or dad
was on one side of the field yelling to them to do one thing (usually score) and coach was on the
other yelling the opposite (usually pass). Many times, a boy would shake his head angrily toward
his parent and then do what the coach said. Good choice. The angry head shaking spoke louder
than words. It said, "You are not the authority here. You need to be quiet so I can hear my
coach's voice."

We encounter multiple voices in life, and are constantly discerning which one to listen to.
Sometimes, when there is a high noise level around and within us, it's not such an easy task. All
four gospels start out with the narrator tipping the reader off as to the primary voice we'll be
hearing as we continue reading. Matthew tells us it is Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the
Son of Abraham. John tells us that it's The Word who became flesh. In Luke, it is more indirect;
we are given an account of "the events that have been fulfilled among us" (1:1).

Jesus, the Son of God, had all the authority in the world—in the universe. God created all things
through him and put all things under him. So even these spirits that turned evil, though he
allowed them to exist, were completely subject to him (see Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 1:20-21).
Yet Jesus did not use his incomparable authority the way we humans tend to use our little sprigs
of authority. Man, proud man, drest in a little brief authority, wrote Shakespeare. For many
humans, authority becomes merely a means of enriching oneself, of getting one’s own way, of
suppressing the truth, and of getting and holding the power to keep doing those things. Witness
the parade of totalitarian regimes, corporate executive, government and ecclesiastical scandals,
tyrannical parents, bosses, teachers, government officials and the like.

Not so with Jesus. He has all the authority there is, yet he uses it entirely differently from the
way many people would. Let’s look at a few examples:

1. He took action when necessary. Jesus did not stifle normal living by trying to prevent all
possibility of something going wrong. He didn’t post sentries at the doors to keep all
potential demon-possessed-looking people from coming in. He simply dealt with the
problem decisively when it arose.

2. He didn’t overreact. Jesus didn’t make a Broadway production out of making the demon
leave. He didn’t knock the demon around for a while, tell it off for 10 minutes, scream at it,
kill it or declare war on all demons. He just made it go.

3. He didn’t crow about it. Jesus didn’t use the incident to further his image. He didn’t print up
flyers and bill himself as the one who tossed out the demon.
 3

Jesus uses authority to serve, not to be served. And that is how he wants us to use whatever
authority we might have. Whether our authority is at home, at work, or somewhere else, he wants
us to use it to help others, not to make ourselves into big shots.

Later in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus explained it to his disciples like this, “You know that those who
are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority
over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).

What a difference it makes when the authority we’re subject to is a blessing instead of a curse.
“When the wicked rule, the people groan,” says Proverbs 29:2. It is when authority is used to
help, not to overpower, that those under it can rejoice.

Jesus doesn’t overpower us to make us knuckle under. He serves us with patience and mercy,
helping us grow to see how much we need him. Sin is a cruel, harsh, manipulative, unforgiving
taskmaster. Jesus is compassionate, gracious, patient, loving and merciful. The authority of sin is
fraudulent, but the authority of Jesus is absolute.

When it comes to Jesus’ authority in our lives, how do you think he uses it? To help us, or to lord
it over us? Many of us live as though we think Jesus uses his authority to lord it over us. We
assume his love for us is conditioned on how well we behave. We feel discouraged and fearful
that God no longer loves us when we fail to measure up in our obedience.

But Jesus uses his authority to help us, not to destroy us. He drives out the demons, not us. And
literal evil spirits are not the only kind of demons Jesus has authority over and drives out for us.
Sin itself is an enemy that does us damage and lords it over us. So are our fears and our doubts.

When our sins and fears start a commotion, it’s time for us to take them to the one who knows
how to handle them. We can take them to Jesus in prayer and trust him to know what to do.

Why not take your needs to Jesus? Give your problems to him and trust him to

see you through them

Why not take your needs to Jesus? Give your problems to him and trust him to see you
through them. He’s there for you, now and always
 4

It’s a story that is set in Capernaum, the home town of Peter and Jesus has gone into the
synagogue and was teaching there. And in verse 22 we read this statement from Mark: “The
people were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, not as the
scribes.”

This is a curious statement for Mark to make because surely the teachers of the law had the
ultimate spiritual authority. They had been the spiritual leaders in that community for years, they
had deep learning, they were revered for their knowledge, they were, in many respects, the
brokers of truth. Isn’t that what authority is all about? How could Mark say, then, that Jesus
taught as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law? In its essence, authority is the
right someone has - or a right that an institution holds - to enforce or expect obedience from
others. Certainly the teachers of the law had that type of authority; they had legal qualifications,
they had the right to judge people and so people would indeed obey the teachers of the law.

But I believe there are two types of authority and those who are in spiritual leadership must be
absolutely clear about this. There is Positional Authority and there is Relational Authority.

Positional Authority is where someone expects people to respect him or her because of the
position they hold. Some people demand or expect respect to be given to them because of their
title or the role they have played in the church. Sometimes this is made explicit: “I am the Rector
and, as spiritual leader of this community, I expect you to do what I say…” But more often than
not, Positional Authority is expressed in passive-aggressive behaviour. Those who rely on
Positional Authority speak and act in ways that make others feel inferior to them in terms of
knowledge or experience or wisdom. Reliance on Positional Authority may draw on a passive-
 5

aggressive way of being that suggests the title someone has is enough in itself: people should
listen and obey…

But Positional Authority is a dangerous and ungodly thing. It is absolutely contrary to the
example of Christ who, we read in Philippians 2, “being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant.” The example of Jesus Christ is the exact opposite of Positional Authority: it is the
absolute denunciation of Positional Authority. He did not cling to his own Positional Authority
but became a servant instead…

So we must beware of leaders who act out of Positional Authority because it is not the way of
Christ. Instead, Jesus acted out of Relational Authority.

Relational Authority is exhibited by leaders who seek to win respect, who seek to be transparent
with those they lead, transparent about their mission and vision, transparent about their own
failings and shortcomings and seek to minister out of a respect that has been earned. As Paul says
of Jesus in Philippians 2: “[He] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being
found in human likeness…he humbled himself…”

Now that is not to say that leaders who operate out of Relational Authority are not strong leaders:
the very opposite is often true! Relational Authority can only happen when a leader is clear and
focussed but in the clarity and the strength and the vision there must always be a deeply human
and humble approach. And it is because of the humanity of the Relational approach that authority
is clearly exercised.

Most of us are more attracted to following Relational leaders than Positional leaders because we
recognise in them a deep humanity and they allow us to be human too.
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And so, when Mark says, “[Jesus] taught them as one who having authority”, that is a reflection
on his Relational Authority; that he was humble and deeply human and was allowing people to
meet him in their humanity too.

And because they had become so used to people leading out of Positional Authority, we read in
verse 22 that the people were “astounded at his teaching”. This notion of amazement is a strong
word: it almost has the connotation of putting people into shock or even panic such was the
strength and power of his Relational Authority. The like of this had not been seen before!

And so we are not surprised that even the evil spirits went into panic and shock! Verse 23: “Just
then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and 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.’” What is interesting here, of course, is that an evil spirit knew who Jesus was but
the religious teachers of the law had not worked it out for themselves! How ironic that the holy
men should have missed the truth in their midst and yet the unclean should recognise Jesus for
who he was.

And the unclean spirit confesses a deep knowledge of Jesus. First, he says, “What have you to do
with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” and by saying that, he recognised the authority that resided in the
humanity of Christ, raised in Nazareth. Second, he says, “I know who you are, the Holy One of
God” and by that he is recognising the divinity of Christ. But the unclean spirit knew who Jesus
was but refused to submit to his authority. And, of course, the call on us as Christians is not just
to know who Jesus is but to submit our lives to his authority and power. Not just Jesus of
Nazareth, not just the Holy One of God - but Jesus our Lord.

And it is because the evil spirit would not sit under the Lordship of Christ that Jesus commands
him to be quiet. Verse 25: “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent…’” Jesus is not interested
in academic acknowledgement of who he is. Jesus doesn’t want us to speak about him purely
from our knowledge. Jesus wants us to speak out about him from a position of us accepting his
 7

Lordship. It is easy to get caught up in academic debates about God; whether he created the
world in six days or through evolution, whether Christianity is the only way to heaven or all
religions are equal, whether Jesus was fully God or just a good man - and there is a time and a
place for all of these questions…But the ultimate question is whether or not we are prepared to
sit under his Lordship and give our lives over to him as disciples…

An intellectual belief in Jesus is worthless. The issue is how much authority Jesus has in your
life. Martin Luther, the great 16th-century Reformer said that, “The life of Christianity consists
of possessive pronouns”. We can say Christ is the Saviour. We can say that Christ is Lord. We
can say that Jesus is God. But can I say that Christ is my Saviour? Can I say that Christ is my
Lord? Can I say that Jesus is my God?

And so, to prove his authority, Jesus heals the man and drives out the unclean spirit. By this
exorcism, he proved his authority over Satan and the uncleanness of this world.

And Mark concludes this passage by saying: “At once his fame began to spread throughout the
surrounding region of Galilee”. The Gospel – the Good News – of Jesus Christ began to spread
because of word and deed. And so it is with us as a church here in Linton, that the Good News of
Jesus will spread throughout our community as we engage in mission through word and deed.
Our Mission Action Plan is not a paper exercise: we want to engage in the Five Marks of
Mission that are on the pewsheet, we want to measure all that we say and do against those Five
Marks and be absolutely focussed on the Mission Life of St. Mary’s Church. Our Mission Action
Plan is a living document, not something that we have read once and filed away. We want Christ
to be known through this community and commit ourselves as a church to this vision.

This passage from Mark confirms the truth that Jesus Christ has authority over us. It is not a
Positional Authority but a Relational Authority.
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This passage confirms for us that intellectual knowledge about Christ is not enough. Instead, we
need to submit to him as Lord.

This passage confirms for us that the fame of Christ will spread through Linton as we engage in
both word and deed. We must be a church committed to Christ’s mission in this community.

Who is this Jesus we follow? He is a child to be adored, a God to be worshipped, a Saviour to be

followed, a Lord to be obeyed, a Healer to be trusted. And so, as we draw this Epiphany season
to a close, we re-commit ourselves to Jesus Christ and ask that, this coming year, the Good News
will be spread throughout the community through his mission, which we engage in here at St.
Mary’s. Amen.

Once upon a time there was a church. It was a nice church. The building was in good shape, the
congregation was stable and the preacher was well-liked. He preached good sermons — thought-
provoking and intelligent. He knew his Bible well.
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The church had pretty good theology, they thought. They knew what was important to them.
They knew what they believed. They had programs that they enjoyed and a good religious
education program for their children. They wanted them to know the Bible well, too.

One Sunday, they were having their usual services and a guest preacher showed up. Now this
congregation liked guest preachers, people who were writing new books about the Bible,
perhaps; people who were bright and interesting to listen to. So they were open to what he might
have to say.

And when he started to talk, it blew their minds. This guy was amazing. He had a different style
about him, a different spirit. He didn't just talk from his head, he spoke from his gut. You could
tell he knew what he was talking about. Not just that he knew the Bible, though he certainly did.
No, it seemed he knew inside the text or underneath it. Seemed he knew more than what was
written on the page. He seemed to have it written on his heart.

But while he was talking, something happened. Something unseemly. One of those things you
never expect to happen in your church. Somebody stood up and talked back to the preacher. Just
right in the middle of things stood up and said, What are you doing here? Are you trying to
destroy us? We know all about you!

Now, this man, this interrupter, the one who embarrassed the congregation, they knew him. He
was a strange man, troubled. But he didn't usually cause problems. In fact, he and the regular
preacher seemed to get along all right. The regular preacher knew how to avoid the pitfalls, how
not to upset him, how to keep him happy enough so that nothing like this would ever happen.
No, they knew the man, but this was a first.

But that guest preacher, he just stopped and looked that man straight in the eye and said, Be
silent and get out of him. That surprised the congregation as much as the interruption! Surely he
could have found away to quietly put this man off, let him down easy. But no, he just out and
shouted at him right there in the middle of church. The man was thrown into spasms, he shouted
and screamed and fell on the floor. And then he got very quiet. He looked around at the
congregation and they looked nervously at him and then he looked at the preacher and the
preacher looked back. Now the preacher was quiet, too, not shouting, not saying anything. And
kind, with a tender look on his face. And the man looked back with love and peace in his eyes.

At chat and chew, the place was buzzing. What was that all about? That man taught like no
preacher I ever heard! Even demons listen to him and do what he says! This is something fresh.
This is something else.

In Mark's gospel, Jesus shows up, and gets baptized and tempted in the first 13 verses. Then he
picks a couple of disciples and shows up in a synagogue by verse 21. It is his first public act
following his baptism. And his teaching blows them away. The people at the synagogue had
never heard anything like it. And when he's interrupted by a man with an unclean spirit, he
commands the demon to leave and it goes. Not quite silently, as he had requested, but still, it
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obeys. Afterwards the people, still astounded, say, This is some new kind of teaching all right!
Not at all like our scribes.

Now the scribes were the respected, scholarly interpreters of Scripture. They were, essentially,
what a preacher is to a congregation in terms of Biblical interpretation. So when this text says,
Jesus taught with authority not at all like the scribes, it's preachers like me who should get
nervous. They're talking about me. It's fine to know the Scriptures and share my knowledge, but
if I want to be a follower of Jesus, I need to remember that he was up to something completely
different. He wasn't just teaching the Bible, he was dwelling in it. His authority came from his
connection to the source. His knowledge wasn't external, it was internal.

Now, clearly, I'm not Jesus. I don't think there's anyone here who is confused about that, least of
all me. But I — and other ministers and priests and lay leaders in congregations — am given the
responsibility of speaking a word. And words matter. Not just which words I speak, but how I
speak them. Do I speak them as something I've studied or something I've lived? Do I speak with
knowledge or with authority?

Jesus spoke with authority and this is the thing that caught everyone's attention. He wasn't just
confident. He was the real deal. They recognized this as soon as he began to speak. So when this
strange interruption occurs, when a man with an unclean spirit shouts out at him in the
synagogue, and when Jesus commands the spirit to leave and it does, this is not the event that
gives him his authority. It simply confirms it. His authority was already clear to everyone that
day. Even to the unclean spirits.

Sitting here in 2006, we are at a slight disadvantage. We don't get to see Jesus in the flesh. We
don't get that skin-tingling sensation you have when you are in the presence of greatness, when
you hear somebody speak and you know you're hearing the truth. We have to trust in his
authority without that up-close encounter.

On the other hand, we do have some advantages. We know the whole story — we know what
happened later: how he taught and healed and changed lives all over Israel, how he faced the
powers that be and let himself be killed rather than take up arms and fight back, how he died and
was buried, but didn't stay dead, how his disciples — an unlikely crew of evangelists if ever the
world saw one — became the leaders of a movement that changed history, how 2000 years later,
the power passed down through those generations of disciples has reached around the world and
through history and still has the power to touch us. We know the story.

At least we know it in our heads. But the question this text asks of us is: do we know it in our
guts? Have we allowed ourselves to not just hear Jesus, but to be astounded by him? Have we
recognized in him something fresh, something real, something mind-blowing, as that first
audience did? Do we accept the authority of Jesus into our lives?

I know that everyone here has been praying for Carl and his family this week. We pray for health
and strength and recovery. Perhaps we've even prayed for a miraculous cure. And I can give
testimony today, as I bet many of you can, that Christ is able to heal us. I know it not just in my
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head, but in my body. I have experienced the astounding, mind-blowing healing of Christ and I
have been privileged to witness it in others.

I have seen a recently adopted baby with AIDS lying at death's door, while his parents and his
church prayed through the night for him. And I have seen that child grow up into a lovely young
boy with the HIV infection so reduced as to not be discernible in his blood.

I have seen a marriage strained to the breaking point, where friends and family assumed there
was no hope left, but when those two people turned it completely over to God for forgiveness
and healing, something deep and lasting changed and today, they are as loving and committed a
couple as I know.

I have seen a woman battle inner demons of anxiety and generational mental illness and emerge
with not only her mental health, but her faith restored.

And, like all of you here, I have seen people of deep, abiding, loving faith endure horrible things.
I have watched them get sick and suffer and die. This is also true and if we don't acknowledge it
then we are left wondering, Why, God? Why him, why her? Didn't they have enough faith?
Didn't you care enough to rescue them?

In today's story, there is nothing said about the faith of the man with an unclean spirit. He didn't
ask to be healed. Nor did his friends or family asked for him to be healed, as happened in some
other healing stories in the gospels. But Jesus spoke to that part of him which was unclean,
which was bullied by inner demons. Jesus said to that part of him, Leave him alone! and the man
was restored. Maybe he had faith, maybe he didn't. We don't know. The story doesn't tell us.
What the story does tell us is that Jesus has the authority to speak directly to whatever is most
difficult in our lives.

Christian healing is not magic. It is not about manipulating God into giving us the outcomes we
desire and it is not proof of our faith or holiness. Christian healing is about surrendering
ourselves to God's love and trusting that God is with us at every stage of our living and dying.
Whenever we are truly open to God, some kind of healing takes place, because the Holy Spirit is
at work in us, clearing aside the debris, so that the stream of our lives can run clear.

Trusting in the authority of Jesus means inviting him to speak directly to us, just as he spoke
directly to that unclean spirit. We cannot predict the outcome or even the process. The man in the
story was convulsed and we're told that he cried out, loudly. Receiving healing was neither
painless nor predictable. We aren't told what happened to that man next, but I would guess it
wasn't easy. I bet he had a lot of fences to mend, a lot of relationships to rebuild, a lot of catching
up to do. Maybe it would have been easier for him to stick with his demons.

I suspect that each of us has a demon or three that might be easier to hang onto than to be healed
of. We get comfortable with familiar patterns in our lives, even if we know they are not
constructive to us or those around us. The question is not whether Jesus will prove his authority
and take charge of our lives. The question is whether we have yet recognized his authority. The
demon in the story recognized Jesus and declared him to be the Holy One of God. And because it
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first recognized him, then it also obeyed him. This, it seems, is the real crux of the story. Not to
ask Jesus for what we need. But to recognize that Jesus is who we need and to listen and
surrender. Amen

What a bag of trouble we have with the idea of authority! It is easy to go to

extremes. Some people hate the very idea that anyone or any power could ever tell
them what to do. It is typical of young people especially that they test authority and
try to establish their ability to live independently, taking control of their own lives,
deciding as much as possible for themselves. In most things we accept that striving
as part of growing up. I fear, however, that in our society it is an attitude that
lingers far too long. Besides that independence in which we are our own authority
on much that we do, we need to acknowledge that we are interdependent -- we
depend upon each for most things that are important to us, and we depend upon
God.