Knowing About God is Not Enough
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. Mark 1:21-22
In first century Galilee and Judea, the synagogue was a center of
religious life…far more important in
everyday Judaism than the temple. There was no music and of course no
sacrifice
or ceremony. It was plain and austere.
A synogogue was a center for reading the law and teaching. The
synagogue had volunteer officials who arranged for week by week
functioning and
for collection and distribution of alms.
They had no full time teacher. Each took his turn.
Teaching would be like a legal summation in court, quoting
this teacher and that.
There had been no prophet in Israel
since Malachai, 400 years before. No one would dare speak directly on
behalf of God.
Teaching was always filtered through this authority or that, layer upon
layer.
And the layered teaching was binding.
And into the middle of this walks Jesus of Nazareth.
Like in the scene of a movie where a homeowner returns to a
large country estate which has sat unused for decades. The main living
room has
cobwebs everywhere, the furniture all covered with slip covers, the
heavy
drapes obscure the windows. The owner strides in, pulls back the drapes
and
throws open the windows, then begins pulling off slip covers and
ordering the
house staff to get busy dusting and sweeping.
John says in chapter one, “but he came to his own and his
own did not recognize him.”
Jesus, Master of the house of God, begins throwing open the
windows to the sunlight of revelation, sweeping away cobwebs of layered
tradition. Mark says:
The
people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who
had
authority, not as the teachers of the law.
The people were amazed. Some hungry souls drank in his
words. Most were amazed but not amused. Mark’s word, implies not just
amazement, astonishment with a sense of fear. Perhaps a good English
equivalent
is they were startled, or better yet, they were stunned.
The obvious break with accepted practice would be amazing
though not necessarily in the “wow” sense. More likely the “oh my! What
is he
up to?” sense.
They had no category for this Galilean.
He was not a scribe or scholar, but his words have an
authority and command they were simply not used to. “By
what authority does he teach?”, would be
the question on everyone’s lips. But for now, his words leave them
astonished.
Jesus presumes to do more than state an opinion; he makes
the claim of an authority to command allegiance to God. Now is the time
for you
to turn to God. This is the precise kind of fishing to which he has
called the
four fishermen. This kind of call disturbs those of us who believe we
already
are in allegiance with God, but is the light of day to those who
believe they
are hopelessly alienated from the Holy One—only to discover they are
not.
And as if this is not enough, a man with an unclean spirit
is present and begins to shout out:
What
do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you
come to destroy us? I know who
you are—the Holy One of God.
There is a clear difference here between the unclean spirits
and ordinary sick people.
The sick and infirmed sought Jesus out, hoping he would help
them, but not always knowing who he was. Some
had more insight than others, but their knowledge is natural,
not
super-natural. And his human opponents
do not know, or even suspect who he is.
The demons know immediately who he is, but their knowledge
does them no good.
It is not enough to know who Jesus is.
You have to be on the right side of the line with him.
James says the same thing: you have knowledge about God,
good for you. So do the devils but they tremble in fear.
The issue is never how much you know. It is how much you
will trust Him.
Jesus silences the man with a word and commands the spirit
to leave, which it does with a convulsion and a shriek.
If what Jesus had said alarmed them, you can imagine how
they felt now!
“Even demons obey him”, they said.
“Who is this?”
The obvious answer never seems to occur to them, in spite of
what the spirit has said.
The idea that the great I AM is in their presence was of
course inconceivable.
They had no categories for the thought that God would come
to them in this way.
They did not even seem to be able to believe that Jesus
might even be a prophet from God.
And so word begins to spread about this new teacher among
them.
And it is not altogether flattering.
Remember when Jesus does the same thing in the synagogue in Nazareth.
The people take him out and are about to throw him off a
cliff and stone him for blasphemy.
Jesus among us in a very significant way is like loosing the
fox among the chickens.
Maybe that is why we are not really so eager to have Jesus
unleashed.
We keep him pretty much under wraps with our liturgy and our
well polished practices.
This is true of any church and any denomination.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we are hostile to Jesus.
Far from it.
We come hoping for a word or a touch from the Lord, much the
way the blind and the lame did in Jesus time.
But can you imagine what would happen if some of the same
things happened here among us?
What if in response to our prayers, people began to sob and
fall on their knees out of repentance? We would be most uncomfortable.
Imagine if someone with an unclean spirit showed up and
began to shout and shriek and then was delivered with a convulsion?
I suspect we would be thinking to ourselves, “no more
please”.
That is way too radical for us.
But those are the very kind of things that historically have
happened during periods of great spiritual revival. People come to
prayer
meetings and wont go home until the wee hours of the morning.
Church services are like judgment day with people falling
under great conviction of sin, with weeping and repentance.
And that is often just the beginning.
The church in our day has a dilemma, and it’s a real one.
The time when we could be effective believers and keep our
faith modest and quiet have passed.
We can be modest and quiet about belief, but we are no
longer effective. The world has taken a different path and left us
behind.
We all recognize the signs around us, and wish something
could be done.
Something can be done, but it will take a spiritual
renaissance.
And that will involve having the Holy One of God come into our
presence and disturb us.
He will disturb us, make no mistake about that.
But I don’t see any alternative.
It’s not enough any more to do all the accepted and expected
things and have it be good enough. It’s just not.
It’s like an old battery that has lost its charge.
You turn on the flashlight and instead of a bright beam, you
get a few seconds of a dull glow and then fade to black.
We live in a subdued glow of what was once, while the world
around us fades to black.
We know all the right
things.
But knowing is not enough.
We need the light.
We need the fire
We need the Spirit.
But he will upset us when He comes.
But there is no other choice.
Preached February 1, 2009
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian
Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
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