Jesus was possessed by the Holy Spirit, fresh from successfully confronting Satan in the wilderness, preaching the reign of God. He’s now in the company of his followers, it’s time for Jesus’ public ministry to gather momentum.
The scene in a Capernaum synagogue, is a setting of prayer, worship, teaching and community gathering which centers around questions of Jesus’ authority. Why does he do what he does? For whom does he speak and act? Who has authorized his ministry?
There are contests and controversies, beginning in this chapter and extending into Mark, chapter 3. Mark wants us to know, here at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry, that Jesus’ authority will be a contested authority. Jesus’ presence, words, and deeds threaten other forces that claim authority over people’s lives. These other authorities have something to lose.
We have a typical exorcism story. Notice the description of the possessed man as having an unclean spirit, his asking Jesus, “what have you to do with us,” Jesus’ rebuke to the spirit and command to come out, and the account of the spirit’s convulsions, loud cries, and exit from the man.
Jesus really had no power at all. He was not a worldly king with military or political power. He was not a priest, who had power in Roman Judea. He was not a scribe with the authority of Jewish tradition. The only authority he had was the supreme confidence that what he did and said was God’s will and God’s truth. His authority lay in the power of his words and in the example of his deeds. His authority lay in his living as God’s servant. Jesus used his authority not to obtain power for himself but to serve humanity.
Jesus’ acting in his authority brought blessings to people. He brought health and healing to the masses. His authority possessed the power that drew people not through manipulation, but simply by the person that he was and the truth of his own existence and the gifts that he gave. To many people of his time, it was anything but obvious that Jesus acted on God’s authority. To his opponents, Jesus was a blasphemer. Jesus had to trust that God would vindicate his authority. As Christians, we believe that God did vindicate his authority by raising Jesus from the dead. (Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we observed this month, comes to mind as something of a modern parallel: a man whose authority lay in his words and deeds, whose call for change was disputed in his own time, but the moral behavior of whose call for change has been vindicated in subsequent history.)
How different from the conception of power and authority in our politics! Our politicians try to manipulate us. They say one thing and do another. They use their authority for self-aggrandizement. They look for short-term gain, even if that means doing the wrong thing, rather than doing the right thing and trusting that in the long-term, history (not to mention God!) will vindicate them. Will the future be any different?
Jesus’ authority and kingdom ministry invite us to imagine a different world — and to live towards it.
Tune in Sunday to our live-stream Worship Services as we explore this passage, Mark 1:21-28.
“I don’t know how, but I know WHO!”
Peace,Pastor Nelda
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