Mark 1:21-28
A
few years ago I talked with a friend who lives in the high desert in
California. There had been a recent earthquake, and it had been pretty big,
although her home had escaped any significant damage. But then came the
aftershocks, dozens of them, day after day. . . . No one could ever really
relax, because as soon as they did, another aftershock would rock the house and
rattle the cupboards. She said that after a while, she just wanted . . . things
to stop being shaken.
Our
Gospel story for today is about things being shaken, not by an earthquake but
by the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. It was a Sabbath day, and in the town of
Capernaum the whole community had gathered for worship. . . .
But this Sabbath, there was a new teacher who had come from Nazareth.
And as he taught, a stir began to spread through the crowd. What Jesus had to
say . . . was shaking things up. Instead of quoting the respected authority
so-and-so, who taught such-and-such, he spoke with an immediate, personal
authority, declaring that God’s reign was present.
Things
were really shaken up when a man with an unclean spirit stood up to challenge
Jesus. But Jesus wouldn’t give the spirit a chance. He commanded it to be
silent and leave the man at once. And it did! And the whole community was
shaken up. People were amazed and agitated. They kept asking, ‘‘What is this?’’
This
is how Mark introduces the ministry of Jesus. And it’s like this the whole rest
of the way. . . . He made his way around
Galilee, from village to village, teaching about the reign of God and bringing
that reign to life by healing and forgiving and releasing people from the power
of the demonic. In the end, the religious leaders tried to put a stop to
everything being shaken. They colluded with the Roman authorities to have Jesus
put to death. But God would not accept the ‘‘No’’ of the authorities, so God
shook even the power of death to raise Jesus to new life. And God is going to
keep on shaking things up until healing comes to our lives and our world, until
God makes all things new.
– Aaron Couch
Deuteronomy
18:15-20
Unlike priests and kings, whose
appointment to office accrues from executive fiat or birthright, Moses receives
appointment by the sovereign decree of God. Ultimately, he will be regarded as
one who points to Christ (i.e., typifies Christ): inasmuch as Moses delivered
Israel from bondage, Christ delivers… from sin, evil, and death. Many scholars
read into this passage a prolepsis that anticipates the announcement of God’s
Christ. The end of prophecy comes in the revelation of Jesus Christ, the
Incarnated Word—the
enfleshed God.
In Moses, God put [God’s] words
into the prophet’s mouth. In Christ, God put [God’s] Word into our world (Jn
1:10–14).
– James Dodge
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Paul’s letter may offer a way to think about the location of
authority or authorities in our own lives. Where are they? Who are they? How do
we discern what is wise and what is foolish?
Knowledge is essential for faith, but it can also cause us
to believe more in ourselves and our understandings than in the authority of
Christ Jesus. Paul tells us “there is one God… and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
Jesus sees through the idolatry of the religious
authorities, the apathy of the spectators, and speaks directly to the spirit
that has destroyed the man standing before him. This is the power in which we
are to put our trust. It is a mysterious power, amazing, and sure.
Aaron Couch is a
co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.
James Dodge is an
Instructor at Canby Bible College in Canby, Oregon.
Homily Service 42,
no. 1 (2009): 116-125.
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