(Jan. 29) Sunday Snippet

Mark 1:21-28

On one particular Sabbath Jesus decides to go to the synagogue and teach - it was here that Jesus entered a network of pre-existing relationships and the people encounter a new teaching.  What is this new teaching that so astonished Jesus’ audience?   Well, we don't really know.  Not a word of Jesus' teaching is remembered here on this particular day. Whatever it was that so astonished the people was not written down.

I suppose we will never know what Jesus taught on this particular day - but what we do know is, HOW, he taught:  “as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”  So there it is…perhaps…the answer we’ve been waiting for. 

Yet authority seems to be precisely what the scribes already had...

So we read on - when suddenly - we are unexpectedly interrupted by a crazy man.  Right in the middle of the service, perhaps in the middle of the sermon, we hear a wild voice, disruptive, disorderly.  Where are the ushers? Who let this man in? “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  His shouting drowns out the preacher - “Have you come to destroy us?”  Us?  We look around. There is only one man shouting. Clearly, he’s schizophrenic.  “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” The preacher comes down from the pulpit, calmly side-tracking from whatever it was he was trying to say, and confronts the man, or rather the voice: “Be silent, Come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, crying with a loud screech, comes out of the man.

Is that it?  Is that all there is?  Is that what we’re left with to contemplate, to consider?  Evidence that Jesus’ authority was recognized by a crazy man?  Can we really trust the witness of an unclean spirit? But we had hoped for something so more, much more.  Yet, over and over again in Mark's gospel, interestingly enough, it’s the demons who know who Jesus is. Those who were crazy called him the Holy One - those who were sane - put him to death. 

…With power and authority - Jesus spoke words that had an affect - and thus - “news about him spread quickly over the entire region.”  Jesus spoke words that had an affect… Perhaps that is the answer we’ve been looking for… That today’s gospel story is not so much about an encounter with the supernaturall - but more about the influence of words, more about a message which apparently had an unforgettable effect on others.  

So on one Sabbath Jesus decides to go to the synagogue and teach.  His lecture strikes a chord with His listeners who sense that His teaching is different… His word’s were probing and influential, His message was effective… it took effect. 

There it is...perhaps... the answer we’ve been looking for…That as we go forth re-telling and re-living the message of Jesus Christ - that as we go forth seeking-out ways to have an effect on others, that news about the life and work of St. Paul’s will spread … and people (out there) will begin to scratch their heads and say:  What is this?  They will ask.  It is our way of living out the good news, we will say to them.

Is this a new teaching?  They will ask. No, it’s the story of Jesus Christ we will say to them - and then with arms open wide we will show them God's LOVE.