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INJ
'He Taught Them As One Having Authority'
St Mark 1:21-28
Divine Service
Epiphany IV
January 29, 2006
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO
Dear Saints,
We most often think of Jesus coming to save and rescue and deliver. And this is true; Jesus Himself says, “The Son of Man came to save that which is lost.” [St Matthew 18:11] Jesus' name even means, “He shall save His people for their sins.” [St Matthew 1:21] But Jesus also comes to destroy. “For this reason the Son of God was manifest, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” [1 John 3:9] In fact, these two things are not so different, but all part of Jesus' work: He destroys sin, death and the devil so that He might save and deliver us, and give us life, and salvation and the forgiveness of all of our sins.
The epistle of Hebrews puts those two right next to each other: destroy and deliver. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” [Hebrews 2:14-15]
We hear a bit about Jesus' work of destroying the work of the devil in our Gospel text this morning from St Mark. Jesus has just called His first four permanent disciples, and now goes into the synagogue in Capernaum to teach. His teaching is different, unlike anything that the people had heard. They were “astonished at His teaching, for He taught as one having authority.” [St Mark 1:22] Not like the Scribes, Jesus taught with authority.
And when Jesus comes, speaking with authority, the kingdom of heaven comes. And when Jesus kingdom comes, the kingdom of the devil is pushed back, threatened, even destroyed. And so it is no surprise that Jesus in His ministry is like a lightening rod for demonic activity. I am not aware of any incidences of anyone having a demon in the Old Testament. Perhaps the evil spirit that troubled King Saul. But look in the New Testament, and especially the Gospels. Jesus is surrounded by the devil and his demons. The two kingdoms are at war. So it is this morning in Capernaum. Jesus' teaching with authority, His preaching of the kingdom, brings forth the violence of the devil. From our text, St Mark says, “Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, 'Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God.'” [St Mark 1:23-24]
The devils know who Jesus is, and what He has come to do: destroy them. “The demons believe,” says James, “and tremble.” [James 2:19] And so on this morning in the synagogue, “Did You come to destroy us?” they ask. Yes, He did, and He will, with three words. Again Jesus speaks with authority, rebuking the demon: “Be quiet, come out,” and the demons obey, they must obey, Jesus has the authority. He speaks and it is. “And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so they questioned among themselves, saying, 'What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.'” [St Mark 1:26-27]
When Jesus comes, the kingdom of heaven comes with Him, and the kingdom of the devil is overthrown. So far the Gospel text from St Mark. Now it remains with us to ask how this teaching applies to us.
What are we to make of this talk of demons? Our day and age is skeptical of anything that is supernatural and bad. Most people believe in the existence heaven, but very few believe in the existence of hell. Many people believe in the existence of angels, but the number who think there are demons are much fewer. “The Bible,” these doubters want to say, “was written a long time ago when people were very superstitious and believed things like that. We know better now; we are much more scientific.” The Bible will not abide with such thinking. The truth of a malevolent being with an army of wicked angels pervades the pages of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible knows only of a world in bondage to the devil and demons. This is the world that Jesus was born into, the world from which He came to rescue us.
We see that everything that Jesus does is against the devil. He fights against the devil, prays against the devil, teaches against the devil, works against the devil. Everything that Jesus does for us, He is doing against the devil. And so His death is the destruction of death and the devil, and His resurrection is His triumph over the devil.
And so it is, dear Christians, that we, too, do everything against the devil. Luther, in the Large Catechism, teaches that “the entire substance of our prayer [is] directed against our arch-enemy” the devil. [The Large Catechism III.113] All our prayers are against the devil, that his will would not be done, that his kingdom would not come, that his name would not be honored. And all of our teaching and preaching is against the devil, that the kingdom of his lies and falsehoods would be exposed and ridiculed, and all false teaching would be far from us. Our living is against the devil, that by our good works the devil is crushed under our feet. And last of all, dear saints, our dying is against the devil. For we go to the grave, not as those who are in bondage to the fear of death, but as those who have been set free from this fear. By Christ's victory over death, by His resurrection, we cling to the promise of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
“They were amazed at His teaching, for He taught as one having authority.” Jesus still comes with authority. “All authority on heaven and earth has been given unto Me,” [St Matthew 28:18] taught Jesus, and that 'all authority' He still uses to destroy the devil and his kingdom, and to deliver us. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” [Colossians 1:13-14]
Dear saints, rejoice, for your Jesus comes to you, with authority, authority to drive away the devil, authority to forgive your sins. [St Mark 2:10] May the Lord grant it to us, that the Lord Jesus' words and teaching of authority would comfort us by the sure promise of the forgiveness of all of our sins. Amen.
And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Wolfmueller