By what authority do you speak?

Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Mark 1:21-28 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Year B By What Authority Do you speak? Introduction: the authority to get a ticket I should have known that the offer was too good to be true. I saw in the paper, and add that said that a new movie theater was opening, and that all movies were free on that day. There was even an ad for free popcorn. So off to the movies I went that night. The movie was free, the popcorn was free. The speeding ticket that I got while driving to the theater was $90. The policeman turned on his lights, stopped me, and told me what I did wrong, and rubbed it in, and was it really worth it to speed to the theater. What is the authority of the police officer or pastor – the office I tell that story, because we all know that if we see flashing lights behind us that we need to stop. We know that the law tells us that we are to cooperate with the police whenever they stop us. but by what authority does a police officer have control over our actions? It is not in who the police officer is, it is in his/her office. Their authority is in those flashing lights, in that uniform, in who they are as a police officer, not in who they are as a person. It is sort of like being a pastor- the authority of what I preach, teach, and manage is in the office of pastor, not in the personhood of Harriette Cross. Today we are going to talk about power and authority. Where does power and authority come from. What was it that gave Jesus power and authority? Why was he able to speak with such authority? How did Jesus end of speaking in the synagogue? Jewish society was a very ordered society. Jewish worship was very ordered. There were assigned roles for everyone. It was the rabbi who spoke and interpreted the scripture. The synagogue was the place of teaching and remembering. Worship consisted of coming to the synagogue, listening to a lay person read scripture and the rabbi interpreting it. There was no singing, no liturgy, and no work of the people. It was a very ordered service. When Jesus starts his ministry in Capernaum, he goes to the synagogue every Sabbath, every Friday night. But for some reason, the rabbi allowed him to give the message. He speaks on a regular basis. But you still have to ask the question, what was it about Jesus that gave him power and authority to speak. He had no formal training, no office, no clergy robe, and no assigned role – and yet he was able to speak – and his words always seemed to hit the spot and make a difference in the lives of those he was talking to. Even when the rabbi and the scribes would speak – they did not speak under their own authority. They didn’t use their own words, they would always say – scripture says. Mark 1:21-22 says – he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. I wanted to avoid this sermon It is funny how the Holy Spirit works, because as I prepared for this sermon, my plan was to play it safe and talk just about the power and authority of Jesus. I had no intention of speaking on the situation at hand of Jesus driving out an evil spirit from a man. I didn’t want to talk about evil spirits. But unfortunately, the scripture never tells what Jesus taught, or what made his talk so powerful. It says that a demon recognized Jesus and started to speak. Spirits in the ancient world What was the demon doing in the church in the first place? Spirits were a part of the understanding of the world of the early church. Spirits would have been a part of the understanding of the world of the Jews of Jesus time. The Jews inherited the belief from the Persians and the Babylonians, and the Canaanites. Ancient people believed that spirits were present everywhere. But they particularly liked to hang out in unclean places. They were in the cemeteries, and places where shady things were done. Spirits were responsible for everything. Spirits in the Disney world Spirits are a part of the world view of almost every group of people in the world. I found it interesting to learn that there is an underlying spirituality even in the creation of Disney world. Disney speaks of magic, of fairy dust, and other things that are a part of the European understanding of the spiritual world. If you go to the magical kingdom, you will see no depiction of anything African or Asian. When you speak of conjuring spirits (as Mickey as the sorcerer is depicting as doing)- there is a whole difference understanding of spirits in Europe than in Africa or Asia. Not wanting to be involved in spirituality that they didn’t understand, they just left it alone. Until 20-30 years later when they developed Animal Kingdom, instead of the Magical Kingdom that deals specifically with African and Asian culture. They realized that when they excluded the spirituality of a people, they also excluded the culture of a people. I first went to Disney the first year that the animal kingdom was opened and decided that it was one of those spiritual places for me. I have been to the magical kingdom 2 times, but every time I go to Orlando I have to visit animal kingdom to be in touch with its spiritual nature. Spirits in the Israel world Spirits had a large place in the worldview of Israel also. They believed that spirits were everywhere. They believed that there were 10,000 spirits on your right side, and 10,000 spirits on your left side. They believed that they were responsible for all manner of situations on one’s life. If you were sick, it was caused by a spirit. There is a Jewish book in the apocrypha – that comes between the old testament and the new testament – called the Testament of Solomon. In this book, you can find the names of certain demons, how they can harm you, and how to get rid of them. Interesting. It was believed that if you called a demon by name, you had power over it and you could control it and get rid of it. If you look at our scripture, Jesus doesn’t call any demon by name. It is the demons that call Jesus by name – They call him Jesus of Nazareth, The holy one of God. Deuteronomy says that there will be a prophet who is responsible for speaking the word of God to the people. That is the power of Jesus. How did the demon get in the church? What I find interesting about this story was how did the demon get in the church in the first place. Demons were supposed to hang out in unclean places, and wasn’t the house of God a holy place – a clean place? If all of the people were spiritually pure – how did a demon get in the church? The church had an open door policy – anyone was welcome to come in, no matter where they were spiritually. I found it interesting that even in the story, people weren’t so concerned about the fact that a demon had made its way in the church, but that Jesus knew exactly what to say to it to get it to respond. Demons that cause harm It was believed that all wrong was caused by demons. The Hebrew name for demon was Mazakim – one who does harm. But it was also believed that a person would know when they were possessed, and that they had to the power to ask to be healed. There were demons in the church back then, and the truth is that there are demons in the church today. Some say that demons love to come to church – because it reminds them of heaven. But I want to be clear that I am not speaking about people. Not speaking about who people are – we are all children of God, we are all from heaven. But the truth is that there are things inside of all of our souls that do us harm. There is good and evil inside of each of us. We are all struggling with those things inside of us that can destroy us. Demons inside of us Kathleen Norris – a spiritual writer says “when I think of demons that I need to exorcise, I have to look inward to my heart and soul. The demon inside of her was her anger. Her husband pointed out that she could be very mean at times. She realized that her anger was destroying her marriage. First she needed to recognize it, then acknowledge the damage it was doing and make a commitment to change. Another friend – a pastor. Talked about getting a divorce, and experiencing all sorts of negative emotions – anger, shame, jealousy, and pain. He didn’t have to strength to preach, but he needed to be in the church. He needed to be in the presence of God, in the presence of the Word, the worship, in the presence of Jesus. What is it about Jesus that invites the unclean spirit, the disturbed soul, the diseased life to come out of hiding and cry out? And can we trust the power of God to be there - to be here, to hold it all together and bring healing and wholeness to us in a way we never quite master? Can the order of our worship of God somehow include the dis-order of our lives and of the world around us? He asks. There is power in the presence of God that heals us, that transforms us, that takes away our pain. God’s word is awesome, overpowering, and touches us deep inside. What is the demon doing in the church? The spirit inside of us knows Jesus, and it asks for healing. I want to end with this famous story.. "There is a wonderful story from a renowned professor of preaching named Fred Craddock. He often tells the story of a young minister, newly graduated from the seminary who is serving in his first church. He gets a call telling him that a church member, an elderly woman who has given nearly her entire life to the church, is in the hospital and not doing well. The woman suffers from severe breathing problems and now has pneumonia and doesn’t appear to be getting any better. She is so weak that she cannot get up out of bed and the doctors are not holding out any hope for her recovery. So with this dire situation the family calls the church and asked for the young pastor to come and pray with her, anoints her and gives her a final communion. All the way to the hospital he is thinking about what to say to this Christian woman, what words of comfort he can give her to prepare her for her eminent death. He thinks of how young he is and how completely unprepared for this moment and he mumbles a quick prayer that God will give him the strength and courage he needs. When he finally arrives at the hospital he heads up to her room for a visit. The room is darkened and the hospital wing is quiet. The nurses move in and out of the room gently so as not to disturb her final hours. The young pastor sits on a chair next to the bed and talks with her for a few minutes, just small talk really, nothing earth shattering. When he finally makes ready to leave he asks the old woman if she would like him to pray for her and she answers, Yes of course. That’s why I wanted you to come. He then politely asks, And what would you like me to pray for? The old woman looks him straight in the eye and says in a bit of a surprised voice, Why, I want you to pray that God will heal me. The young pastor is a bit surprised by the question and he takes her hands and starts fumbling over the words. Still, somewhere in the entire blizzard of words he ends up praying for what she asked – that God would heal her. When he finally says the Amen at the end of the prayer, the woman says, You know, I think it worked! I think I’m healed! And she gets out of bed and begins to run up and down the hallway of the hospital yelling, Praise God! I’m healed! Praise God! I’m healed! Meanwhile, the young pastor in a stupor, stumbles to the stairwell, walks down five flights of stairs, makes his way to the parking lot and somehow manages to find his car. As he fumbles to get his keys out of his pocket, he slumps back in the seat and looks heavenward and yells, Don’t you ever do that to me again! The power of the word of God There is power in the Word of God. Jesus was empowered to use that power and authority on our behalf. Jesus’ authority over unclean spirits lies in his ability to speak directly to our hearts, to speak directly to our needs, to call the negative our and leave us only with the love that God gives. If we listen to his voice and obey… Let us pray…