IS THERE ANYTHING THAT ASTOUNDS US ANYMORE?
Mark 1: 21-28
The 4th Sunday after the Epiphany
February 1, 2009
Pastor William S. Waxenberg

What amazes you?  What astounds you?  Anything?

A story about Michael Rinehart.  You don’t know Mike.  I first met Mike when he was serving as an intern in Arlington and I was serving as a pastor in Grapevine.  A couple of years later, when I was called to be the senior pastor of a church in Iowa, we called Mike to be our youth pastor.  That was in 1988.  Mike went on to serve congregations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then down in Conroe, near Houston.  In 2007, Mike was elected bishop of the Texas Gulf Coast Synod.  From youth pastor to bishop in about eighteen, twenty years.  Amazing!

Last December, Mike was here in Dallas for a bishop’s meeting.  And our bishop, Kevin Kanouse, brought Mike out to see our new building on a Wednesday evening.  They came in while we were having Evening Prayer and didn’t want to disturb us, so Bishop Kanouse gave Bishop Rinehart a tour of our facility.  When I saw Bishop Rinehart at a meeting this past week, he said with great gusto, “Wow!  What a facility.  It’s incredible!”  And on and on he went, gushing about what you, the congregation, have done.  He was amazed!  He was astounded! 

In today’s gospel text the crowd at the synagogue in the village of Capernaum is both astounded and amazed, first at Jesus’ teaching authority and then at Jesus’ power to heal. 

Mark tells us that Jesus taught the crowd “as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” 

The scribes were the official interpreters of the law.  And they would support their understandings by referring to other well-known rabbis of the past.  As they debated their interpretations, one would say, “As Rabbi Akiba once said….”  And another would offer his interpretation and say, “As Rabbi Hillel would have said….”  But evidently Jesus did none of that.  He didn’t look to any authority other than the one he carried with him in his heart, which was the very authority of God. 

What did Jesus say in that synagogue at Capernaum?  Mark doesn’t tell us.  But, remember, everything that happens in Mark’s gospel, every word that’s spoken by Jesus and every action he takes grows out of that one crucial verse we heard last week:

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news! (Mark 1:15)

The kingdom of God, the reign of God, the power and presence of God has come near.  Whatever Jesus taught those folks at Capernaum, it was grounded in that promise.  And the people—men, boys, maybe even a few women and girls standing at the door of the synagogue—they were astounded by what Jesus had to say, and even more astounded by the authority with which he said it. 

Is there anything about the Scriptures, anything in the Bible at all, that astounds us?  Do we ever hear anything that causes us to say, “Wow!  I didn’t know that!  Amazing!”  Let me tell you something that, years ago, astounded me—and, frankly, it still does.  It’s the verse I just mentioned from Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.”

What astounds me is the order in which Jesus speaks these words.  A quick English lesson.  Two words that describe English sentences are these: declarative and imperative.  Declarative sentences are those that describe facts.  Today is Sunday.  The sun is shining.  The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing in the Super Bowl later today.  The Dallas Cowboys aren’t.  These are all declarative statements. 

Imperative statements are statements of command: Stand up.  Sit down.  Come.  Go. 

What’s so critical here in this verse from Mark 1:15, is that the declarative statements precede the imperative ones.  “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near.”  These are the declaratives.  “Repent, and believe in the good news.”  These are the imperatives.  These are the commands. 

What’s so important for us to know and remember is this: that throughout the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, the declaratives always precede the imperatives.  In other words, what God promises us is always stated before what God demands of us. 

Even the Ten Commandments are set up this way.  Before God demands anything from Israel on Mt. Sinai, God reminds the people of what he did for them: “I am the Lord your God.  I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”  God did not say, “Obey my commandments and I will save you.”  God saved his people and then told them how they could respond to his gift of salvation. 

The declarative before the imperative.  What God does, has done, or promises to do always comes before God ever demands anything from us.  I first heard that almost 35 years ago, and it’s shaped my ministry ever since.  I was astounded.  And I still am.

And the folks in that synagogue at Capernaum were astounded at Jesus’ teaching, for he taught as one with authority.  And, if they were astounded at that, then they were amazed at his power to heal. 

A man comes into the synagogue at Capernaum possessed by an unclean spirit.  When Luke tells this same story, he calls the unclean spirit “an unclean demon” (Luke 4:31).  A mad man?  A paranoid/schizophrenic?  A man with bipolar disorder?  First century folk, of course, didn’t know about such things.  So anything out of the ordinary, anything that disrupted a person’s life, was attributed to an unclean spirit or a demon. 

And this unclean spirit knows Jesus.  It knows he’s the Holy One of God.  He knows his enemy, and he knows that with the coming of God’s reign in Jesus, his days are numbered.  “Have you come to destroy us?” 

“Be silent!  Come out!” cries Jesus.  And this unclean spirit throws the possessed man to the ground, and with a loud cry comes out of him.  And if the people in that synagogue were astounded at Jesus’ authority to teach, now they’re amazed at his power to heal. 

Can we still be amazed at the power of God at work among us?  The power of God at work in Jesus to confront our own demons, our own unclean spirits?  The unclean spirit of our sin, manifested in our negativity about life?  Our cynicism?  The unclean spirit of our selfishness and our greed?  The unclean spirit of all the “isms”—our racism, our classism, our sexism?  The unclean spirit of our addictions to food, alcohol, drugs, pornography?  The unclean spirit of our idolatry whenever we worship at the altar of the myriad of gods that beckon us?

Can we still be amazed that Jesus does in fact come among us in Word and Sacrament to silence and cast out these unclean spirits?  Isn’t that what Jesus is up to, after all, when someone stands before us on Sunday morning and declares, “By grace you have been saved.  In the name of Jesus, your sins are forgiven!”  Or have these words become just ho-hum?

Can we still be amazed at the mighty work Jesus does when a baptism is celebrated?  Or have we become too blasé about it all?  This incredible work that Christ is doing, taking a child—or an adult—into his kingdom.  After all, when a child cries during this Sacrament, we think, well, that’s cute.  And then I make some dumb comment about this child being a future choir member.  But maybe, just maybe, like the man in today’s gospel story, maybe that unclean spirit of sin is being chased out of this child’s heart as God begins his good work of redemption and grace.

Or, can we still be amazed at what the Spirit of Jesus does at this holy table?  Bread and wine.  A nice rite?  A nice ritual?  Or, in, with, and under the gifts of bread and wine, the power of God, the presence of Christ, at work among us to really forgive our sins, to really unite us with believers of every time and place, to really empower us for ministry in daily life? 

Can we still be amazed?  Can we still be astounded? 

I began this sermon by telling you the story of Pastor Mike—now Bishop Mike—Rinehart.  I want to conclude with telling you a story about Buddy. 

Now, you don’t know Buddy, but if you did, you’d like him—a lot.  Buddy attends our pre-school.  He’s got a round face, and big brown eyes, blonde hair, and a cowlick right in the front.  One day, about a year ago, I was leading a chapel service for our pre-schoolers.  And, just like on Sunday morning, I was sitting on the floor in the front of the church, and they were all sitting in front of me.  Buddy was sitting cross-legged, right in front of me, as close as he could get.  When I finished talking, Buddy looked directly at me, and asked, “This Jesus fella.  Does he live here in Texas?”  His teacher was sitting off to my right, laughing as hard as she could, and I was trying to keep a straight face because Buddy’s question was an important one for Buddy.  “Yes, Buddy,” I said, “he does live here in Texas.” “Where?” he wanted to know.  And I pointed at Buddy’s heart and said, “Right here, in your heart.”  And with all the amazement that a three-almost-four-year-old could muster, Buddy’s brown eyes widened and he said, “Wow!”

Wow.  So what amazes you?  What astounds you about the authority, about the power, about the presence of Jesus?  Anything?  Anything at all?

Amen.