Power and Authority of the Jesus Variety
Epiphany 4B
Mark 1:21-28
2/1/09
Lorraine Ljunggren

        The Gospel says the people gathered in the synagogue in Capernaum one Sabbath day are astounded at Jesus' teaching because he teaches them as one having authority. In today's story we are barely into Mark's Gospel. Yet, the writer wastes no time in letting us in on the kind of ministry Jesus will have: it will be powerful; it will call people's motives into question; it will challenge the religious and political realities of the day; it will cause people over and over again to wonder at Jesus' identity.

        I believe there are times when we humans long for the power and authority of God to be made so real we can reach out and touch it or experience it in some life-transforming way. But when it happens, we might also find ourselves saying, “Whoa! Wait a minute! This is more than I bargained for!” A real-life manifestation or showing-forth of God's power and authority is okay as long as we're hearing a story from the Bible, but when it actually comes close to us it can turn our world upside-down or at a minimum cause our best-laid plans to go awry! Even those who come to follow Jesus will find themselves surprised by his power and authority, and it's no different today. At times I can feel a kinship of sorts with the spirit who calls out to Jesus in today's story.  There are times I want to cry out, "What have you to do with me, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to turn my life upside down?”

        The Jesus we face in Mark's Gospel acts with gut-wrenching compassion whenever we encounter him – even in the very first chapter of our story. Perhaps it is the passion of Jesus that the unclean spirit can see or sense. It is the surety of that passion in Jesus that literally puts the fear of God into the spirit and causes it to call out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” (Mk. 1:24)

        “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” The unclean spirit recognizes the power and authority of God present in Jesus, names that power, and realizes that Jesus is the one person present who is a threat to anyone or anything who has evil intentions.

        When I imagine this exchange, I picture Jesus turning his head as if speaking over his shoulder and with a deeply energetic and commanding stage whisper saying, “Be silent, come out of him!” (Mk. 1:25b) We're told that in a dramatic convulsing moment, accompanied by another loud cry, the man is healed – freed of the destructive, evil spirit which possessed him!

        If I imagine being a witness to this scene, I would be as astounded as the others watching this exchange unfold. I would tell all my friends what I saw.

        Looking back from the vantage point of 2009, I would also want Jesus to address the evils of our own time. In our modern age, we seem to be fascinated by evil. Our motion pictures, novels, and video games are filled-to-overflowing with evil characters. But the famous writer Simone Weil once wrote, “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied. Real evil is gloomy, monotonous….” (Synthesis, 2009)

        I would add, real evil is dangerous – it is real – it exists – and we would do well to beware of its power and authority. Especially since evil can be very seductive. It can make itself attractive. That's usually how we are tempted to behave in some way that is hurtful to ourselves or to others. We overlook bad or possibly disastrous consequences because temptations can lure us into a false sense of security. In our headlong rush to get whatever it is we want in life, we sometimes forget that we are mere mortals and that there are powers in this universe beyond our ability to fully comprehend, much less our ability to control or overcome on our own.

        And that's when and where Jesus of Nazareth appears on the scene. Jesus has the power and authority to comprehend and to overcome that which is evil. I believe the Jesus who walks into the synagogue in Capernaum 2,000 years ago still has the power and authority to bring us healing when evils of one sort or another inhabit our lives – when temptations overwhelm or trap us into making bad decisions. Jesus' power to heal is still greater than the power of evil to destroy.

        Now, like many of you, I've been reading the various ideas floating among economists and politicians about how we got into the current terrible and global economic mess. The more I read and the more I hear on the airways, the more convinced I am that in many cases it boils down to greed and, in some cases, a lust for power. It boils down to “I'm going to get mine and I don't care what it does to anyone else!” It seems to me that even if we don't intend it to be this way, greed, lust for power, or simply the desire to get what we want without regard for our neighbor, are, at their very core, evil intentions. Simply put, the age-old desire we humans have to get-rich-quick-at-the-expense-of-others is still alive, and, unfortunately it seems, still doing all too well.

        Sometimes reasonable and normally caring people get caught up in the adrenaline rush that can accompany wielding power and authority over others. And so schemes like loaning people more than they can ever afford to repay, bundling up and selling such loans to pass off the risk to others, all the while making a tidy profit, wreak havoc in the global marketplace. I wonder if the temptation to play god sometimes lurks behind the choices and decisions made by those who helped pave the road to economic ruin for so many.

        This said, you may wonder, given the context in which we now live, how believable it is for me to make the statement: Jesus' power to heal is still greater than the power of evil to destroy.

        I don't think of myself as naïve – I know there are many things which hurt human beings, hurt creation itself. I also know that we can be tempted to give up or to think that no matter how hard we try, we can never make 'right' all the 'wrongs.' Well, it's true on our own we can't 'right' all the 'wrongs,' that we can't cast-out all that is unclean in our lives and the lives of others. But – but, we can make a beginning. We can do something! Even if feeling called to do something makes us feel like our lives might be turned upside down!

        Through our prayers and through our actions we can call on the power of the Living God. We can live our lives with power and authority of the Jesus variety which is grounded in loving God and in loving our neighbor as ones like ourselves. With Jesus' help we can be healers. We can seek out those who are wounded by the evils of life and bring them the possibility of new life. Sometimes we are the ones who are wounded and in need of a new beginning. For that reason we need one another to find healing.

        When we or others make bad decisions, when we mess-up or when we hurt one another or are hurt by others, our ability to live full lives is thwarted. It can feel as if evil seeps in and drains away our own personal power and authority. But, we can help one another, we can even help ourselves to make choices which lead to living which is holy and good – which brings health and true life – life as God intends. We need one another to do this and we need God to do this. It is a journey made so much easier if we have companions on the way, especially if we are companioned by the Holy One of God.

        Power and authority of the Jesus variety comes from love – from love such as God has for God's people. A love which believes in repentance and forgiveness. A love which believes in our capacity to begin again.

        A wounded world looks particularly to people of faith for hope. Though we are in no way God, we can be instruments of the power and authority of God – a power and authority of the Jesus variety. We can astound those around us – perhaps even astound ourselves – with acts of healing, with acts of mercy, with acts of compassion, with acts of justice. In the presence of healing and mercy, of compassion and justice, the evils of this world have no power to stand – have no power to stand when we stand together with the power and authority of the Jesus variety. As people of God, we are among those to whom a wounded world looks. Let us astound them! Amen.

©2009 Lorraine Ljunggren