Jesu Juva
“Jesus’ Cleansing Word”
Text: Mark 1:21-28; Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sometimes people can surprise you. Someone you thought was mean might do something nice; or someone you thought nice might suddenly does something really mean. A person you thought trustworthy and reliable lets you down; and that person you thought you’d never be able to depend on . . . they were there for you when you really needed someone.
And so it was that day in the synagogue in Capernaum. The people were there as usual, dressed as usual, sitting in their usual seats. But the one teaching them . . . well, He looked like a regular teacher, but He surprised them. He wasn’t. They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes; not as the ones who usually taught them.
But not just that. There was another surprise in store for them. A man came in. Now, nothing unusual about that. Maybe they even knew him, as a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend, or someone they had seen in the marketplace, or bought something from. Just Fred. And maybe he had been there before, in the synagogue. But on this day, Fred surprised them. For when he came into the synagogue and heard this surprising teacher, he cried 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.
What is he talking about? First of all, who’s “us?” It’s just you, Fred! And Jesus . . . the Holy One of God? You alright, Fred?
But Jesus doesn’t seem surprised. He speaks right back to Fred with that same authority He was teaching them with. Be silent, and come out of him! Wait. What? What come out of who? But they quickly saw the answer to their confusion as the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
Or maybe it didn’t happen like that at all. Maybe everyone knew Fred as the town crazy. So when he showed up at the synagogue that day and cried out, everyone was disappointed and thought: Oh no! Here we go again. Fred’s going to ruin everything again. Except he didn’t. Jesus took care of the problem with just His Word. His authoritative Word. His Word that was saying things they never heard before. His Word that was doing things they never saw before. His Word that was opening up the Scriptures to them. His Word that made Fred normal again. And this day that started so normal, so usual, turned out to be anything but.
Do you think that ever happens today? I mean, yeah, people surprise us. All the time. That’s not so unusual. But I mean here, in church. Do you think people who look normal but really have unclean spirits ever come here? Or do you think people who are a little “off,” a bit crazy, a little unusual, ever come here? And we look at them and think: Oh, no. Not them. Not now. Not here. Do you think?
Well, let me let you in on a little secret. Here’s the answer: It happens all. the. time. Do you remember, when we baptize someone here, the first words we say after the Invocation? Depart unclean spirit and make way for the Holy Spirit. And in the Confession of Sin we will start using at Easter, we will say: Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. Yes, we are the unclean. We are the ones with unclean spirits.
So maybe you’re like the first “Fred” that I described earlier. You look normal. Everyone knows you (or thinks they do, anyway!). You’re a friend, a co-worker, someone they see around town, someone who’s here as usual, in your usual seat, in your usual way. But you have a secret. Something others don’t know. Something you don’t want others to know. Something unclean that is tormenting you. That sin you are addicted to. Those thoughts you know you shouldn’t have and don’t want to have but you can’t get out of your mind. The regrets you have for things you did in the past. The shame you have for something that has happened to you. Are you that Fred? Afraid? Afraid that others will find out who you really are?
Or are you like the second “Fred?” Everyone may not know everything about you, but they know enough! They know how broken you are, how a little bit crazy you are, how you don’t measure up or quite fit in. One of those others look at and say, with disappointment: Oh no. She’s here. He came. Why do they have to be here?
Truth is, this church, just as that synagogue in Capernaum, is filled with Freds. There’s nobody “normal” in this room, no one completely clean in this room.
Actually, that’s wrong.
There is one. That’s why He was so surprising to them. That’s why He spoke so differently. Because He is different. He is normal in the midst of abnormal. He is clean in the midst of unclean. But not only that. For He didn’t just come to be that, to show us how abnormal and unclean we are. How sinful and unclean we are, as we confess. He came to do something about it. He came to teach and speak with authority over all that should not be in this world and in us. To speak and forgive our sins. To speak and cleanse the unclean. To speak and give us new life.
That’s what makes Jesus the prophet greater than Moses. We heard that promise in the Old Testament reading today from Deuteronomy, that God was going to send another one, another prophet, after Moses, to speak the Word of God faithfully and truly. And while there were many prophets sent by God after Moses, who were like Moses, none were greater than Moses. None were that prophet, the prophet. Until Jesus. And what made Him greater than Moses was that, as the apostle John would later say: the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The Law shows us our sin and exposes our sinful and unclean, but can do nothing more. But the grace and truth of Jesus, the Gospel, takes that sinful and unclean away, for it tell us of and washes us clean with Jesus’ blood.
Which is what Jesus did that day in the synagogue in Capernaum. Whichever Fred came in that day, he did not leave the same. He was set free.
Which is what Jesus does here, too, in this church. Whichever Fred you are - the secretly unclean or the known unclean; the popular or the outcast; the normal or the crazy - however you came here this day, with whatever you came with this day, Jesus is here to do something about it. To set you free. He is here to speak His authoritative Word to you. His Word which authoritatively made you His child in Holy Baptism, His Word which authoritatively forgives your sins in the Absolution, His Word which faithfully and truly proclaims who He is and what He has done for you, and His Word which authoritatively takes mere bread and wine and makes it the divine food of His Body and Blood for you. And like not just Fred, but all the people in the synagogue in Capernaum that day, in the presence of such an authoritative Word, you do not leave the same as you came. You leave forgiven. You leave clean. You leave made new.
And that should astonish you, as it did the folks in Capernaum that day. Maybe it doesn’t, because we hear it all the time. But really, why should Jesus come here for you? Why should He die on the cross for you? Why should He love you? Why? That’s what’s astonishing! He shouldn’t. He should give up on us like we often give up on each other. We only have so much patience. We can only give someone so many tries. Right? . . . Right? . . . And Jesus must be crazy to give us so many chances, to forgive so many sins, to take our place on the cross. Right? . . . Right?
Or maybe Jesus is the normal one. The way it should be. The clean one, the righteous one, the faithful one, the true one. And to be all that for you, and to work that in you. To raise you, to change you, that you leave this place not the same as when you came, but different. More like Him. Wouldn’t that be amazing, astonishing? To be someone who surprises others - but not with our sin, our uncleanness, our failures. But surprise them with love, with understanding, with forgiveness, with - as St. Paul described it in the Epistle today - putting them and their needs first, before our own.
Sound like a big ask? Maybe it is. But maybe start with something small. It’s hard to go from zero to sixty, but maybe gradually. Little by little. And once you start doing that, it helps you, too. ‘Cuz you’re no longer obsessing about what kind of “Fred” you are or how others are looking at you or thinking about you - you’re just thinking about them and how to help them. Like Jesus. Now, they crucified Him for that, and maybe they will you, too. But that’s okay. Jesus rose from the dead, so you will, too. They can crucify you but they can’t take your life. Because you have the prophet greater than Moses. Or better to say, He has you. And His Word, as we heard again today, does what it says. It has cleansed you. Forgiven you. Loved you. Raised you. Changed you. “Jesus-ed” you! Which is the most amazing thing of all.
And at once his fame spread everywhere
throughout all the surrounding region of . . . Vienna.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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