Jesu Juva
“Set Free by Jesus”
Text: Mark 1:21-28; Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Introit: Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7, 10
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.
Mark says that so matter of factly. Like he was reporting that this man had a cold, or was having a bad day. But how much worse for this man, I’m sure. For with an unclean spirit, you can’t just go to bed and wake up the next day for a fresh start. You can’t just take two aspirin and feel better. This was the headache, the nightmare, that wouldn’t end.
Until Jesus came along . . . The great physician of body and soul.
The unclean spirit knew it. It knew who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. The people in the synagogue that day were amazed, but the unclean spirit was terrified at being in the presence of the Lord of hosts. The Almighty in human flesh and blood. The Lord of all creation, in a little synagogue, in a little city, in a little country, with people of little account. Not where you’d expect to find God.
Yet there He was. Teaching them. That’s like the President teaching a High School civics class. Or the head of NASA teaching you how to fold a paper airplane. Don’t they have more important things to do? Doesn’t Jesus have more important things to do? Well, no. This is exactly why He came. This is exactly what He came to do. To set people free. And not just people en masse - an anonymous horde. But each person, each individual, important.
Now, Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus preached in the synagogue that day. But I’ll bet it was this very topic - that He has come to set us free. Because we read in Scripture that’s what Jesus so often preached. He would point to the words of the Old Testament prophets that spoke of captives being set free - the blind healed, the deaf given hearing, the lame walking - and then He would say: these words are being fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21).
But that day in Capernaum, those words were not just fulfilled in their hearing, but in their sight. They saw it happening. Jesus setting this poor man free from the unclean spirit, and taking captive the unclean spirit. And so being that promised prophet greater than Moses that we heard about today. Which was hard to imagine - a prophet greater than Moses? Moses had led the people out of their 400 years of slavery, captivity, and oppression in Egypt and into the freedom of the Promised Land! But Jesus would do more than that. Something greater than that. Leading us out of a slavery, captivity, and oppression that began at the beginning of time and into life as His children. His free children. In a Promised Land that would last forever.
And Jesus would do that by becoming the captive Himself. Allowing Himself to be taken and crucified. Trading places with us. Taking our sin, condemnation, and death upon Himself, so we could be cleansed and free. And you are free. For you are forgiven.
For still today, the Almighty, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of all creation, is not where you’d maybe expect Him to be - far away in heaven, taking care of the really big and important things in the world, like global warming and world peace. He’s in a little church, in a little city, with people of little account. Here. For you. To speak to you. To heal you. To set you free. Which should cause us - as it did the people in Capernaum that day - to be amazed.
Oh, we don’t hear unclean spirits crying out and convulsing people. But do not be deceived. The Word spoken here is no less powerful. For it is the same Word of the same God.
Perhaps the problem, then, is not that we doubt the greatness of God, but the greatness of our slavery, captivity, and oppression. The greatness of the sin in our lives. The man with the unclean spirit - surely, he knew! No one wants an unclean spirit. No one wants to be oppressed or possessed in this way.
But what are the sins that oppress or possess you? The things you know are wrong, the things you know you shouldn’t do, and think, and say, and desire, and yet . . .
We heard of one example today in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. There was a controversy in the church there, about whether it was proper for Christians to eat meat which had been sacrificed to idols. Some of the Christians thought No! Absolutely not! While some on the other side thought: Why not? They’re not real gods! That hasn’t done anything to the meat. And it’s good meat!
But it wasn’t just that disagreement that was the problem, but the lack of love being exhibited. Like one of those Christians taking a nice, big, juicy, drumstick, going right up into the face of one of those horrified by this, and ripping off a nice big bite! Mmmm! So good! And see, I didn’t break out in leprosy! I didn’t die! Stupid!
Paul’s flabbergasted with them. (As he often was with the Corinthians!) He says, That’s not how you were taught. That’s not what your freedom is about. In fact, you’re acting like you’re still captive. That’s exactly what Christ has come to set you free from! This lack of love for others. This selfishness that causes you to act like that. This sin that is dividing you.
What is it for you? What is the uncleanness, the unclean spirit, in you? Maybe it is your lack of love and selfishness. So you disobey your parents. Your legendary temper. Lust. Greed. Pride. Gossip. Grabbing. Hoarding. Hatred. Ridiculing. Ignoring the needs of others. Or maybe it is your lack of trust in your heavenly Father. Believing the word of others over His Word. Loving other things more than Him, so He’s far down the list of your priorities. Thinking that you’re the master of your life, you’re in charge of your life, and no one else! What is it for you?
Truth be told, the Lord who was in that synagogue in Capernaum and who is with us today, didn’t just see and doesn’t just see one man with an unclean spirit, but a whole room filled with unclean people. People He didn’t come to destroy, but to save and set free. For that’s the way of it with God. He comes not to take you captive, but to set you free. Not to control, but to love. Not to dominate, but to serve.
So when Jesus calls us to repent, it is to set us free from the guilt of our sins. When He speaks His commandments to us, it is to set us free from the control of our sins.
Sometimes we maybe see these things as taking away our life, not giving us life. For it’s hard to repent! It hurts. It’s humbling and humiliating. And sometimes maybe it seems as if God’s just being bossy, telling us we can’t do what we want to do.
But the truth is just the opposite. Freedom isn’t easy. Go back to Moses and the people of Israel. After God set them free and they were out of Egypt, and they ran up against problems and difficulties, what did they often say? We want to go back! We wish we were still in Egypt! Really? Back in slavery? Back in captivity? And then sometimes they’d also say that God just brought them out into the wilderness to kill them. That’s really what they thought of God? But that’s what freedom feels like to our old selves; our old sinful selves. And yes, God is killing that old sinful person in you! So that you don’t live in that captivity, that slavery to sin, anymore. But live a new and better life.
So it’s not going to be easy. Good? Yes. Easy? No. But as we sang in the Introit earlier, Blessèd is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And you are so blessed. For that Word of Absolution spoken to you earlier is just as powerful and authoritative as the Word Jesus spoke in the synagogue that day, as if He said to your sin, Be silent, and come out of him! And just like that unclean spirit, the guilt of your sin departs. Baptism is the same. When we baptize a person, part of that liturgy says: Depart unclean spirit and make way for the Holy Spirit. And it is so, not because I said it, but because those words were uttered in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And you are set free.
That’s all good. But it’s not easy. Satan hates this. Satan hates you. And so his lies, his deceit, his temptations, his flattery, are just going to increase against you. To try to lure you away. To try to make you wish you were back in Egypt again. So the battle will go on in you. But Jesus will always be here for you, and with you, in it. You won’t be alone. Again, from the Introit: Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
Which, really, should cause us to be amazed. The Almighty, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of all creation, with you, surrounding you, little you? Caring about you, who, really, in the grand scheme of things, really are of no account? YES. Just as He was there for that poor man in Capernaum that day.
So if you have a cold, take two aspirin and feel better. If you’re having a bad day, go to bed and start again tomorrow. But if you are unclean, struggling with sin, oppressed with your guilt, feeling unworthy, come eat and drink the Body and Blood of your Saviour. Here is the medicine you need, from the Great Physician of body and soul. And then go and live. You are cleansed. You are free.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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