Versions of this sermon were preached in Upton, Welland, Hanley Swan, Hanley Castle, Ripple and the Hook Churches during 2018 and early 2019
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!’
25 ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly. ‘Come out of him!’26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.’ 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all who were ill and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
Sometimes it’s easy to leave the past behind. Last summer my son just finished his GCSEs, And I was a bit surprised one day, To find almost his entire collection of school notes, dumped in the recycling bin at home.
My sons not a hoarder. I’m not one really either, but I was a bit shocked at him, until I reflected on how many times I’ve gone back to re-read my O-level geography note books. Yes I bet you haven’t either. Sometimes its easy to leave the past behind.
Other times it’s harder to leave the past behind. The consequences of a lie told. The harm caused by an act of violence. The disappointment of a promise broken. We all have mistakes and failures in our pasts. If only we could dump them in the recycling bin and have done with them too. And yet that’s the staggering claim Jesus is making all through this first chapter of Mark’s gospel.
Mark is basically an eye-witness account of Jesus’ life, given by a guy called Simon Peter, who was one of Jesus’ closest followers. And on the day our reading from before described, they visited the town of Capernaum, and Peter saw Jesus do three extraordinary things.
First, Jesus taught in the synagogue, and v22,
The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law”.
I think I’m probably the only person in the country who hasn’t seen the sermon preached at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. I’m told it was amazing, passionate, vigorous. That’s how Jesus spoke too – and they’d never heard speak anyone like that before.
And the things Jesus taught were astounding:
- Forgive your enemies,
- pray for those who persecute you.
- Do as you would be done by.
- Don’t take revenge.
- Treat others better than yourself.
- Tell the truth.
The finest body of moral teaching in human history. The people were amazed by it. I don’t know about you but I’d have loved to be there It would be worth learning Aramaic just to hear him!
Here’s the second extraordinary thing – a man known to be possessed by a demon interrupts Jesus’ preaching. He’s screaming and shouting out, v24,
What do you want with us, have you come to destroy us. I know who you are – the Holy One of God”.
And Jesus says,
come out of him”
and the man is set free – exorcised – in an instant.
Some people reckon that at just over 2 hours long, the Exorcist is the best horror film ever made. But if they’d made it about Jesus, it would have been over in seconds. That’s how powerful Jesus is. No wonder v27, the people are amazed. No one has never seen anything like this before. Or since. This is something unique in history.
The third extraordinary thing Jesus does is he’s kind to Peter’s mother-in-law. That was a vague attempt at a mother-in-law joke
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever,” (Mark 1:29)
So Jesus and all his followers turn up at Peter’s family home. And in that culture, they were really big on hospitality and the hostess is sick with a fever. So what does Jesus do? He
took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.” (Mark 1:31)
So who is this Jesus fellow? Amazing teaching. Amazing exorcist. Amazing healer. Kind to mother-in-laws. So it’s no surprise, v32, the whole town turn out to see him. And Jesus spends the rest of the night healing people and casting out demons. And Peter’s there watching it all and remembering it for us.
And if we read on in Mark’s gospel –here’s what we’d see through Peter’s eyes. We’d see Jesus controlling nature– by calming a storm. We’d see him healing lepers and giving sight to the blind. He even brings a young girl back from the dead. And then finally we see Jesus overcome death as he’s first crucified, and then three days later rises again. And Peter saw all that and made sure it was written down so we can come to the conclusion that Peter came to from the evidence – that Jesus does the sort of things only God can do – and therefore Jesus is none other than God in human form.
Jesus is God in human form. That’s why he told his followers,
If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
Jesus is God in human form. Which is why Jesus is travelling round Galilee telling people a very simple message, that
The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
To understand how that means we can leave the past behind, let’s think about the Kingdom of God bit first. Think of it this way…Our world is divided into two parts, the bit where God is rejected , and the bit where he’s welcomed – and where he’s welcomed is what we call the Kingdom of God.
Now when I say welcomed, I don’t just mean a sort of lazy welcome, “Hi, come in, nice to see you” I mean the sort of welcome a nation would do for a visiting head of state (one we like!) This is the sort of welcome where God is recognised for who he is. Our creator. The one who gives us life and hope. The one who defines right and wrong. The one who loves us without measure. And the one who one day will come back and put the world to rights.
How do you welcome someone with a CV like that? With wonder and gratitude and obedience!
And where he’s welcomed, miracles happen. Lives are transformed. Everywhere Jesus went, lives were changed forever. Just like they were in Capernaum.
A few months back I did an overnight drive to my home town of Sunderland for a family funeral. I arrived at 1:30am – it was late and dark – and there’s no street lights. If you’d seen my car from the air all you’d have seen a pool of light travelling through the darkness, headlights illuminating the road ahead. That’s what Jesus was like. . Light illuminating the darkness; and in that light, great things happen. Jesus said,
I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)
The word “Christian” actually means “little Christ” – we’re meant to be little versions of Jesus. We’ll now we’re welcoming his kingdom in our lives, because we’ll be turning into little beacons of light in the darkness, just like Jesus is. That’s the Kingdom of God mission Jesus invites us all to. A chance to change the world forever by being Jesus’ light in the world.
But there’s a problem. Which brings us all the way back to those mistakes we talked about earlier. The failures, broken promises and lies. All the stuff we’d like to leave behind. What the Bible calls, SIN. So here’s the problem: If we’re full of that darkness, how can we ever be light in the world?
Thankfully Jesus told us how to solve this problem, didn’t he? He keeps telling us what we need to do is:
repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15)
God made a beautiful world of love and light. But people have filled it with selfishness and darkness. And that darkness floods outwards from our selfish hearts. It stains our deeds, our families and communities. Everything we touch is darkened. We turned out the light. But Jesus has come to turn the light back on.
That word REPENT means doing a U-turn in life. It means being honest with God about who we are and what we’ve done. Not hiding from him or pretending with him. There’s no point, he knows everything we’ve done and still loves us. So instead of hiding, reach out to him and say sorry. And ask him to help you change – to do the U-turn in life.
I came across this story in the Daily Mirror recently, about a guy called Rob Joy, who grew up on a tough council estate in Hertfordshire. At 16 he got into drugs and over the next ten years blew a £250k inheritance feeding his addiction. He had two spells in prison, And the drugs left him suffering from violent paranoia.
One night that paranoia got so bad he held two friends hostage at knife point. Afterwards he contemplated suicide, and overwhelmed by darkness and despair he cried out to God,
if you are real, is there any way you can change a man like me?”
The next morning he woke up and for the first time in ten years felt no desire to take drugs and no paranoia. And over the next few weeks, and with the help of his mum and new friends he made at her church, his life took an extraordinary turn, out of darkness and into light.
Today he’s clean of drugs, married, and trying to be what Jesus rescued him to be: a light in the darkness.[1]
Jesus made it possible for Rob to leave his past darkness behind. Whatever your darkness is, he can do that for you too. If you’ll ask him. Jesus said,
The Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news.”