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Click to hear this sermon sermon090201
You know, we live in a world of words.
"Words of
Authority" Cicero United
Methodist Church February 1,
2009
Jack Keating 4th Sunday
after Epiphany Text: Mark 1: 21-28
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You know, we live in a world of words.
Words are all around us, there's words on TV, words on the radio, spoken words
by family and friends, words printed in newspapers, books, on computers, and
words on the Internet. And this world of words has turned us into a people who
are overwhelmed, suffocated, and buried in this mounting pile of words. With so
many words around us, words tend to lose their meaning, they become
unimportant, and they no longer have any real value or influence in our lives.
And then there are some words that have even
more power than others.
I read recently about a pastor in the
early years of his ministry who was preaching one Sunday morning when a baby
started to cry in one of the front pews. The mother, very much embarrassed,
snatched up the baby and started down the side aisle. The pastor stopped his
sermon and said, "Madam, you don't have to take the baby out .... He isn't
bothering me." And Mom replied, "No? Well you're certainly bothering
him".
Words do have power, sometimes.
And then there's the story about a New
York columnist who set out not long ago to prove that no one really listened to
what anyone said at a cocktail party, and when he was invited to the next
party, he decided to arrive purposefully late. When he arrived the hostess
greeted him and he explained why he was late. "I had to stop for a moment
and rob a bank and it took a little longer than I thought." Without
blinking an eye, the hostess said she understood perfectly, "I was almost
late myself ... everyone is so busy. Well, enjoy yourself and have a good
time."
As he mingled around the party,
someone asked him what he did for a living. "Oh, I'm the executioner at
the State Prison." The person continued, "Well, that must be an
interesting line of work. How does business look this year?"
You see, we get caught up in a sea, a
world of words. Some words do have special power and authority, while others
have no meaning at all. Sometimes our words only have meaning, power and
authority, because of the listener, or because of the speaker.
In today's scripture lesson, we learn
how Jesus spoke God's word and how that word had authority, power and hope for
living. I would like to spend a few minutes looking at Jesus' words this
morning, and see how, because they are God's word incarnate in this world,
these words take on a special distinction for our lives. How Jesus' words do
have authority, power, and hope for the future.
First ... authority.
The scripture says, "And they were
astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not
as the scribes." There was something very special about Jesus' words. They
were different from the scribes who usually taught in the synagogue. They would
quote sayings from the past learned men, they would not offer any new truth, or
new idea, but the scribes could only reinforce what had been said before.
But Jesus came along and spoke with
authority. He didn't just quote any past learned men; he was the sole authority
for his words. He had authority ..... the authority of God himself. In the
beginning of John's gospel, it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of
the only Son from the Father."
God's word, the word that God used
to create, the authoritative word of God that brought things into existence,
the word was incarnate in Jesus. Jesus spoke with the authority which was
present from the beginning of time.
The authoritative word of Jesus was
a word which knew what was needed and what was best for God's children. It was
a word of liberation, a word of comfort, a word of release, a word of pardon
which Jesus spoke at the very beginning of his public ministry as in Mark 1:15:
"The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and
believe in the gospel."
Jesus announced through his
presence, God's kingdom is now present in this world.
Those words stood tall among the
people, because Jesus had that kind of authority, the kind of presence which
allowed people to believe that his kingdom was indeed God's kingdom.
And next we see the power of Jesus
as he spoke God's word.
The scripture text says, "And
immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and 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.' But Jesus rebuked him,
saying, 'Be silent, and come out of him!' And the evil spirit shook the man
violently and came out of him with a shriek."
There was power in Jesus' words, a
power to bring healing strength and forgiveness into the life of that man. And
with his words, Jesus brought that man into a relationship with him. Well
friends, the power of Jesus' words affects lives.
These words of Jesus are, to me,
kind of like our words of assurance heard at each Holy Communion service, where
we are reminded that Jesus' action of forgiveness reaches into our lives.
It's been written that "each
time we assemble as the ones who carry the disease of sin. We too cry out 'Son
of God, have mercy on us.' And Christ's own powerful Word says, 'Arise, go
forth and live. The demons even obey him; they are out and away. The grip of
sin and death is broken. We are free to live as a new people of God."
And we know that the cosmic battle
of sin has been fought and Jesus has won.
But this battle continues day in and
day out for each of us.
And is it only through the powerful
word of Christ that we can hope to win. It is only through His word and His
word alone that victory for a fleeting moment is ours on this earth.
And that brings us to the final
word, the word of hope.
The scripture lesson ends with these
words, "News spread about him quickly over the whole region of
Galilee."
Because Jesus has authority, because
he has power, because his words do affect our lives, then we are people who can
and do live with hope. Hope that things can be changed, things can be different,
things, lives, people, can be made whole through the authority and power of
Jesus Christ. We can live life as victors instead of as victims because of the
hope we have in Jesus Christ to redeem our lives, to bring forth his authority
and power in our everyday life.
In her book, Dancing at my
Funeral Maxie Dunnam writes, "I am dancing in the face of tragedy over
which I have no control except to trust God and life and circumstance. I am
able to live in the presence of death because I trust myself as a victor rather
than as a victim."
There is hopefulness in our lives as
we hear and become empowered by Jesus' words.
I recently read a story about famed
entertainer W.C. Fields. It seems as the notoriously irreligious man was
spending his final days in the hospital a friend walked in to visit and found
him reading a Bible. When asked by his friend what he was doing, Fields
replied, "Looking for loopholes!"
Jesus Christ is our loophole as we
look back over the brokenness of our lives. And he is rock solid because of his
power and authority. He continues to move us a little closer to him as we allow
him to bring hope, power, authority, release, forgiveness, renewal, and
cleansing into our lives.
And because he is the Son of God we
can move over and around and through the brokenness of the world as we continue
to move closer to heaven and the promise of salvation which is ours through the
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In this world of words in which we
live, there is surely one clear, loud, gracious word which stands out against
all the others and that is Jesus' word of grace in our lives, "The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the
gospel."
May it be so today and every day.
Amen.
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