“ASTONISHED! BY WHAT?”

“ASTONISHED!  BY WHAT?”                Mark 1:21-28                                             Dana Douglass

Let’s do a little Bible study this morning.  First, a little review.  The New Testament starts off with four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  The first three share a similar form and many of the same sources; John’s gospel is a little different from the others.  All tell the story of Jesus and his life and ministry.  All were written well after Jesus had lived and died.  Although Matthew’s gospel appears first in our Bibles, Mark’s gospel was written first.  It is Mark who invented the form of telling the story of Jesus’ life and ministry in a dramatic presentation involving plot, crisis, character development, and setting.

Each gospel writer put the story of Jesus down on paper for a particular audience, a specific community of early Christians.  Each writer understood the meaning of Jesus’ life and work in a slightly different way from his colleagues.  Therefore, they don’t attempt to write biographies of Jesus in an historically accurate way.  Rather, they set their stories up in a way that would lead the reader into discovering who they thought Jesus was, and what his life and death might mean.

We’re going to look at the first chapter of Mark’s gospel.  Mark is impatient.  He’s a man in a hurry.  There is no time to waste.  If Mark was running a meeting, you’d be out in under an hour.  No gabbing.  Do the work and get on with life. In order to do that with his gospel, Mark leaves a lot out — it’s amazing how much!  There’s no family tree for Jesus.  Not a word about his birth!  Nothing about his childhood!  Almost nothing about his run-ins with the Pharisees.  There’s no Sermon on the Mount!  Imagine — no sermon!  There are only four parables.  In Mark’s gospel, Jesus flies by, scattering miracles as he goes.

Mark wrote his gospel for the poor of Palestine who were being cruelly persecuted by the Romans; and whose life was made even harder by religious restrictions.  Mark doesn’t waste their time.  He believes that Jesus cared about them, and following him could make life better.  Hurry up, follow along, there’s no time to lose — this can save your life; or at least your soul!

Open up a Bible to Mark’s gospel.  Notice, the first sentence isn’t even a complete one.  “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God.”  Without even using a verb, Mark has done two astounding things.  First, he has declared who he believes Jesus is — the son of God.  Take that Romans!  You think you have all the power and authority; but we follow Jesus — God’s chosen one.  But, he has done something else.  He has called his book a gospel.  This was a direct slap in the face of the Roman rulers, who issued all their proclamations in gospels — good news for the people.  All of a sudden there’s another gospel in town.

John then moves directly to a word for the Jews.  He quotes their great prophet, Isaiah — “I send my messenger before you to prepare the way. . .”  That’s John.  And “immediately” John appears on the scene baptizing, and ALL the people of Jerusalem — watch out Romans; these are your fellow believers, Jews — all the people go out to him.  “And immediately” — notice how often Mark says “immediately” — Jesus comes up from the baptism, and the heavens are torn open, and a dove descends, and God speaks, “This is my beloved son!”  It’s not just Mark making the pronouncement now, God, herself, is saying it.

And “immediately” Jesus is driven into the wilderness, where he is tempted — not a word about how he was tempted; just that he was with wild beasts, and angels cared for him.  Then, Jesus begins to preach that God is coming close to a people in need.  Then, Jesus calls his disciples.  Without hesitation, they follow him.  That’s your model, by the way, follow Jesus, like Simon and Andrew did!

We’re only half way through the first chapter and look at all that has happened.  Now it’s time to really get to the point — Who is this Jesus,?  How does he affect people?  What does he do?

“Immediately, on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  And the people were astounded at this teaching.”  Astounded!?  By what?  Mark says Jesus preached in the synagogue.  He says Jesus taught the people.  But, he never bothers to tell us what the teaching was!  Why?  Because what he said wasn’t nearly as important as how he said it, how he lived, what he did.

Mark says Jesus spoke with authority.  Mark says he didn’t speak as the scribes did.  But, the scribes were the religious authorities of the day.  They knew their bibles chapter and verse.  They knew every jot and tittle of the law.  They could recite the book of Leviticus word for word.  They were the ones who should have had authority.  Mark says, “Forget the scribes.”  They may know the letter of the law; but Jesus embodies the Spirit of a new kind of law.

“And immediately,” Mark is still in a hurry, no lingering on the point, “Immediately, there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.”  Wally, you’re sitting back there right by the door, why did you let the crazy person in?  “Man with an unclean spirit.”  What’s it mean to be a man with an unclean spirit?  Is he evil?  Is he mentally ill?  Is he possessed?  There’s no telling.  But, he’s in church.

Imagine a crazy person in church.  Churches, by the way, tend to attract people with problems, because people know that in church they can get away with being crazy — because church people are polite, and forgiving, and tolerant, and nobody will call them out in church.  They can even rise to positions of power in church, something they wouldn’t get away with anywhere else.  The only place that attracts more troubled people than church is seminary.   A lot of people go to seminary, not to learn how to help others, but to get help.  I digress!

Jesus is different; he doesn’t ignore the problem.  He doesn’t let the troubled person disturb the life of the church for long.  He doesn’t let the troubled person suffer.  The crazy person might have gotten by Wally, and even past Tom; but that’s as far as he goes.  “Be quiet,” Jesus said to him.  “Get out of him,” Jesus commands whatever it was that was tormenting him.  “And convulsing, it came out of him.”  Now, there stands in church a man who is no longer tortured.  Can’t you feel the relief of a calmed soul?  The people are astonished all over again.

This Jesus fellow speaks with authority.  Even the tormentors are driven out!  And his fame spreads throughout the land.

Could this story have been a metaphor in which Mark was telling the poor people of Palestine, who were oppressed by both the Romans and their own religion that Jesus had come to cast out the tormenters?  Could Mark have been saying that Jesus has come to free them from the things that make their lives miserable?  That Jesus has the ultimate authority in this world?  That love and compassion outweigh power and petty restrictions?  That’s the way it looks.  And that’s astounding!  That’s astounding even today.

On Wednesday I attended a funeral for an wonderful woman from the Holden Church.  The woman’s extended family attend Bangor Baptist Church, so the baptist minister led the service.  He did a nice job, said nice things.  He seemed to be thoughtful and considerate.  Until the end of the service, when he took five minutes to put a heavy weight on our shoulders.  None of us was ever going to see Grace again.  Grace had gone to heaven.  Grace was with Jesus.  And the only way to get to heaven and be with Jesus and Grace, was to publicly proclaim Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.  No one else was going to heaven except those Christians who had a personal relationship with Jesus.

I sat there near the back and I thought to myself, “There’s a crazy man in church!”  Of course, I didn’t make a scene.  I didn’t think it was the time or place.  Although an eighty-eight year old woman sitting next to me elbowed me in the ribs and whispered, “I’ll see Grace again no matter what I say about Jesus.”

I wonder, if Jesus had been there, might he have very gently, but firmly have said, “Be quiet.”  And then, turning to the family and friends have said, “You are all dearly loved children of God.  God’s love is big enough to embrace you all, forever.”  And we might all have said, “What’s this!  A new teaching!  Full of authority, full of compassion?”

The Jesus Mark tells us about is in a big hurry to make life better — even for us, even today.