No One Beyond His Reach
Phil Schaefer
1/18/09
Key Scripture: Mark 1:21-39
Introduction:
Last week we introduced the series: This Beautiful Mess and the shocking embrace of God into the mess. We spoke of God and our post-modern experiment since the 60’s and the 70’s.
That is, after living under the philosophy of “If it feels good, do it.” for the last 30 years, we are now and have been reaping the very hurtful and despairing consequences of this cultural mindset.
We identified 5 main areas that are real issues in our post-modern thinking: Trust, Tolerance, Truth, Brokenness, and Aloneness.
What we want to do is to study the Gospel of Mark, and apply these issues into our study. We will read about God’s commitment to human affairs, to all the mistrust, intolerance, untruth, brokenness, and aloneness of all of our lives.
Mark writes to challenge us and to change us, to move us into a place in God we probably wouldn’t go unless He keeps pressing us. And we will be challenged with this two-fold question: Who is Jesus? And how will I respond to Him?
Mark 1:21-28:
“ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as scribes. 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 unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him. And at once His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”
One of the key words in Mark’s Gospel is ‘immediately’- as soon as, at once, directly. It is used 42 times. Mark immediately moves into why Jesus came. There is this sense of urgency.
Mark 1:21 “and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue.”
Mark 1:22 “and they were astonished at His teaching.”
Astonished means ‘dumbfounded’,’ struck as by a blow’, ‘silent with amazement’. It is a very strong verb.
- What was the teaching? Mark summarizes it in 1:15- “Now is the time; this is it; it’s here; the long awaited kingdom of God is come, repent--turn in your thinking. A change in how you will see things and how you will believe is now here.
- Last week we said “gospel’ means something completely altering the ages is now taking place. It is and “epoch-making, world history changing, never to be the same again event. Namely, that God is here, right now. He is on our side actively seeking to help us in the way that we most need help. God is on the scene and He is passionate to save us. That’s the gospel! This is the beautiful mess, the shocking embrace of God.
- Mark 1:22 “He taught not as the scribes.”
- One man wrote, “ they were contemptuous and mean; never passing a
hair’s breadth beyond the boundaries; intricate with legal pettiness” i.e. they were boundary monitors. “This is how far you can go--this is clean--this is unclean--here is how to do it right.”
- Illustration: When I was in elementary school, I was a crossing guard. It was all about the orange belt- the power, a power that was backed by the nuns. God might be merciful, but the nuns were not. My job was to stand on the bench and make sure kids didn’t step on the grass, or have fun. I was a boundary monitor.
- Mark 1:23 “Immediately”(all at once) a man with an unclean spirit speaks out.
The Bible distinguishes between ordinary disease, and epilepsy, and mental illness. But this man had some thing else.
- Literally- “a man in an unclean spirit” or “ a man in the power of an unclean spirit”- literally, it means this man was “joined to” such a spirit
- Greek= a/kathartos- from catharsis. It is a negative, an impure letting out, an ugliness coming out of him, perhaps a foulness in his language, or behavior.
- Perhaps an arrogance or a haughtiness, a mean spiritedness.
- Mark 1:24 “Leave us alone.What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are- the Holy One of God!”
- You would think this man would have run from Jesus. Instead, the demons cry out, “leave us alone, you came to destroy us.”
- The demons know who Jesus is, and likely know that Jesus does not want to reveal Himself fully yet. So what do they do?
- They speak out His identity.
- They are opposed to everything Jesus is, all He came to do, and everything He represents.
- Mark 1:25 “But Jesus rebuked him, saying,” Be silent and come out of him!”
- Jesus silences them.
- Mark purposefully puts this in his gospel as the 1st miracle that he references.
- He does this to make the point that one with greater authority is here.
- He is saying that there is a real conflict going on in life- in our lives- and it is a spiritual conflict. It is a conflict for the hearts and souls of people.
- No one is beyond His reach.
- Mark is showing us at the outset what the heart of God is. Jesus, as the Holy One sent from God, stands in this synagogue and is communicating and demonstrating that God’s heart isn’t for a dry kind of obedience, or an outward appearance, but rather to see men and women delivered, and come into the life that God desires for them. He lets the world know that an authority is here to set men free! The conflict is not who has the greater authority. The demons already know that Jesus does.
