Who is this Jesus Christ

Mark 1:21-28                                                                                                                                                                      29^th Jan 2012

Who is this Jesus Christ?

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

On the news this week there was a video of school kids from Indonesia crossing a broken down bridge to get to school. The bridge was broken after recent flooding. If you watched the video you would’ve held your breath and the impending danger that was before the kids with the rushing water below them and the fragile ropes holding the bridge up.

I see that scene in my head and I think that is so often what the Christian life can be like. There are times when we just have to trust in Jesus and walk across that so called bridge even though it seems dangerous. That is faith.

But I also look at our gospel reading today and I feel that I try to tackle it I am looking across that bridge. Where do we start? Where do we begin? How do I get to the other side?

It’s texts like these when we open our bibles up we think so how does that fit into my life today? We all have texts that challenge us in one way or the other, for me this is one of them and there is a list of many more!

Jesus is in Capernaum he is a long way from Jerusalem, Capernaum is on the northern tip of Lake Galilee. Jesus is going to worship at the synagogue as every faithful Jew would in his day. The synagogue would’ve been full and Jesus the guest preacher from Nazareth comes in and shares a message with the people. The very fact that he can do this reveals that he is known within the region and accepted as a preacher of God. The people listen to him and are astounded by his knowledge and authority. Remember the Torah was the very presence of God in the midst of the people in Jesus’ day. His ability drew people into the presence of God in a way they had never experienced from their local teachers.

But it’s what happens next that adds to the account. Mark raises the stakes in his account and tells of Jesus healing a man with an unclean spirit. Jesus speaks and the unclean spirit leaves, an act in itself that was amazing. There is much debate over this interaction and our understanding. We can either be drawn into finding out about demons or seeing who this Jesus is who has authority over them. For Mark his focus on the person of Jesus Christ and convincing his listeners that he is God. In Jesus day unclean spirits and evil spirits were uncommon, but with Jesus the Holy one of God on the scene he opens up this world, the evil, unclean spirits cannot tolerate his presence and are forced to speak out. This just didn’t happen. Usually magicians would perform long rituals to heal a person of their possession or in many cases mistaken mental illnesses.

Jesus oozes authority so much so that even the unclean spirits obey him in comparison with the other religious leaders of the day.

So Mark is teaching his church and ours that Jesus was a man who had unparalleled authority. His very word was enough to drive out an unclean spirit; his preaching brought people into a new understanding of God and his presence. But always threaded though Mark’s gospel is the challenge for the readers: “who is this Jesus?” in the first verse mark asserts this is about Jesus the Christ the Son of God – I believe it let me tell you why…. He preaches like no other and draws people into God’s presence in a new way and even the unclean spirits obey him just a word from his mouth. The people that day would’ve left asking so who was this guest preacher, this Jesus from Nazareth? And we too are left asking ourselves, so “who is this Jesus Christ?”

Every day we should be asking this question in such a way as it shapes our day. We can rise in the morning and reflect what does my faith mean for what lies ahead in my day? As we commute to work we have the opportunity to ask Christ to come into our day and guide it. Who is this Christ, he is the presence of God among us and within us, how much we want to let him have authority in our lives is up to us.

Redeemer:

When we confirmed our faith as young Christians we attempted to answer this by reciting the creed and renouncing the devil as it was spoken on our behalf at our baptisms. But there is more to this than just a promise of faithfulness. It is a promise of life-long discipleship and worship.

Today Alex and Lachlan are presented with this very question – is Jesus the Son of God? The answer for you is of course ‘yes’ – you wouldn’t be here is it wasn’t.

It’s far easier to stand up among your Christian family and with other disciples of Jesus say yes I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died and rose from the dead. The struggle will be for you as it for all of us here how this confession of faith translates into the world outside of this place of worship. You will face times when your faith will come under attack, you may be challenged as to why you believe in a god. You will ask faith questions you never thought of asking Rene in your time with him learning about being a disciple of Jesus.

That is why we have this place of worship, this faith community, it is your community, your spiritual home, not the building but the people who met here, when you face challenges in your faith this is the place you turn to, when your feel dry and empty in your life, you can find nourishment in the word of god, in the Lord’s supper and the fellowship of believers.

Confirmation is not just a thing you do in the church because it is the thing that we do as Lutheran’s. No it is a commitment to the life of the church, to the body of Christ. Saying I am ready to step up in my participation in the body of Christ, I am ready to help out where possible; I am ready to keep growing. Christ is my authority and I stand under his love and grace.

Mark wants all of us to see Jesus as the ultimate authority in our lives, because he is the author of our lives – he will unpack this more as he continues to hint at Jesus’ role in the creation of the universe. So what does it therefore mean to follow Jesus Christ who draws us into his presence into his community so that we can live under him and his grace?

If we look back to last week’s reading we find Jesus calling his first disciples, he calls the in the middle of their busyness, in the normality of their lives and says follow me and I will make you fishers of people. It’s from that scene we are brought to our reading for today. What an experience for the disciples and the Jewish congregation in Capernaum, they never would’ve experienced anything like this before, for the disciples it would’ve been a confirmation they made a good choice to follow Jesus, for the congregation it would’ve been the most memorable Sabbath they ever experienced. What would’ve look to be a normal perhaps boring Saturday turned out to be a life changing one I suspect for all who gathered there that day.

I look at this text I ask myself, why does Mark start off with this account? If we were to list what Jesus did in his ministry I suspect exorcism wouldn’t get mentioned first up, maybe healing lepers, feeding the 5000, would get in first. Remembering that the gospels were written for churches like ours to teach about following Jesus there is always something happening behind the text. In this case we may find Mark encouraging his church in their faith, reminding them about the powerful word Jesus has handed on to his church to keep preaching or to remind them that God’s kingdom is real in the midst of uncertainty in the threat of persecution.

Sometimes we forget how powerful the word of God is. We can treat it as empty historical words and forget that it is alive with the Holy Spirit. We can fall into the trap of becoming robot Christians who just respond ‘thanks be to God’ after reading as the response we always say because it is the bible and God’s word. Mark reminds us of the excitement, the awesomeness of the presence of Jesus that is in the word we hear, we speak and we share. Again it’s that mentality (that I am certainly guilty of) God only works in this way, or as Lutheran’s he will only operate within these boundaries that as humans we have set. That is limiting the powerful and life changing word of God.

We say thanks be to God because our lives have been changed by the living word of God who comes among us and makes his presence known to us.

We go to church week in and week out we know that God is present in Jesus Christ in our worship service, we know that the Holy Spirit is working to build faith, to build community, to grow disciples, yet we don’t expect God to do anything exciting out of the ordinary. The people worshipping in the synagogue were thinking the same thing. They knew God was present, but Jesus stood among them and shock things up. Why don’t we expect that anymore and should we expect that?

I think we should expect it! Because the same Jesus who was in Capernaum is among us here right now.

After the worship at the Synagogue I am sure as people walked home there would’ve been vibrant discussions, they would’ve reviewed his message, they would’ve spoken about the unclean spirit removed from the man – whom they probably would’ve known and never suspected to be unclean. Have we lost that excitement and vibrancy in our faith and church? Do we need to re-look at how we bring people into the presence of God in this place?

In my head I know God is present, I know where his word is preached and his sacraments are given he is present. But sometimes I need more than that – my heart and soul needs to feel God, not all the time but every so often to remind me of what we are doing here – it’s not about having happy feelings, it’s about having holy feelings, an experience of the holy living God. Maybe it’s a generational thing, maybe you agree with me or you don’t. But that is how I picture the people in Capernaum on this day of worship. Jesus changed their lives.

Maybe you are looking for the same experience, maybe you are over the way church has been done, maybe you are quite happy with the way things are, but we can’t escape the message Jesus gives us – I will change your life if you let my powerful word speak into your life.

So we are left standing at the bridge we saw at the beginning. The people in Capernaum are left standing there. What do I do with this Jesus Christ? How do I let him shape my life today? We who gather here are secure in his love, we know we are his, we know we have a place in his kingdom, but what are we going to do with the life he has given us now, how are going to worship him, how are we going to respond to his life changing word?