Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 1st
Chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 21 – 28:
21And
they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered
the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his
teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the
scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue
a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24
“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.” 25 But
Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and
come out of him!” 26 And
the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice,
came out of him. 27 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.” 28 And
at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of
Galilee.
One
of the fascinating characteristics of the Bible is that the personality of the
human author is part of the style of each book of the Bible. For example: one of the characteristics of
the Gospel according to Mark is the use of the word immediately. Mark just loves
using that word and its synonyms.
Today’s reading illustrates that well as we read: “And immediately there was
in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Then toward the end we read, “At
once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of
Galilee.” As we proceed through
Mark’s account, we will see many examples of words like quickly, immediately, and the phrase “at once.”
Another
feature of Mark’s account of the Gospel has to do with the identity of
Jesus. The human beings are always
asking, “Who is this man?” Again, we see an example of this in today’s
Gospel. “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.”
As we proceed through the Gospel according to Mark, we will see many
examples of people wondering who Jesus is.
In
fact, Mark does not tell us about any human beings proclaiming the true
identity of Jesus until after Jesus dies.
[Mark 15:37–39] Jesus
uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the
curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And
when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his
last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” Until that centurion speaks, no human in the
Gospel according to Mark identifies Jesus as the Son of God.
On
the other hand, the demons know exactly who Jesus is. In today’s gospel the man with the unclean
spirit says, “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.” Again and again, Mark
records demon after demon shrieking in terror at the approach of the Son of
God. As James writes, [James 2:19] “The demons
believe—and shudder!”
Then
there is God the Father. He speaks from
heaven at the Baptism of the Lord and again at the transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son.” (Mark 1:11; 9:7) There is no doubt
whatsoever about where God the Father stands with regard to the identity of
Jesus.
It’s
interesting to scan Mark’s Gospel Account looking for this characteristic. God the Father declares Jesus to be His
Son. The demons are in a panic and
screaming out at the top of the lungs of their victims, “It’s the Son of
God!” Meanwhile, the human beings are
wandering around asking, “Who is this man?”
The
season of Epiphany answers that question as we consider the different ways that
Jesus showed Himself. Jesus guided the
magi by the star. The Father proclaimed
Jesus to John and his followers at His baptism.
Jesus proclaimed Himself to His disciples as He called them to follow
Him. Now, in today’s Gospel, a demon has
an epiphany of Jesus.
Of
course, there is a major difference between the epiphany of Jesus to us human
beings and the epiphany of Jesus to this demon.
We receive the epiphany of Jesus to our salvation. The demons receive the epiphany of Jesus to
their damnation. For the fires of hell
are prepared for the devil and his demons (Matthew 25:41).
What
could possibly motivate this demon to drive its host into the terrifying
presence of the Son of God? Why would a
being, who had every reason to get as far from God as possible, enter into the
presence of the Holy Lord. He had one
goal: to interrupt the Christ as He proclaimed Himself to the people in the
synagogue.
You
see, it is through the proclamation of Christ that the Holy Spirit brings God’s
salvation into our lives. As the Holy
Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write, [Romans
10:17] “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”. The demons absolutely hate it when God’s Word
is proclaimed in its truth and purity.
I
occasionally have a look at the web site of a Church in the USA, just to read
their very fitting earthly parables they call Memorial Moments: I thought this
one appropriate to pass on to you:
Two of God's junior angels were
being assigned to keep watch over two churches. Their angelic supervisor took
them to see where they were being assigned by God. When they came to the first
church there they saw one lazy-looking devil, who was reclining on the steeple
of the church. This was where one of the angels was assigned. The supervising
angel led them on to the second church and when they arrived there the two
junior angels were surprised to see the whole exterior of the church seething
with devils all howling and hammering on the building. The junior angel
assigned to this church lamented to his supervisor: “Oh, why have I been
assigned this church rather than the other? This church seems to have some
pretty big problems. Look at all those demons attacking it.” The supervising
angel smiled at him and said, “You have it all wrong. This church faithfully
proclaims Christ as the only Saviour from sin and is constantly preaching our
Master's truth. The other church is lazy and preaches what people want to hear,
rather than the Master's truth. Our enemy doesn't have much to do there. Your
brother angel has his work cut out for him there.”
Demons
don’t spend a lot of time attacking people who are already on their way to
hell. Instead, they focus their attack
on those congregations who faithfully proclaim the salvation of Jesus Christ.
In
spite of the devil’s effort to stop the proclamation of the Gospel, Jesus is
the master of turning the enemy’s tactics against him. Jesus used this poor, demon possessed man to show
how God can take something bad and turn it into something good. ‘Jesus rebuked [the demon], 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’. Jesus drove the demon out of the man and so
revealed Himself as the Messiah.
The demon hoped to make the
people afraid of Jesus. Instead, the
demon provided Jesus with an opportunity to reveal Himself to the people. As a result of the demon’s attempt to disrupt
the proceedings, Jesus became famous throughout the surrounding countryside.
The
devil always underestimates Jesus and His plans. The time would come when the devil thought
that He could stop Jesus from teaching altogether. After all, a dead man can’t do much teaching
and so the devil thought he had achieved the ultimate victory when he subjected
Jesus to a bloody, cruel death on a cross.
The devil thought he had shut that righteous mouth once and for all.
Instead,
Jesus turned His death into a triumph.
He turned His cross into a throne.
Little did the devil understand that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross had
been part of His plan of salvation before the foundations of the world were
laid. Little did the devil understand
that Christ’s crucifixion would become his ultimate defeat and Christ’s
ultimate victory.
The
leaders of the Jewish people used all kinds of evil tactics to kill Jesus. The soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross
meant to do real harm. The spiritual and
human forces who worked together to put Jesus on the cross, all meant it for
evil, but God used this terrible, evil action to work salvation for all people. It was on the cross that Jesus took away the
sin of the entire world. It is on the
cross that Jesus reveals Himself as our Saviour. Jesus changed the evil shame of the cross
into a victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil.
With
His resurrection from the dead and His appearance to hundreds of witnesses,
Jesus proclaimed His victory to the world.
Instead of stopping the proclamation of Christ to the world, Jesus used
the cross and resurrection as the foundation for the eternal proclamation of
salvation for all people through Jesus Christ our Lord. After He rose from the dead, He told His
church that they would proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins to the
world in His name.
Today’s
Gospel teaches us that demons are comfortable, even among the believers of
Christ’s church, when the Word of God is muddled or ignored, but that they will
protest wildly when God’s word is declared in its truth and purity. It also teaches us that although demons want
to block the proclamation of God’s Word, Jesus has the power to remove our
demons and forgive our sins. He also has
the power to take the evil things of our lives and use them to accomplish His will.
Christ
comes to us in His Word to afflict the comfortable and comfort the
afflicted. Demons fear that Word and
will try to stop it. God will work
through that Word to bend their evil plans to His good results. The Word of Christ not only has the power and
authority to rebuke demons, but it also has the power and authority to save our
soul and give us life eternal. Amen
The
love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment