The True and Greater Authority

Father, we give you thanks and praise that we can gather together here in the Ottawa Little Theatre to come into your presence.

We give you thanks and praise, Father, that our brothers and sisters, our friends, can join in to worship through YouTube and electronic means.

Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that if there is anyone present, or if there is anyone watching this right now, or who will be watching it in the days to come.

Father, if there are any here who are harassed, or bound, or oppressed, or even demonized by unclean spirits, by demons.

Father, not in our own power or in our own righteousness, but Father, in the name of Jesus, washed in his shed blood, made yours by adoption and grace.

In the name, the strong name of our Lord Jesus, we ask, Father, for any demon that is speaking that would be silenced by you.

Any demon interfering in our lives, that it would be bound by you.

And that those silenced and bound demons would be taken far from this place and far from any person that the demon is harassing.

That the demon would be taken to the abyss, prepared for it before its final doom.

And we ask, Father, for those of us who are Christians, that you would make us more trusting of Jesus, more secure in the gospel.

And if there are any here, Father, who have been harassed by demons, that you do not leave them empty, but that you bring them to a saving faith in Jesus.

That they would have that true and final protection from all demonic presence and power.

And we ask, Father, so that we will be in your presence, where Jesus is Lord.

And that you would tune our hearts and move our hearts, that we might receive grace from you this morning and respond to you in a worthy manner.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated.

Some of you might be a little bit surprised by that prayer.

You know, one of the problems...

Actually, it's going to fit into it, because those of you who are paying attention to the reading, the demons are mentioned a lot.

One of the problems is that in our world, people seem to alternate between two poles.

They either act like atheists, as if all of reality is just swept of any type of angelic or demonic presence.

Or we act like pagans who see spirits everywhere.

And you see that reflected in Christian congregations.

There's a lot of Christian churches that basically just act like they're atheists when it comes to stuff like this.

And then on the other hand, you see some that act more like pagans.

They see spirits everywhere.

And we need to come to have some type of a godly balance about all of that type of stuff.

But that's a bit of a...

Anyway, there you go.

That's a bit of a...

I wasn't expecting to say that.

I have to always be careful when I say things I wasn't expecting to say.

I can get into trouble.

Some of you have heard this story before.

Maybe many of you have heard it before.

But for many years, I was part of the Anglican Church of Canada.

And I was an Orthodox pastor in the Anglican Church of Canada.

And one of the things that meant was that whenever Anglican-y type things going on,

or even like ecumenical or political type things going on,

guys like me would never get invited.

Just the way it worked used to bother me.

But after a while, it didn't bother me.

That was just the way it was.

That people like me wouldn't get invited to speak.

But occasionally, people like me would get invited to speak to some of these things.

And I would observe what would happen.

What would happen is that people like me would...

I don't really like this analogy, but I can't think of a better one.

They'd pull their punches.

They'd try to act really like they were like all of the others.

And not really bring out that Orthodox distinctiveness and that Gospel distinctiveness.

And they'd often just talk about, you know, basically just be nice type sermon.

And I know that they did it because they hoped that if they could sort of prove

that they weren't knuckle-dragging mouth breathers,

that maybe they'd get invited back.

But what always happened is they never got invited back.

Like, never.

So, you know, fast forward a few years.

I get invited to this thing that I'd never heard of

before I get invited to the Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship.

I probably got invited because of a person who's here in the room today.

But I didn't really know her that well back then.

And anyway, I get invited to the Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship.

So I just sort of assume, I don't know,

that it's going to be a liberally type of thing.

And so I'm praying about what to do.

I was honored.

I said yes to the invitation.

I thought, I'm not going to be like all of those other people who pull their punch.

But what will I speak about?

So I decided that if I'm going to get a chance to speak to staffers on Parliament Hill,

I'm going to talk to them about the fear of God,

the last judgment in the gospel.

Because I'm never going to get invited back.

So why should I try to do something to get invited back?

I might as well give them this one shot.

And you know, the fact of the matter is,

I'm not picking on Parliament Hill staffers, by the way.

The fact of the matter is, is that, you know, my favorite line,

it came from John Maxwell.

Well, people don't think they have a problem with money,

but they spend money they don't have to buy things they don't need

to impress people they don't like.

Doesn't that describe a lot of society?

Yeah, there we go.

And amen.

Money we don't have, buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like.

Anyway, that's just, you know, we're taught, you know.

But, you know, so I know on Parliament Hill, they're looking at polls,

they're looking at how to vote,

they're looking at, they care about what the CBC or CTV or Global News,

like, they care about all of those things.

And I just want to say, if you're Christians,

what you need to remember is that one day you're going to appear

before the judgment seat of God.

And that, therefore, you need to take that into account

when you make your decisions and rules.

Anyway, they invited me back for, like, 20 years.

I'm not saying that's a good policy,

although, you know, if you do that, you'll get invited back.

Most of the time, you probably won't.

But, you know, if you're just going to have that one shot,

like, give it to them, but as it turned out, that's what they wanted.

They wanted somebody who would talk about hard type of things.

And I was speaking on Parliament Hill up until the COVID thing,

and I don't know if they've met again,

and I'm off their speaker list, or they'll reboot.

You should pray that it gets rebooted.

And it's in God's hands whether I get invited to speak or not.

But anyway, there you go.

So all of this fits in, actually, believe it or not,

both my weird prayer, my little aside about demons,

and this whole thing about people in government

with the text that we have before us today.

In fact, it touches upon very, very profound human issues.

So if you get out your Bibles,

we're looking at Mark chapter 1,

Mark 1 · chapter mention

and we're going to begin at verse 21.

I just want to continue to encourage you,

whether it's here or online,

we will put the words to the Scripture up on the screen,

and most of the time I stick with it.

But there is something about having your own Bible

and being able to follow along.

And, you know, in fact, it's a very, very good thing

if afterwards you say,

George, you didn't connect this verse to that verse or whatever,

or you told me I voted.

I never want to, quote, take anything out of context.

So it's good to have your own Bibles,

to be Bereans, where you search the Scriptures yourself

to see if what I'm saying is true.

That's a bit of an in-house Bible analogy.

Anyway, here's the text.

And they have already explained to you, though,

about how that's the Jesus and four of his disciples.

They went into Capernaum,

and immediately on the Sabbath,

he entered the synagogue and was teaching.

Now, just a bit of an aside,

Capernaum is going to come across a lot.

Actually, this is a thing for some of, you know,

two weeks in a row now,

I've talked a little bit about differences in the Gospel.

And this is a third way to understand

some of the differences that happen in the Gospel.

The thing that's interesting about Galilee

is that Galilee was a mixed area.

It was an area where Jewish,

the majority of people were Jewish,

but there was a significant non-Jewish population.

And the non-Jewish population

wouldn't have spoken Hebrew.

They might have spoken Aramaic,

but most likely they spoke Greek,

which was sort of like the lingua franca of the world.

And Capernaum's an important town, actually,

relatively important town in those days,

because on one hand, it's on the Sea of Galilee,

and in those days,

there's lots of fish in the Sea of Galilee.

In the ancient world at that time,

the main protein source for people other than beans was fish.

Not meat, not goat or chicken or beef.

It was fish.

And there's, in fact, archaeological records

to show that the fish from the Sea of Galilee

were exported as far away as to Alexandria and Egypt

and as far away as Damascus in Syria.

And, in fact, Capernaum is on the main trade route

that goes from the Mediterranean Basin up to Damascus.

So this was, in a sense, on one level,

it's a bit of like a backwater type of place,

but it's an important regional commercial centre.

And because it would have had traders going back and forward,

it would be a place where you would expect

many people to know many languages,

not just Hebrew or just Aramaic.

When you go to Montreal, for instance,

most people that you would meet in Montreal

speak French and English,

as well as if they're new Canadians,

whatever other languages from their country of origin.

It's not unusual.

In areas like that,

where there's lots of people from many nations coming around.

When I was in Namibia,

I'd ask, I had to take a cab twice,

once to get, both to come to,

to get to and from the airport.

And I'd made, I'd just ask the cab drivers,

how many languages do you speak?

And the first one spoke seven.

The second said he spoke ten.

Now, I have no idea whether they were just giving me,

you know, blowing smoke at me to impress me.

I didn't know any languages to test them.

But they spoke lots of languages.

Now, I mention this.

This is a Bible difficulty thing.

Because one of the things that people don't often think about

is that Jesus definitely knew Aramaic and Hebrew.

We know that.

But because of the fact that where he was based,

he probably knew Greek.

And because there was a significant Roman garrison there,

he also probably, he might have known Latin.

And so what people often say,

they'll look at a Bible thing

where they seem to have three,

like slightly different wording,

and some people get really bent out of shape.

And scholars write things that kill lots of trees

to try to figure out these problems.

But sometimes it could be very simple.

When I had the privilege to be in Angola,

on the edge of the Kalahari,

I got to be able to speak,

you've heard this before,

I got to share,

to preach to a group of semi-nomadic tribespeople

who had only had the gospel come to them very recently.

And when I spoke,

I spoke in English,

and beside me was a man who spoke Portuguese,

which was the colonial language,

and he would translate my words into Portuguese.

And beside him was another man

who also spoke not only English and Portuguese,

but he spoke the tribal language.

So I would say,

da-da-da-da-da-da,

and then you would hear,

da-da-da-da-da-da in Portuguese,

and then you would hear,

da-da-da-da-da-da

in the tribal language.

And for people who were listening

who spoke all three,

it would be very interesting.

In fact,

some of the missionaries told me a little bit

about how they had,

you know,

whether they didn't always agree necessarily

with how the Portuguese guy

translated me into Portuguese.

But the point is,

what we don't often think about

is if you went back in a time machine,

you might see Jesus speak in Jerusalem

and say,

A, B, C, D.

And then he says A, B, C, D in,

he says it in Hebrew,

he says A, B, C, D in Aramaic,

and he says A, B, C, D in Greek.

And then maybe even,

this is a fourth time in Latin.

And people who are recording it,

the wording's going to be

a little bit different, right?

I mean,

this is just the third thing.

There's lots of reasons

why you should trust

the historical reliability

of the New Testament.

But minor changes in wording,

especially when they,

there's lots of ways to explain it,

but even something as simple as that,

that Jesus could have been saying

the same thing

in two or three times,

maybe even four times

in different languages

so that all of his hearers could hear,

is in fact a very reasonable way

to understand the dynamics

of what was going on

in his ministry.

Anyway, that's a long aside

just on Capernaum,

but hopefully it helps you

when you read the Bible

to have confidence

in the New Testament

and have confidence

in the Gospel.

But let's get to

the real existential point

using a big word,

existential.

Verse 22,

Now, this touches on what I did

with the Parliament Hill

Christian Fellowship.

There's no real way

to translate into English

this word authority

in the original language.

In English,

when we use the word authority,

it's basically a completely

secular idea or concept.

I have authority

to perform weddings

in the province of Ontario.

That was given to me

by the state.

I have a marriage license

with a number.

I'm registered with the state.

I can do wedding ceremonies.

You know,

people get authority

from acts of Parliament.

They get from

professional associations,

but they're all completely

and utterly secular.

And that's just how

we understand the word.

But if we understand

the word that way,

we're misunderstanding

the word in the original language.

Because in this word,

there is a very,

very clear connection

to the supernatural,

to God,

to the transcendent.

It's not merely

that there's some

human authority.

It's not,

there's not saying

that he has

an authoritative manner,

that he has a deep,

booming voice,

or whatever.

Maybe back then

they thought,

hi, squeaky voices

are authoritative.

Like, we don't know.

But it's not as if

he was able to have

the right type of voice,

to wear the right type of dress,

to look the right way,

to somehow or another

act authoritative.

They have this sense

that there's something

about him

which is authoritative.

And for them,

that word authority,

and all the times

you see the word authority

in the New Testament,

it always includes

that divine,

supernatural,

transcendent dimension.

Interestingly enough,

even in our secular world,

and Canada is,

in some ways,

a rabidly secular society.

Parts of the elite culture

is rabidly secular.

secular.

But even in our

rabidly secular culture,

people with authority

like to try to invest

themselves with

something transcendent.

We're not just

the prime minister.

I'm saving the planet

from climate change.

I'm not just

the prime minister.

I'm saving us

from having horrendous

COVID things.

I'm not just

the prime minister.

I'm part of a progressive,

political way.

The whole culture

is moving.

Something bigger than me

that's transcendent,

that's planet big,

that's history big,

history transformative.

And it's a regular feature

of authority

that they want to try

to sneak in,

that they're connected

to something divine,

something moral,

something transcendent,

something big.

And while Canadians,

and it actually sort of shows

for a second,

if you think about it,

why is it that it's

very, very hard

for secular people

to just purely say,

well, this is just human?

Like, why is that hard?

Like, why is it

that they don't want

to just say,

well, it's just that way

because I decided it?

No, they want to say

that somehow or another

that there's something more.

But the ancients

didn't hide around that.

They directly come up

with a word that says

there's something supernatural.

There's something of God.

There's something of the heavens

involved in this type

of human authority.

And that's the word

that's going on here.

They're recognizing

something more than human

in Jesus

when they say

he has authority.

Now, how on earth

would you ever

possibly know that?

And why on earth

should any of you

who aren't,

if you're here

as a seeker

or a skeptic

or a scoffer,

if you're watching this

as a seeker,

a skeptic,

a scoffer,

you know,

hopefully this isn't the case,

watching to see

if there's some reason

you can cancel me

or something like that,

which has happened

to some churches lately

in the Ottawa area,

at least one that I know of.

Somebody watching

their services

to try to get something naughty

to see if they can

get them canceled.

Sorry,

I have to watch

what I'm going to say.

So why should we believe that?

Just because it's in the text.

Well, it's very interesting

what happens in the text next.

Look what happens

in verse 23.

And immediately

there was in their synagogue

a man with an unclean spirit

and he cried out.

Now, an unclean spirit

is in Mark's gospel

there's going to be

two different ways

they refer to demons.

One is just the word demon

and the other one

is the word unclean spirit.

And they're going to show up

at different times.

The devil has already showed up

earlier than this

and there's going to be demons.

And immediately

there was in their synagogue

verse 23

a man with an unclean spirit

and he cried out

this is the man

who's

who has an unclean spirit

connected to him.

Basically, he's possessed.

He's demonized.

And he cried out

what have you to do with us

Jesus of Nazareth?

Notice how he says what?

What have you to do with us?

The man and the demon

have become so intertwined

that it's a plural.

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 the man

and crying out with a loud voice

came out of the man.

And they were all amazed

so that they questioned

among themselves

saying what is this?

A new teaching with authority.

Remember what I said

about 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.

Now, at the earlier service

there's a semi-retired

professor here

who, or there's a person

here who used to do

lots of social research.

So, in social research

and I had a bit of a discussion

with him between the services

and there's various ways

to talk about it

but very simply put

often in social research

whether it's political science

or psychology

or sociology

they know that there's

things going on.

There's variables

about, you know,

things with intelligence

things with, you know,

emotional investment.

There's things going on

in the culture

and in the society

and they try to measure it

and the things

that they're trying to measure

can't be measured directly.

And so what the

social scientists do

is they have a theory

they have hypothesis

they have an understanding

of what's going on

and what they try to do

is they try to develop

an indicator of the reality

and the indicator

is something

that they can measure.

So they don't say necessarily

that if this is the reality

and this is the indicator

they don't say necessarily

that the indicator

is the whole thing

of the reality.

They're trying to get

at this real thing

and they can't get

at this real thing

because it can't be

measured

and they want to be

social scientists.

They want to be able

to do path analysis

and cosine analysis

and they want to be able

to measure it in some way

and show what's going on

but they come up

with this way

of thinking about

that there's these indicators

that can be measured

and that if you get

at the indicators

you're getting at this

you're taking a step

at getting at this

underlying reality.

In an interesting way

that's what's going on

here in the gospel.

You get an indicator

so there's no way

of proving

whether or not

Jesus has that type

of supernatural authority

not directly

but what you can have

are indicators of it

and one particular

indicator of it

it's going to show up

more than once

in this series

of stories

that we're looking at today

we'll see if I read

all of them

a second time

but one indicator

of that type

of authority

is whether Jesus

can cast out a demon

and it's very interesting

of how he does it.

He doesn't perform

an exorcism.

He doesn't do

like the pagans

would do

in a case like that

which they would

try to invoke

different gods.

He doesn't use anything

that he doesn't try

to cast a different

type of spell

using so-called

white magic

against black magic.

He doesn't do

what a devout Jew

would do

which might use

not only

what we would call

maybe liturgical things

like holy water

and stuff like that

but that they would

have a period of prayer

asking God

to do something.

What he does

is he just merely says

what does he say

just merely says

be silent

and come out of them.

He doesn't appeal

to a higher authority

doesn't appeal

to any other types

of authorities.

He

as

authority

merely speaks

and the demon flees.

He doesn't pray

he doesn't do anything

he just speaks

and the demon's gone.

In fact actually

at a level

that you can't tell

at from here

but scholars will say

that one of the things

which is very interesting

about all of the stories

like this

that take place

in Mark's gospel

is that if you go back

to the ancient literature

of the same time

in the same language

there's many apparent

miracle type stories

like this

but in fact

at a literary level

the miracle stories

that Mark writes

and Luke

and Matthew

and John

are qualitatively different

than the same stories

written by the pagan literature.

That in fact

all of the cases

but Mark's a very

very clear example

of us

they use fact language.

They use dispassionate

we would almost say

scientific language

descriptive language

whereas the other type

of language

is couched

with seems like

and other types

of flowery types

of things

that shows

that the writers

are trying to blur

the whole realm

between poetry

and imagination

and myth making

and what actually happened

but none of that

is here

it's a very type

of factoid

language

which is used

and so in this story

which is just sort of

very matter of fact

Jesus just merely expresses

he just merely says

and this is what happens

and so the implication is

if Jesus can do that

he is authority

and so therefore

these other things

that he says

are

it's authority itself

in fact not authority itself

it's authority

himself

speaking

authority

himself

present amongst us

now

let's just be very frank

if this is true

if it really happened

the world is very different

I've said this before

but we can't say it enough

if this actually happened

the world is very different

than the world

presented by CBC

CTV

Global News

the Supreme Court of Canada

the Prime Minister's office

the office of the official opposition

and the NDP

and the Green Party

and the Bloc Québécois

the official view

of the academy

if this is actually

if this actually happened

the world is very different

than the way we're being told it is

and if you think about it

for a second

we have all of these clues

even within literature

and even within those realms

of discourse

we have all of these clues

that what they talk about

isn't actually

you know it's a little bit like

it's a little bit like

if you go to some sources

that are a bit skeptical

about mass mandates

and stuff

one of the things

they love doing

they love doing

is taking

like there's a little while ago

the Democratic Caucus

was about to make

some announcement

they didn't realize

there was somebody

taking a picture

and they took a picture of it

one minute before the announcement

and the minute before the announcement

none of them were wearing masks

but in the official picture

they're all wearing masks

right

like it's a bit of a sign

that they don't really believe

what they say about masks

right

just as

sorry I have to stop

okay

just stop George

by the way

this is a human problem

okay

it's not a political problem

it's a human problem

we all talk one thing

and do different things

it's a human problem

right

human problem

not political

but what I'm saying as

is that

even in the world

that talks about

at rapidly secular

that there is no higher meaning

and just as I said

it's hard for politicians

to not want to try to add

as if there's a higher meaning

same it is actually with us

like the fact of the matter is

is that the idea

that the world

is completely and utterly

devoid of meaning

that in fact

all that happens

is that

you know

we just sort of pretend

that there's some meaning

because if you pretend

there's some meaning

then it's easier to live life

that you don't really think

that there's some type

of a meaning

which is greater than you

and separate from you

that there's actually

what happens

if you notice

if you look

at a very very elderly woman

smiling with all their wrinkles

and you think

that there's something

beautiful about that

and something wonderful

about that

it's not just something

you've put on her

but that you're actually

recognizing something

that's real

that if you hear

a spectacularly beautiful

piece of music

that just deeply moves you

it's not just

that you've created

some type of emotion

to put on that

but you have a sense

that you're recognizing

something which is real

that if you see

a beautiful sunset

you know

if you're off in the Rockies

and you see a sunset

you see the Rockies

you see the ocean

and you just

your heart is just filled

that there's something there

which is just wonderful

and if somebody says

no you're just putting that

on that

but hard of you know

that there's a clue

that you're not just

putting that on that

you recognize something

which is there

which is separate from you

that you say

it doesn't matter

if you're a Muslim

a Buddhist

an atheist

it doesn't matter

if you're gay

or straight

you should think

that that is beautiful

and so we see

these clues

that there is a

there's a beauty

that there's a

a meaning

that there's a

a type of glory

that we don't

impose on the world

but that we recognize

on the world

and that if you do that

if you recognize that

that there's a bit

of a clue

it's a clue

that the Christian

side of the conversation

is the right side

of the conversation

to be on

Jesus has authority

if you have a sense

that there must be

meaning to life

that there must be

well if you have a sense

that gosh

it really is the case

it must be the case

it has to be the case

that love is stronger

and deeper

and more pure

and that which we should

choose over hatred

if you have this sense

that they're not just

two equal and opposed

things

you know

you can flip a coin

I'm going to choose

hatred

well I'm going to choose

love

I'm going to choose

hatred

I'm going to choose

love

but then no

no no no no no

you have to choose

love

there's something

deeper and truer

and realer

about love

than hatred

if you have this

sense that love

has to be

that life has to

be stronger

than death

that there's

something offensive

of death

that life and death

aren't equally

just merely natural

biological processes

that make no difference

except the fact

that we invest

some difference

and meaning to it

but that when we

recognize that life

has to be stronger

than death

that there's something

offensive with death

that we're not

creating that

imposing that

but we're recognizing

that that is a clue

that you should be

on the Christian side

of the conversation

on this issue

though what we see

in the person

of Jesus

who has authority

which is something

of the supernatural

and what he's doing

he's revealing

what that supernatural

reality is

that he's revealing

that in fact

health is what

we were made for

not sickness

clarity of mind

and heart

not being demonized

is what we were made for

that life is what

we were made for

not for death

that love is what

we were made for

not hatred

that justice is what

we were made for

not injustice

that compassion

is what we were made for

not oppression

and if you have a sense

that those things are true

then you are on the

Christian side

of the playing field

whether you recognize

it or not

in fact

you know even

you know

you know

secular scholars

mainly English

and European scholars

have been doing work

over the last

decade

to try to reveal

these are secular thinkers

coming to an understanding

that a lot of the stuff

that we think

is just reason

and is just

secular reason

in fact

comes from Christianity

because you see

you think about it

for a second

here we have

authority itself

in the room

and authority

in itself

in a room

is confronted

by a demonized man

and when authority

itself is in the room

confronted with

a demonized man

authority

uses

its authority

to heal

the man

and don't we all

have a sense

I mean

go back to that

mask thing

and you know

you can catch

you can catch

all the parties

do it

okay

I'm not making

any political

I really am not

making a political

point about this

I really am not

it's a human

problem

right

but where does

that inclination

and that insight

that moral insight

come from

in secular society

that people in

positions of power

and authority

that they should

use it for good

not for bad

they should act

with some type

of sympathy

for the weak

and not oppress

the weak

like where does

that insight

come from

in the Hindu

and Buddhist

mythology

there's caste

you deserve

that caste

that's why

people like

Mother Teresa

were so radical

like they deserve

that

they earned

that status

no for Christians

they don't earn

that status

human beings

have dignity

and worth

and don't you

have that sense

that authority

real authority

real power

should have some

degree of love

and compassion

in it

that that's what

it's really designed

for

you look at

atheistic states

that's not

necessarily there

it comes from

the Bible

it comes from

being formed

by stories

like this

that we have

this sense

it's not something

that emerged

just from purely

secular

like read Nietzsche

Nietzsche doesn't

say that

Nietzsche would

scoff at people

who say that

they'd just say

he'd say you're

Christians

and for him

to say that

it means you're

stupid

and so even

so much

of the secular

world

that rejects

the Christian

faith

is in fact

living off

of the fumes

the residue

of this

formation

that's come

from stories

like this

about the

proper exercise

of authority

but there's

more to this

story than that

and if I don't

get to the other

stories that's

fine

this is sort

of woven

all the way

through the rest

of them

actually you know

what a cute

thing let's

just jump ahead

this is really

really key

in terms of

how power works

and everything

like that

because that's

one of the

things which is

so important

to this story

just keep

reading

verse 29

and immediately

he left the

synagogue

and entered

the house

of Simon

and Andrew

with James

and John

now verse 30

Simon's mother-in-law

lay ill with a fever

and immediately

they told him

about her

and he came

and took her

by the hand

and lifted her

up and the fever

left her

and she began

to serve him

notice that

he doesn't pray

he doesn't give her

medicine

he just takes her

hand and she's

healed

who's Jesus

it's been revealed

that he's not

like what is

this supernatural

authority

what is this

divine authority

the divine authority

is the one

that frees you

from the demonic

what is the

divine authority

divine authority

is properly

to restore

human beings

to a proper

freedom and

control of their

faculties

it's to deliver

you from

sickness

that you may

be whole

but look

it gets really

cool

it's something

it's only in

the original

language

you can't see

it in the

English

that evening

at sundown

they brought

to him

all who

were sick

or oppressed

by demons

and the whole

city

was gathered

together

at the door

and he healed

the many

okay

in a literally

way

and he healed

the many

who were sick

with various

diseases

and cast out

many demons

and he would

not permit

the demons

to speak

because they

knew him

but that verse

34

and he healed

the many

in the original

language

you know

what that word

is

some of you

don't know

this word

because it's

but it's

hoi polloi

you know

how in elite

circles

it'll talk about

the hoi polloi

are people

who work

at Tim Hortons

it's

the

working

it's the

it's the common

people

who don't

really know

or understand

anything

and who does

Jesus heal

the hoi polloi

the many

but you see

here's

here's

a couple

of things

which are so

important

about this

particular story

you see

what is it

that's being

revealed

in this

type of

story

and the

story

is shaping

us to

understand

that

true

authority

real

authority

authority

which is

connected

to the

divine

should be

an authority

which works

for healing

for freedom

for deliverance

for justice

that that's

in fact

what real

authority

that's what

God is

ultimately

really like

and it's

even

it's

shown in

the fact

that

that

the beginning

of the

whole thing

it says

remember

that all

of the

gospel of

Mark

can be

understood

as the

time is

fulfilled

the kingdom

of God

is at

hand

repent

and believe

the gospel

and so

that actually

there's a

riddle

in there

like what

is the

kingdom

who is

the kingdom

how do

you get

in

and what

this entire

story

from these

texts

on

in terms

of how

Jesus

deals

with the

sick

how he

deals

with the

hoi

polloi

how he

deals

with the

demonized

I'm not

going to

maybe have

time to

look at

it

but how

does he

deal

with the

leper

the

social

outcast

how does

he deal

with them

the kings

of the

earth

send people

out to

die

so they

will receive

glory

but what

we see

here is

that Jesus

loves

people

and dies

for people

for their

glory

it's a

complete

reversal

of the

general

pagan

and religious

understanding

of how

authority

is to

work

you see

the fact

is

that when

Jesus

says

the time

is fulfilled

the kingdom

of God

is at

hand

repent

and believe

the gospel

there are

in a sense

on one

level

there's

nobody

in that

kingdom

right now

on one

level

you don't

want to

get into

old

testament

saints

and all

that

but on

one

level

the new

kingdom

hasn't been

inaugurated

yet

it's not

inaugurated

until he

dies

upon the

cross

and rises

from the

dead

and in

the kingdoms

of the

world

the king

sends

soldiers

out to

die

for their

glory

in

Jesus'

case

he will

die

for people

so that

they will

be free

and be

part of

his

kingdom

he dies

to create

citizens

who are

freed up

by his

grace

to be

part of

his

kingdom

we also

see something

else which

is really

important in

this particular

story

one of the

things that

Mark does

at a

literary

level

which is

very

interesting

in the

first

couple

of

chapters

and he

does it

in different

places

he doesn't

only do it

but people

will ask

a question

where does

his authority

come from

how can

he do

something

like that

and the

answer is

given by

the

demons

you think

about this

particular

story

you know

they're

astonished

at his

authority

and at

the end

they're

astonished

that he

could do

it

but the

answer is

given by

the demon

that he's

the holy

one of

God

now this

is profoundly

important for

us as

Christians

and for

those who

are outside

the Christian

faith

who might

be considering

becoming a

Christian

there's a

world

a universe

of difference

between saying

Jesus is

God

or saying

Jesus is a

savior

and saying

Jesus is

my savior

there is a

universe of

difference

it is as

different as

the east is

from the west

the north is

from the south

to say

that Jesus

is a savior

and say

that he is

my savior

that Jesus

is an

authority

and saying

he is

my

authority

see the

demons

can say

the first

but they're

still doomed

if you read

the book of

revelation

they will

eventually

be cast

into the

lake of

fire

for a

final

annihilation

but God

desires so

much more

for you

and me

the bad

things in

our lives

are not

the final

word that

God wants

to have

about you

and me

the times

in our

lives that

we have

been demonized

is not

the final

word that

the Lord

wants to

have about

you and

me

the ways

that we

are unclean

the ways

that we

are like

a leper

the ways

that we

are sick

the ways

that we

are ostracized

the ways

that we

are broken

the ways

that we

are shamed

the ways

that we

are belittled

are not

the final

word that

the Lord

wants to

have about

you and

me

see he

wants us

to sow

and look

and say

here is the

man who

will touch

a leper

here is a

man who

will address

the demonized

here is a

man who

identifies with

sinners

here is a

man who

knows all

of this

does not

have to

die

you come

to the

conclusion

as you

read through

the gospel

of Mark

that that

old Christian

saying is

that it

wasn't the

nails that

held Jesus

to the cross

but his

love for

you and

me that

held him

to the

cross

Jesus could

cast out

a demon

how on earth

could he ever

be hung to

a cross

we're going

to see him

fill the storm

and feed

the 5000

he could

only do

that if

when he

dies upon

the cross

he's dying

out of love

for you

and me

he does

it willingly

he is not

a king

who sends

his pawns

out so

that he

will triumph

and live

he is the

king who

comes amongst

his pawns

and dies

for the

pawns

that the

pawns

might become

kings

and queens

now some

of our

response

just as

we close

is that

I remember

many years

ago talking

to a person

who was

struggling

with alcoholism

and he

came to

the realization

that he

was probably

an alcoholic

and had to

do something

about him

and one

of the

things he

said to

me is he

said George

if I stop

being an

alcoholic

my life

will be

ruined

I don't

have a

single

friend who's

not an

alcoholic

I'll have

nothing to

do any

night

I'll have

nothing to

do on

the weekend

I won't

have any

friends

see one of

the things

which is so

interesting is

we hear about

this and

instantly there's

part of us

who says no

no no

if Jesus

comes into

my life

even though

he died

for me

if he

comes into

my life