Tied up in Impossible Knots

They may have had other jobs in order to support themselves, but their passion and their desire was to spend time as students of the Hebrew scriptures and the teachings of the rabbis.

Their authority was based on those sources and studies.

When they taught, they would begin “rabbi so and so taught....” or “the law says in the book of Leviticus that...,” and then give their own interpretation and explanation of the passage while referring to those sources.

Teachers and lawyers still use this kind of authority.

A good lawyer will look up all the precedents in case law long before he takes a case to court.

Congregations from time to time call upon this kind of authority too: “We've always done it this way,” or “When Pastor So and so was here, he always said that....”

It is authority which has been derived from the past.

Mark tells us that, to the astonishment of the crowd, Jesus does not refer to that kind of authority.

The crowd recognizes him as one who has authority in himself, who didn't have to refer to figures from the past in order to win his way.

His authority was immediate; it grabbed people right away.

( We remember that Mark used the word “immediately” more than 20 times in his brief gospel.)

There are people in our communities who have this kind of authority also.

They “command respect”, not by demanding it, but through their experience or insights, or especially by their winsome personality.

They have authority because they inspire trust from other people.

Mark surprises everyone here.

The people of Capernaum recognized that there was something special about Jesus, something magnetic about his personality, but they still did not grasp the true nature of his authority.

This is why Mark chose to tell the story of the exorcism at this point.

A demonic power far greater than the poor man had him in its clutches, but the demon recognized Jesus: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth.”

The demon recognizes Jesus as the one who bears God's word, the one whose authority in not in the words of scribes, nor in the strength of his personality, but in God himself.

Since he truly is the “Holy One of God”, Jesus is the one through whom God exercises his power and dominion over the earth as he speaks his word.

Jesus does not wait for the demon to say more, but says “Be silent and come out of him.”

The demon's recognition of Jesus is underlined by this command, and he departs from the man with cries and convulsions.

Jesus' true authority is here, the authority of the One who can make all things new.

In what he says and does, Jesus combines the words power and authority in himself.

We need to be clear that there is a profound difference between those two words.

Joseph Sittler years ago wrote a wonderful description of the contrast.

He said, “My grandfather had power, but my grandmother had authority.”

His grandfather could force him, with the power of threatened punishments, to get things done.

But he truly desired to do whatever his grandmother in her authority wished to have done.

To any who would hear what Jesus has to say, he has the authority of a teacher.

But to the spirits who refuse to acknowledge his authority, he uses his power; “Be silent and come out of him,” he commands.

Right here in the first chapter of his gospel, Mark lets us know that no one and no thing will in the end stand in the way of the Lord's will as he lives it out.

But at this present time, it is a great battle.

Instead of listening to Jesus and his authority, we are in rebellion.

Although we have been created and named “good” by God himself, we choose to turn against him and go our own way.

It is strange but true that, as Richard Hoeffler says, “Evil gets its power to do battle with God from God himself.

Evil takes the goodness of God, perverts it into an evil force, and uses it against God.

Therefore, the greater and more generous the grace of God, the greater the potential power of evil.”

That thought should give us pause!

In the past few decades it has been increasingly popular to say that all that the Bible means by referring to “demons” can be covered by the modern understanding of mental illness.

We've been tempted to dismiss the stories as just superstition.

That may be too quick a judgment.

There is a power which is in rebellion against God, a power that is beyond mental illness.

A few of the powers that rebel against God are easily named: pride, envy, anger, an unforgiving spirit, and various addictions.

Some are obvious, and others are subtle in their attacks upon us, but all of them are trying to drag us away from God.

All of these forces that turn us in upon ourselves, forces that try to get us to treat each other as objects instead of as persons beloved by Jesus, exert tremendous force against us.

Even if we could by some great force of will drive out one of the easy demons, there are so many more, some of them hidden deep within us, who are still there spewing their poison in our lives, and quite impossible for us to conquer by ourselves.

“It is mine, all mine,” is our pathetic cry as we tie ourselves ever more firmly in an impenetrable knot of self-serving words and actions.

It reminded me of the old story of the Gordian Knot.

In Phrygia in Asia Minor there was a yoke that was fastened to a wagon with what was regarded as a knot impossible to untie.

Many person had tried over a hundred year span to undo the knot, for it had been prophesied that whoever could untie it would conquer the world.

Then young Alexander the Great went to see this wonder.

He examined it carefully, and tested the ordinary methods of untying it.

Then very quickly he drew his razor sharp sword and with a mighty blow, severed the knot in half.

How often do we regard the problems we face as impossible knots.

We may try many approaches, all to no avail.

There is only one solution, in complete surrender to Jesus of Nazareth, who has proclaimed himself our champion, the conquering hero sent form God to overcome the evil in the world.

The cross and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus are God's mighty sword-cut in the battle against evil and death, and his victory announces the final outcome of our battle.

That bit of Good News means joy and freedom for us now.

We can dare to live boldly with our faith in the One who conquers every enemy,

yes, every enemy in your life and mine.

And that is Good News. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.