4 EPIPHANY, YEAR B
SERMON PREACHED AT CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORWAY, MAINE
THE REV. ANNE G. STANLEY
1 FEBRUARY 2009
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
We’re deep into the season of Epiphany by now, the fourth Sunday, the season when Jesus is over and over again revealed. But just who is this Jesus?
So far Jesus has been shown in many way, as the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Messiah, as a caller of disciples, a preacher and now, this week, as a teacher. A teacher--and an exorcist?
Did you notice in today’s little gospel section that the gospel writer, Mark, is telling the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue, and people were amazed at his teaching, and it’s highly unusual, all of this, because this local guy is a carpenter because his father was a carpenter and in those days one did what one’s father did, there was no “What do you want to do when you grow up, little boy?” question that kids get today. So here is Jesus, a local carpenter, for heaven’s sake, and he’s teaching, presumably uninvited, he just walks into the synagogue and teaches, and it’s amazing, he is teaching with authority. And did you notice that suddenly, a demoniac goes into the synagogue, too, and how on earth did HE get in here, uninvited and sick and dirty and out of his mind and not one of us? He’s not welcome! But Jesus heals him. A miracle healing, getting rid of the demon in him. Jesus restores him to the human race. Just who is this Jesus to be doing this? But the demoniac, the former demoniac knows. “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!”
And the oddest thing happens then, did you notice? The people stand there, open-mouthed. Not happy that the man is healed, not amazed at the miracle, there’s no patting him on the back—we never hear of him again, he’s out of the story. The people are amazed, it says, at Jesus’ TEACHING! “What is this?” the people ask. “A new teaching—with authority!”
Mark inserts the incident of the exorcism into the middle of the account of Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue. It’s the teaching itself that is the main theme here, with exorcism being a type of teaching, an example of Jesus’ authority.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never witnessed an exorcism. The Episcopal Church has no liturgy for exorcisms, no priest can perform one without the permission of the bishop, who never gives permission unless the priest is specially trained.
But in Jesus’ day, exorcisms were more common. The people in today’s story really aren’t much interested in this man’s healing. What they are amazed at is Jesus’ TEACHING. The teaching is the thing; the exorcism is merely one type of teaching. What is this—a new teaching?
The thing about Jesus’ teaching, of which exorcism was just a part, is that Jesus was performing a highly radical act of social upheaval. By restoring the man to normal life, by ridding him of the intrusive demon, Jesus was bringing the man back, not only into the synagogue but back into the society from which he had been banished. Jesus was creating a society of equals. “You come!” That was his message. His exorcisms did this. His healings did this. His words did this. His teaching did this. Jesus’ very life was a sign of God’s justice and care for all. Everyone matters, is Jesus’ message. His teaching, says this story, was a kind of exorcism, by removing the demons that hold people in bondage. By smashing the barriers that keep people apart from God. Who wouldn’t want those barriers broken down?
It seems that many folk around Jesus wanted their own barriers broken down, they wanted their own relationships to God restored but not those of others, if it meant having to welcome them into their midst. A society of equals isn’t everybody’s cup of tea.
We in our church are called to live as a community of equals, too, welcoming others as equals.
Which always means working with each other, no matter who we are or what we think about things, no matter what our life’s experiences have been or are. We come to worship and praise God, we provide a haven here for our souls and a place of learning from our scriptures and our tradition; and we live our parish life in community. Bowing to the authority of Jesus’ teaching draws us all together into community. It means letting ourselves be a community of equals.
And there we were yesterday, most of the daylight hours, in the Guild Room, your Vestry and I, with Barbi Tinder, our new junior Warden, shepherding us through the really hard work of developing our church’s list of future special projects, from the huge collection of potential projects all of you at Annual Meeting last week dreamed up and gave us to consider.
There must have been at least thirty really exciting ideas and activities for us to do as a congregation, to build ourselves up, to do with the community beyond our doors and, perhaps also, to generate some funds to support our ministries. I can tell you, everyone on your vestry has opinions, and they’re not shy about expressing them, because it is a group of very strong, thoughtful, independent thinkers. But we had only six hours to work, although Barbi had developed a good structure to guide us through. In our own small way we became a community of equals, right there on the spot. We can’t possibly do every single one of the projects dreamed up at Annual Meeting, of course. Not unless we stop being a church and simply show up to do projects! So there was a lot of giving and taking, bumping up some favorite projects, then having to cast them over into next year’s pile, back and forth until we came up with a list, which even now may change as we move forward. We had to work for the common good, recognizing that some of our most cherished ideas weren’t any “better” then someone else’s.
Jesus’ authority, the authority by which he taught and lived, has everything to do, you see, with working together. Jesus calls us all into community by the power of his words. Jesus’ teaching is a political act of social renewal, to be lived out in families, in churches, in our towns and wider world. Doors open, barriers removed, radical hospitality to all. Because that’s what God’s kingdom is like, that is who God is.
We never hear again from the man who had the demon. The demon left and the man was free. Who knows what happened next. We trust that the former demoniac’s future was established, as he went off to the place where he belonged—to life, not on the outside, but on the inside of his community.