SERMON
The Rev. Maurice C. Frontz III
January 31, 2021
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be in worship on
that day? That Sabbath day that Jesus and his disciples walked into the
synagogue and Jesus began acting with exousia? The Greek word which Mark
uses means ‘authority’ or ‘power.’ It characterizes Jesus in this entire first
chapter. Indeed, it characterizes him throughout the entire Gospel of Mark.
When Jesus sits down to teach, he teaches with exousia.
This means that he does not cite any other authorities. The people were
used to being taught in another way. Their teachers would cite differing
authorities when interpreting a passage of the Scripture. ‘One person says…another
person says…yet another says…’ But Jesus does not do that. He interprets the
Word himself. This is because he himself is the Word. The incarnate Word of God
interprets the written Word of God. Though the people in the synagogue had no
idea of the incarnation, they knew that something different was happening, and
their response was ‘amazement.’
Just then Jesus is confronted by ‘a man with an
unclean spirit.’ This unclean spirit goes right for Jesus. He names Jesus and
tries to expose him – to draw Jesus into his orbit. When we say someone’s name,
it often elicits a response. It commands the person’s attention so that they
are forced to react to their naming. But with exousia, with power, Jesus
‘exorcises’ the evil spirit. He does not react, but he acts. He silences the
unclean spirit and commands it to go out of the man. This act of exousia amazes
the people even more than his teaching. And yet the act of exorcism confirms
the teaching which he had given.
Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be in worship on
that day? To see Jesus acting with exousia? But what is the point of
this power and authority? Does Jesus wish to replace the unclean spirit and take
possession of what it had formerly owned? No, it was not to take possession,
but it was to set free.
Jesus means freedom. His power and authority set us
free from everything that would hold us in bondage. He gives us both freedom
from evil, sin, and death and freedom for God.
When we think of freedom, we most often think of
freedom ‘to.’ Freedom to think how we want, say what we want, be who we want, and
do what we want. We Americans interpret this as freedom of religion, speech,
assembly, property, to defend ourselves and be secure in our persons. There is
nothing wrong with these freedoms. But they are not the freedoms which Christ
gives. Indeed, sometimes these freedoms can get in the way of the freedom
Christ comes to give.
But let’s let that for later. For now, let’s talk
about what Christ gives us freedom from. Here the man is freed from evil. We
pray ‘Deliver us from evil’ in the Lord’s Prayer. When we do so, we should not think
that we could pray ‘Deliver us from evil’ and God might think, ‘Nah, not this
time.’ We believe that in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches how to pray for what
God delights to give. So when we pray, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ we can be sure
that he will. This does not mean that evil is not in the world, nor that evil will
not happen to us. It means that no evil can separate us from him. It means
that, like he did with the man with the unclean spirit, Jesus will show his
power and free us completely from evil. Even when we are afflicted by evil we can
remember that Jesus is stronger than the evil which afflicts us and will in
time free us from all evil.
We are freed from ignorance about God and his
purposes. Many claim that they believe there is a god but they don’t know
anything about his intentions. Jesus’ authoritative teaching liberates us from
this lack of understanding. He teaches us both what God commands and what God
promises.
Jesus frees us from sin. We say in the confession, ‘We
confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.’ However, the
pastor says, ‘As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ, and by
his authority, I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins.’
We are set free by Christ’s exousia, his authority.
Finally, we are free from the fear of death. So
many people are possessed by fear that they will die, not that we don’t take
precautions for our health, but real fear of death. Jesus frees us from fear of
death because he promises to free us from death. We can therefore live in
confidence, knowing that whatever happens to us, death has lost its sting.
Jesus frees us from evil, ignorance, sin and death
to freely live for God and others. He does not control us but invites us to
free worship. Sometimes this leads us to give up those things which we are free
‘to’ do.
The reading we had from Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians is somewhat confusing. Some among the Corinthian Christians
believed that there was nothing wrong in attending their pagan friends’
banquets at which meat that had been devoted to their gods was served. They
knew that there were no other gods but God, so what was the harm in eating the
meat? It was just ordinary food. Paul reminded them that their freedom to eat
was conditioned by their freedom for God and others. He reasoned that some might
be confused by their behavior, and conclude that Christians also believed in
pagan gods and that it was okay to offer sacrifices to them. And so the
Corinthian Christians were told to lay aside their knowledge, for the
sake of love. They were to forego their freedom ‘to’ for the sake of
their freedom ‘for.’
So it is that we can lay aside our freedoms for the
sake of others. Indeed, perhaps we can look at our behavior during COVID-19
this way. We laid aside our freedom of worship in the beginning of the pandemic
for the sake of others, that we might be sure we were doing our part in slowing
the spread of COVID. Even though masks are mandatory in many places, even if
they were not we might choose to wear them out of love, laying aside our
freedoms for a time so that others might be protected. Freedom ‘to’ do
something or be someone is always conditioned by our freedom for God and
others.
Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be in worship that
day when Jesus entered the synagogue and acted with exousia? But Jesus has
entered our lives today by the Holy Scripture, which teaches us that Jesus
means freedom; freedom from all that would hold is in bondage, freedom to live
in God’s light and to seek and do his will. This can, should, and does fill us
with amazement, and his fame should be spread abroad, for he has died and was
raised and therefore still has power and authority throughout the world. Thanks
be to God!
