Epiphany V Year B [Mark 1:29-39] (8-Feb-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’d like to read to you the Holy Spirit’s words from the book of Mark, where it says:

[Jesus] went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

The church is not a silent place. It is always a place where we speak God’s word. A silent church is a useless church. But also in the church we don’t simply say anything. Pastors, for example, are not called to say to you simply just anything. We are only called to speak one thing and one thing only, and that is God’s word.

A church without God’s word is like a car with no petrol. It’s like a house with no people who live in it. The word of God is the church’s living power—a church could have 20 people in it, 200 people in it, 2000 people in it. A church could come together in a straw hut, a tin shed, a comfortable church, or a grand, massive cathedral—without God’s word, those places are just empty buildings, no matter how many people have come to gather. But where there is God’s word, then there is life, there is power, there is love, there is mission, there is faith, there is hope, there is God creating light out of darkness.

But let’s also take baptism—baptism is not performed in silence. When we baptise a person, if we only splashed water over them, but said nothing, it would not be a baptism. Could you imagine if we came for a baptism, but without saying anything? We’d all look at each other and say, “What was that?” And the other person would say, “I don’t know. Ask that person over there. They might know.”  But when we baptise, we say: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is God’s word, and when it is spoken, and it enters our ears, it creates faith. If we said nothing, we wouldn’t know anything about baptism, and we would have no idea about anything to do with it. But with God’s word, then all of a sudden we can know something about it, and believe in it, and trust in it.

But let’s take the Lord’s Supper too—the Lord’s Supper is also not performed in silence. Without God’s word, we would have no idea about anything to do with the Lord’s Supper. When we use God’s word, then we know about it—then we know that this is no ordinary bread and wine, but that this is the body and blood of Christ. And the only way we could possibly know this is that Jesus himself says: Take, eat, this is my body, given for you. Drink of it, all of you, this is my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Without God’s word, all we are is a bunch of ordinary people who come together on a Sunday morning to do a whole lot of not much. But with God’s word, we are transformed into God’s living church on earth, a holy people, and as St Peter says, a royal priesthood, the temple of the living God.

Now in our reading today, there are various things that happen: we read about Jesus going to the house of Peter’s mother-in-law and making her well from a fever, and then how Jesus makes people well and casts out demons. We also read about how Jesus spends time in prayer to prepare himself for the next phase of his ministry. But the key to everything here is in the verse: And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Can you see? Jesus goes and preaches. And when he preaches, his words have living power, so that even demons are cast out, and even diseases are healed. From face value, we might think that Jesus simply going around and preaching in this place and that place, is not the most interesting things in his life. But it is incredibly important, because this is where the power of his ministry comes from, from preaching, from teaching, from explaining, from correcting, from encouraging, from comforting.

There’s a place in the book of Acts, where St Paul is preaching at a certain house, and goes long into the night explaining to people God’s word. There so happens that there is a man there who is listening to Paul preaching, and he is sitting in the window, and he falls asleep, and falls out of the window down three stories and dies. What then happens is that Paul goes and gets him, and raises him up from the dead. I once heard a pastor say that this is a pastor’s job: first of all, you teach people, you preach to people, and you teach, teach, teach, right until they’ve all dropped dead—then you raise them up from the dead, and you preach to them again!

So let’s read about Jesus does in our reading today.

It says: And immediately [Jesus] left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now 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.

Here we read that Jesus left the synagogue. He has been teaching people. And people were amazed at Jesus, because while he was teaching, a man with unclean spirit stands up and speaks to him. Jesus then silences him, and commands the demon to come out of him. And we read: 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.”

Do you see? Jesus teaches with authority—this is the power and authority of his word. And so when speak the words of Jesus, it also comes with all of Jesus’ authority, and with all his power.

So immediately after this, we read that he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus teaching comes with this wonderful power to perform miracles. And it’s not just any miracle that he performs—it’s not as if he gives Peter’s mother-in-law a fever. That would also be a miracle. But he heals Peter’s mother-in-law from the fever. He performs a miracle of comfort, and of joy. And we read that after that: The fever left her, and she began to serve them. Her health is restored, and now she welcomes Jesus and his disciples to her house. She show her hospitality to them, makes them some food, and looks after them. How do we welcome Jesus today? What wonderful gift has he given to us today, or all throughout our life? How will you welcome him, and serve him with a thankful heart?

We keep on reading in our reading: That evening at sundown they brought him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered at the door. And he healed 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.

Now, here we come across a topic that probably makes us somewhat uneasy in our culture. It says that there were people oppressed by demons. And it also says that Jesus cast out many demons.

Now what’s going on? What’s he talking about? Well, here in our reading, it mentions how Jesus casts out demons and also heals diseases. But when Jesus meets all kinds of different people, he has the right medicine at hand that is needed for the right situation. In many places, he also forgives people’s sins. And this is where this authority comes from—the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus forgives our sins, then there are all kinds of gifts that come with this—in our reading today is mentioned physical healing, and also the casting out of demons.

Now—I’d like to say something first about demons. A demon in a fallen angel. Christians believe that God has not just created people and animals and the world, and all the things that we can see, but that there is also another realm, an invisible realm, and that God has created and appointed all kinds of different angels for his service.

However, like human beings, these angels serve God, out of freedom, out of love. God does not create the angels to worship him by force, but in freedom and in love towards him. But of course, where there is there kind of freedom—there is also the potential to fall away from God, as we know happens all too well with many people. The same has also happened among angels—the devil is a fallen angel, an angel who used his freedom for evil. And we also read in the bible how the devil has all kinds of evil spirits in his power, who are called unclean spirits, and demons.

I think it is fair to say that today in the church today there are two kinds of Christians emerging—those that believe in the existence of the devil, and those who don’t. And if people don’t believe that the devil exists, this is a very dangerous thing, because then they have fallen for the ultimate trick of the devil. Of course, the devil doesn’t want you to know that he exists—it’s much easier for him to work like that, in an undercover operation.

But what that also means in that many Christians don’t believe that they have an enemy. Or when they get to some point in their lives that they seem to need an enemy, they fight against each other. No—we have a real enemy. As St Paul says: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic power over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So what then often happens when people deny the existence of the devil and of evil spirits and demons is to say: Well, we’re enlightened people! We don’t believe in that stuff anymore! We’re not living in the dark ages! We’re modern, scientific people! But when we say these kinds of things—we are far from enlightened, we are far from wise, we are far from prepared for the Christian life, and we have forgotten how to fight, and we have forgotten how to win.

The victory comes through Jesus and it comes from his word. As it says in our read: Jesus would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. The demons recognise this word, and they flee.

Even in our reading, we read: And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

Can you see how seriously Jesus takes his task of preaching? He prepares himself in prayer, in solitude. What for? In order to go back and speak. In order to go back and preach.

But one more thing about demons. We need to take sin seriously. We human beings, although we are created by God as his wonderful, precious creations, the devil has corrupted us, through and through, so that all our thoughts, words and actions are tainted and corrupted by sin. This is what demons cling to. Some people in the church, just deal with sin by shrugging it off as it’s nothing, as it’s something minor. So when someone sins, they just say: “It doesn’t matter—it’s nothing really.” These are people who don’t believe that they are sinners. But then there are others who also don’t believe that they are sinners, so that when they sin, they think that the person needs to have an immediate exorcism. What people need is the forgiveness of sins, and with the forgiveness of sins comes life and salvation, with the forgiveness of sins comes cleansing from evil and healing. Jesus’ words are a powerful medicine to heal all our problems in all their seriousness, and to plummet the depths of our sin. No matter how deep we may think our problems are, or our sin is, Jesus’ forgiveness stretches far deeper.

So what does that all mean for us? What it means is that when Jesus speaks, it comes with power. When we come here and hear the message of the forgiveness of sins, demons are cast out, evil spirits are driven away. And this word that we speak is a down-payment and preparation for that time when we meet Jesus face to face, with the complete and total healing of our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our souls.

These three things go together: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

This happens in baptism: When we baptise a person, they are given the complete and total free forgiveness of all their sins, evil spirits are cast out, and this baptism then is the down-payment for the complete healing of their bodies in the next life. This is what God’s word says about baptism—that it saves us. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved. Without faith in it, baptism is no use to us, and its power is not received by us. That’s why we use God’s word at baptism, so that you can trust in it.

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther says that baptism works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil (that’s like the casting out of demons), and gives eternal salvation (complete healing of body and soul in eternal life) to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

But also, in the Lord’s Supper, we receive the body and blood of Christ, under the bread and wine. But what for? Why should we come? Because Jesus says that his body is given for us, and his blood is shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.

Martin Luther also writes in the Small Catechism: These words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”, show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

Life—that what Jesus shows in our reading by healing Peter’s mother-in-law. He restores her to life. And he also restores us to life, not always now, when we want it, but certainly in eternal life, when we will completely healed in body and soul. That’s why the Christians have always asked for the Lord’s Supper in times of sickness.

And salvation—that is what Jesus gave in our reading when he cast out demons. He saved people from the power of the devil.

You see—this is what we come and receive in the church week after week: Preaching and miracles. Word and Sacrament. We always have the preaching of God’s word, and we also have the miracles: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

And demons are cast out, sickness is healed, and forgiveness of sins is applied. What wonderful blessings we continually enjoy here in the church, in the presence of Jesus! And so that you can believe in Jesus working in these things, and trust in them, and be comforted and strengthened by them, nothing is ever, ever done in silence.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, bless us this morning, and enter into our midst, and cast out all evil at work in us. Forgive our sins, heal us from our diseases and weaknesses, until we look forward to that time when we will see you face-to-face and receive from you the complete and total healing of our bodies and souls, in the resurrection of the dead. Amen.