Preaching text: Mark 1: 21-28
“What is this, a new teaching? With authority?” That phrase may just make this Gospel story one of the most alien to us in all of the Scriptures. More so by far than the presence of demonic possession. More so by far than Jesus’ miracle to remove said possession. No, the synagogue crowd reacts to Jesus with honor and reverence that he teaches and preaches with “authority.”
Imagine living in a society where knowledge and wisdom and expertise were actually valued? The ancient Jews knew these things made the world better. And the evidence is right before them in this story. A man plagued and tormented by evil is set free by the power of Jesus’ authority.
But we don’t live in a society that reveres these things. Not anymore. No, we’ve traded folly for wisdom, ignorance for knowledge, and just plain stupidity for expertise. And we claim to be the better for it. As Isaac Asimov, the famous sci-fi writer once observed about Americans, “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti- intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Authority is not honored here. If anything, it is feared.
On one level though I understand why. It is people with authority who have discovered climate change, a phenomenon that potentially threatens every society and every living thing on this planet. It is people with authority who tell us to trust our institutions, our government, our businesses, our religious hierarchy. And yet, we’ve been abused by all three on numerous occasions. It is people with authority that cover up the crimes of the wealthy and privileged and then, in turn, brutalize the people of lower estate.
It used to mean something in this country to be a man. It meant that no matter how low on the totem pole you were, you were still better than any woman. And while that’s sadly still somewhat true, it’s changing. And it’s people with authority that’s changing it.
It used to mean something in this country to be white. It meant that no matter how low on the totem pole you were, you were still better than any person of color. And while that’s sadly still somewhat true, it’s changing. And it’s people with authority that’s changing it. It used to mean something in this country to be a Christian. It meant that no matter how low on the totem pole you were, you were still better than any non-Christian, any atheist or Muslim or Jew. And while that’s sadly still somewhat true, it’s changing. And it’s people with authority that’s changing it. And it used to mean something in this country to be straight. It meant that no matter how low on the totem pole you were, you were still better than any LGBT. And while that’s sadly still somewhat true, it’s changing. And it’s people with authority that’s changing it.
People with authority are upending everything, changing it all. Some for good, some for bad, and which is which often depends on who and what you were before things started changing. Personally, I think many of the changes our society has undergone have been positive and long overdue. We should be a more equal and more cosmopolitan society. But not all agree. Some see all this as something akin to the end of the world.
I read an article in The Nation recently that spoke to why people in this country are acting and voting in the way they are in these recent decades. It claimed that there is a growing strain of people who have utterly lost their identity due to these changes in our society, people for whom the only thing that made them matter was that they were white, male, Christian, and straight. Many of these are now so full of despair that they actively long for their deaths and the deaths of everyone else.
Utterly nihilistic, they vote those feelings, voting for people who will accelerate the destruction and devastation of our world. They act on those feelings. These are the opioid addicts and the sort of people that walk into a crowded building, a mall, a business, a theater, a concert, or a school and start shooting. They are the people who actually want President Trump to play with his big shiny button and wipe out every living thing on Earth. They hunger for destruction. And their numbers are growing.
Many of them, if not most, claim to be Christian. Most, I suspect, see that as little more than a tribal identity. The few that darken the doors of the church often do so at churches that only abuse them further with talk of a hateful judgmental God who shows little compassion to those who don’t measure up.
There is rot at the heart of our religion. Something demonic that festers in our very midst. Something that takes people who are wounded and hurting and lost and convinces them that they have no future and no hope. A devilish and fiendish lie that devalues human life and experience, a lie that people are listening to and believing in greater numbers. A lie that is protected by people’s reluctance to trust anyone with “authority.”
But here’s what that authority has taught me. Each and every one of us is a precious child of God, valued beyond price by the God who created all things. So valued and so precious that God came to this world, incarnate from a virgin, and went to a cross to die a horrific death to demonstrate just how far he was willing to go for our sakes. He died and rose again so that we may have life abundant and eternal. I know that, I believe it, I want to share and show it, but those three letters “Rev” in front of my name get in the way. Because I’m one of them. I’m part of the problem. Which mean the real task of reversing this nightmare and exorcising this demon from our midst falls to all of you.
You are the ones who need to talk about Christ. You are the ones who need to share him and show him. They won’t listen to me. I’m the “professional Christian,” I’m tainted by my authority. I’m too smart. Too elitist. Too educated. Too distant, despite all my efforts to the contrary. It’s frustrating, but it’s the way things are.
We are God’s children, precious beyond price. And it’s not just that I read it in a book somewhere, it’s also what I’ve experienced throughout my life. I’ve been knocked low more times than I can count and every time, God was there for me. He is always there for me, even when depression and despair have blinded me to his presence. And I know that you here gathered have had the same experience, that he’s been there for you too, even in the midst of your darkest times. That’s why you keep coming back to this place each week. You’ve learned, you’ve experienced, you understand just how much you matter to God.
And that’s what we’re called to do, to tell and to show this to a world that doesn't believe it. It’s what Jesus did for that demoniac. No one else really cared about him. He was a nuisance, an annoyance. But Jesus cared. He loved him and set him free. He loved you and set you free. He loves me and has set me free. Now a world in bondage to despair and hopelessness needs to hear how he sets them free. Go and tell. Amen.
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