Happy new year! The new year can be a time when we evaluate and review how things are going; a time when we chart the direction of our life; when we make commitments and resolutions in order to ‘this year’ make the change we’ve always wanted - whether it’s to take up a new hobby or get fit or whatever. I’m praying, though, that this year will be particularly significant for us as a church family. I’m praying that in 2020, we will have 20/20 vision.
Now, I’m not saying that if you wear glasses or contact lenses, then your sight will improve and you can throw them away. What I’m praying for is perfect clarity in our spiritual vision - and especially in regard to this question: ‘Who is Jesus?’
If we were to stop people on the street and ask them the same question, how would they respond? How would you answer that question? What would you say?
However you would answer it, I’m praying that our Sunday mornings from now until Easter will help us to gain clarity, and improve our vision, so that we can see with 2020 vision, just who Jesus is - because that’s the question that runs through the next section of Mark’s gospel (chapters 5-8).
Over the last couple of years from January to Easter we’ve been working our way through Mark’s gospel. We’ve seen how in chapter 1 verse 1, Mark tells us exactly who Jesus is - Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. But the gospel shows us how people gradually come to realise those truths about who Jesus is. We find ourselves listening in as Jesus has called his disciples, and has gone about teaching, and healing; watching as the disciples work out who Jesus is.
And the last time we were in Mark’s gospel (back on 24th March), we finished on an Eastenders-style cliffhanger. You know the dum-dum-dum-dum-dum kind of thing. If you’ve forgotten, you can see it at the bottom of page 1006. Jesus and his disciples were in the boat, and a storm broke so that the experienced fishermen disciples were afraid; while Jesus slept on a cushion. They rebuke him, but Jesus stands, and rebukes the wind and the waves. He calms them with a word.
And it’s only then, when peace has descended on the lake and on the boat, that the disciples are terrified. Here’s the cliffhanger question they ask: ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’ (4:41)
Who is this Jesus? The disciples are still piecing together the puzzle. They’re still trying to figure him out. And others are asking the same question as we’ll see in the coming weeks. Will you ask that question too? Will you try to work it out, as you commit to being here on Sunday mornings, so that together, we’ll develop 2020 vision? [And that’s not just a challenge to people who aren’t already Christians - if you are a Christian there is much to see, and learn, and clarify as we grow ever closer and more like the Lord Jesus.]
Now, that’s a rather longer than normal introduction, but it helps us to set up the whole series. And it leads into this morning’s passage quite nicely too. You see, the disciples are asking, ‘who is this?’ and if they’re listening, they’ll hear the answer from a most unlikely source.
At the end of chapter 4 they were in the boat on the freshly calmed lake. When they step out onto dry land at the start of chapter 5 (across the lake), they find a fearsome fellow. Or rather, this fearsome fellow finds them. He comes to meet Jesus. You know the expression, wouldn’t want to meet someone on a dark night? This guy fits the bill.
He’s tormented by an evil spirit - a demon of some kind. He has cut himself off from normal society - he lives among the tombs, he’s been bound hand and foot, but breaks the chains and irons, and no one is strong enough to subdue him. Everyone knew about him, and everyone feared him.
And look - in verse 7 - he knows exactly who Jesus is! The disciples were wondering, asking the question, but this man knows the answer: ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!’ He recognises who Jesus is - the Son of the Most High God. How does he know when the disciples didn’t? Because the demon knows - and trembles.
He says all that because Jesus had already ordered the evil spirit out of the man. (8) And, as it turns out, the man had more than one evil spirit living in him - he was called Legion, because there were so many. And the demons beg Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. And then the demons beg that they be sent into a large herd of pigs feeding nearby. It’s only when Jesus gives permission that the evil spirits go into the pigs, who then rush down the hillside into the lake and were drowned. So Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, has power over the evil spirits or demons. He is stronger than them; he has authority over them.
Imagine, a flock? a herd? a collective group of pigs (a team) all suddenly running downhill and into the lake. The people who had been tending the pigs ran off into the town to tell about what had happened. Pigs acting like lemmings - they hadn’t seen anything like it before. And then everyone comes out to see what had happened. And what do they see?
‘When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.’ (15) The pigherders told what had happened to the man, and to the pigs.
Now, how would you react? What would you think? What should happen next? They held a great party and rejoiced at the man’s freedom? Nope. They asked Jesus to help them with their problems? Nope. Here’s what they actually did: ‘Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.’ (17)
God the Son has arrived, bringing his power over sin and evil spirits, and they ask him to leave. They’ve seen or heard how he can change people, restore people, bring freedom and new life... and they want no part of it. They want him gone, out of their lives.
Could that be us as well? We see how some of our family or friends begin to follow Jesus, and we see the change it brings in their life, and we don’t want it for ourselves. We’re happy the way we are. We’re afraid of what we might have to give up, or might lose, if we turn to Jesus. And so we ask him to leave us alone, the way things are.
May that not be us in this new year! May we have 2020 vision in the year 2020, so that we see who Jesus is - the Son of the Most High, the one who is stronger than whatever may have overpowered us, so that we find our peace in him.
A while back I heard a sermon by the Scottish minister and author Sinclair Ferguson. He asked a very provocative question in the sermon. Here it is: Why did Jesus say yes to the pleading of the demons, but no to the request of his follower? It sounds strange, doesn’t it? Almost topsy turvy. Jesus granted the request of the demons, to send them into the pigs; but Jesus says no to the request of his new follower. Why would Jesus do that?
And when you see his request, it seems even more unfair. Jesus is getting into the boat. He’s leaving the area again, going back across the lake. And the man who had been demon-possessed wants to come with him. He wants to be with Jesus. That’s a fair enough request - a good request, isn’t it? But Jesus says no. How unfair! How cruel it seems!
But Jesus says no to his request, because Jesus has a better task for him to do. In our wisdom, we maybe can’t understand what Jesus is doing, or why he says no to our requests and prayers. But God’s wisdom is higher than ours, and he knows his purpose.
You see, here, in this case, Jesus has been drummed out of the area. They won’t listen to him. They don’t want him around. But he will not be left without a witness. That’s why Jesus says what he says: ‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ (19)
The man can’t come with Jesus, because he can witness for Jesus in his own town, and among his family. And notice his order - tell them how much the Lord has done for you. In Luke’s version of this event, it’s ‘tell how much God has done for you.’ (Lk 8:39)
He’s told to talk about the Lord. And who does he talk about? He knows who the Lord is; he knows who God is: ‘So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.’
From one afternoon with Jesus, he knows that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God; that he is the Lord, that he is God. He’s a witness to how God’s power and love and mercy can change a person, and overpower whatever has overpowered a person.
What’s your story? How have you been changed by Jesus? My prayer is that as we see Jesus ever clearer, and gain 2020 vision, we’ll see him at work in our lives to change, and heal, and restore - and amaze the community around us.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 5th January 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment