The Old Testament lesson (Deuteronomy 18:15-20) finds
Moses telling the people of Israel that “the Lord your God will raise up for
you a prophet….” Psalm 111 is one of the songs that praise the Lord for God’s
works and mercy, God’s laws and redemption, ending with the familiar line “the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” In 1 Corinthians 8:1b-13 we hear
Paul telling the people in Corinth that there is “one God, the Father” in
direct opposition to the multiple gods of the majority of the people in the
Roman Empire. In all the lessons, we are called to recognize that God is active
among us at all times.
We are going to look most deeply at what happened in
Capernaum as found in Mark 1:21-28. “They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he
entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he
taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there
was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What
have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know
who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent,
and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and
crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept
on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He
commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began
to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.”
Note that Jesus teaches as ‘one having authority’. In
this we hear fulfillment of Moses’ promise of a prophet and ‘I will put my
words in his mouth.’ (Deuteronomy 18:18) The unclean spirit recognizes the
authority and acknowledges “I know who you are, the Holy One of God”. Just as
Paul reminds the Corinthians that there is One God, the unclean spirit also
understands this truth.
The people in Capernaum are amazed when Jesus commands
the spirit to ‘come out of him’ They turn to each other and exclaim ‘He
commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ First hand and
unexpectedly, they are seeing the mighty works of the Lord who was previously
known more through the old stories and the words of Psalms than in their
experience! This was an astonishing epiphany for the men and women in this
fishing village. How could this rabbi heal a man who was ill and unclean?
Surely this must be the work of God. It is the Bible come to life in front of
them. In fact, the Bible comes to life for us every day. We are not always aware of it, though, because we aren't paying attention.
On January 27, the High Calling meditation noted, “In Jesus’ day everybody knew that the scribes and Pharisees took the scripture more seriously than anyone else. The problem was that many of them saw the Bible as just a book. They didn’t know it was the Living Word of God. And Jesus is the Living Word made flesh… Every element of human life is transformed for the better by the Bible—if we will but read it! But will we read the Bible? We intend to. We make our vows; we turn pages on the calendar and say “Tomorrow is the day I begin.” And then life interrupts. If you want to hear Jesus’ voice, experience his presence, witness his miracles, know his love, and take part in his life-transforming life and ministry, open the Bible—and begin to read.”
Where are we hesitant to see the works of God around
us? Is the Bible more like a series of good old stories than the living Word of
God? Has there been an epiphany in your life where you say the work of God clearly? Like the healed man and the men and women in Capernaum, we can meet and
experience the presence of God in the words of the Bible, and in our daily lives.
Next week we'll see Jesus at work again, healing Simon's mother-in-law.
