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February 01, 2009
“What Have You to Do With Us, Jesus of Nazareth?”
Mark 1: 21-31 (Deut. 12: 20-28)
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Last Sunday our Scripture Passage described the words and acts of Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee at or near the village of Capernaum. At the Sea-shore he called Andrew, Peter, John and James to follow him and begin fishing for men. This week our Scripture passage tells us of some of the things that Jesus did and said in the village of Capernaum shortly after that.
On Friday evening or Saturday morning Jesus attended the Synagogue Service in Capernaum. He was obviously given the privilege of commenting on the Scriptures that were read that day. The people were impressed that he taught with authority. He did not quote other Rabbis and Scribes, he simply quoted the Scriptures and told them how his coming fulfilled the scriptures.
Just after the teaching part of the synagogue service, or at the end of the service, a man who was possessed by an evil spirit asked Jesus two questions, then made a declaration. He said “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.”
Under the power of the evil spirit, the man knew who Jesus was. The evil spirit recognized Jesus as the Holy One of God who had the power to destroy all evil spirits. So since it is obvious that the evil spirit was speaking through the man, Jesus gave his answer to the spirit by saying “Be silent, and come out of him!”
And it did, amid shrieks and convulsions on the part of the possessed man. That leads us to believe that Jesus’ answer to the evil spirit was, “Yes, I have come to destroy you”. But because of other interactions of Jesus with evil spirits and because of the condition of our world almost 2000 years after Jesus walked the earth, we can safely say, that although Jesus did come to destroy evil and evil spirits, he did not destroy all of it or them during his visit in the first century AD. The remaining evil spirits and evil will be destroyed after Jesus returns.
So that was Jesus’ answer to the questions of the evil spirit. But what if the man possessed were to ask those questions? What would the answers be? What if we were to ask those questions of Jesus? What would his answers be?
Since Jesus drove the evil spirit from the man, Jesus’ unspoken answer to the possessed man was “No, I have not come to destroy you, I have come to restore you. You are now in possession of your mental faculties and your own personality.”
Jesus and his Holy Spirit have come to restore us to a relationship with God and a faith in Him. Jesus and the Holy Spirit have come to help us be the best people we can be in this life and to give us an eternal life in God’s kingdom.
But I would like for us to think about the first question the evil spirit asked Jesus in the context of our partaking of the Lord’s Supper this morning.
In our first lesson, Moses reminded the Jews that they were never to eat meat with blood in it. Whenever they killed an animal to eat it or to sacrifice it, they were to pour out the blood as a sacred act because the blood represented the life of the animal. That means that when the Jewish Jesus took wine and offered it to his Jewish apostles and said it was his blood, he was telling them that he was about to give his life for them, he was about to die for them.
So when we come to this meal and ask Jesus “What have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth?” the answer is “What I have to do with you is I died for you. I gave my life for you.”
After Jesus left the synagogue, he went to Peter’s house and met Peter’s mother-in-law. She was in bed with a severe fever. Jesus healed her and she got out of bed and served Jesus and those who were with him. She is an example for us as to what Jesus wants us to do after he restores us. He wants us to serve him.
As I offer this meal to you this morning I remind you that Jesus died for you. And I want to ask if you are living for Jesus. Are you serving him as you should? If not, let’s work on that.
Let us pray,
Almighty Father, We thank you for sending your son to die for us. Help us to serve you and your followers with what we have left of our lives on this earth and with our lives in your eternal kingdom. We pray this in his Holy Name, Amen.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at February 1, 2009 01:44 PM