1/28 Sermon - Be Quiet

Be Quiet

Mark 1:21-28

It’s Sunday today. Did you know that? That means we worship!

Did you know that Jews in the OT worshipped on Saturday?

What did a usual Sabbath Saturday look like? You’d be surprised at how similar it was to our church service and to our bulletin! When the Jews gathered on Saturday, they read a few readings from Scripture, prayed together, and the rabbi had a sermon. That was a usual Sabbath.

One Sabbath Saturday, Jesus taught at a synagogue. But the unusual happened. A demon-possessed man, someone with an unclean spirit, stood up and shouted at Jesus! There are a lot of questions we don’t have answers to. What exactly did this look like? But one thing we can say for sure: Satan and his demons are powerful. The Gospels give some clues: demons cause convulsions and seizures, throw people into fires and off cliffs, inflict hurt on themselves and others, and often give superhuman strength. This we know: Satan and his demons are powerful. It seems that Jesus faced a lot of demon possession during his ministry, and we hear stories whenever the gospel is preached in pagan lands of demon possession as well. And contrary to what we might think, demons are not as foreign for our culture as we might think.

There is a sharp rise in occultism, of pagan worship, in America. Here are some examples: someone who worshipped the occult cut my hair at great clips in October. I talked to her for a while about it. I invited her to church. She hasn’t come yet. There is a witches night out in Burlington. Sure, maybe that’s just for fun, but there are quite a few tarot card readers, eastern magic and religion shops, and pagan god worship all over the place, in Burlington and the region around us. A book I’ve been looking into, Strange New Rites, talks about the sudden spike in the past 20 years of pagan and occult religion worship. People are leaving Christianity and replacing it, not with atheism but old pagan religions. Whether or not we realize it, America is not a Christian nation, it never really was. It’s a pagan nation. People are, more and more, turning to that.

What did the demon do to Jesus? He shouted at him! “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Satan and his demons, even today, do everything possible in their power to oppose and reject Jesus and his church. There is a spiritual battle happening that we can’t even see. No, I’m not saying Halloween and Harry Potter are bad in themselves. Both are fine. They could be bad. But Satan uses everything in this world to separate us from Jesus: our hobbies, our soft pillows on Sunday morning, sports. And yes, occult activities like tarot cards or Ouija Boards and pagan worship are especially dangerous, but we’re purposefully interacting with Satan. But anything that distracts us from Jesus is a tool of Satan. We so easily forget just how powerful Satan and his demons are. Satan’s goal, his dream, is to drag us to hell to spend eternity in torment with him, and he uses everything possible to accomplish this.

Was that scary for Jesus to have a demon shout at him? It would be for me! As we contemplate Satan, demons, the rise of occult and pagan interest and worship, the idea of hell, how Satan uses everything in this world to try and drag us to hell, it can be scary! Satan wants to drag us to hell, that is scary. It can be scary.

Sometimes, we can even act a little bit like Satan and his demons, The demon cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Our sinful nature cries out the same thing, “What do you want with me, Jesus?” We don’t want to read his Word, come to church, love his Word.

“Be quiet.” With a few simple words, “Be quiet and come out,” Jesus expelled the demon, he cast out the unclean spirit, and Jesus proved he had absolute authority. Let that sink in. On our own we have no power demons, but Jesus treats this demon like a dirty sink hand towel and tosses him to the side. Jesus proves that he has absolute authority.

This authority extends to our hearts. We sin. We rebel. We push God away. We remember all the times we’ve been impatient or hurt others, the times we’ve been selfish. The guilt overwhelms us, we despair of our own sin. “Be quiet. Be quiet,” Jesus says to your heart. “I have shed my blood for your sin. Your guilt is taken away. My righteousness covers your heart like snow covers the ground. You are forgiven. You are holy. You are a child of God. So be quiet, and rest in me.” With a simple word, Jesus expels the sin and doubt and despair from our heart. “be quiet, and rest in my love.”

This authority, Jesus’ words, ‘be quiet,’ extend to the whole world as well! Authority always has extent and duration. Children are under their parents for only so long. Governors, mayors, even the president of the U.S. only govern to a border of some kind. But that doesn’t apply to Jesus. His authority extends over our hearts, our lives, this town, the country, the whole world. Everything, from demons to daisies, from our morning breakfast to the moon, is under Jesus’ authority. Forever.

But people struggle with authority, don’t they? We question the experts. That’s been happening more and more recently! But it’s always happened. Which newspaper should I listen to, which doctor, which health expert, which president, do listen to? What is reality? I think the rise in mental health issues is just downstream from this: people are in such distress because they aren’t sure whom to listen to, who has real authority, who is in control.

This questions come up between me and Jesus as well.

- Why does it seem like Jesus isn’t in control? I just read about a tragedy in Washington state a few weeks ago in the ice storms: a mother, father, and brother were killed by a downed powerline trying to save a baby.

- It seems like the devil is shrieking, shouting, and winning. Just read the news! Rise in pagan interest and worship, wars, plagues, problems.  

- In my own life, where is Jesus? What problems are you going through right now that make Jesus seem… powerless?  

Sometimes we question the authority that Jesus has.

“Be silent.” That’s what I’m here to tell you. With a few simple words, Jesus cast out the demon from that man. That is the same Word that I speak to you, the same Word that Scripture speaks to you. The same Word that we Christians read every single day in the Bible.

- Do you know what that Word tells us? Jesus has absolute authority for you, that he rules and commands all things for you. Be quiet, trust Jesus.

- Sure wars, plagues, elections, inflation are all issues. “Be quiet,” Jesus says. With one little word, he can raise up and tear down nations. He directs all things in this world for your good.  

- Sure, Satan rages, spits, and attacks you, wants to drag you to hell, people seem to worship him rather than Jesus the King. “Be quiet,” Jesus says. With one little word, Jesus can hurl Satan back into hell, as easily as we throw away a piece of garbage. Satan has no power over you. He can’t touch you, for Jesus is your king and your Savior, and our God is stronger.

- Sure, there are so many personal problems in your life. “Be quiet,” Jesus says to you. With one little word he could fix any problem in your life. Jesus is with you, he has a plan and a purpose for you, he will bring you to eternal life.

There’s a worship connection here. If you remember back to the beginning of my sermon, I briefly explained what a synagogue service looked like. It was much like ours. They read scripture, prayed, and someone commented on a scripture reading in a sermon. Our service, this bulletin, is just filled with God’s Word. We have three readings, our hymns are all based on Scripture, our prayers are based on Scripture, and a sermon is based on one of the readings. We base our worship and lives on God’s Word. This Word is not powerless, but the same Word Jesus used to cast that demon out, it’s living and active.

I encourage you to live in that Word every day. We have devotional material in the back, reading plans, prayer calendars, and there are plenty of apps to help with that. The word that we read in our Bibles is not powerless or lifeless. It is the same Word Jesus used. It is Jesus, the Word made flesh. It is more powerful and active than a sword.

They just saw Jesus cast out a demon, and Mark writes, “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘what is this?’” But did they all believe in Jesus? Maybe some did then? Maybe some did later after Pentecost? By and large, the Jewish people rejected Jesus, even though the Son of God himself did so many miracles in front of them. Thus it always is in this world. People reject Jesus, so their lives are anything but quiet, still and peaceful.  

So much crazy stuff goes on in this world. Rise of occultism in America, wars, earthquakes, suffering. Does Jesus have absolute authority?

- Absolutely, but what does he do with that authority. Finally, he set it aside at the cross and died for our sins.  

- Jesus doesn’t use his authority the way we would think, he uses it to let the worst happen, his own suffering, crucifixion, and death.

- But what’s the result of that? Forgiveness of sins and salvation.  

- Jesus shows authority most completely not with exorcisms and healings, but by his death and resurrection.

- That is what changes hearts. Jesus tells the whole world, you and me, “Be quiet, I have taken your sin away.”