Jesus' Power
Mark 1:21-34

Introduction

My favourite superhero is Captain America.  One reason for this is that Captain America is the closest thing we have to a Christian superhero.  In the FIRST Avenger’s movie … Cap … along with Iron Man and Black Widow capture the evil Loki.  Thor then shows up and snatches Loki … to take him back to Asgard to answer for his crimes.  Iron Man immediately takes off after them … and as Cap goes to follow Black Widow says ‘I’d sit this one out if I were you Cap.  These guys are basically gods’.  To which Captain America replies ‘There’s only one God ma’am … and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that’.  But the MAIN reason I love Captain America … is he always does the right thing.  And the REASON he always does the right thing … according to the Marvel comic books … is because the super-soldier serum he took … that accentuated his muscles … ALSO accentuated his inner goodness.

My SECOND favourite superhero is Superman … for the exact same reason.  Superman always does the right thing.  But when it comes to Superman … there’s no reason WHY he should always do the right thing.  DC comics tell us the people from Krypton are just as morally bankrupt as the people of Earth.  And Clark Kent was raised on an imperfect earth … by imperfect parents … surrounded by imperfect peers.  Now as the saying goes; ‘Power corrupts.  But absolute power corrupts absolutely’.  So someone like Superman should be absolutely corrupt.  This is why it’s actually GOOD we don’t have superheroes in real life.  They might be able to save the day here and there.  But the kind of power that comes from possessing superhuman abilities … will ALWAYS corrupt the human heart.

And this is what makes Jesus such a unique figure.  Unlike superheroes … Jesus is a real-life person.  There is not a historian alive today worth their salt … who doesn’t admit that the evidence for the existence of Jesus is overwhelming.  OK … Jesus is not some made-up character … like Captain America or Superman.  He really walked the earth in the first century.  Yet the eyewitness accounts we have of Jesus all tell us he had superhuman abilities.  And in our passage today … these superhuman abilities are on display for the first time.

So we’re in looking at the opening 2 chapters of Mark’s gospel this term.  It’s going to take us 5 weeks to get through chapter 1 … and 4 weeks on chapter 2.  And I don’t know about you … but the gospel of Mark has not disappointed thus far.  Though it’s the shortest gospel … it packs just as much of a punch as the other 3 do.  Yet as rich as Mark’s gospel is … it has a very simple message.  To understand Mark’s gospel … all we need to know is that the first half of Mark’s gospel is telling us ‘who Jesus is’ … while the second half tells us ‘what Jesus has come to do’.  Who is Jesus … and what has he come to do?

Now in LAST week’s passage … we saw Jesus kick off his ministry … which included calling his first disciples.  In TODAY’S passage … we get our first glimpse of what this ministry looks like.  And this ministry is a ministry of superhuman abilities.  What we’re going to see today is (i) Jesus’ authority to teach, (ii) Jesus’ authority over demons, and (iii) Jesus’ authority to heal.  And they’re our 3 points for today … as your sermon outline shows.  And our goal in all of this … is to see what kind of a superhuman Jesus is … and how he should impact our lives.  So please come with me as we look at Jesus’ absolute power … and the impact that should have on our lives.

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Jesus’ authority to teach (v. 21-24)

So … we’re week 4 into Mark’s gospel.  And so far Mark has been telling us how spectacular this Jesus bloke is.  So WHEN Jesus kicks off his ministry … surely he’s going to do something out of this world … right?  Well read it with me:

Mark 1:21 (NIV) They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

The FIRST thing Jesus does to kick off his ministry … is he preaches a sermon.  Now if you’re not a big fan of sermons … then this is probably a disappointing verse for you.  But Mark tells us some 35 times that Jesus was a teacher.  The main goal of his ministry was to impart God’s word.  And this is why teaching is such a big part of our life together at Earlwood Anglican.  The main part of our service … is the teaching.  The main part of our life together OUTSIDE of the service … is mid-week Bible study groups.  And the reason for this is simple.  Just like if a newborn isn’t feeding … there is cause for alarm … so too if a Christian is not feeding themselves with faithful Bible teaching … there is also cause for alarm.  So the FIRST question this passage asks us is … what priority do we put on sitting under faithful Bible teaching?  Because for Jesus … it’s number 1.

But Jesus’ teaching is not just faithful and biblical … we’re told in v. 22:

Mark 1:22 (NIV) The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

Now there’s speculation over what it means for Jesus to ‘speak with authority’:

• One view is it’s because Jesus didn’t quote the OT … he just said ‘truly I say to you’.

• A second option is because Jesus didn’t tell people to keep the OT laws … he said ‘here’s the REAL interpretation of them’.

• Another good option is Jesus spoke with authority on God’s word because he’s the author of God’s word.  Like a book club can debate all they want about what a book is about … until the author shows up and TELLS them what the book is about.

But the BEST explanation in my opinion … is Jesus spoke with authority because the Spirit moved people.  And let’s be honest.  If the Spirit is going to move people for ANY preacher … it’s going to be the preacher upon whom the Spirit descended and remained upon … Mark 1:10.  And that’s my main prayer for EVERY sermon I write.  I pray that the Spirit will help me WRITE a good sermon … for God’s glorification and your edification.  But more than that … I pray that the Spirit will use my feeble words to transform people powerfully.  So WHEN you’re praying for your preacher … and thank you to those of you who do … pray that God will help me write the kind of sermon the Spirit can use to transform people for the Lord.

Well ONE of the people Jesus impacted powerfully is in v. 23:

Mark 1:23-24 (NIV) Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

Now the fascinating thing about this is … Jesus wasn’t THERE for the demon possessed man.  He’d gone there to meet with God’s people and to teach.  So ALL this demon had to do was sit up the back and keep his mouth shut.  WHY then does he put himself on Jesus’ radar?  This is a suicide move.  The reason is … Satan and his minions CANNOT stand hearing God’s word being taught.  Why?  Because when God’s word is taught faithfully … when people are told of the forgiveness of sins … through repentance and faith … Satan’s kingdom is plundered.  And this demon would rather commit suicide than see that happened.  And friends … it’s the same today.  Satan will do everything in his power to stop people from sitting under faithful Bible teaching.

1. He will attack faithful preachers … like trying to ruin their reputations.

2. He will attack faithful churches … like sowing the seeds of disunity.

3. And he will attack faithful Christians … giving them subtle little excuses to miss church or Bible study this week.

So may we not give Satan wins like that.  If Jesus’ FIRST job is faithful Bible teaching … then our first job is to be feeding ourselves with faithful Bible teaching.

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Jesus’ authority over demons (v. 25-28)

So … that’s Jesus’ authority to teach.  The Spirit cuts his listeners to the heart.  The NEXT thing we see in Jesus IS quite spectacular … and that is Jesus’ authority over demons.

Mark 1:25-27 (NIV) “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”

Now … there are 4 things I want to say about this little run-in with this demon.  And the first is … demons are very real.  As the saying goes … ‘the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled … was convincing the world he didn’t exist’.  Why?  Because if you don’t THINK there’s an enemy … then you won’t bother defending yourself against him.  Do not be fooled.  Satan is very real.

Second … there was a lot more demonic activity going on when Jesus walked the earth.  And we should expect this to be the case.  When God the Son comes into our world as a human … of course Satan is going to mobilise his troops.  God has just become vulnerable … killable.  So the reason we don’t see as much demonic activity today … is partly because Satan WANTS to fly under the radar … he WANTS people to think he doesn’t exist.  But also … Satan was just more active when God the Son walked the earth.

Third thing.  Demons are not just very real … they’re also very dangerous.  The reason the Bible warns against messing with the demonic … with things like witchcraft, Ouija boards, fortune telling, astrology, palm reading and the like … is because if we give the Devil a foothold … he’ll use it to launch a full-scale attack on our life.  OK … it’s just like sin.  If we give just ONE area of our life over to sin … what I mean is if we let Satan RUN our sex life, our bank account, our envious thoughts, or our career advancement … we can be sure he’s not going to stop there.  He’ll keep going till he’s trashed the rest of our life too.  And if WE’RE the ONE … who gave the Devil that foothold … we have no reason to believe Jesus will just step in and fix it all.  The only way to guard against Satan taking a wracking ball to all aspects of our lives … is to ensure all aspects of our lives are firmly under the lordship of Jesus … NOT the lordship of Satan.

And IF we are living under the lordship of Jesus … the 4th and final thing I want to point out is that we have nothing to fear when it comes to the demonic realm.  Why?  Because Jesus has absolute authority over it.  He simply needs to speak a word … and the demons obey.

And the FIRST word he speaks to this demon is ‘be quiet’.  Now why is this?  This demon has spoken more truth about Jesus in 2 sentences than Satan has his whole life.  Well the REASON Jesus doesn’t want anyone knowing he’s ‘the Holy One of God’ yet … is because it will confuse people.  First century Jews believed the Messiah was going to be a military leader.  So if the word got out that the Messiah had arrived BEFORE Jesus was able to show what he’d come to do … i.e. die on a cross … then it would have hamstrung his ministry.  So Jesus keeps his full identity under wraps to begin with.

The SECOND thing Jesus says is ‘come out of him’ … which the shaking and shriek shows occurs immediately.  And what THIS shows is … it’s NOT dangerous to pull demons out of the darkness when Jesus is there.  Because Jesus is absolutely sovereign over demons.  Now this doesn’t mean Satan and his minions can’t ATTACK Christians.  In Ephesians 6:12 we read:

Ephesians 6:112 (NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against […] the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

So Satan will EVER be trying to get a foothold in our lives … if we let him.  But what Satan CANNOT do … is possess Christians … like he did THIS man.  The reason being that the moment you become a Christian … the NT says the Holy Spirit comes and lives within you.  And the Holy Spirit isn’t into house-sharing with a demon.  So Christians are safe from this kind of attack.

What we need to do when it comes to demons … is be alert, but not alarmed.  Do not think about demons so LITTLE … that we let your guard down against them.  Our struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  But at the same time … don’t think about demons so MUCH … that we become fearful of them.  Yes … they’re our enemy.  But Jesus has absolute authority over them.

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Jesus’ authority to heal (v. 29-34)

The third and final thing we see Jesus do in this passage is heal people.  He goes to the house of Simon and Andrew … and Simon’s mother-in-law is sick with a fever.  Now with MODERN medicine … a fever usually means a day or 2 in bed.  And if that doesn’t help … a bout of antibiotics.  But in Jesus’ day … a fever was quite possibly a death sentence.  So Jesus goes in … takes her by the hand … and says ‘you’re all better now’.  And she was.

THEN … to show that wasn’t a one-off … Jesus heals EVERYONE.  OK … the news that spread about him up in v. 28 hit the whole town.  And after sundown … i.e. after the Sabbath was over … the whole town came to see Jesus.  And he healed many with diseases and cast out many demons … v. 34.  Now just imagine being there that night.  If that happened today … they’d be media trucks everywhere … the Channel 7 helicopter would be overhead … and every social media influencer within 100 miles would be there … posting video after video about it.  What a night!

So what these few short verses show us … is that Jesus has complete control … complete power … complete authority … over the physical world and the spiritual world.  Now as Christians we’re quite familiar with this.  But let’s not allow our familiarity with Jesus’ absolute power … to breed contempt.  We have no category for this.  Jesus has absolute power … over absolutely everything.  And so the ONLY question left to us is … what do we do with a person like this?  What do we do with a person who has absolute power?  Well like I mentioned a few weeks ago … those who met the REAL Jesus had 1 of 3 responses:

One was they were terrified of him and ran.  It’s like the 2 CEOs on safari in Africa … and they spot a cheetah in the distance running towards them.  And 1 CEO bends down to tie up his shoelaces.  The other one says ‘what are you doing?  You can’t outrun a cheetah’.  And the first CEO says ‘I don’t have to outrun the cheetah.  I just have to outrun you’.  So that’s ONE response people had.  They asked Jesus to leave … or just ran from him themselves.

The second response was to try and kill him.  In ALL the X-men movies … regular humans spend their time either (i) trying to STRIP the mutants of their superpowers, or (ii) just KILL the mutants.  It’s scary being around someone with superhuman abilities.  And that’s the SECOND response people had to a person this powerful?  The religious leaders tried to kill Jesus.

The THIRD response people had to the REAL Jesus was to love him … and give him their unquestionable allegiance.  Now WHY would people do this?  Why would people give up their autonomy … their ability to make decisions about their own life … and obey Jesus like a slave obeys their master?  Well there are 3 reasons:

The first is … they were smart enough to know you cannot outrun a person of infinite power.  While a cheetah will stop running when it gets a meal … Jesus won’t stop until this world has been put right.  And that includes punishing people for their sin.  The number 1 question every human has to ask themselves is; ‘given I’m going to meet my maker one day … what am I going to do about my sin?’

Second … they were smart enough to know you cannot KILL a person of infinite power.  While Satan and the Pharisees THOUGHT they’d succeeded in killing Jesus … the NT tells us Jesus was in complete control the while time.  Jesus was simply USING Satan’s plots … and the Pharisees plots … to fulfil his own plans to die.  You cannot outrun … nor can you kill a person of infinite power.  What the NT ALSO tells us … is that while Jesus came the first time with nails in his hands … his second coming will be with a sword in his hand … to punish people for their sin.

The THIRD reason people were happy to serve Jesus wholeheartedly … is because they recognised that this person of absolute power only ever used his absolute power to serve.  In John chapter 13 … the night before Jesus died … we’re told that the Father put ALL things under Jesus’ power.  Though he was still a man … he could have done ANYTHING he wanted at that point.  So what did Jesus DO with that infinite authority?  We’re told:

John 13:4-5 (NIV) so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,

You see when a sinful human is given absolute power … they get corrupted absolutely.  But when Jesus is given absolute power … he serves his people.  And as our regulars know … this foot washing was an illustration of how Jesus was going to serve his people the following day … when he ALLOWED the authorities to nail him to the cross.  And WHY did he allow them to do that?  To take the punishment for his people’s sins … upon himself.  And that’s what Jesus does with his infinite power.  He serves his people … even at infinite cost to himself.

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Conclusion

So what do we do with such a person?  How should such a person impact our lives?  Well let me give us 5 quick things as we close:

1. Be less anxious.  Satan is not in control of this world.  The world economic forum isn’t in control of this world.  Putin and Trump are not in control of this world. Neither are chance nor fate.  Jesus is in control.  And he uses his absolute power to bring about the good of those who love him.

2. Don’t give Jesus a semi-devoted life … a double life.  If you are ignoring Jesus’ commands in even ONE area of life … you’re giving the Devil a foothold.  And that will not turn out well.

3. Fill your life with faithful Bible teaching.  Out of ALL the things Jesus could have done first … he chose to preach a sermon.  Don’t give Satan little wins by skipping church or Bible study once a month.

4. Do not keep this superhero to yourself.  Invite your loved ones to come and meet the person who has absolute power … yet uses that absolute power to benefit others.

5. Rejoice.  Rejoice that the person who is in control of this world … doesn’t just have absolute power … he has absolute love as well … seen in how he healed many who had various diseases … and drove out many demons.  But he also used his absolute power to save you and me from our sins.

So when it comes down to it … my favourite superhero … is Jesus.