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One of the things I have grown to appreciate, most of the time, about my daughter Aubreigh is her ability to say things that seem so profound and she says them with such certainty. I remember one time we were at Disney, not this last time, and we were trying to get somewhere in the park and it happened to be particularly crowded in the walkway that we were heading down. I don’t remember why, but we didn’t have her stroller with us at the moment. We may have left it somewhere central to hit a couple of different attractions, but we were walking to try to get to a show and we wanted to hurry so we told Aubreigh to hold tight to my hand and walk fast. She turned to us and looked us straight in the eyes and said, “You know it would be much faster if you just carry me.” Carrying her isn’t always easy, but you know what she was absolutely right. If I carried her it would go a lot faster because then it was just Bekkah and I walking to exactly where we knew we needed to go.
Aubreigh saw the situation of a crowded walkway, knew that we were in a hurry to see the show, and came up with a very smart and thoughtful solution to the problem we were facing. So I looked at her in amazement, picked her up, told her she was right, and we quickly walked to the show that we all wanted to see. We made it in time and we even managed to get some decent seats, all thanks to Aubreigh’s smart and quick thinking. She had a fresh perspective on the situation and it worked out well for all of us.
There have been other times and other situations where she has come up with some great ideas and there have been some times when she offers her thoughts and opinions on things and we don’t always take her up on it, but she is constantly trying to figure out how to do things and they are almost always ways that we hadn’t thought of doing it before. And as I said, we don’t always follow her suggestions, but I really do admire that our 4 year-old is actively listening to our ideas and tries to help problem solve with us. Even if we don’t go with one of her ideas, it at the very least makes us stop and think and even makes me realize that there are different ways of handling a situation or try to solve a problem, and perhaps she’ll have another epiphany moment, or at least an idea that sparks a better idea than the one that Bekkah and I originally came up with, a fresh perspective.
You could say that Jesus teaching and healing in the synagogue today was a fresh perspective on things. The beginning of our text tells us that ‘they’, which I assume were those gathered at the synagogue to worship and learn, were astounded or amazed at Jesus teaching because he taught with authority. It’s at these moments when I wish we knew what Jesus had said, but the focus of the text isn’t on what he said specifically, but to note that the people saw it as something new, as something different, and because it was new and different it wowed them.
This teaching with authority is contrasted to that of the scribes. At a glance it would seem as if Mark were trying to put down the scribes for their work. It seems as though the scribes weren’t very good at what they did because when Jesus comes in, he amazes the people and does something, and says something that the scribes are unable to do. I think there’s more to it than that, though. I don’t think that it’s about the fact that the scribes aren’t good at what they do, after all, the whole reasons these people were the scribes is because they had been trained to teach the stories and to know how to interpret the readings from the Torah so that everyone could understand them. They were the scholars and teachers of the day.
I think the reason for the contrast is that Jesus is what we talked about last week in our text from John. Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel, he is the one who has direct authority and direct access to God. His teaching comes directly from his connection to God and the Holy Spirit. Jesus isn’t just interpreting the texts from the Torah and from Isaiah, by teaching what had been taught to him from his days in scribal school, he is teaching directly from God’s own self. Jesus truly has the authority and the knowledge to teach what is truly meant by each text he reads, so to a degree everything he says and does is new and fresh.
Even the people there that day say that his teaching is new. If we skip down past the story of Jesus healing the man from the unclean spirit we see the people are amazed and astounded again and declare that he has a new teaching with authority. I would agree that the teaching is new, but I would also argue that it is at the same time old. Jesus is teaching and sharing knowledge directly from God, and so his interpretations of the texts and the things he says may seem new to everyone who is hearing it, but at the same time he is teaching on the same texts that God helped to inspire people to write down. These are stories about God and God’s interactions with creation. Nothing Jesus is saying is necessarily new, but stated in a way that may be different than how people had heard it before, and because of that it seems like a new teaching, a teaching that has wisdom and power behind it. A teaching that astounds and astonishes people so much that they begin to wonder who this person is.
It’s this new teaching, this teaching with authority that suddenly causes this unclean spirit to reveal itself to Jesus and tries to defend itself against him. But Jesus doesn’t want anything to do with what this spirit might try to say and so with that authority given to him by God through his birth and baptism, Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the man, and the spirit obeys.
It is because of Jesus’ unique perspective and his unique connection to God that Jesus is able to come to the world and share his power and his authority to the people. He is able to share his wisdom with us and give us insight and glimpses into the very nature and being of God. It is through the relationship we have with Jesus that we are able to be a part of this incredible gift. It is because of Jesus that we have these stories, these words to read and to hear the incredible new teaching that he brings to each of us. It is through Jesus that we see God in a new, in a fresh way.
Fresh ideas, new ways of thinking helped Bekkah and I thanks to Aubreigh’s great insight. We could have been stubborn, and sometimes we are, and we could have gone with our plan because we are the parents, but we saw the new perspective and the new idea that she presented and we listened.
This story we have today is to remind us that it is Jesus who has the power and the authority over our lives. It is Jesus who teaches us and brings us closer to God. It is Jesus who gives us a new perspective on what it means to be a part of the family of God.
One other thing this text helps us to understand, and I believe should be a reminder to us, is that God is about making things new all the time. God continues to breathe life into our world, into our communities, into our homes, and into our church. We need to be open to and receptive, like those at the synagogue, to hearing and trying new things in our lives. We need to be open to new ways to hear God’s word, new ways to share God’s love, and to love one another.
It is through the same old stories of the Bible that we too breathe new life into our world. Make today a new day. A new day to hear what God is calling you to do. A new day to listen to the Spirit moving inside of you, and a fresh way to live and walk in the pathways of Jesus.
Live fully into the newness of the Gospel, knowing that with Christ we can bring new life into this world, a life full of love and light.
Amen.