1-31-2021

Rev. Diane Lee

FUMC Online Church

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PRE-SERVICE LOOP — goes up 5 minutes or so before 9:30, with WELCOME/DATE slide and any pre-service announcement

WELCOME AND DATE

SERVICE BEGINS PUSH BUTTONS TO START LIVESTREAMING AND START RECORDING IN PROCLAIM AND IN OBS AND TO GO ON AIR

click on duplicate WELCOME AND DATE slide, leave up a second or two

WELCOME AND DATE

change to GREETING slide, which stays up

GREETING

pastor gives a few words of greeting change to ANNOUNCEMENTS slide, which will stay up just a second or two.

Then move through however many announcements there might be, giving time for people to read and/or pastor give details,

then move on to next announcement if there is one

ANNOUNCEMENTS — listed by date

change slide to FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

ANNOUNCEMENT —

change slide to NEXT ANNOUNCEMENT

ANNOUNCEMENT —

change slide to NEXT ANNOUNCEMENT

ANNOUNCEMENT — Let pastor know of changes

illnesses, deaths, prayer requests, or announcements that need to go on the prayer list, in the bulletin, or that the pastor needs to know about.

after final announcement, change to CENTERING OUR HEARTS ON WORSHIP slide and leave up until after the Gathering Prayer

CENTERING OUR HEARTS ON WORSHIP

GATHERING PRAYER

Open our hearts and spirits this day to hear the great good news of your power and presence with all your people. Fill our hearts with rejoicing as the words are proclaimed in song and story. Enliven us and remind us that you are with us, through the pillar of fire, through the magnificent words of the prophets, through the ministry and love of Jesus Christ. AMEN.

change to CALL TO WORSHIP slide; leave up a second or two and then go to WORDS TO CALL TO WORSHIP slides and click through wherever you see a dash (—)

CALL TO WORSHIP (Inspired by Mark 1:21-28 and adapted from liturgy by Richard Bott)

PASTOR: As people, as a group, as a community of faith –

PEOPLE: we gather in this place, wherever this place is, because we know You are here, among us.

PASTOR: We come to listen, to worship, to pray.

PEOPLE: We come to be with God.

PASTOR: Because we know it is out of God’s authority as the one, true God.

PEOPLE: Because we know it out of God’s love that we live and move and have our being.

ALL: Praise be to God!

change to FIRST HYMN slide, which gives the name of the hymn and stays up for a short introduction of the hymn . Then the slide changes

to the words of the first hymn (a single slide that is actually several slides. If a verse is broken up into more than one slide, the signal for the slide change is a dash ( — )

FIRST HYMN — “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” Verses 1,2,3

Traditionally our first hymn is one of joy and praise, and that’s certainly true today. We’re going to sing three verses of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” The words are from Henry Van Dyke, and the tune is the joyful music of Ludwig van Beethoven. Join in as we sing.

VERSE 1

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,

God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,

Praising Thee, their sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;

Drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day.

VERSE 2

All Thy works with joy surround me,

Earth and heaven reflect thy rays,

Stars and angels sing around Thee,

Center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain,

Blooming meadow, flashing sea,

Chanting bird and flowing fountain,

Call us to rejoice in Thee.

VERSE 3

Thou art giving and forgiving,

Ever blessing, ever blest,

Well-spring of the joy of living,

Ocean-depth of happy rest!

Thou our Father, Christ our brother:

All who live in love are Thine;

Teach us how to love each other,

Lift us to the joy divine.

When the song is over, change slide to REFLECTIONS ON WORSHIP, where pastor may talk about elements of the day’s worship;

that slide will stay up until OLD TESTAMENT LESSON slide

REFLECTIONS ON WORSHIP

There is a recurring theme in all our Scripture lessons this week, and it about “authority.” In the Old Testament lesson, God says He tells us that he will raise up prophets with authority to speak God’s words. In the Gospel lesson, Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue is described as “astounding” because he “taught them as one having authority.” The Epistle lesson looks at the flip side of authority -- showing that believers of all levels have a moral authority in one another’s lives, both in teaching the word and setting an example, which can mean not using our own freedom to be someone else’s temptations. Another theme is that God is one, and God’s people are to be one — in heart, body and soul, and in our actions toward and for another.

change to OLD TESTAMENT LESSON slide; leave up a few seconds and then change to the words from Deuteronomy

OLD TESTAMENT READING — Deuteronomy 18:15-20 (CEB)

We’re nearing the end of the time that Moses would lead the Israelites. As part of his final discourse to the people, he speaks in Deuteronomy, telling them His plans for how they will be guided in the future. He says that He will raise up a prophetic line that would intermediate between God and the people. This was because the people believed that anyone who looked on the face of God or heard His voice would die. Moses had hear His voice, but He had never seen God’s face. But because of this belief, God plans to choose someone from among the Israelites, not an outsider, to speak to the people. But God points out that He will hold those prophets accountable — both for speaking only for God and no other gods, and for what the prophets said, whether they were truly speaking for God or not. Moses’ successor Joshua will be the first, and there will be many more. But the ultimate prophet is Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who was a fellow Israelite and fellow human being. God will put His words in His prophet’s mouth and everyone who hears hem will be accountable for listening and following the words. There is an implied warning for us today about listening and following what the Christ said and did and a warning about speaking words that do not come from God.

So let’s hear Deuteronomy 18:15-20 from the Common English Bible:

change to words of the Scripture Passage and click through whenever you see a dash (—)

15 The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me from your community, from your fellow Israelites. He’s the one you must listen to. --

16 That’s exactly what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, when you said,--

“I can’t listen to the Lord my God’s voice anymore or look at this great fire any longer. I don’t want to die!” 17 The Lord said to me: What they’ve said is right. --

18 I’ll raise up a prophet for them from among their fellow Israelites — one just like you. I’ll put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. --

19 I myself will hold accountable anyone who doesn’t listen to my words, which that prophet will speak in my name. --

20 However, any prophet who arrogantly speaks a word in my name that I haven’t commanded him to speak, or who speak in the name of other gods —that prophet must die.”

change to CENTERING OUR HEARTS IN PRAYER slide and leave up until pastor completes updates of people on prayer lists

CENTERING OUR HEARTS IN PRAYER

Olien Elmore, wife of former Lorenzo FUMC pastor Ray Elmore, died January 20 in O’Brian, so we added the “Family of Olien Elmore” to the list. We’ve also added Marilyn Schwamkrug, Russell Mason’s sister from Midland, who was in an accident Monday and was scheduled to have surgery Wednesday for a broken patella.

Evelyn Brockett is still on the prayer list. There was some talk about her going back to the hospital, but so far no decisions have been made. I told Angela Arthur we’d keep her on the list a bit longer, although she is doing much better.

Keep me posted on who needs to go or off the prayer lists for each church. Let’s take our joys and concerns to the Lord.

change to PASTORAL PRAYER slide, which stays up during the prayer — when the pastor says something like, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who taught us to pray, saying...” change to LORD’S PRAYER slide

PASTORAL PRAYER

change to LORD’S PRAYER slide

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, Who art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.--Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

change to TITHES AND OFFERINGS slide and leave up for a second or two. This will be followed by an announcement slide on where to send offerings.

Leave up a few seconds so people can see addresses, etc.

TITHES AND OFFERINGS

Where to send regular offerings

change slide to EPISTLE LESSON slide and leave up during the introduction to the passage. The introduction will end with something like “… let’s hear [Scripture citation] in the Common English Bible.

EPISTLE LESSON — Deuteronomy 18:15-20 (CEB)

As is in many of Paul’s letters, he is addressing a specific situation. We’re in First Corinthians, and in the the city of Corinth and many other Greek cities, meat for the average person to eat would be obtained at the temples to the Greek gods and goddesses. That is, the meat would be sacrificed to one of these Greek gods or goddesses and then sold. This caused a problem for the new Greek converts in the church in Corinth, because they took the call to not serve idols very seriously and so they abandoned eating meat. Of course, this was not a problem for Paul and other Jewish followers of Jesus, because they didn’t believe in any other gods existing besides God. But, because it was a stumbling block for some new Greek believers, Paul said we would never eat meat again rather than causing an issue for a new believer to fall away.Basically, you have the freedom and the authority to eat meat sacrificed to idols, but not if it hurts your brother or sister in Christ. Implied is that we are all part of the Body of Christ

change slide to words for the Scripture, clicking through slides whenever you see a dash (—)

8 Now concerning meat that has been sacrificed to a false god: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up. --

2 If anyone thinks they know something, they don’t yet know as much as they should know. 3 But if someone loves God, then they are known by God. --

4 So concerning the actual food involved in these sacrifices to false gods, we know that a false god isn’t anything in this world, and that there is no God except for the one God.--

5 Granted, there are so-called “gods,” in heaven and on the earth, as there are many gods and many lords. 6 However, for us believers, There is one God the Father.--

All things come from him, and we belong to him. And there is one Lord Jesus Christ. All things exist through him, and we live through him. --

7 But not everybody knows this. Some are eating this food as though it really is food sacrificed to a real idol, because they were used to idol worship until now. Their conscience is weak

because it has been damaged. --

8 Food won’t bring us close to God. We’re not missing out if we don’t eat,and we don’t have any advantage if we do eat. --

9 But watch out, or else this freedom of yours might be a problem for those who are weak. 10 Suppose someone sees you (the person who has knowledge) eating in an idol’s temple.--

Won’t the person with a weak conscience be encouraged to eat the meat sacrificed to false gods? 11 The weak brother or sister or whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge--.

12 You sin against Christ if you sin against your brothers and sisters and hurt their weak consciences this way. --

13 This is why, if food causes the downfall of my brother or sister, I won’t eat meat ever again, or else I may cause my brother or sister to fall.--

After the Scripture, change to SECOND HYMN slide, which gives the name of the hymn and stays up for a short introduction of the hymn . (The introduction usually ends with how many verses will be sung, etc.)

SECOND HYMN — "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” 1 and 2

Jehovah was another name for God — it was considered so holy that that it was never written or spoken, and how we say it is just a guess. But our Old Testament lesson was about God, naming prophets to deliver His messages to t he people, who looked to Him for guidance — thus, Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” and the song is full of Old Testament images — barren, wilderness land, the bread of heaven that fell as manna that God provided to feed the hungry Israelites, crystal fountains of water for drinking, pillars of fire leading the Israelites, etc.

change slide to words to the second hymn, which will look like a single slide, but will include several slides, depending on the number of verses, etc. If a verse is broken up into more than one slide, the signal for the slide change is a dash (—)

VERSE 1

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but thou art mighty;

Hold me with thy powerful hand;

Bread of heaven! Bread of heaven!

Feed me till I want no more.

VERSE 2

Open now the crystal fountain,

whence the healing stream doth flow;

let the fire and cloudy pillar

lead me all my journey through.

Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,

be thou still my strength and shield;

be thou still my strength and shield.

When the song is over, change to the BREAKING OPEN OUR HEARTS WITH THE WORD slide, which stays up for a few seconds. Then change to SERMON TITLE slide, which will stay up during the sermon introduction

CENTERING OUR HEARTS WITH THE WORD

change to SERMON TITLE and leave it up until the end of the introduction, which usually ends with something like: Let’s listen to [Scripture citation], reading from the Common English Bible:

AUTHORITY COMES IN ALL SHAPES

There is a form of extreme skiing where intrepid skiers are taken by helicopter to the top of a mountain they have never skied. As the helicopter hovers, they jump out, and immediately There is a form of extreme skiing where intrepid skiers are taken by helicopter to the top of a mountain they have never skied. As the helicopter hovers, they jump out, and immediately begin skiing down the mountain. Since they have never skied this particular mountain, they do not know where the dangers and hazards are. The only safe way to get to the bottom is to make sure that the leader, the guide, the one who has skied the mountain before, is the first one out of the helicopter and then to follow the tracks that person leaves in the snow — or, in another words, the real authority. Not just somebody who is an expert skier, but someone who KNOWS that particular mountain.

Now, I’ve never even sledded, much less skied on even a baby slope, and I personally would NEVER jump out of a helicopter to ski on a dangerous mountain I knew nothing about. I do know this: If you’re stupid enough — or brave enough — to try this kind of adventure, you want somebody who knows what they’re doing, because you’re putting your life in their hands and abilities and knowledge. You want somebody with the authority backed up by knowledge and skills and years of experience.

Now Jesus didn’t have a lot of experience, as man counts experience. After all, He hasn’t been doing this very long — at least not in this lifetime. It was just a few weeks ago the He was baptized and God gave Him the seal of His Father’s approval and God equipped Him with the Holy Spirit for the task at hand. The devil tested Him on how He would go about that task — miracles like making bread out of stones or jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple and letting angels save Him so that all could see? Jesus had to make a choice, and He chose the way of the Suffering Servant Isaiah had talked about so much in the Old Testament. He chose the path that would lead Him to Golgotha and dying on a cross so that the world, through Him, might be delivered from bondage to sin and death.

Shortly after, he began choosing people to help Him in His task — commentator William Barclay called them “a little circle of kindred spirits … that he might write His message upon them.” Have you ever thought of yourself as a kindred spirit with Jesus and that He is trying to write His message on YOU?

Now He’s ready to begin His ministry — His campaign — of preaching, teaching and healing. Think of it as Jesus speaking God’s Word and doing God’s Word among the people around Him. And where else would you go to find God’s people than — in that day —but the synagogue? [ATTRIBUTION — adapted from William Barclay’s The Gospel of Mark (pp. 30-36), The Westminster John Knox Press, Philadelphia, PA]

That sets us up for today’s Gospel lesson, but first I want to note that what we’re about to hear comes immediately after last Sunday’s Gospel lesson — Jesus preaching from Peter’s boat, Him telling them to go out and drop their nets (and that’s after an all-night fishing expedition by experienced fishermen that had resulted in them not catching a single fish), and then them pulling in so many fish their nets began to break. It was then Jesus called Andrew, Peter, James and John to follow Him, and they immediately left their friends and family to follow Him.

change slide to GOSPEL LESSON and then to the words of the Scripture, which will look like one slide but is several slides. Change slide when you see a dash (—)

Here’s what happened next, as we read in Mark 1:16-28 in the Common English Bible:

GOSPEL LESSON — Mark 1:21-28 (CEB)

21 Jesus and his followers went into Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching. --

22 The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. --

23 Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are

the holy one from God.” --

25 “Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!” 26 The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out. --

27 Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, “What’s this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!” --

28 Right away the news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee.--

change to JESUS ENTERS THE SYNAGOGUE slide and leave up until time for the JESUS TEACHES WITH AUTHORITY slide

JESUS ENTERS THE SYNAGOGUE

So Jesus goes to the synagogue. That’s not surprising. It’s a Sabbath, as Mark points out, and that’s what Jews did on the Sabbath (their day of worship, which was a Saturday. (Christians began worshipping on Sunday early in the life of the church, in honor of Jesus rising on a Sunday.) I think Mark points it out just because he has an orderly mind and wants to pinpoint time frames — he uses the word “immediately” or some variation more often than any other Gospel writer. In fact, he uses the word “immediately” 11 times in the first chapter alone, and some 40 times in his Gospel, the shortest of the Gospels. I don’t think he brings it up because Jesus healed on a Sabbath, although that does become a major issue later. Here, it’s more that Mark wants to emphasize that Jesus is ready to be about “His Father’s business,” and He is taking on the authority that comes with that.

But I do want to talk about what the synagogue was to the people of that day. It was like “going to church” for us, today, except the church as we know it now didn’t exist. What did exist were synagogues in any town with more 10 Jewish families in it, and the single, magnificent Temple, built by Solomon, the son of the great King David, in Jerusalem. But not everybody could get to Jerusalem on a regular basis, so the synagogue was where people met weekly .It should be said, however, Barclay says the synagogue was primarily a teaching institution. Whereas Jews primarily worshipped and made their sacrifices at the Temple, the synagogue was where they went for prayer, the reading of God’s Word, and a reflection of that Word; in other words, where they got teaching and instruction.

However, there was no one whose appointed job was to preach or teach the word — no regular preacher or person to read or proclaim the Word or explain the Word, no Sunday School leaders to teach children and adults about God and His way and His Word. Instead, scholars tell us that a man would be named or appointed as ruler of the congregation who would be administrator of the synagogue and arrange for the services that would be held there. That is, in this regard, Barclay notes that the ruler could “call on any competent person to give the address and the exposition” of the Scripture. And the ruler often did invite visiting rabbis to teach.

And that’s how Jesus came to begin His campaign of preaching and teaching — and as we see in our reading today — healing, which was why “Jesus was able to open His campaign in the synagogues. Jesus was known to be a man with a message,” Barclay said, “and for that very reason, the synagogue of every community provided Him with a pulpit from which to instruct and to appeal to men.” [ATTRIBUTION: Barclay, Ibid.]

But Jesus’ teaching was different from anyone who had ever spoken at the synagogue. How was it different? Well, before we can talk about that, we need to know what the people were accustomed to hearing. Mark says that He preached with” authority”. So first, let’s talk about what that means.

change to WHAT DOES "AUTHORITY" MEAN? slide and leave up until time for the next JESUS TEACHES WITH AUTHORITY slide

WHAT DOES "AUTHORITY" MEAN?

As I read our Scripture for today, I wondered about the word “authority.” To some, when it says someone speaks with “authority,” it means with the law behind them. For others, it’s more a kind of power —legal authorization or the ability — through sheer personality --to gain permission to do something or even further, to control people or behavior to their will.

Merriam -Webster offers several definitions:

· the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience ("he had absolute authority over his subordinates")

· the right to act in a specified way, delegated from one person or organization to another ("military forces have the legal authority to arrest drug traffickers" or "the money was spent without congressional authority") a person or organization having power or control in a particular, typically political or administrative, sphere ("the health authorities")

· the power to influence others, especially because of one's commanding manner or one's recognized knowledge about something ("he has the natural authority of one who is used to being obeyed")

Wikipedia sums it up rather well: “The term authority identifies the political legitimacy, which grants and justifies the ruler’s right to exercise the power of government; and the term power identifies the ability to accomplish an authorized goal, either by compliance or by obedience; hence, authority is the power to make decisions and the legitimacy to make such legal decisions and order their execution. Of course, that applies more or less to human/social interactions and political/governance actions. As I asked in a recent Advent sermon, where does God fit in? And that’s the question, really, that goes with today’s Gospel lesson.

That is, down through the centuries, few questioned whether or not God had authority. The Jews believed — at least off and on —that there was only one true God who made the world and all that is in it and who has authority over His creation. Most ancient civilizations believed in some kind of god or gods that had authority over wind and rain and humans, but over the centuries, three main systems of government developed: monarchies (or kings or queens who ruled for life or until they were overthrown or they abdicated). oligarchies (or a government ruled by a select group of people — usually rich , but sometimes based on education, religion, politics or the military; these often were tyrannical because rich and powerful people wanted to hang on to their wealth and power, and they used tyranny and oppression for anyone not willing to submit to their rule willingly); and democracies (a term begun about 5 centuries before Jesus that meant “rule of the people” — where the people choose their leaders).

But for most of Old Testament times, the Jews lived under none of these three forms of government — in the early years, it seems there was no governmental system in place. it all seems to be family-oriented, from Adam down through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then, when the famine came, Jacob’s family moved to Egypt for food, which was available because God had used Jacob’s sons to sell their brother into slavery in Egypt so that Joseph could rise to power so that he could institute a seven-year period of preparation for the famine and thus ultimately provide for Jacob’s family. They lived peacefully in Egypt for almost 100 years, before a king -- who didn’t remember how Joseph had saved the Egyptian people and others from the famine — came to power and enslaved the Israelites. They lived another 300 years under brutal Egyptian slavery before God used Moses to lead them out of Egypt toward the land that God had promised to Abraham so many centuries before.

Our Old Testament lesson this morning was about God saying that He was going to appoint prophets to guide the people--- sometimes they would be called “judges.” And for a few years, the Jews lived under a theocracy — what Jewish historian Josephus called a form of government “in which God is sovereign and His word is law.” The first judge would be Joshua, who succeeded Moses, and old Eli who was judge when Samuel was a boy. We read a week or so about Samuel being called by God, and he was the last judge of Israel. In fact, it was Samuel, on the instruction of God, who anointed Saul as the first king of Israel, beginning the nation’s time as a monarch, which came about because the people demanded a king like the other nations around them. God later had Samuel anoint David as king. That line lasted only a couple of generations, and then Israel split into two nations — Israel, which went on to have some 140 more kings, and Judah, which lasted longer, with about 165 kings. Of those numbers, only five were what the Bible called “righteous.” For most of the time after that, the Jews were either in exile in another country or back in their own country but living under various mostly dictatorial regime. [This historical material from Wikipedia articles on theocracy, etc.]

One last thing to put all this in historical context — most theocracies have a “holy book,” which is considered “a direct message from God. The Jews’ Holy Book was the Old Testament, with a special emphasis on the first five books, or the Torah — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — wherein is found the country’s history and its laws, which they believed came straight from God, through Moses. The Torah is also called “the Law,” and the Ten Commandments are the centerpiece of the Law; however, ALL of the Law was considered completely divine, utterly holy and absolutely binding, Barclay said. This meant, he said, that the Torah "first must be the supreme rule of faith and life; and second, it must contain everything necessary to guide and to direct life. If that be so, the Torah demands two things. First, it must obviously be given the most careful and meticulous study. Second, the Torah is expressed in great, wide principles; but, if it contains direction and guidance for all life, what is in it implicitly must be brought out. The great laws must become rules and regulations”

And so the Scribes — the legal experts, the greatest ranking called rabbis -- set out to extract from the moral principles of the Torah very exacting rules and regulations “for every possible situation in life.” This resulted a system of legalism that was perpetuated by generation after generation of Scribes. Barclay says "These deduced and extracted rules and regulations were never written down; they are known as the Oral Law. Although never written down they were considered to be even more binding than the written law,” and they had to be committed to memory. It was said that a good student had a memory that was like “a well lined with line which loses not one drop.”

That’s a fairly long — but needed, I think — way to bring us to today’s lesson from Mark.

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JESUS TEACHES WITH AUTHORITY

Mark doesn’t give many details. Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath after He has called His first disciples and He starts teaching. And Mark says, almost offhandedly, “The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts.” Not a lot of real information there — no details on what He said, how He said it, His demeanor (shouting or calmly making statements?) None of that, and yet, the people were amazed. And why? Mark says because He was “teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts.”

The Scribes spouted words they had learned and memorized, or as Barclay put it: “No Scribe ever gave a decision on his own. He would always begin, “There is a teaching that …” and would then quote all his authorities. If he made a statement, he would buttress it with this, that and the next quotation from the great legal masters of the past. The last thing he ever gave was an independent judgment.” [ATTRIBUTION: Barclay, Ibid.]

We don’t know what Jesus said that day. But we do have four Gospels describing various teachings and sermons, and we can certainly see some patterns. He used a lot of Old Testament Scripture and references, which clearly indicates a familiarity with God’s Holy Word. But then He would take those Old Testament concepts and turn them into new concepts for daily living — You have heard it say "Do not murder, “but I say, "Don’t even hate." You have heard it said, “Do not commit adultery,” but I say, “Don’t even look with lust at another woman.” You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 5:21-44]

Love your enemies.” The first parts of those words had been handed down for centuries, but the words that followed were not words memorized and spouted They came from the heart. And they also came from someone who KNEW the One who had given the original words to Moses and who knew the intent of God’s heart.

I like the way Mary Austin put it: “The scribes can teach what they have been taught, but Jesus teaches with the power that comes from his connection with God. “ Quoting Stephen Hulgren of Fordham University, she adds: "Whereas the scribes are bound to tradition, Jesus is relatively free -- free in the way that only one who lives directly from and to God's authority is free." [ATTRIBUTION: Mary Austin from “Second Thoughts”}

Yes, Jesus’s authority was bound up in His knowledge and closeness to God. But “Wait — t here’s more!” as the commercials say. He spoke with confidence, He was persuasive, undoubtedly charismatic, and He was believable — undoubtedly because He was saying what HE believed, not to tickle the ear or say what people wanted to hear. Or as one pastor put it: “I bet it’s that He honest-to-goodness believed the kingdom of God was at hand. He could feel it, taste it, see it, and He wanted others to as well.” [ATTRIBUTION: DJL on Daily Bread website] at this unpretentious Galilean carpenter-turned-preacher.

change to JESUS HEALS WITH AUTHORITY slide and leave up until time for the OUR AUTHORITY slide

JESUS HEALS WITH AUTHORITY

Jesus has been speaking with authority, and now He SHOWS His authority. The already unusual Sabbath service is suddenly interrupted when a person with an unclean spirit started shouting at Him.

We probably need to spend a little time on this — today, we’d call it “mental illness,” but in ancient times and in Jesus’ day, it was believed in demons and devils, and the word for “demons” was mazzikin,” which means “one who does harm. So Barclay says people believed “demons were malignant beings intermediate between God and man who were out to work men harm.” He quoted noted scholar, German theologian and church historian Adolf von Harnack, who said, “The whole world and ... atmosphere were filled with devils; not merely idolatry, but every phase and form of life was ruled by them. They sat on thrones, they hovered around cradles. The earth was literally a hell.” It was also believed that there were demons connected with specific diseases — like a demon of blindness and a demon of leprosy and a demon of heart disease [ATTRIBUTION: Barclay, Ibid.]

That’s what’s happening here, with the demon inside the poor man using his voice to scream at Jesus: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.” It’s not clear if there was one demon or several, since the voice uses both the plural “us” and the singular “I.” One explanation is that there is one demon, recognizing that Jesus wants to destroy all demons, and this one demon knows who He is.

But the words the demon spoke are blasphemous, Paul S. Berge points out, because the demon used the name of God, which was forbidden. “With this, a hushed silence came over the entire synagogue as these words were spoken,” Berge said. “The rabbi named Jesus from the hill country of Nazareth sensed the offense of these words, the identity of the Holy One of God. He addressed the possessed man and rebuked him with exorcising words which likewise silenced the entire synagogue.”

It’s interesting — we hardly ever think of Jesus speaking harshly to anybody, but that’s what he does. “Silence! Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon, Come out of him!”,” Mark tells us. , “Be silent, and come out of him.” And the Spirit obeys because it knows that Jesus is from God and that He has the authority and ability to destroy it. In one final act, the unclean spirit shook the man and screamed one last time and came out of the man. Berge describes it this way:” The man was writhing on the floor like he was in conflict with the spirits possessing him. Then the voice of a demonic spirit cried out with the same shrill demonic-like scream. The unclean spirit came out of him and he appeared to be calm. He stood up and in his right mind looked as normal as any of us.“

Berge adds: “Notice that Jesus doesn’t rebuke the man. He doesn’t take him out of the synagogue or wait until Sabbath is over. He doesn’t tell him to leave. No, he sees the unclean spirit for what it is – a challenge to God’s promise and intention of health and life for all of God’s children – and he takes it on. Jesus has been preaching and teaching that the kingdom of God is at hand. What does that mean? Pay attention, because Jesus is about to show us. First and foremost it means that God in Jesus will oppose anything that stands against God’s desire that all of God’s children enjoy health and life. Even when it happens on Sunday…in church. “

Mary Austin puts it succinctly and in perspective: What Jesus “has just taught in words, he now brings to life for the assembled group. His authority extends to even the demon that is within the man, and Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the man.” And the people witnessing the event clearly understood that the words and the action were part of the same lesson, because again they were amazed; some translations say they “marveled” at what they had just seen and heard.

Mark could have used any story from Christ’s early ministry, but he has chosen this story to mark the beginning of His public ministry.

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OUR AUTHORITY

Now we come to OUR authority, and some people might object to that term. “I don’t have any authority. I can’t even get my cat to do what I tell it.” Well, NOBODY can make a cat do anything! But you DO have authority. Jesus gave it to you. He gave it to the original remaining 11 disciples on a mountain in Galilee when He gave them their marching orders for fulfilling the kingdom of God, when He spelled out His expectations for His disciples down through the ages. Let’s look at the verses where He gave what we call the Great Commission. Matthew 28:18-20 says in the Common English Bible:

Matthew 28:18–20 CEB

18 Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Jesus says He has received all authority in heaven and earth, and He is bestowing that authority on the disciples and those who follow. The word isn’t there, but it’s clearly implied. How else could they do the work He is sending them out to do with the tools and authority they will need to do it. I think it’s also clear that the disciples understood that Jesus was giving them the authority to do His work.

And using the pattern first of Moses and later of Jesus, God CONTINUES to send leaders with the authority of God to work among us. There are two main points here. One is that He sends US out. You may not feel you’re ready or capable or whatever, but know that Jesus has given you His authority to do the work He has called you to. Each one of us -- preacher and lay person alike --- has been called to display with our lives and with our actions and with our words the love of God that sent Jesus to die for the sins of the world so that all could have a relationship with Him.

The other point is more implied than stated, although the words from Deuteronomy make it more clear. When a person with the authority of Jesus speaks, we should listen. We can’t just ignore the words God has given them. We have that accountability to obey the words of authority, and the one speaking the words has the accountability that he or she is saying what God wants said.

Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to be silent, and there are times when that is appropriate (and other times when it is not.) Berge suggests that we need to say “Be silent: to all the voices around us, to the “cacophony of voices we hear, including celebrities, politicians, advertisements, and entertainment, can close our ears to the voices of God's leaders. ‘Be silent" Jesus might say to all the voices in our heads, so we can seek out the people who hold God's authority and follow them in working for the realm of God among us. But there are times when we cannot be silent — when we see people hurting other people (consciously or unconsciously), when we see people treated unjustly because of their color or income or lack of education or injustice, when we see something that is wrong and do nothing about it.

Such actions clearly do not express the will of God for His children to experience or to participate in.

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OUR HEARTS RESPOND TO THE WORD

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AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, nd the life everlasting. Amen.

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INVITATION

after the INVITATION, change to INVITATION HYMN slide, which gives the name of the hymn and stays up for a short introduction of the hymn . After the hymn introduction, change slide to words to the second hymn, which will look like a single slide, but will include several slides, depending on the number of verses, etc. If a verse is broken up into more than one slide, the signal for the slide change is a dash (—)

INVITATION SONG — “I Am Thine, O Lord” 1 and 2

Traditionally, the invitation song has been a musical invitation for people to come join the church. But it is more — it is an invitation from Christ Himself to join more fully in His life and His work. It asks us to recommit our lives to Jesus and His mission — that all the world come to know Him — and that we make that commitment anew every day. That’s what we’re doing when we sing “I Am Thine, O Lord.” We’ll sing two verses.

Verse 1

I am Thine, O Lord!

I have heard Thy voice

and it told Thy love to me.

But I long to rise

in the arms of faith

and be closer drawn to Thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer,

blessed Lord,

to the cross where

Thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer,

nearer, blessed Lord,

to Thy precious bleeding side.

Verse 2

Consecrate me now

to Thy service, Lord,

by the pow'r of grace divine.

Let my soul look up

with a steadfast hope

and my will be lost in Thine.

Draw me nearer, nearer,

blessed Lord,

to the cross where

Thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer,

nearer, blessed Lord,

to Thy precious bleeding side.

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BENEDICTION

Text for Benediction prayer

After the Benediction and the “Amen,” change to FINAL slide and leave up

FINAL SLIDE

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