2024 01
28 EPIPHANY 4 Year
B
Deuteronomy
18:15-20 • Psalm 111
• 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 • Mark
1:21-28
It was forty
years in the Desert that the Israelites wondered, and you could be mistaken
into thinking they had no direction. Yet,
the Israelites, while in the Desert, had the clearest direction of any nation,
and of any time. They had the very words
and commandments of God. There was a
pillar of fire at night and a cloud through the day, which was the very
presence of God. Yet God was too holy to
be approached by mere humans. Moses was
the exception, he was merely a human, but he was chosen by God from before his
birth. He didn’t feel very
capable and is described as being the most humble man that ever there was. At the time of our reading, God was about to
take Moses, and God promised to raise up a prophet of Moses’ calibre.
From that
time on, God did raise up prophets. They
would speak God’s words, However, mostly the people rejected their words, yet
enough listened to keep the nation on a trajectory that kept the knowledge and
fear of God alive.
The
dictionary defines a prophet as a person regarded as an inspired teacher or
proclaimer of the will of God.
In the Bible a prophet is a person who speaks
God’s truth to others. Prophets are also
called “seers,” because of their spiritual insight or their ability to “see”
the future.
In the
Bible, prophets both taught the people about God, and delivered the word of
God, which tended to foretell coming events, or give insight into the heart of
God in particular contemporary situations.
An example
of prophetic insight would be when the prophet was sent to tell a story about a
stolen lamb to David. When King David
heard the injustice in the story he was moved to action, but the twist was the
revelation that he was the one guilty of the injustice. King David understood and repented. This is exactly how the people should respond
to the prophet’s words, however many other Kings refused to have the humility
to accept the message of the prophets. Our passage warns; “Anyone who does
not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold
accountable.”
God’s
promise to the people was supposed to be a comfort to them. God assures Moses; “I will raise up for them a
prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth
of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.” In this there was contemporary fulfilment in
Joshua taking over Moses’ leadership, but it very much points to the promise of
the Mesiah. Often prophecy has a
multifaceted fulfilment; a fulfilment in the near future, a fulfilment in the
times of the Messiah and an end times fulfilment.
When Jesus
spoke in the Synagogue the people recognised something different in his
teaching. They recognised that Jesus
spoke and taught as one who had authority. The Levitical priesthood was well established
by Jesus’ day, and there was a clear structure which gave respect and authority
to the high priest and others in their positions. Jesus was a relative outsider and yet He was
teaching in the Synagogue. In the time of
Jesus, the atmosphere was highly charged with political and religious
ideologies. There were many voices, but
something about Jesus struck the people as different.
This is
something that needs to be explored. We
know what the people said was different about Jesus. They said that he taught and spoke as one
with authority. This was before he
commanded the evil spirit to be quiet and come out. However, in that action, he proved his
authority.
If we were
there listening to Jesus and we were the ones who said, “He teaches as one with
authority”, what would we have seen, felt, and heard that brought us to that
conclusion, and what do we mean by it?
The Jewish
structure had a traditional and an institutional authority. These were the people who could instruct
people in the ways of God. They taught
the people and were the authority on all things pertaining to God, and yet Jesus
is different.
In the last
few weeks we have been reflecting on being called by God. We have discovered that God doesn’t just call
us once, but continues to call us and, more than that, he calls us to follow
him and he calls us to an action. For
Samuel the call was to listen and hear God’s voice, then faithfully deliver the
message. For Jonah it was to speak to
the Ninevites – the enemies of the Israelites, which showed God’s love and
concern for ALL people. Along with this
is the understanding about the love and compassion of God for His creation. Today we explore the nature of Jesus. We are called to follow him, so we need to
know just who we are following, but also this week we focus on the attitudes we
need to have, which should also echo that of Moses and Jesus.
Jesus, was
not like the scribes, as he taught as one with authority. He taught as one with authority because he had
authority! Jesus is the Son of God… Is
God.
This might
be similar to a Hotel empire, run by a large staff with a hierarchy of managers
and servants. One manager might look after the bar, another
the restaurant and another might look after events. These managers have been given authority, but
that authority is a mere mirage compared with the authority of the Heir of the
Empire, the son, who is well versed in the running of the family business.
Jesus, is
the Son of God, and has all authority, yet note that he doesn’t plead or
command that people listen to him. He
calls us to follow him, but he respects our free will. There is love and compassion and second
chances in this call, but we note that there is no doubt that Jesus has all
authority, even over demons. The man
with an unclean spirit, cried out, "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."
We know from
other scriptures that, although Jesus was God, he never claimed equality with
God. He was humble and he allowed the
free will of others, even to the point of allowing himself to be crucified.
Many have
noted that the reason for Jesus’ crucifixion at a purely human level, was due
to the Jealousy of the Jewish leaders.
Jealousy often stems from an ego that refuses the humility that we see
in Jesus. This attitude of the Jewish
leaders that had Jesus crucified is the same one that assumes a superior
position due to extra knowledge. This attitude
is still very evident today. In my humble
opinion, it materialised very clearly in the year 2020, when many of those who
were happy to be vaccinated against COVID felt that they were so much smarter
than those who were not willing to be vaccinated. Hmm…. Yes… there was definitely a sense,
clearly evident in the media, that it was those with superior intellect, who
were following the science and being vaccinated… Others were conspiracy
theorist. But wait - Also, there were antivaxxer’s who thought
that those who were vaccinated were just mindless sheep.
Which group were
in the right? Neither. There were unknown elements and extenuating
circumstances and, more importantly, a black and white superiority is not the
attitude of Jesus, who knows everything, but still allowed people to be free to
choose.
“Knowledge
puffs up, but love builds up”, is what we are told in our letter to the
Corinthians. If we are to follow Jesus,
then we need to understand and grow to embody Jesus’ same attitude of firm
confidence in God, while allowing each other to be free to accept the truth or
not…. And still love them.
Our Psalm
tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In Hebrew the term “fear of the Lord” is
Yirat Adonai. This is a term of
devotion. It is not a cringing fear, but
a reverential awe. To have this fear of
the Lord is to be in submission to God… that is, to be completely humble before
him.
Our letter
from the Corinthians tells us to take care that our freedom does not somehow
become a stumbling block to the weak.
Saint Paul, expanding on his message of freedom where all is
permissible, is making it clear that we are free, and many material things…
signs, symbols… foods etc… which traditionally form and inform our faith – in
the reality of Jesus, are simply not important.
YET, if it is important for someone else who hasn’t grasped that freedom,
or simply needs it to assist them, then it would be dreadful for us to wound
our brothers and sisters in Christ by disrespecting what is important to them.
We are all
on this journey of faith, and we are both uniquely individual, and yet united
in one body. The ear is different to the
hand, yet the whole body needs to be united in some facets, and the way in
which we need to be united is in our embodying the attitude of Christ…. His
confidence in God the father, his respect for the freedom of others, his
humility, his submission to the father and his love. Otherwise, we are mis-representing God, disjointed
like some kind of Frankenstein.
In God we
are both free to be truly individual and yet united, by being filled with and
taught by the Holy Spirit. When I am
involved in baptisms, I explain that, in the same way we grow physically,
mentally and emotionally to have the attributes of our family members, due to
our DNA, as born-again children of God, indwelt by and moved by Holy Spirit, we
grow in the likeness of our Heavenly Father.
The direction of the Holy Spirit means that our wondering in the
wilderness of this broken life, is not aimless or pointless, but in fact has the
clarity and direction of our God, where everything works for the good of those
who love God and are willing to grow into His image.
Every now
and then, we just need to remember that this is what we are meant to be doing,
reflecting the image of Jesus and being the body of Christ in this world. We are willing… we just sometimes forget that
we need to be constantly saying “Yes” to God, acknowledging His authority, but
that is why we are here… and that is what communion is all about – To be in
unity with Christ in every way – The body of Christ…. AMEN! We are reminded.
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