Text: Mark 1:24-26 24
"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." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be
silent, and come out of him!" 26
And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came
out of him.
INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, When the movie,
“Jaws,” was released some years ago, it had the effect of keeping people out of
the water. A number of vacationers
changed their plans that summer. Instead
of traveling to the oceanfront, they
traveled inland, well away from “shark-infested” waters. This is why: [Video]
Jaws was a scary movie, but the horror of it was largely erased by avoiding
those places where the great white shark lived.
If today’s text, on the other hand, was made into a movie (and it has
been somewhat with exorcism films), viewers would be haunted by nightmares and
there would be no escape. To avoid
sharks, one must simply stay on dry ground; but where does a person go to avoid
the horror of demons? Hollywood knows
this, and that’s why some of the scariest films ever made have to do with
demon-possession.
I. A man in Capernaum was plagued by such a possession.
A. He
came to the synagogue where Jesus was teaching and he began to mock Him: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” It was the demon speaking.
1. No
one caught this scene with a video camera, but if someone had, we would be just
as amazed as the people there were. The
exorcism was performed in front of them all.
“Be silent,” Jesus commanded the demon, “And come out of him!”
2. And this scene would forever be etched in our
nightmares—as the demon obeyed, it convulsed the man’s body twisting him into
something which looked unhuman, and with a scream, enough to curdle your blood,
the demon came out of the man and flew off looking for another body in which to
live.
B.
Which brings us to you and me. As unsophisticated as it may sound to our ears,
the devil is still alive and well today, a roaring lion or maybe even like a
prowling shark, looking for someone to devour. He’s real (not like this):
[Video: Fake Shark] But He’s on a leash
now and restrained. But that doesn’t
mean he can’t work great mischief. And the greatest mischief he can work is
unbelief, doubt, despair.
1. And
if Hollywood got their hands on this particular text, the haunting questions
they would be leaving the theater with would be: “Am I next?
Is there a demon looking for me?
Where can I hide? Where can I go
for safety?” Hollywood may create the
questions, but the Christian Faith gives us the answers.
a. It
may sound a little strange to your years, but you need to go into the
water. To avoid great whites, Jaw’s
moviegoers stay out of the water; [Video: Jaws 3] but to be safe from demons,
into the water is exactly where we must go.
b. It may have been long ago for many of you, but your
Christian parents brought you to that very water when you were baptized. We were helpless, just like the man in
Capernaum. Satan had his way with him,
and he also had charge over us.
Demon-possession is not something that the people in Capernaum ran to
the local drugstore to find a cure for.
No one could master the devil then, and none of us today can
either. In some ways it’s like this:
[Video: Bigger Boat] When Jesus cast out the demon in Capernaum, the people saw
in Him the power and authority of God.
He had the bigger boat.
2. But
at a time not that long after our text it would look like he had no authority
when He was dragged like a fish out of water to a hill called Golgotha and
nailed there upon a cross for you.
a. But
Jesus’ death on the cross is the exorcism of the world. It has all the same
marks of an exorcism. You might even picture it this way: Jesus was going
around collecting all the unclean spirits, as well as all the diseases, the
maladies, the death everything and drawing them all into Himself so He could
take them into His death.
b. And because He did this on your behalf; and because He
rose triumphantly from the dead; and because He now lives within His Word and
Sacraments for you, there is forgiveness for you. He put into the waters of
Baptism what we get out—forgiveness and life.
II. And for that same reason your Christian parents brought
you to the water of baptism because Jesus is in that water with the power of
God destroying the works of the devil.
“He (Jesus) delivered us,” writes the Apostle Paul, “From the domain of
darkness.” In your baptism, Paul goes
on, “He disarmed ‘Satan.’”
A. You
belong, not to the devil, but to Christ for this reason—you are baptized in
Christ Jesus. You do not need to fear
demon-possession. Jesus, within the
water of baptism, has claimed you for His own, and His power is greater than
the power of the devil.
B. Why then do we foolishly venture out of the water? In Jaws, after the shark claimed a victim, no
one dared to leave the safety of the beach…at first. But then when the danger appeared to be over,
a few, and then many swimmers went back into the ocean. And you can guess what happened. The great white soon claimed more victims.
1. For
Christians it’s just the opposite. Our
safe haven is in the water. To leave the
water is not brave…it’s foolish. We
would have an easier time battling a great white shark than doing battle with
Satan.
a. As a
shark never stops to rest, so the devil never stops seeking you and me. His jaws are always open to devour us.
b. He never shows himself to us. He remains hidden in the guise of temptation
so that we leave the safety of our baptism and walk foolishly into his trap.
2. You
and I do that when we bite and devour each other with our angry words; when we
see after our own will rather than Christ’s will; when we hold a grudge and
refuse to forgive those who hurt us or our loved ones; when we live as though
God’s Word did not matter.
a. When
you and I neglect the Lord’s body and blood we put ourselves in danger of
walking away from our baptism.
b. Our Savior urges us to partake of His Sacrament often
because through bread and wine He enters us in order to fight against the works
of the devil for us.
c. To pass up the privilege of coming to worship, over and
over again, puts one in danger of walking away from their baptism.
3. But
our life should be like this:
One pastor tells a story of something that happened to him
many years ago during the Korean War. The pastor was aboard a flight from New
York to Los Angeles. The flight attendant seated a girl in her early twenties
beside him. Obviously this girl had never
flown before. Over the loudspeaker, the flight attendant said, “Fasten your
seatbelts.” The girl didn’t even know what a seatbelt was.
The Pastor helped her and asked, “You’ve never flown
before?”
She said, “No, this is my first time.” As he spoke to her,
she opened her pocketbook, and there was a picture of a handsome young GI. The pastor said, “You’re going out to see
him?” “Yes,” she said, “he’s coming home. I’m going to see him.”
She went on to explain that they had gotten married a year
and a half before. They had a honeymoon of just a few days, then he had gone to
the coast and left for Korea. Now he was coming back home; she was going to see
him. The pastor could tell that going to see her husband meant more to this
young woman than anything else. He was her bridegroom; she was his bride and
she was going to see him. Later the pastor said, “You wonder sometimes why
Christians live as they do and make the choices they make. They are on their
way to see their bridegroom, yet they go right out and live in the world as
though it made no difference in their life at all.”
And that’s true, isn’t it? One day we are going to see the
Bridegroom, our Lord and Master. “Man does not live on bread alone,” Jesus
says, “But by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The words, the forgiveness of Christ given
here are life itself, and are your safe haven.
III. Fish are born in water and they live in water. How foolish for a fish to jump out of the water onto dry ground. It will die unless someone puts it back into the water.
A. And so with us. Christians, like fish, are born in baptism’s
water. We live in that water within
Jesus’ church.
1. To
stop hearing His words and partaking of His body and blood is to jump out of
the water. It’s to reject our
baptism. It’s to part ways with our
Savior.
2. And then like a fish out of the water, we are easy prey
for the devil. We will die unless our
Lord, through a parent, or a Christian friend, or a church member or pastor,
puts us back into the water.
B.
Jesus knows full well that you and I often give in to Satan’s temptations; that
we do not daily live as His dear possession; and that we struggle with guilt
because of this.
1. So
we are called to never forget we are like fish in water. As fish swim in a lake, the water is full of
life for them. With every gulp of water
that goes in and then out through their gills, life-giving oxygen enters
them. Fish live within this rich water. Wherever they go in the lake they are always
immersed in and surrounded by this life-giving water.
2. This is like our lives within the church. As lake water is full of oxygen for fish, so
our baptisms are full of forgiveness for us.
As fish take in oxygen from the water, so our ears, week after week,
take in Jesus’ life-giving words and our mouths takes in His precious flesh and
blood.
CONCLUSION: Yes,
Jesus is your Savior. He is life and
salvation for you, and He urges each and every one of us to remain and abide
with Him in the water. So remember who
you are—you are possessed by Jesus, through baptism, out of grace and mercy
toward you. You are His fish, living in
His water, within His church, where there is always forgiveness and life for
you. Amen.
