Sermon: 28 January 2024 4rd after EpiphanyText: Mark 1.21-28Theme: A Space for GraceLet us pray:
O Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lies the secret of all life, and the hope of all people, we pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us, and its vigour renew us, for your Kingdom’s sake. Amen
In 2007 Janet and I had the great privilege of spending a bit of time in New York City after our three months on exchange in Cheshire, England. One afternoon we were walking someplace midtown and passed by a church which had on its banner that it was a ‘space for grace’. I was so taken by that heading that we went to that church on the Sunday evening. But I must confess that we were disappointed by the worship service which to cut a long story short really didn’t in any way live up to the expectation of it being a space of God’s grace. That said, I still felt that the name, ‘A Space for grace’ was pretty nifty so I tucked it away up here because my intuition thinks it should be the name of this church and all churches. Now why tell you this little story about a name – ‘a space for grace? Because I think I have found some solid biblical foundations for its use – not just because it sounds groovy but because I believe that was one of the things that Jesus was on about – creating a space for grace. And it’s there in today’s gospel passage from St Mark, chapter one.
Here we have an incident from the life of Jesus which traditionally is used to preach about the authority of Jesus. He teaches in the Synagogue with such authority that the people are amazed and not only that, Jesus goes on to heal a man possessed with demons which adds to Jesus authority – the conclusion being that Jesus must be of God to speak and act in such a way, with the implication for us today that a) Jesus is still powerful today and we should follow him and b) where is the authority in our Christian lives? Where is the Spirit of God powerfully active in the lives we lead and in the church we belong to?
Now I could have preached a sermon similar to that and it would have been fine but in preparing I came across an idea which has led this sermon down a different path and it all has to do with the man possessed with demons.
The question is, what is he doing here in the synagogue? Where did he come from? How did he get here? Interestingly, Mark does not refer to the demoniac entering the synagogue, barging his way in. We do not read of him bursting open the doors, forcing entry. No. In fact this is the sixth time in this first chapter that we have this wonderful Markan word ‘immediately’: at once; just then. Just then there is a man in their synagogue possessed with a spirit of evil. It’s as if he suddenly just appears from within, provoked and exposed by the presence of Jesus. The evil spirit does not come in from outside, but emerges from inside. He is, if you like, the spirit of the synagogue, a spirit that manifests itself through this poor man the minute Jesus appears and opens his mouth and teaches. Jesus here is provoking and exposing the spirit that is at work in the synagogue, and he is overcoming it. And we are catching a glimpse of one aim of the whole of Jesus’ ministry.
You see, the synagogue was one exceedingly powerful institution. It was extremely influential, holding sway over the lives of people. It was the seat of the scribes, those learned men entrusted with the Torah, the Law of God. Here people came to receive instruction. Here people came to be directed in the ways of God. This is the space of the religious authorities, the religious establishment, and it is powerful - one of the major powers at work in people’s lives. Our reading from the Psalms, from Psalm 111, ends with the words, ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and of good understanding are those that keep his commandments’, and the scribes were associated with wisdom. In their hands the Law of God became the source of wise living. Hence the importance of the synagogue. But just look at what is happening. With the arrival of Jesus the synagogue with all its devotion to God’s Law is being exposed as possessed of the power of death rather than the power of life, the power of darkness rather than the power of light.
It had become the power of oppression rather than liberation, a power that constrained and the life of ordinary people was diminished as a result. And the God portrayed in Psalm 111, a God who is gracious and compassionate and whose precepts are trustworthy was a God obscured and inaccessible in the synagogue at whose heart dwelt this unclean spirit.
What we see here is a vivid illustration of how something good and beautiful, something liberating and life-giving, can so easily turn and become ugly and deeply oppressive. That was the story of the synagogue, and is it not all too often the story of religion generally? Christians and religious people in general are under something of an onslaught at the moment by those who portray religion as unremittingly harmful – the accusation being that ‘religion poisons everything’. And indeed enough horrors have been perpetuated by religion and continue to be. It so easily becomes harmful and oppressive. But is that not just the problem? When the things of God turn, they become the instruments of evil. No wonder the mythology of Lucifer portrays him as a fallen angel, cast down from the very heights to the very depths. C.S. Lewis used to say that demons are not made from fleas but from angels. The higher they are the lower they fall. And there is always that ambiguity about religion. It’s always two-edged, capable of the highest and the lowest.
But Jesus expels the demon and just look at what Jesus is doing here. Just look at his confrontation of this institution which cast such a shadow over people’s lives. Is it not here that we see disclosed Jesus’ mission, which is to create a space for a different spirit: the Spirit of life, the Spirit of grace. Here we see Jesus’ mission, which is to create a space where God’s Law, God’s Torah, could be taught once again. Here we see Jesus mission: to create a space, an arena, where false, destructive spirits that blight and overshadow life are resisted and dethroned and where a different Spirit operates.
And is that not exactly what the church is all about - to be such a space? Is that not a vision for the church?
That is what Paul is working at in his 1st letter to the Corinthians that we read from. The issue he addresses is a rather complicated one, all about eating meat that has been offered to idols. But the underlying issue is simple and straight-forward. Some people had scruples about certain practices that others felt freed by Christ to engage in. And Paul insists that those who felt freed by Christ should defer to those who had scruples. He is telling people not to act on the basis of their liberty but on the basis of consideration of others and their well-being. In the world we might act according to our rights and our liberties, but here, in this space, this space for grace, a different spirit is at work. Here we defer to one another. Here the spirit of love and graciousness operates and these other spirits are banished. That is what the church is all about.
And should not this make us all feel just a little bit excited about belonging to the church, to this community? The church is the place where powers and spirits that are at work in the world and that diminish life are named and challenged and resisted. And we all know those forces. We are all too familiar with them. There is the spirit of mammon and consumption that creates such abject poverty and disproportionate wealth and that ravages the planet. There is the spirit of eros and sex that bursts its bounds and fuels mammon and that pervades everything. There is the spirit of the survival of the strongest by which the weak are excluded and crushed. There is the spirit of violence and fanaticism… and we could go on and on. And in the face of these spirits of the 21st century world, despite all our staggering technology and know-how, we are every bit as powerless as that poor man in that synagogue all those years ago. And God’s gift to the world is this space where such spirits are exposed and confronted and resisted in the name of the One who overcomes them. Is that a description of the church as we know it? Is it recognisable in our church? The world needs such a place as much as ever it did. The unclean spirits have not gone away. They are as violent and life-destroying as ever - and as vocal as ever. And Jesus says, ‘Be silent! Come out!’ And he entrusts us here in this place, this space of grace, with a different spirit to live by. The Lord be with you.