I was reading in the Gospel According to Mark this morning and was struck by the response from crowd as Jesus taught.
Mark 1.21 says that Christ “immediately entered the synagogue and was teaching.” Jesus, the incarnate Word, walks up and expounds the written Word. What a seen this must have been.
But this is not all. Consider the reaction from those that were there…
First, there were the regular attendees, let’s call them the religious folks. Jesus gets up and expounds the text and they immediately note that there is something different about this teacher. They note that “he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” (v.22) Luke observes that their astonishment was due to the fact that “his word possessed authority” (4.32). Some commentators believe that this comment was due to the fact that their contemporaries were always quoting other men to make their point, however, Jesus here just unfolds the Scriptures. And the people noticed.
This is a rebuke to those of us who teach and find more power in a pithy quote from a theologian than the precise and power-packed Word of God. Let’s preach and teach as men who are under the authority of the Word. May it be clear when we teach who the authority is. Sometimes contemporary preachers, particularly in the Reformed wing, tread dangerously close to a Protestant Magisterium with all of their appeals to “heroes” of the faith. If you are a preacher, does your word possess authority? If you are preaching the Word then it does. Men, preach to put God on display and make Jesus the hero.
Second, there was a guy there possessed by a demon.
Mark 1:23-26 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he 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.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
This is amazing. In the middle of Jesus’ sermon a demon starts shouting at him! Not only that, the demon is giving deference to the authority and coming judgment of Jesus! Just as an aside, I wonder what Jesus would have been preaching on that would so afflict demons? Do you preach to afflict the ministry of Satan?
Jesus unphased by the demons, punches him in the nose with his sovereign signet and tells him in effect, “Shut-up!” And the demon, wisely, obeys, but not before violently afflicting the man.
When was the last time you have preached or heard a sermon where religious guys were pricked through their heart with the sovereign authority of God and his Word, and at the same time seen demons flying out men. I think this is what you call unction. Jesus is the incarnation of unction. His words are attended by the Spirit and he, himself being the Word of God incarnate when knit together with the written Word, served up a plate of homiletical explosives, to the extent that men and demons alike bow in deference to his authority.
If you preach, pray that you abide close to the Word and proclaim its essence and that God would attend your words with clarity and power, that he would be pleased to shred consciences and grant life. If you don’t preach then pray for your pastor that he would do this.
Find encouragement, conviction, amazement, and joy when you watch Jesus preach, for he was the best preacher that ever lived.