February 1, 2015 – Mark 1:21-28
Mark 1:21-28
Words with Authority
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany – February 1, 2015
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
A week ago or so I was having lunch with a couple of you,
and you asked me if I was following the debate of free speech with regard to
Islam.
There have been more outbreaks of controversy surrounding what is acceptable free speech.
Is it okay to say harmful or derogatory things about another person’s religion?
Do we have the right to use words to put down and insult what others hold dear?
Should such speech be protected by law?
If nothing else, these recent controversies have proven once again something we know well:
words are powerful.
Words have the ability to create and words have the ability to destroy.
The old adage “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me” is
just not true.
Words can hurt and sting and bite.
There are some words, once uttered, that we never forget.
The Bible is words.
And the power of words is acknowledged in the very beginning, on the very first page.
In the beginning, God speaks, and the world is created!
Words are powerful!
Later on when things go wrong, God speaks, and enters into relationship with one man,
Abraham, and his family.
Still later, when things go wrong, God speaks words through prophets that seek to
mend what is broken.
And later still, when things go terribly wrong, God sums up every word of love and grace that
God has ever uttered and concentrates that message into a single human being,
and so the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.
And when Jesus speaks, things happen.
That is the crux of today’s story.
When Jesus speaks, things happen.
That is what is meant by Mark when he says that Jesus teaches as one having authority.
When Jesus speaks, things happen.
Jesus’s words are not empty words.
They create a new reality.
In his first act of public ministry today in Mark’s Gospel,
Jesus is invited to preach at the local synagogue in Capernaum.
And when he speaks, things happen: a man with an unclean spirit, that is,
a man who is ill in some way, is healed.
Jesus uses his words to heal and build up and set free.
You’ll notice that Jesus doesn’t judge the man for the state he is in.
Jesus doesn’t use words to belittle the man for the state he is in.
Jesus doesn’t use words to blame the man for the state he is in.
Jesus backs up his words with an action that illustrates what he is about:
that through him and his words God’s reign of healing and peace and well-being
isbreaking into the world.
That is good news: that is the great news on this morning.
Like any of the gifts of God, words can be used to tear down and destroy,
Words have the power to tear down and destroy – but words also have the power to
build up and heal.
And so I am a little ticked off by those who would seek to tear down and insult the religion and
the faith and the prophet of another person’s faith.
It is so easy to do.
When people come into my office, they often ask, “Have you read all these books?”
And I say, “Yes, most of them.”
And they say, “That is a lot of words.”
And it is.
Many of those books have to do with Islam – I spent years trying to understand the faith of
our Muslim friends and where they were coming from.
It is not easy to understand another human being –
even ourselves, if we are perfectly truthful, right?
It took a long time and a lot of study to try and appreciate why their faith was and is
so important to my Muslim friends.
I found much that is beautiful and much that is helpful and much that is admirable in
the history and faith and the people of Islam.
And so, yes, it ticks me off when the whole religion and the Prophet Muhammad himself is
judged and denigrated and belittled based on the actions of those extremists who
represent a minority of Muslims.
And let’s be honest: violent extremists who distort the teachings of their own religion can
be found in every religion.
There are Hindu extremists and Jewish extremists and Christian extremists and yes even
violent Buddhist extremists.
It takes years and years of careful study and careful listening and carefully chosen words to
build up relationships – and only a few very ill chosen words to completely destroy them.
We all know this, of course, from our own relationships and observing the relationships of
those near to us.
Words have power, words have authority – they can build up, and they can tear down.
The words Jesus uses are words that build up and heal and set free.
In worship we take words and choose them and use them carefully to build up.
Every word in our liturgy is chosen with care.
Every word printed in our worship folder is chosen and used with care.
Words are powerful – and we are seeking to build something here with powerful words.
With Godly words that build up and create and nurture.
I’ve been preaching here for almost 15 years. Yike! Scary thought.
And I have been trying to choose my words very carefully.
And words that you hear repeatedly are words like grace, compassion, mercy,
inclusion, welcome, hospitality, stewardship, healing, forgiveness, and love.
Sometimes I’ll string words together into a story.
Stories of change and stories of possibility, stories of hope,
stories of God bringing something good from something bad.
Stories of wonder, stories of awe, stories of the simple joy of being alive,
stories of the possibility and joy found in the sharing of gifts.
Stories of what God is doing in our community and in our neighbourhood through you.
Preaching is a funny thing – and a great responsibility.
All you really have are a few ordinary words –
and you hope that God willing they will change the world.
Jesus expects this morning that the words he uses will cause something to happen:
that they will have the authority to heal the man that is ill.
And as a preacher that is what I hope too: that something will happen.
I don’t want to add to all the information out there.
I don’t want to show off my knowledge, as meagre as it is.
I don’t want to fill up time or add to all the words ever spoken from a pulpit.
I don’t want to entertain you.
I hope that the words I speak winged by the Holy Spirit will cause something to happen.
Something good.
I hope these words will give you confidence in knowing that
you are making this day special by just being you:
see, those are powerful words and the children hear them every Sunday!
I hope these words will nurture love.
I hope these words will bestow on you the grace and love of God.
I hope these words will build up community.
I hope these words will send us in mission.
I hope these words will nurture love.
I hope these words will instill wonder at being alive.
I hope these words will create trust in a good God who can ultimately be trusted.
I hope these words will form a people of compassion.
I hope these words will create a passion for justice and heal hurts.
When we speak words that seek to make something good happen,
we hope something good happens.
We hope we speak with authority.
When we say to someone, “I love you,” we hope beyond hope something will happen.
When we say, I’m sorry – those are powerful words that we hope will create
a new reality in a relationship, because those words bear a lot of power.
And you can see those words at work as they carry from this place out into the neighbourhood.
At Food Bank this week, a long brewing feud between two fellows reached the boiling point and
simmered over.
The threat of violence was real,
a threat to a carefully created atmosphere of respectfulness and safety.
Alcohol played a part, so I countered with coffee.
Hunger I think played a part,
so I countered with delicious homemade enchiladas prepared with love by Melody.
Words of accusation and threat played a part, so I countered with words of consequences and
words of understanding.
And then, something happened.
Offstage, out of my seeing, words were exchanged.
And they were not the words that I feared.
They were the words for which I hoped.
The words, were, “I’m sorry.”
And something happened. In response came the words, “Thank you.”
And that was it: you really could have knocked me over with a feather.
A few simple, powerful words, and a new reality was created.
Now those were words with authority.
May these words change us.
For that day once again Jesus’ words were spoken into a situation of difficulty and
created a new situation of peace.
From this worship space, words were taken that built up rather than tear down.
Let us be shaped and formed and nurtured by words of grace that are uttered here by
a God who loves us without limit, that we may speak words of love out of that love,
and hope that winged by the Spirit they have the authority to create a new day.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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