Astonishing Words! Mark 1:21-28

Grace, mercy, and peace…

Has anyone ever said something to you that absolutely astonished you? Maybe you weren’t expecting to hear those words, or maybe they were so outrageous that you didn’t think anyone would ever say that.

Sometimes those astonishing words are insulting or offensive, and sometimes enlightening and inspiring, even life-changing.

Such were the words of Jesus. Some were offended by what he said, and some inspired. But they had an impact on everybody.

Our Gospel says that on the Sabbath Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and the people were amazed at what he was telling them. There was so much more substance to his words than anything they had heard from their rabbis.

In the words of Christ, and of all the prophets and apostles, all Scripture, we have substance to live by.

In our Old Testament, Moses promises the people that God would raise up another leader like him, who they could trust and follow. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen… And I shall put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I have commanded him.”

In the short term this was talking about Joshua, but ultimately it was talking about the Messiah.

Moses also applies this to all the prophets who would come after him, that they were to speak all the words they were given by God, and only those words.

Then Moses said something astonishing, that the prophets that speak in the name of false gods shall die.

This may sound outrageous to us today, but it shows how serious a matter it is to lead people away from God by our words and deeds.

Today, living in a land of religious freedom, we don’t legally or politically punish people for speaking false words against God, but in the Church, we do hold false teachers accountable, and there is discipline for false teachings and practices.

We’re stewards of the Word of eternal life, and so we hold it dear and guard it closely. We’re careful about who teaches and preaches, that they’re spiritually and theologically qualified to do so. That’s because the words we proclaim can either lead people toward the gospel, and therefore toward life, or away from God’s Word, and therefore toward death.

Mission trip …

The entire word of God is amazing and true; it’s life-changing and life-giving, and so we guard it closely. If the truth is taken from it, then the power is taken from it. The power of God is in the truth he gives.

That’s why Paul told Timothy, that as a pastor and teacher of God’s Word, he should guard his doctrine carefully.

Earlier he told Timothy that he had turned Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan so they would learn not to blaspheme. Evidently they were teaching false things and refused to correct their doctrine, and so Paul excommunicated them, as we would say today, he banned them from their company, and would let them teach with them anymore. 

This fits with the words of Moses in our Old Testament lesson that people who speak and teach God’s Word need to be held highly accountable.

But we need to careful and accountable as listeners, too, and not believe everything we read on the internet or hear on the radio or TV.

Hebrews 13:9 tells us, Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods.

This connects to our Epistle, where Paul reminds them it doesn’t matter if they eat kosher foods or not.

What matters is a kosher heart, so to speak, a pure heart and a pure mind, which we have by learning and keeping the pure words of God.

This is what the Psalmist means when he says, I have hidden your words in my heart. Your Word is always there to teach and guide me… and astonish me.

One of the things God sent Jesus to do, and later, his apostles, was to correct the some of the teachings of the time that had drifted away from God’s Word. Some of the teaching had become so legalistic that the gospel of grace couldn’t be found anymore. Jesus came, speaking the truth from His Father.

When Jesus spoke the people were amazed at his teachings. This started already when he was 12 years old and was teaching the teachers in the temple.

The people hadn’t heard anything like the gospel Jesus was speaking. Yet, Mark says, they recognized the authority of his words. He taught with understanding.

He wasn’t just teaching superficial rules and rituals. He was getting at the essence of those things, what they really meant; they were all meant to point to the Messiah, and his great act of love in saving the world through his death and resurrection.

In our Gospel Jesus showed the authority of his words by driving out a demon from a man who was possessed. The people marveled that His words carried such authority. Surely they had to come from God.

In John 8 Jesus amazed the people and greatly offended the Pharisees by saying, Before Abraham was, I AM. I am the one who has always existed. In other words, the Son of God.

When he said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up, it would have been amazing if he was talking about the temple building itself, but it was even more astonishing if he was talking about the temple of his body; which he was, and which he did, when he rose to life on the third day after he died.

What this means is that Jesus has given us astonishing words to live by.

No other words give life in the way that the gospel gives life, life from deep within your spirit, and life for your body forever, the life everlasting.

In heaven, we’ll be amazed at the things we see there, and the things we learn. The astonishing thing is that, even as eternity goes along, we’ll never quit learning. God’s Word is so deep, that we’ll always have new and astonishing things to learn. Every day will be an amazing experience!

In a lesser sense, so is it now. This life with Christ never ceases to be amazing. There’s more for us to learn in God’s Word, more wisdom than we can ever exhaust in this lifetime.

As we go along and experience more of life, we realize how much we don’t know, and how much we still have to learn.

As our heart and mind open up more and more to God, we continue to learn new and amazing things from Him; and we come to understand things more deeply; we appreciate the truths that God’s Word teaches us so much more as they prove themselves to us as we go through life.

Conversely, as so much worldly, conventional wisdom proves itself wrong or useless, we see how misleading it is, and how much we need to treasure and guard the truth from God.

In Scripture God gives us astonishing words to live by; words that will never fail us, and never cease to amaze us, not if we truly listen and take them to heart.

Astonishing words and astonishing promises; like the promise we’re always left to contemplate after every sermon, the promise of God’s peace, a peace so great that it surpasses our complete understanding; it can only be experienced and believed.

May this amazing peace from God, forever guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who gives us astonishing words to live by. Amen.