Monday, August 06, 2018

Signs


Signs
Mark 1:21-28[1]
You may find this hard to believe, but I’ve always been something of a skeptic. Especially when it comes to matters of spirituality. Whenever people use “churchy” language I wonder what it really means, if anything at all. I’m the same way with “signs and miracles.” Of course, in one sense, every new day is a sign of God’s love and a miracle in and of itself. But I’m talking about the “special” signs that some people use to bolster their faith. Bleeding statues and unusual phenomena in the sky don’t really do much for me. I’m interested in more meaningful signs of God’s kingdom at work among us.
It may not be obvious at first glance, but that is the purpose of the stories about Jesus’ miracles in the Gospels. Jesus’ miraculous deeds served as signs to demonstrate the presence of God’s kingdom.  They served as concrete examples of the message Jesus preached, that “the kingdom of God has come near.” And where the presence of God’s kingdom is, there is healing, there is freedom, there is life, there is joy.  Although we live in a time when miracles seem rare, in Jesus’ world, a world filled with domination and death, his miracles made an important point. They were meant to show that when God’s kingdom comes near, the powers of domination and death must retreat.
That’s why the Gospels put so much emphasis on Jesus’ ability to cast out demons. It’s not an attempt to convince us to believe in an unseen realm where angels and demons battle each other for the souls of men and women.  Pretty much every one in Jesus’ day and time believed in that.  The reason why the Gospels emphasized Jesus’ power over the demons was because they were the most powerful adversaries anyone could imagine. Some did resort to various magical techniques to ward off evil spirits. And there were others who were thought to be able to expel demons, though it took a great deal of “smoke and mirrors.” But for the most part people saw themselves as basically defenseless and helpless against attacks from demons. 
 In this respect “demons” represented the power of evil in the world, and it seemed to many that its power was unstoppable.  That’s why it’s important to notice two features of the stories where Jesus expels demons.  First, unlike the so-called “exorcists” of the day, Jesus did not resort to elaborate rituals to compel the demonic spirits to leave.  As in our Gospel lesson for today, he simply spoke the command and they left.  Second, the stories where Jesus expels demons often conclude with a description of the person fully restored to health and wholeness of mind.  In other words, Jesus actually succeeded in setting them free from whatever it was that was afflicting them!
I think that’s why the people who witnessed these events were amazed by Jesus “authority” and power.  Compared to the impostors who used “every trick in the book” and charged handsomely for it, the presence of God’s liberating kingdom in Jesus simply released those who were living under oppression from the chains that bound them.  In a very real sense, Jesus “practiced what he preached” by effecting the healing and liberating presence of God’s kingdom in the lives of those who were subjected to the powers of evil.[2]
It may be hard for some of us to swallow stories of demons being expelled, but the point is to show that God’s kingdom is truly present. And the good news of the gospel that “the kingdom of God has come near” is that Jesus established a “kingdom” and a “lordship” free from any kind of domination—patriarchal, political, moral, or religious. Thus the sign of God’s kingdom is not one of slaves cowering in fear of an absolute monarch who is able to wield power and hold lives in the balance, but rather the sign of God’s kingdom is a community free from all oppression, where we are all beloved children and friends of our merciful Creator and crucified Lord, living in the freedom and joy and life of God’s presence.
In fact, I would say that one of the key defining elements of the “kingdom of God” is freedom.[3] But the kind of freedom that defines the kingdom of God has very little to do with “rights” or entitlement.  True freedom is about being free to love, free to serve, free to hope and dream, free to create. It is not about being “free” to do whatever you want with no consequences, but being free to be who you were intended to be by God. True freedom is about fulfilling God’s purpose in creating us in the first place. True freedom, the freedom of God’s kingdom, is about enjoying God’s life and God’s love in a community of people who are free to love and to serve.
That kind of freedom is one of the most compelling signs I can imagine that “the kingdom of God has come near.” Unfortunately, I’m not too sure that many people today associate religion with “freedom.” I think many see the Christian faith as something restrictive. But that’s where we come into the picture. As we live out the freedom to love and serve one another in this community of faith, we truly become a sign of the “reign” or the kingdom of God. That applies to our worship as well as our ministries. It applies to our big projects and the ones that may barely get noticed. As we worship God and serve our community with the freedom God has given us, our hope, our joy, and our love become a powerful sign that “the kingdom of God has come near.”




[1] ©2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/28/2018 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 104-105, 107-108.
[3] Indeed, my favorite Reformed theologian Jürgen Moltmann defines the “kingdom of God” as “The Kingdom of Freedom.” Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom, 191-92, 202-3, 209-222.

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