January 28, 2024 – Epiphany 4B

“[Jesus and his disciples] went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then 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 with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.” Mark 1:21-28

A nurse was working her first day at a doctor’s office.  She was puzzled when she heard the doctor yelling something out every so often – loud enough that everyone in the waiting room could hear.  First he yelled “Typhoid!”  Later he shouted “Measles!”  Still later he hollered “Tetanus!”  This continued for several different diseases until the nurse started to wonder about the doctor’s state of mind.  She finally asked the receptionist “Why is doctor so and so shouting like that?”  The receptionist said, “Well, he is the doctor.  He calls the shots around here!” 

Who have been the people in your lives who have called the shots – or who have been the most influential in your lives? Other than my parents, I have two – and their names are Brooks and Bill. These two men are two of the many teachers I have had in my life who called the shots at some point in my life. And their voices are voices I hear in my head over and over and over again, giving me little pieces of wisdom and advice. I still remember how their words carried authority over me all those years ago.

My friends, we all have some “unclean spirits” clinging to us – living inside us – hanging on to us – or we to them. And these unclean spirits can carry authority over us – or we ascribe authority to them, taking away our trust in G-d, our ability to put complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ, G-d’s only son, because we grant them that authority. That, my friends, can destroy us. But every Sunday, Jesus comes to us again and again and again, in Word AND Sacrament, to cleanse us of that which is unclean, and nourish us and strengthen us and remind us that we have been made clean through the One who wants to have the authority to call the shots in our lives – Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dave