know fear Mark 1:21-28 Psalm 111

Mark's gospel moves fast. Right from the start of Jesus faced off with daemonic forces. Jesus power over the forces of evil comes clear. Even if people did not recognize Jesus as God there's no doubt the daemons knew, feared, and obeyed him (in Mark 1:24-29). The people in the synagogue Capernaum witnessed a human crying out. They saw him come to peace as Jesus spoke to the unseen force that possed him. They watched, not seeing, as Jesus battled cosmic forces. They only saw two human beings, but the words of the man and of Jesus revealed the whole story.

Wow, just when you think it's safe to come to church you hear about Jesus battling a daemon. You might think nothing controversial will happen after Christmas and the annual meeting (for most Lutherans at least). But this story jumps off the of page. Jesus, right from the start, battled daemons (Mark 1:23-24). Some like to think of Jesus as a wise teacher and guide who just loves everybody with a kind of bland acceptance. Jesus was more than a teacher. Thankfully He didn't come only bringing some knowledge. We need more than direction. We need a savior. The real Jesus has power that makes daemons tremble and that's the power changes everything. It calls the mind wisdom from the past read in Psalm 111:10 (NRSV)

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it^a have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever.

So we ask why, if Jesus the God/man came for the hurting, would we fear him? We learn to fear God not because he plans to hurt us but because he is the one in the universe with real power to help us. He came not because we sort of kind of need a savior but because we deal daily with powers that are greater than us. We need a God who is awesome and capable of taking on enemies that can overpower us. We need a God who can break us free from bondage--and who can and will do it again and again. David Lose wrote,

God – especially in Mark’s Gospel – regularly shows us where we least expect God to be. In authoritative teaching? Sure, but also in the plight of a man possessed by an unclean spirit. In the tearing open of the heavens...? Sounds pretty biblical, but also in the piercing cry of despair from Jesus on the cross when the only one that recognized God’s presence was the one who crucified him.

Our God is a God of the broken, and our church is a fellowship of the needy. That’s pretty much all it takes...to be a member of Jesus’ disciples then or now: recognition of your deep need and trust that Jesus has come to meet it.

Jesus didn't come to guide us so we could live righteously. He came to be our savior. He came to love the whole world--giving his very self in the end. We as Jesus followers, like Jesus, are sent into the world for the sake of the broken. God sends us to the hurting with a promise that God's kingdom is near and that God has stepped in on the side of those broken by sin, death, and evil.
Peace, and thanks for reading. John