I wonder when T.V. producers started using canned laughter and fake applause on their shows. Probably some comedian out there in front of a live audience tells a joke; no one laughs. He tells another joke. Same reaction – silence. Nothing is worse than silence. So, somebody in the back office gets the bright idea to record a bunch of people laughing and to play after the jokes. So, whether the guy is funny or not, the people watching at home think the comedian’s funny because they hear people laughing. We take our cues from the audience.

Jesus had an audience his very first day of ministry. What is their reaction to Jesus? Mark 1, starting with verse 21. (Read Mark 1:21 – 28) A man is writhing on the floor, face contorted, yelling. His heels are pounding, pounding on the floor, body jerking as if he’s being defibrillated. He is possessed by an evil spirit. Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the person. He orders it:” Be quiet! Come out….” With a final shudder and shriek, as if pulled out against its will by a greater force, the demon comes out. Mark reports the audience’s reaction. Those gathered around were “amazed.” Jesus, of course, has done a good deed. He has done a great deed! A man has been cleansed of an evil spirit and made whole. If this were made for T.V., the applause signs would be flashing, the audience clapping. But, this is even greater. “Amazement” is not a strong enough word to contain the full meaning of the original word. It means to be struck, sometimes with amazement, but also, with fear. Make no mistake. There’s an element of fear. Just by a word, Jesus casts out a demon. There’s no long prayer, no shouting at the demon, no sweating, but a word of command. The demon obeys. This same word, “amazement” or “fear” is used again in the fourth chapter of Mark. The disciples are out on the lake rowing hard against a gathering storm that soon crashes full blast against the boat. Afraid for their lives and adrenaline pumping, they awaken Jesus, “Don’t you care,” they say,” that we are perishing?” (4:35 – 41) They’re wanting Jesus to get up and do something, at least help them row. Jesus does get up; stands in the very front of the boat and, with just a word, again commands, “Peace. Be still.” The storm listens to Jesus. The wind dies. The waves are stilled. The disciples look around at the now clam water and look at Jesus. And they began saying to themselves, “Who then is this man, that even the wind and the seas obey him?” The word “fear” is used to describe their reaction.

On Jesus’ very first day in the synagogue – in church – the audience gets a distinct  uncomfortable feeling, as each person asks himself or herself, “Who is this man?” and “How do I respond to him?”

Jesus provokes a reaction with his teaching, too, Mark 1, verse 22. He teaches as one who has authority, not as the teachers of the law. If you are using the Reader’s Guide to Mark, you may have seen the note about this verse. The Rabbis would teach using the opinions of famous Rabbis to support their opinions. They would quote them. “Well, Rabbi Akiba says….” they might begin, then follow with their own interpretation. Jesus did none of that. He did not rely on others to support his teaching. He was his own master teacher. Yet, even more than his method of teaching was the authority that flowed out of his words. “Truly,” he said, “I say to you.” He demonstrated a compelling authority in how he taught. The people are amazed. Verse 27. (read)

“Who then is this man and how do I respond to him?”

Jesus leaves the synagogue, enters Simon Peter’s mother-in-law’s house. She is sick. He takes her by the hand and heals her. She responds, not just with amazement, no doubt, but serves him. Mark wants us to understand a wider sense of her serving Jesus in her whole life. “That evening, after sunset, the people bring to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.” (verse 32) He causes a reaction.

How do I respond?

Soon after, a man with leprosy gets down on his knees and begs Jesus for help. (Read 1:40-42) Filled with compassion, Jesus touches the leprous man’s hand and he is cured. The reaction? Verse 45 (read) Who then is this man and how do I respond to him?

Jesus provokes a reaction from the crowds and from the religious leaders. They don’t like the idea of Jesus spending time with certain types of people. So, Jesus answers, 2:17 (Read) Of course, only the sick need a doctor. A healthy person doesn’t even think about going to the doctor, unless it’s for a regular check-up. Jesus applies medicine as an example to our spiritual being. If you think you are healthy and right with God, says Jesus, you don’t need me. But who is right with God? Who is spiritually healthy? “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners,” he said. If a person thinks she doesn’t need help spiritually, then she will have no use for Jesus. Jesus will only be of help to those who recognize they need help. And, isn’t it interesting that those who think they are well off tend to by-pass Jesus, choosing not to acknowledge their need? It’s those we may consider beneath us who humble their pride and turn to Jesus.

Well, this doesn’t sit well with the religious leaders. They begin to question what Jesus teaches. They disagree with him. The conflict heats up, Mark 2: 23 (read) Jesus is walking along with his disciples. It’s time for lunch, but they have nothing to eat. So, they trawl along the edge of the path, picking off the tops of the grain stalks and eating the kernels of wheat to tide them over until they can find a decent meal. Ah, but it’s the Sabbath and the Pharisees are offended at what the disciples are doing. God commanded, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…. in it you shall not do any work…. (Exodus 20:8, 10) One of the Ten Commandments. Now, follow the logic. No work on the Sabbath therefore means no working in the fields on the Sabbath; therefore, means no harvesting of the crops; therefore no plucking off the tops of the grain stalks on the Sabbath, because that is considered a form of harvesting. Really? From the original command not to work on the Sabbath to seeing running your fingers through the grain and plucking as work… that is human logic, not God’s. So, Jesus brings up an Old Testament example. Mighty King David and his men did what wasn’t supposed to be done and were not condemned by God. So, Jesus with his men pluck grain heads. Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for mankind, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was given by God for rest and joy, not to obey regulations that forbid the very intent of the Sabbath. Jesus isn’t finished. He says, “Therefore, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (verse 28) That’s authority. Who then is this man who is Lord even of the Sabbath – and, how do I respond to him?

One more incident to pick out. The beginning of chapter 2. It speaks for itself. (Read 2:1 – 7) (Verse 2) Talk about a reaction. There isn’t room to squeeze another person in. (Verse 5) Do Jesus’ words mean that this man’s sins caused his physical paralysis? No, no, no. Sickness and disease and death are ALL symptoms of our human sin. They are part of our human condition. Jesus will heal this man and his healing will not be limited to his body. He will heal fully which will include his spirit, his mind, his body, all one. (Read verses 6, 7) And, so, without knowing it, the scribes cut to the heart of Jesus’ authority. They are right. Only God can forgive. Of course, it’s easy to say that someone’s sins are forgiven by God. Anyone can say it. Jesus backs up his word of forgiveness with an unmistakable show of authority over sickness and sin. (Read verses 9 – 12) Whew! We’ve never seen anything like this!” Who then is this man and how do I respond to him?

Have you sensed Jesus’ authority in your life? Have you read Jesus’ words, “Come, follow me,” and hear them as directed straight to you? They are words of authority over each of our lives. If we’ve been resisting, it’s understandable. We think we know how best to run our lives. But, we run short. And, when we think about giving Jesus the authority over our lives, we think we won’t like what will happen. He will make us do something we won’t enjoy, like a parent telling us we have to share a favorite toy with someone else. Jesus speaks directly to our fear. “Which one of you, if your son asks for bread (to eat) will instead [put a shell from the beach on the plate and say. ‘That’s your lunch. Eat it’] or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil (by comparison to God) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Mt. 7:9 – 11) God gives out of the goodness of his heart. His authority heals – ends up healing us. Jesus’ life summons us to give our lives into his care.

 

 There’s another authority. We have burdens, anxieties, doubts, worries – burdens. Jesus has authority over them, too. I heard speaker and author Chuck Swindoll tell about his life. I wish I still had the tape. All I can do is tell you, in what follows, he said.

 

“Travel back with me several years, will you?  Understand that a precious daughter was born into our home who meant the world to me. Her name is Karissa. We had gone through a terrible, totaling of the car, accident in Houston when a drunk driver hit us between my last two semesters at Dallas Seminary. We almost lost Karissa. Cynthia was carrying her. Kurt, our oldest, was thrown into the windshield and broke his jaw. Cynthia had already had a miscarriage, and we feared another one. She began to hemorrhage and hemorrhaged through the rest of the pregnancy. We didn’t know what kind of baby God would give us. Those were such hard times, and God gave us a beautiful little girl who became too important to me. She was almost a little goddess. Her birth was beautiful, and her life was beautiful. Only one little problem, she had this little eye that wouldn’t stay straight, and finally it was stuck. We went to an ophthalmologist in Dallas. He explained to us that the surgery is very delicate, and we must understand that he could give no guarantee. The eye is held by six major muscles, and it’s kind of a guess when you go in, even as a surgeon. He went in, and he worked on her eye, and she came out of surgery. here, this precious life we were so grateful to have, just beginning to live and walk and play and the eye, of all things, now goes in the other direction. To his dismay and disappointment, the surgery was not successful. So, we fitted her in very thick glasses. We moved from Texas to California, and we’re still looking for an ophthalmologist that can fix this eye. Finally, we found a superb doctor. He did all the work, and then we had scar tissue to deal with. I said, ‘No problem.’ I prayed, and I fasted and waited on God.  After surgery, I stood over saying, ‘Honey, open your eye. Let Daddy look at your eye.’ Cynthia says, ‘Back off. Honey, it will be awhile.” I said, ‘Relax, okay, relax.’ Finally, Karissa opened her eye, and it was entirely while with the pupil directed toward the nose. And I hit bottom.

I had thought thoughts I could never share. I walked out of there and thought, ‘You can take the ministry and shove it.’ I went to my office and hung a sign on every door I could find. Do Not Disturb. I sat in a dark office and refused to answer the phone. Before long, a knock came. My friend is at the door. I thought, ‘I’m going to sit here until he knocks every knuckle off his finger because I’m not going to answer that door.’ I do not want to see him. I worked hard for this depression, and I’m going to have this depression. I deserve it.

I was sitting there all alone, and I thought he would break the door down if I didn’t answer it. So I shouted, ‘What’ or something like that. He said, ‘Just open the door, Chuck.’ So, I opened the door and he came in. He said, ‘Come on, let’s take a drive.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to be with you.’ And he said, ‘Well, I want to be with you.’ So, we got in the care, and we started driving. I’m happy he did not say, ‘Please listen to one of your tapes that you brought several years ago on suffering.’ He told me he loved me. He told me this was not the end of the world. He said little more. We sat at a park bench and talked and then he dropped me back at the office.

While I was gone, another friend came by who had heard about this from my wife and had put together a little piece of art. He drew a monk, dark brown robe, toes sticking out of his sandals, great big feet. Real cute little caricature of Martin Luther, and on the other side of the poster which he had stuck on my wall above my typewriter, he wrote, ‘Did we in our own strength confide. Our striving would be losing were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Just ask who this may be. Christ Jesus, it is he. Lord Sabbath his name, from age to age the same. And he must win the battle.’ I tore the poster off the wall and embraced it, and I wept like a child. He’d won the battle. It was magnificent.

Two days later, I went back to the hospital and the eye had begun to straighten. By then, I didn’t even care about the eye. In seven days, the eye was straight. And, to this day, she doesn’t even wear glasses. Every time I look at this beautiful woman’s face, I remember, ‘He must win the battle.’

 ”‘How to Keep Going when Running Low on ‘Fantastic’”

- Chuck Swindoll,

  Campus Crusade for Christ National Conference