Mark 1:29-39
I would like to have heard Jesus preach. How do you think His message would be received today? He had no building, no public address system and I sure can’t picture him using notes. Stranger yet; His gospel did not directly contain Himself as one who had been crucified or raised from the dead. What were listeners supposed to do with Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom which did not mention Himself as One who should be invited into the heart? So, what then was the “good” news that Jesus was preaching? Well, at least we know what those privileged to hear Him thought. My NAS translation says, “they were amazed….., for He was teaching them as one having authority…“. The Message translation puts it this way; “Everyone there was incredulous, buzzing with curiosity, What’s going on here? A new teaching that DOES WHAT IT SAYS? He shuts up defiling, demonic spirits and sends them packing!”
The “saying” (or preaching) and the “doing” were perfectly intertwined in Christ’s life and the result was Jesus having the upper hand over demonic powers and illness. If they would have had print media, the headlines of the Galilean Times would have read; “THE WORD HAS BECOME FLESH; Demons Either Silenced or Evicted in Jesus’ Presence“. So,..the sense of amazement was not just a response to His excellent sermons; it was their response to God’s Life as it was lived out before them.
We have great communicators and communication technology today that are assisting in the gains being made in our mission to preach what we have come to understand as the gospel. I have wondered though; if the earth today were exposed to Jesus’ version of “good news” would we be as dependent on media? Maybe, but the results-oriented gospel that Jesus preached was doing pretty well without the power of public relations. The scriptures tell us that, when Jesus ministered; “….immediately the news about Him (who He was in word and deed) went out everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.”
Scripture tells us Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” We may not know the exact content of all His messages but we do know, whether He verbalized it or not, (because of His deeds), the kingdom of God was THEN at hand (accessible) and that, in it, there was a “now“-authority over the powers of darkness. I believe this is an element of the good news we have somehow lost. Without the nowness of the kingdom, I fear we are left with only a then–ness. How much of the bad fruit of apathy and indifference might be traced to this root? What a powerful demonic strategy; to get the called-ones to adopt a “then”-is-the-day-of-salvation” attitude.
I know I have read the Bible with a “that was then – this is now” mindset. In a way its convenient. While I may confess with my lips a fuller (more powerful) gospel, I too often live complacently as if the kingdom will be “then” at hand with a “then” authority rather than live responsively and responsibily toward the kingdom as a “now” reality. So today, as I hear Jesus say, “repent and believe in the good news“, I believe He is telling me to repent of my blasé attitudes about His “now” kingdom and His “now” authority and my fatalistic views regarding the inevitable consequences of the trends of evil in society. Yes, the trends are absolutely everywhere; hopelessness is in the air we breath but, scripturally speaking, where there is evil is not grace to abound all the more?
Did Jesus say it was better that the Holy Spirit come and indwell us just so that He could collectively affirm (by our absence of power) a dispensation of Christianity focused on buildings, programs, or on our knowledge of the Bible, or the further refinement of our character? Is the Holy Spirit contentedly residing quietly inside us, as we halfheartedly embrace a Christianity that is lean (or completely barren) of kingdom authority?
I can only explain the relative impotency of my Christianity (and that of my generation in the west) by considering that the demonic spirits have not yet been silenced nor have they been sent packing. They are still present. They may not be causing as many in western culture to writhe in agony and fling their victims into fires but they have (in their current strategy) embedded their defiling lies in our culture, encouraging unbelief within and without the church. I suspect it will be a shock one day to discover how accommodating we have actually been to them.
Father, may the renewing of our minds, that we are to be taking responsibility for, include an upgrade of our perceptions of Your kingdom and its government which we know will continue to increase until You place all your enemies beneath Your feet as a footstool. Amen.
A question. Is it possible that the restlessness that is being documented among churched-ones (which is often interpreted by leaders as mutiny and/or rebellion) may in fact be the life of something beautiful stirring within the cocoon? Note; If you are unaware of restlessness as a trend within Christendom, check out Revolution by George Barna; and on Amazon, check out the books that others bought who purchased Revolution. May I recommend a few authors (from different camps) whose own restlessness (and even scholarship) are driving them to now kingdom thinking and living: When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson, You Were Born For This by Bruce Wilkinson. I also hear a challenge from NT Wright in How God Became King to rethink what we have assumed is normal Christianity. Note: These authors may not be speaking at the same conferences today but whether they know it or not, they are brothers who have kingdom DNA in common.