It is an amazing story, wouldn’t you say? The story of Jesus - his birth, his life, his teachings, his death, his resurrection. An amazing story, indeed. As the title of a movie about Jesus’ life once described it, it’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” John the Baptist had told the people about Jesus; he had told the people that there was an amazing person coming. To all the people who had been amazed by John, who had traveled into the wilderness to see him and hear him preach, John had said that compared to the one who was coming, he wasn’t all that amazing. “I’m not even fit to untie his sandals,” was the way John had put it. And John had told the people to prepare themselves for the coming of this amazing man. “Repent!” was his message. “Be prepared! Someone far more powerful than me is coming. I can only baptize you with water, but he’s going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It’s going to be more amazing than you can dream!” And then, John was arrested and locked away. And when that happened, Jesus took centre stage. John’s ministry was completed; Jesus’ ministry was now to begin. “The time is fulfilled,” Jesus said in response to John’s arrest. Jesus’ message wasn’t going to be radically different from John’s. He would stress a need for repentance, for faith and for transformation. The content was similar, but there was an important difference. John pointed beyond himself to the one who was to come; Jesus drew people to himself. “The time is fulfilled,” he said to those gathered around him. “My time has come; my ministry has begun. The time is fulfilled.” An amazing story was about to begin.
It seems to have been Mark’s purpose to amaze his readers. His Gospel is written in a fascinating style. Matthew and Luke relate a very similar account of the life of Jesus to the one Mark relates, but Matthew and Luke “flow” much better, so to speak. They tell the story of Jesus’ life in a narrative form. They offer well-written accounts from Jesus’ birth to Jesus’ death to Jesus’ resurrection. Mark is different. When you read Mark, his account seems a lot more choppy. Mark’s focus is on the signs and wonders that accompanied Jesus’ ministry. He moves quickly from miracle to miracle; from exorcism to exorcism. Mark’s purpose is to amaze his readers. Now, we should never be satisfied with simply being amazed - there’s a lot more involved in the faith - but we should nevertheless be amazed by the life of the Son of God.
Let’s consider some of the amazing things that happened just in the few verses that we read from Mark’s Gospel this morning. Those four disciples (Simon and Andrew and John and James) were amazed by Jesus. This really is an amazing story. We have these four fishermen, tending their nets. They were probably relatively comfortable and well-off. The fishing industry in Galilee two thousand years ago was fairly lucrative. And then along came this man Jesus. There is nothing in Scripture that even gives a hint that these four had ever met Jesus. They may have heard stories about him, but even that we can’t be sure about. At this point, Jesus is probably a lonely figure. He has just begun his ministry; he has no disciples following him according to the text. Becoming a disciple of this man certainly didn’t look like a very promising career choice. And yet, Jesus simply called to them “come, and follow me!” And the most amazing thing happened. Simon and Andrew and John and James dropped everything to follow him. Something about this man intrigued them. Is it too dramatic to suggest that they were amazed by this man? And what was it that caused them amazement? If nothing else, it was perhaps the nerve of Jesus in extending this call to people he had never met. He spoke with great authority. He wasn’t hesitant. He didn’t ask a question. It wasn’t - with respect to the hymn of the same name - “Would you come and follow me?” Not at all. It was more in the nature of a command: “Come and follow me!” And they did. Jesus’ very confidence amazed them. They had no choice but to follow.
It really was amazing. Think about the sacrifices that these four men made to follow Jesus - someone they had never met before in their lives. They gave up family, friends, home, careers. All for the sake of responding to a call from Jesus. Think about this for a second. How much are we willing to sacrifice in order to respond to Jesus’ call upon our lives? How much? An hour a week? A few dollars in the collection plate? That’s wonderful. We do that today. But what are we willing to offer to Jesus tomorrow and into next week? How are we going to respond to Jesus on Thursday morning at 10:00 when we hear Jesus calling us? How are we going to live our faith 24 hours a day, seven days a week? A faith only lived for an hour or so on Sunday isn’t really a faith; it’s a habit perhaps, or a tradition, but not a faith! It’s a good question, isn’t it. What will we offer of ourselves in order to follow Jesus? Does Jesus amaze us enough that we’re willing to sacrifice for him?
But the amazing story continued. It wasn’t just these four who were amazed by him. Jesus arrived at the synagogue in Capernaum and began to teach. And the people who heard him were amazed. Jesus’ teaching was different. It was like nothing they had ever heard before. He spoke with authority. He didn’t argue with people; he didn’t try to convince or cajole; he didn’t lay guilt trips; he didn’t depend on the authority of the religious leaders and teachers to back up his position. None of that for Jesus. He simply spoke. He didn’t lecture the people or enter into debate; he simply proclaimed the word of God, as if - the nerve of him! - his words alone were sufficient. Which, of course, they were. And the people noticed the difference. This man spoke with confidence and with authority. This was someone to be listened to. The people were amazed. (Just as an aside, of course, it’s in this incident in the Capernaum synagogue when the jealousy of the religious leaders toward Jesus probably began. Verse 22 says, “... he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Undoubtedly, the scribes - the religious teachers and leaders - were as aware as any of the others gathered in that synagogue that Jesus was speaking with an authority they had never dreamed of possessing.)
Now, we’ve seen the amazement of the first four disciples. We’ve seen the amazement of the people who gathered and heard Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum. We’ve been able to deduce the amazement of the religious teachers who heard him and were moved to jealousy. They were all amazed by Jesus. But one question remains - a very important question. What is it about Jesus that amazes us? Is it the call of Jesus upon our lives? Is his call so powerful that we can’t help but make a radical change in the course we might otherwise take? Is it his life and teachings? Are they so profound that we can’t resist them? Is it his love, which overwhelms us? Is it his power that transforms us? Is it his promise of eternal life? Is it his final demonstration of authority: his resurrection from the dead? What amazes us today? I hope that it’s all of these things. I hope, but I wonder sometimes.
You know, these things that should amaze us are all very real. Sometimes we hear of these amazing things that happened in Jesus’ life, and we become so amazed by them that thy begin to fade into unreality. We start to think of the life of Jesus as something akin to a fairy tale, or we look at his miracles as a kind of magic trick or illusion, or we explain them away. “They’re not really miracles; there must be some explanation.” We have a bias in our era against the very idea of miracles. We cast them aside; we explain them away; we empty the life of Jesus of any real miraculous power. But we shouldn’t. It’s all very real. John - who was one of those first disciples called by Jesus, who wrote the Gospel of John and who wrote the letter we read from this morning, was very clear about the fact that it all happened; it’s all true. “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands.” It might well be amazing! It might, in fact, be so amazing that it seems almost unbelievable. But it’s true! It’s real! I’ll take the words of John which testify to Jesus’ miracles over the doubts of a modern theological scholar any day.
Yes - it’s real. And because it’s real it should amaze us. But somehow, all too often, the amazement and excitement seems lacking doesn’t it. David Branon writes that
we have heard about Jesus so often that we sometimes fail to sense the excitement that the Galilean folks showed. ... Jesus has done some remarkable things in our lives. He has transformed us from death to life. He has given us the Holy Spirit. He is at [His Father’s] right hand [interceding] for us. He is getting our eternal home ready for us.
It’s all amazing stuff, isn’t it. But David Branon is right. Sometimes the excitement seems lacking. Sometimes we fail to be amazed by the most amazing person who ever lived on this earth. We really should respond to Jesus by taking a cue from the people we read about this morning. Our response to Jesus should be simple: we should obey him, be amazed by him, be transformed by him, serve him, follow him and bear witness to him.
But we aren’t always. The greatest irony of the passage we read from Mark is that, as amazed as the people of Capernaum were by Jesus (and these were good, faithful, religious folk who gathered every week to worship God - not unlike us, in other words) they didn’t recognize Jesus. They were amazed, but they didn’t understand. The real irony is that it was only an evil spirit who recognized Jesus for who he was: “the Holy One of God.” The religious folk didn’t get it. They were amazed by Jesus, but they didn’t believe in him. Yes, they spread the news about Jesus to the surrounding region. Because of that many people came to know about Jesus, but - and I’m going to come back to this phrase that I’ve been using a lot lately - while they came to know about Jesus, they never came to know Jesus. It is again the challenge for this congregation and for all congregations: to move beyond knowledge about Jesus and into relationship with Jesus. It is to make the journey from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus. It is to stop debating Jesus and to start proclaiming Jesus. That is the challenge of the church as we enter into the 21st century; the 3rd millennium.
It’s a challenge we have to meet, because it’s a great responsibility we have been given. Our calling from Jesus is to amaze the world. We have to catch the world’s attention by demonstrating the difference that Jesus can make in a life. But it’s to do more than amaze. It’s to move those we encounter beyond amazement and into faith and new life. We’re called to share the gospel story, to proclaim the word of God and to tell the world of the amazing and wonderful and saving love of God for all people - a love powerfully demonstrated by Jesus.
Sometimes we fear rejection but I want to assure you of this: the world wants to be amazed. I truly believe that people today are sick and tired of being sick and tired. They want excitement and hope and enthusiasm in their lives, but they’re not finding it. Well, last November’s election was tremendously uplifting and edifying, but aside from that we’ve haven’t had much excitement recently. People today are looking for something to amaze them. People want to believe in something or someone; they want to trust something or someone. This yearning is an open door for Christians to evangelize and share the faith, because - quite simply - Jesus is amazing!
And, the most amazing thing of all? 1 John 1:9: “if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In other words, no matter what has happened in the past, Jesus will make us right with God, if we ask him to. What an amazing story! What an amazing man! What an amazing God!
