Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Ordinary Time)
Jesus Amazes and Astounds
Scriptures
Deuteronomy 18:15–20, Psalm 111, 1 Corinthians 8:1–13, Mark 1:21–28/1:19–25 IV, Doctrine and Covenants 85:18a–b
Gathering Music
“Sometimes a Light Surprises” (sung as solo or by congregation) HS 154/155
Call to Worship
If your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. —Doctrine and Covenants 85:18a
In the spirit of this promise, let us worship God.
Response
“May Thy Presence Be Ours” (solo, choir or ensemble) HS 102
Prayer for Peace
Hymn
“Sovereign and Transforming Grace” HS 12
OR “As the Deer” NS 2
Statement of Confession
Reader 1: Take care that you do not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
—1 Corinthians 8:9, adaptedReader 2: Lord, sometimes we are slow to sense your presence and even slower to respond to your love. Forgive us. Help us to be encouragement for one another and not be stumbling blocks. We need your amazing forgiveness today and always.
Drama
“Affirmation of God’s Power in Christ” by Barbara Howard (see script following this worship outline)
Ministry of Music
“What Does the Lord Require of You?” (trio) NS 52
OR a medley of “I Love You, Lord” and “Jesus, Name above All Names” NS 18 and 25
Sermon
Based on Mark 1:21–28
Congregational Hymn
“Lord, Help Me to Know Your Presence” NS 31
OR “Lord Jesus, of You I Will Sing” SP 31
OR “The City Is Alive, O God” HS 375
Disciples’ Generous Response
Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to integrate the message of “share equally” between Local/Mission Center and World Mission Tithes. Generosity stories are provided to keep the church in touch with how contributions to Mission Tithes focus on the whole mission of Jesus Christ through the five life-changing, church-changing, and world-changing mission initiatives.
Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information as part of
your offertory ministry. Visit www.CofChrist.org/generositystories/ to print a copy, or contact your pastor, congregational financial officer, or worship coordinator for a copy.
Blessing and Receiving of Mission Tithes
*Hymn of Sending Forth
“Called by Christ to Love Each Other” SP 36
OR “For All the Saints” HS 480
OR “Make Us, O God, a Church That Shares” HS 484
*Prayer of Benediction
Affirmation of God’s Power in Christ [a conversation]
By Barbara Howard
Setting: a kitchen table, plates set for four.
Characters: mother and teenage son.
Scene opens, mother with her back to table and a young teenage boy sitting at the table.
Mother: You seem down this afternoon. Something happen at school today?
Boy: Well, Jerry Ross was his usual smart-mouth self at basketball practice.
Mother: (turning and sitting across from her son) So, what did he do?
Boy: Well, you know how Grandpa used to come to games—and to some of our practice sessions—and support me all last year? Then, at the beginning of this year, before he got so sick, he came to watch, when I scored in the last seconds of our big game with the Panthers, and we won. Jerry heard him call me his “marvelous work and a wonder.” Remember how he did that from the time I was little?
Mother: I loved to hear him call you that!
Boy: He always made me feel like I could do anything.
Mother: (placing her hand on her son’s clenched hands after wiping a tear from her cheek) Oh, I do remember. Your grandpa thought you were the most amazing gift. I think that’s because he never dreamed we’d have any children. Then, when we adopted you, he was over the rainbow with joy. He’d hold you when you were tiny and whisper into your ear, “You’re a marvelous work and a wonder.”
Boy: I miss him, Mom. I really miss him.
Mother: I do too, honey. He was such fun. That saying about “marvelous work and a wonder” came from his early years in the church. He was quite a history buff, and that’s how they often referred to the church in the early days.
Boy: I know. He told me stuff about church history. And he told me to do something that today I just couldn’t do—that I should look at every person as if they were Jesus; that Jesus looked at every person as totally loved by God, and if I would do that, I’d know a great truth. And, Mom, sometimes I really try to do that. But, today I feel like a “marvelous jerk and a blunder.”
Mother: (nodding and smiling) I know, honey. I feel that way sometimes, too, and it’s always when someone has hurt me or made me angry. It’s really hard to see Jesus in the person who pulls out into traffic and nearly causes me to have a wreck. I just want to yell mean things at them. So, what happened today?
Boy: Well, today at practice, Jerry kept teasing me whenever I’d miss a goal, and he jeered at me, calling me last week’s big hero who got lucky on the final basket. I didn’t yell back at him, I just left the minute practice was over. I didn’t even stop to take a shower. I just ran home fast as I could.
Mother: You know, in a way you acted a little bit the way Jesus might have. Instead of lashing out in anger, Jesus took their insults in silence, and then, later he would do some kind act for someone in need.
Boy: Like what, Mom?
Mother: Well, when he visited the hated tax collector, Zacchaeus, that lonely little man’s life was turned around completely. Another time he visited with a Samaritan woman at the well. He not only gave her hope for a better future, but also helped her feel that she had much to give to make others happy.
Boy: You mean she became a “marvelous work and a wonder”?
Mother: (smiling) I guess you could say that. But hey! Remember when you first got home from school a while ago? I watched you as you paused long enough to reel in the garden hose, walk your dog, and wipe the dirt off your shoes before opening the front door. I noticed that the way you were when you first got home sort of pulled you out of your Jerry Ross gloom.
Boy: Yeah, but here I am, still feelin’ kinda upset over the way Jerry treated me today.
Mother: The very fact that you felt free to tell me of your hurt shows that you are not carrying a grudge, or vowing to get even. You’re being mature enough to think of others, even while bearing your own pain. And whenever we do that, our pain is less than before, and we feel differently—more kindly—from how we might have, sometime earlier.
Boy: It’s kind of like magic, eh Mom?
Mother: Well, not exactly, son. Maybe it’s more like, slowly, inch-by-inch, becoming more truly a “marvelous work and a wonder.”
Boy: Good old grandpa!
SERMON HELPS
Scripture: Mark 1:21–28
Exploring the Scripture
Our passage in Mark is the first one of a series of stories that forms the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In the preceding story Jesus called the disciples who would travel with him and learn from him, so that they could eventually bring their own ministry. Earlier we read about John the baptizer who prepared the way for Jesus. We witnessed Jesus’ baptism, where God called Jesus his beloved Son. We read how Jesus was tested by Satan and overcame temptation. These stories right at the beginning tell us what will be happening—Jesus came to battle evil in this world and would take on Satan and the demons associated with Satan.
Next John was arrested and we see that this is the starting point for Jesus who began to proclaim the good news of God. Jesus was ready to share his mission, message, vision, and ministries with the world. In his culture, the natural place to express a message from God would be in the worshiping community, where God’s people met together. Jesus, therefore, began his ministry in the synagogue, and it expanded into homes, streets, and public places.
The synagogue, most likely a place in a larger home where they could gather, was a place for teaching, learning, and worship. Depending on the ruler of the synagogue, the minister or any competent person could be called upon to give an address and exposition. Since Jesus was well-known to be a man with a transformative message, the synagogue of every community could provide him with a pulpit from which to instruct and make appeals to people.
The story does not tell us whether Jesus was actually invited to speak. We are just told that he entered the synagogue and taught. Jesus’ teachings were new and uniquely revelatory. We read that he taught as one having authority and not as the scribes. People were astounded at his teaching. The author of Mark will quite often depict Jesus as teacher and seems to emphasize it more than even his healings.
Right after this Jesus proceeds with the healing of a man with an unclean spirit. As in some parts of the world, people in New Testament times believed in the existence of demons. Some thought demons were as old as creation itself. They lived in unclean places or in the desert, and were dangerous to lonely travelers, women in childbirth, brides, bridegrooms, children who were out after dark, and those who traveled at night. Jesus spoke with clear, simple words of authority, and the demon was exorcised from the man. No one had ever seen anything like this before—all were amazed. The power was not in the spell, the formula, the incantation, or the elaborate rite. The power was in Jesus, and all were astonished.
In our day, we have diseases that we cannot diagnose easily. The cycle of self-accusation or anger at family members that often accompanies severe illness or death can be as devastating as the disease itself. Serious mental illness, even when controlled by medication, also strains the resources of family and friends.
Sometimes we may think that it would be easier to attribute such afflictions to demons than endure the dashed expectations accompanying each new type of therapy or the lurking fear of suicide. It may be easier to attribute our negative thinking and destructive attitudes to demons than to realize that we too may be part of the problem. The stories of Jesus, the teacher and healer, provide lessons and encouragement for us when we feel invaded by a strange power or darkness. Our lesson is that it is not God’s will for us to suffer. Our encouragement is that God suffers with us, and out of our intimate relationship with God comes spiritual and physical healing.
Central Ideas
- Jesus spoke from and with personal authority.
- Jesus used the resources and context of his day to teach a new way of being human.
- Reconciliation and healing of the spirit are at the core of good health.
Questions for the Speaker
- What demons possess you and others in today’s world?
- What is Jesus saying to you today?
- What does it take to go beyond being amazed by Jesus so that you become a follower of Jesus?