Power of Jesus' name

Good evening sisters and brothers,
First, the church parking lot will be closed for resurfacing tomorrow and Friday (8/15 and 16). Many thanks to the Laurelton Fire Department for their generosity in including us in their resealing.

Today's reading provides two side stories that show how the power of the gospel spread. In the first, some people who don't follow Jesus try to cast out demons in Jesus' name. In the second people convert from seeking magical power to following Christ. How do you see the power of the gospel in your life?

God bless,
Sam

Acts 19:11-20

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, ¹²so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’ ¹⁴Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵But the evil spirit said to them in reply, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’ ¹⁶Then the man with the evil spirit leapt on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. ¹⁷When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.

¹⁸Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. ¹⁹A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. ²⁰So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

a house divided

Good morning friends,
Today's reading brings us to the start of Jesus' conflict with the religious leaders. The religious leaders try to account for the power Jesus has, so they accuse him of being in league with demonic powers. Jesus also reminds us that in even family is less important than faith. This is a passage to chew on, for sure.

God bless,
Sam

Mark 3:20-35

²⁰and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ ²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’

²³And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. ²⁷But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. 

28 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— ³⁰for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’ 

31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ ³³And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ ³⁴And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’

demons, speaking and judgment

Good morning brothers and sisters,
When Jesus expels a demon from a man the religious leaders accuse him of using Satan's power to do it. Jesus replies that Satan can't cast out demons because that would mean his kingdom was divided. Instead, like an invader tying up a strong man to rob his house, Jesus binds Satan and frees those in chains by the power of God. He also warns the leaders and the crowd that what comes out of our mouths is a sign of what is in our hearts. That's a haunting reminder that what we say to others matters.

Blessings on your ministry today,
Sam

Matthew 12:22-37

22Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. 23All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.” 25He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.



29Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. 30Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.


33“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. 36I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; 37for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

casting out demons

Good morning Church,
This morning we follow Luke for another lesson before returning to Corinthians. I know it can be hard to follow the story in Luke since we often leave it for a while in between readings. We'll really jump into that story more consistently after Easter. To take a second for the big picture, Luke has presented the announcement stories for the special births of John the Baptist and Jesus, then the two births. After that we get a few stories from Jesus' childhood. Chapter 3 gives us the preaching of John to prepare the way for Jesus, then Jesus arrives, is baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Luke gives us Jesus' genealogy then shows us the Holy Spirit leading Jesus into the desert to face Satan's temptation. After defeating Satan Jesus returns to start preaching; we saw him in Nazareth yesterday and today we see him in Capernaum.

It's interesting that Luke tells the story in this order, since in our passage from yesterday Jesus suggests that the crowd in Nazareth would say to him, "Do here the miracles we heard you did at Capernaum." That implies that this story happened before Jesus went to Nazareth, though he certainly could have gone twice. I'm sure we can think of stylistic reasons Luke might choose to present these two episodes as he does even if they actually happened in opposite order. As it happens, many scholars believe the stories about Jesus might have existed for some time as independent episodes before the Gospel writers shaped them into a unified narrative.

One of the striking things about this story is that the demons Jesus casts out know who he is and Jesus doesn't want them to tell anyone. Scholars have come up with different theories about why Jesus wanted to keep his identity a secret, and I won't review those now. I think we can come up with most of the same possibilities on our own. Luke and the other Gospel writers don't get into the why; they just mention that Jesus didn't want it to get out.

We also notice Peter has a mother in law, which implies he has a wife, though she isn't mentioned. Later Peter will mention to Jesus that the disciples have left everything to follow Jesus and perhaps he's thinking of a long ministry on the road away from his wife. Paul writes in First Corinthians that some apostles, specifically Peter (Cephas) traveled with wives. We don't hear about Peter's wife or mother in law again, but knowing she's there adds some depth to the sacrifice of the disciples' ministry with Jesus.

Blessings,
Sam

Luke 4: 31-44

31He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34“Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 35But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”

When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. 36They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!” 37And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.

38After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. 39Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. 40As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. 41Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.

42At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. 43But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.