What it takes to follow Jesus
Epiphany 4B | Mark 1:21-28
Are we astounded?
It’s a relatively simple question, actually.
Are we astounded by Jesus? In this story and in our lives?
We’ll dig into the story in a second, you can be sure of that. But I want us to center ourselves as we dig in. I want us asking this of ourselves. Of our church. Of our very lives and expectations for how all of the things in the world are “supposed” to be.
Are we astounded? Or do we expect this? Do we assume a lot?
The Context
As we dig in, take a minute to remember this is literally the middle of the first chapter of the gospel of Mark.
You know Mark is short—only sixteen chapters. And the evangelist is obsessed with urgency. His hallmark is then and then and then—moving the story on. His pace is breakneck.
But let us not overlook that this moment we’re reading is Jesus’s first truly public ministry.
He was baptized, tempted for forty days in the desert, called some disciples, and then shows up with them in Capernaum. That’s the story so far. That’s it.
Now this isn’t just the first time the people see Jesus in action. It is also the first the disciples see of Jesus in action.
So what do they expect?
We really should think about this one. What are the disciples’ expectations and the people’s?
He’s a rabbi. A teacher. Maybe a really good one. That’s the straight answer.
If we dig a little deeper, we could argue that he is clearly unconventional. His disciples are actually too normal—they aren’t elite recruits. And maybe this visit to Capernaum is a bit irregular.
Anticipation for something a little different is probably high. Not Messiah high. In that sense, it’s probably a little above average. But according to where their expectations are set—you know they’re expecting something a bit different.
And what does he do? He walks in and blows their minds with the Good News. His teaching is literally amazing them.
So how do they respond? Well, as my kids say, they’re like: Jesus has rizz!
Whatever they expected, Jesus is transcendent. And they speak to it in a pretty meta way. What they say is that the teaching itself is astounding and his authority is astounding.
What is Authority?
I think most of us go to the old debates about style and substance. And I’m not sure that fits as cleanly as we’d like.
Authority isn’t style. And it isn’t just about credentials or our trust in them. There’s something deeper happening here.
It’s like Bill Nye or Neil deGrasse Tyson explaining science—there’s something beyond the sum of the parts. Helping people, normal people, understand things can be genuinely astounding.
And when we get it, sometimes we get that feeling. Where we go Yeah, this is right.
This feeling isn’t pure intellectual reason or based on their education. It’s a genuine sensation, like the world is vibrating and it is in harmony with music playing in your mind. So, again, this isn’t intellectual agreement or hierarchical trust, it is gut, body stuff. And we just know. Yes. Yes. This is it. Yes.
And then something happens.
There is an opportunity for the theory, the understanding of the Good News, that harmonious buzzing everyone is feeling, that plays out in the flesh among them.
A man, possessed by a demon, confronts Jesus and Jesus takes care of business.
And how do the people respond?
The same way.
Because the teaching didn’t just become reality. It was inseparable from it. The love of God doesn’t just liberate our hearts intellectually. It liberates us in the substance of our lives.
And so the people are doubly astounded and amazed by Jesus. He isn’t just a rabbi, but also an exorcist.
And then…
The astonishing continues.
Throughout the gospel of Mark. Jesus keeps doing more and more and more that astounds and frightens people. He keeps revealing more and more about the Kin-dom we pray for, the world we strive to inhabit, and the life in Christ we long to live.
And every time, it freaks people out a little more.
This is why I ask if we are astounded by Jesus. Because we should be!
Yes, we should let the burden be light for sure. But nothing about Jesus is normal. Nothing about following Jesus is normal. And our attempts to pretend like this is normal runs counter to the astounding Jesus.
So what then does it look like to be astonished and amazed and astounded by Jesus?
Reclaiming amazement.
Here, I’m reminded of Jesus’s teaching that we must be like children to prehend the Kin-dom. And I think this is why.
Knowing things, expertise, having experienced the brutality of life; what does that do? It erodes our ability to be amazed by things. Because we think we know.
This isn’t to say we must remain irrationally ignorant—we aren’t to celebrate a refusal to learn. Far from it. But it does mean we have to figure out how to be curious and wonder when our brains get too rigid, comfortable, and stubborn.
It isn’t about preventing ourselves from learning. It’s more like, now that we’ve learned, how can we be less stupid? Because we get really stupid with our knowledge. We say “we’ve tried that and it didn’t work” when we did it once thirty years ago.
And we get obsessed with self-preservation. It is stupid to think we’re going to die tomorrow if we don’t fix all of the things wrong in the world today. Or we convince ourselves that we can’t fix anything today, so we may as well not.
This isn’t earned wisdom. It is a rejection of the fundamental core of Jesus’s teachings.
So let us not treat these as the actions that come from experience. They come from a refusal to be curious. To allow ourselves to be surprised. Or from only analyzing beauty, love, and community—without wonder and humility and hope.
It is turning on the hose to water the garden and then putting the other end out to the street.
Becoming Open
This gospel reminds us that the Good News needs to be amazing. We can’t legislate Jesus any more than we can coldly analyze the Bible and expect to be moved by it.
It takes an openness to what the Good News actually offers: wonder, joy, and hope.
And when we open ourselves to the possibility that Jesus can change things for us—in our minds and hearts, yes; but also our lives, our community, and our world—we can be astounded by what we experience.
Everything in richer tones and hues. Pain is more exquisite, as is joy. We get to feel ourselves on the right track or when we’re off of it.
And now, for us, to open ourselves to that feeling, that holy vibration in the soul and melody in the mind, requires us to get our bodies and minds in order. Getting our communities: our church, groups, and friendship circles to become far more curious than evaluative. More hopeful than pessimistic. More joyful than stubborn.
It takes wanting to have fun.
A friend will get her teenage kids out of the house for what she calls “Mandatory Fun.” Because it’s only important if we do it on purpose.
And when they go hiking, they can talk and laugh, observing things in nature.
And many of us have read the studies. We know that this literally changes our brain chemistry. It helps us learn better. It bonds us together, not just with memories and time, but in the physical and spiritual levels we don’t have the means of tracking and observing.
But perhaps most importantly, it removes them from isolation, evaluation, and being stuck in the routine of a deeply anxious, chronically impatient, and hope-strangling society.
We can literally get away from the stuff that kills us and intentionally put ourselves in a place of openness to wonder, curiosity, and hope.
And then, when we hear about salvation, we aren’t in the hopeless mire only. Analyzing the tar out of what it means to be saved. Developing new programs to teach people what it means to be saved. Sitting in classrooms with an expectation to learn what it means to be saved.
Instead, we’ll be open to it and know it. That being saved means being saved from this. This frustration and pessimism. The greed and dissatisfaction. And the utter lack of hope in anything good and true. God, save us from this!
And instead, open to it, we see the vision, too. And we just know it’s right.
Because we’re actually willing to be amazed by Jesus. Amazed by what he does here. What he does with every one of us.
Amazed by love. And freed to love.