Going Up Is Hard, Coming Down Is Dangerous

Sermon- Year B-Last Epiphany-Feb. 22, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.
I couldn’t wait for this Sunday. You see, I went on a sabbatical a while back, and a huge part of the trip was climbing mountains-or as they kept calling them in Scotland, hills. And every time I climbed one, I thought to myself, “when I get back to Trinity, I’m going to tell them about this!” I climbed some mountains in Ireland, and Scotland, and Spain. And I learned a lot of things. One-it’s hard. Two, it always takes a while, Three, every time we climbed one of these things, we talked about it for days before we climbed, and for days after we came down. One of the things I learned was, weather permitting, the view was always spectacular. And It was always cold and windy at the top-so nobody ever wanted to stay very long. You dreaded the mountains, you cursed the mountains, you talked nonstop about the mountains, and you couldn’t wait for the next one. They were places that demanded your greatest efforts, and gave you a feeling of great accomplishment. They were always the most beautiful places on the walks. But you could never stay very long at any of them. You had to come down. And it was always the walk down from the mountain that most accidents happened. It was coming down when people slipped, or legs gave out, or ankles were turned. Climbing the mountain was hard, coming down the mountain, was dangerous, that’s what we always reminded each other.

Today’s reading from Mark is the story that always ends the season of Epiphany. This is the season of light. It begins with Wise men from the east following a star, and it ends today with Jesus transformed in light on top of a mountain; Every Sunday since January 6th, Epiphany, is supposed to be a story about Jesus as the light. This last story of Epiphany is supposed to be the best one. Jesus goes up on a mountaintop with his three closest disciples, and while he’s there, suddenly the greatest heroes of Judaism appear-Moses and Elijah. And Peter with one foot always in his mouth says, let’s build a shrine here so that people will always know how special this place is-and how wonderful you are. And Jesus says “no”. And God speaks again, as he did when John baptized Jesus in the Jordan,
"This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" And of course, the disciples don’t.
Climbing the mountain is hard, coming down the mountain, is dangerous,
Mark puts this story exactly in the middle of his gospel. It’s half way from beginning to end. It’s as if Mark wants us to see why we’re climbing the mountain in our own faith. He wants us to see what Jesus is really like-what’s at the top, why we need to go on to the summit. Jesus being transfigured, transformed, is what we will be like some day. It’s not just the light around Jesus-this is to show us what resurrection is like-like nothing else on earth. We’re changed into this new being, glimmering, shining. This view of Jesus is a picture of what heaven is like. Not only is Jesus the light, but when we walk with him, we will stand in the light, too. That’s the message.
All the stories in the gospel of Mark leading up to this point have been about Jesus the healer, Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus the wonderworker, the guy who makes storms to cease, and can feed 5000 people with a few loaves of bread. Everything about Jesus leading up to this mountaintop has been about how wonderful he is.
But this is where it ends. The stories change now. Here at Chapter 9, Jesus begins focusing on his teachings. He begins talking a lot about how a Christian, a follower has to give up his life to find it, has to be willing to sacrifice everything for the good news. From here on out, Jesus tells the disciples that it will be very hard. And scary. He begins talking a lot about death. And they don’t understand. This is the guy who can do anything, they say. This is the guy who is flanked by Moses and Elijah, they see. This is the guy who God speaks to, they hear. He can’t die! He cannot be killed! Remember what God says "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" But they won’t. They won’t listen, and they won’t understand. They have fallen in love with the image of Jesus that they want him to be. Sometimes, so do we. We get a picture of who we want Jesus to be, and no matter what we hear in the gospels, or the hard questions that come up in life, we won’t change that image. We work just as hard as Peter, James, and John in wanting Jesus to be only one way. But Jesus begins talking and teaching from this point on in the gospel of Mark, that following him means constantly learning, constantly growing, constantly changing. From this point on, being a follower of his, demands incredible courage, and hope and faith. This is when the gospel starts to get hard. This is when the crowds, the huge numbers of people start drifting away from Jesus. They think he’s changing-but he isn’t. He’s just letting them see all that he is-not just the wonderworker.
This is where Epiphany ends-today. With this great story of light. Wednesday is where the new story, the rest of the story begins. The first half of the gospel of Mark is always more popular than the 2nd half. The miracle worker is always better liked than the teacher. This is the last story about Jesus as the light, now we begin to hear the story of Jesus as the challenge. The first half of Mark is about how wonderful the light is. The second half, is about the cross. On Wednesday, we start the journey to Golgotha. Climbing the mountain is hard, coming down the mountain, is dangerous.
Mark 9:2-9
9:2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,
9:3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
9:4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
9:5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
9:6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
9:7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"
9:8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9:9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

The Man Is The Message

Sermon-Year B-6 Epiphany-Feb. 15, 2009

The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.
I was going to start off my sermon with a question. When I was a little boy, back in the early ‘50s, there were two things that I was most afraid of. What were they? So I was visiting a fellow in the hospital yesterday, someone who has been in for 5 weeks. He and I are about the same age, and I thought I would try the question out on him. What two things were we most afraid of as little boys. He looked at me with all seriousness and said, “is one of them catheters?”
I never swam in a public swimming pool when I was a little boy. You know why? Because my mother was afraid that I would catch polio. Ask people under 40 about polio and they know very little, but when I was a kid it was the mystery disease that could strike at you out of the blue. We weren’t sure how you caught it, but most of the time it struck children. And we knew enough to know that if you were around someone who had it, you had a higher percentage of getting it. So-no public swimming pools, afraid of anyone who might have this dreaded illness. It was a terrible sickness. It seemed to strike one group (children) predominantly. People with polio were isolated, quarantined. Everyone knew to stay away from them.
It was a terrible disease and very frightening. And now in the US, it’s disappeared. And I remember getting first the shots and then the sugar cubes with the vaccine, and everyone was happy-because we could go swimming, because we no longer had to be afraid. In an instant our lives had changed.
The leper in today’s story, has some kind of skin disease-we’re not sure that it was what we call leprosy. But the Law of the Jews was very clear, if you had a skin disease (Leviticus 13-14)
“The person with the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He shall live alone, his dwelling place shall be outside the community.”
You were contaminated and tainted, you were considered a threat to the community and dangerous to society. If you had a skin disease you were barred from the temple and you could get no closer than 6 feet to anyone.
Hold on to this image for a moment.
Last week I told you that the story we heard from Mark had this wonderful insight. Jesus realized that no matter how hard he tried, if he kept healing people, and getting rid of their demons, that people would never listen to the good news. They would instead be transfixed, mesmerized by his power-and they would never ever ever listen to his message: that the Kingdom of God had come near them-. He understood that, and it was a terrible awareness. People would not listen-they would want one, and only one, thing-to be fixed, cured, healed. Jesus wanted to bring new life, but he recognized that everyone who now came to him would want only relief from the old life.
Mark’s gospel last week ended this way’ 38Jesus answered ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Jesus was a healer. And a preacher. And an exorcist. And a reconciler. And a teacher. And a prophet. And so many more things. But no one cared. They all wanted just one thing-to be cured. Jesus’ ministry was suddenly narrowing contracting-Did you hear how this gospel ended? 1:45 But the man with leprosy went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Now Jesus can’t go into any town-he has to stay out in the countryside. From last week we heard that he can no longer stay in one place, he has to keep moving. Because Jesus has touched a contaminated man, he now is considered separated from the temple. He sets the leper free, who tells everyone about this great healer-and Jesus has become increasingly restricted.
Did you pick up the hint of anger in this story? It’s the first chapter of Mark-so early in Jesus’ life, and he is becoming aware that his message, his ministry is beyond his control, different than what he came for. Jesus is trying to change the world, and people won’t let him. Fred Craddock, the great Christian writer, liked to say that Jesus’ healings created “audiences, not congregations.” People loved to see healings, but they didn’t “get it”. And each verse, each, encounter, becomes increasing frustrating for Jesus. Each story in this Epiphany season not only reveals that people don’t understand who Jesus is and what his message is, but their misunderstanding makes it increasingly difficult for Jesus to preach that message, and tell that good news.
But two small things happened in this story that people will remember. Two tiny events occurred that long after Jesus has moved on, were to stick with people and would cause them to wonder. The man with leprosy gives Jesus the option, the decision, about what to do:
"If you choose, you can make me clean." Jesus, knowing what this action, what this choice will mean, still responds, "I do choose. Be made clean!" And even years later when Mark is writing all this down, these words will be remembered. Jesus chose, not just to heal, but to allow himself to be labeled as a healer. He knew what this would do, and still he went ahead.
And secondly, so simply, and effortlessly, Jesus did what no one else would ever ever do, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. When the first people with AIDS were being diagnosed in the 1980s, and no one knew how this illness was being communicated, nor how it was caught, Christian caregivers stepped forward, FIRST, and repeated this story as they held and embraced people with HIV.
Jesus touched the man whom no one else would touch. Just as Jesus lifted up the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law, Jesus reached out to the one who was abandoned and unwanted, isolated and quarantined.
And when people in the surrounding countryside, heard of the healing of the man with leprosy, they also heard that Jesus chose to do this, and that he touched him. And now they knew that not only was there a great healer coming-but they knew that he was a man of courage-and hope-and a many who brought people back.
And this is how the first chapter of the gospel of Mark ends-with some anger and frustration, with people not getting it and proclaiming the wrong message, with people being healed and included back into community. It is an amazing chapter. And this is how it ends-a man comes to Jesus, kneeling, begging for hope, and he is sent out, proclaiming the power of God.
It is a simple story. Jesus is realizing every moment that the message cannot be separated from himself. He is learning, like the patrol in Saving Private Ryan, that the man is the mission. It’s not what Jesus says that will change people-it’s who he is, what he does, and especially-who he touches and brings to health. Jesus is realizing ever so slowly that it’s not just the words he says, but who he is that will become the message.

2 Kings 5:1-14
5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.
5:2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a20young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.
5:3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."
5:4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5:5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy."
5:7 When the king of Israel read t he letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."
5:8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel."
5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house.
5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."
5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!
5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
5:14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
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Psalm 30
30:1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
30:2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
30:3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, resto red me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
30:4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
30:5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
30:6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved."
30:7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
30:8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:
30:9 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
30:10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!"
30:11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
30:12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
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1 Corinthians 9:24-27
9:24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
9:25 Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.
9:26 So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air;
9:27 but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.
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Mark 1:40-45
1:40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean."
1:41 Moved with pity, Jes us stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"
1:42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
1:43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once,
1:44 saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
1:45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Hunting For Jesus

Sermon-Year B-5 Epiphany-Feb.8, 2009

Have you ever come to church, and you look around, and everybody seems to get “it”, but you? You listen to the people singing, you hear people praying, you watch everyone enthusiastically embrace during the peace, and you are thinking deep down inside, “I’m feeling nothing.” You want to. You want to believe, you want to have faith, you want to feel “it”-but you don’t, and you feel like you’re just going through the motions. And you begin to think to yourself, “what’s wrong with me? I used to have faith in God, I used to believe in Jesus, how come I can go through all this and not feel ANYTHING. And then you start wondering, “Did I ever really have it?” Was it always just an act, a pretense? “ And sometimes that will stretc h for weeks or months. And you’re afraid to tell anyone. You’re afraid people, your friends for a long time, will look at you weirdly, or start asking you questions that imply that there is something wrong with you. And so you don’t say anything, to anyone. But it continues to gnaw at you. You don’t feel “it”. You don’t feel God’s presence, you don’t know whether you believe that Jesus is real, you’re not sure what you believe at all, but you don’t feel anything, any nearness, any presence, at all. And you wonder where Jesus is.
Maybe this has never happened to you. But it happens to other people. It happens to most people. And it happened for the first time, in this morning’s gospel. This is the story of the first time people that people wanted to find Jesus-and couldn’t.
Let me set the scene for you a little. You’ve been listening to this story the last few weeks, but because we tell it in a piecemeal fashion, you may not remember some of the details.
4 weeks ago Jesus is baptized by John
2 weeks ago we see Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John bidding them to follow him and become fishers of people.
Last week Jesus has come to the town of Capernaum. It is the Sabbath, and a man who is possessed starts screaming at him in the holy place, the synagogue. And Jesus casts out his demon.
And then today’s gospel. It’s still the same Sabbath. Jesus has left the synagogue and gone to Peter’s home, the one he shares with his extended family.
And all the time that you are listening to this story-you’re supposed to feel one thing-OUT OF BREATH. 11 verses, 15 “ands”. Mark the gospel writer wants you to feel like you are watching an Indiana Jones movie. It is nonstop action. And Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. And Jesus heals her. And they have dinner. And then the Sabbath is over. And then the whole town gathers at the door to the house. And then Jesus heals people. And then Jesus casts out demons.
And you just want to pause. And that’s what Mark wants you to feel. He wants us to get a sense that all this is happening out of control, pall mall, that the message is getting lost, that events are overtaking Jesus, and everything is happening much too quickly. Mark wants us to feel like we’re in a Too Fast and Too Furious movie with healings and exorcisms and crowds and demanding people cramming the doorways and sick people standing up and healed people shouting for joy, and exorcized people leaping in freedom. We’re supposed to get the idea that it is bedlam. And that is what Mark the gospel writer wants us to experience-the chaos, the frenzy, the impact of Jesus, a great healer and miracle worker coming to a small town by the sea of Galilee. Mark wants us to understand this-what if you knew that someone with this kind of power, this kind of authority, this kind of command was going to be near you. Would you try to see them? Would you line up for a ticket, would you sit out all night in your lawn chair and sleeping bag waiting to get a good seat for the performance? Hoping maybe Jesus would fix you or someone you loved?
Rev. Sally, the former assistant here, and I write t o each other often. Last month she told me about a devout Catholic lay person who was in California and had the power to heal people. And she wrote me about him, and what it felt like to be in his presence. And a few days ago she wrote to say that he, Dr. Issam Nemeh , was going to be in Belleville.(last week-Feb.1)
And I thought to myself, “I gotta go see this guy.”-bad knees, bad back, bad stomach, high blood pressure. I gotta go see this guy.
And as I was listening to this gospel I thought about this guy, Issam Nemeh this healer that Sally mentioned, and I thought about Jesus. And I thought about how desperate, how hopeful we feel when we believe power is near, when we think a miracle worker is within reach.
Would you rush out to see someone who could fix you, who could cure you-or someone you loved? Would you crowd the door and hope he would touch you, pray over you, see you? You bet you would.
And that’s what was happening to Jesus. People heard there was a man of power, a man of authority in their town and they were so excited, so hopeful. Jesus must have stayed up all night just touching and healing and exorcising all the desperate, hurting people.
And so when morning came, exhausted, overwhelmed, Jesus goes out to a lonely place, a quiet place. To pray. To be alone. Parents of newborns or small children-you know this feeling. You just want 5 minutes of peace to yourself. And while Jesus is in this quiet, lonely place, his new friends, these fishers of people, find him, and are angry with him.
"Everyone is searching for you."

And in that moment Jesus knew, HE KNEW. As long as he stayed in one place, as long as he remained in one town, as long as he stayed where they wanted him, he would never ever become anything other than a great healer, a miracle worker, an exorcist. But that is not who he was. Maybe you believe in faith healers, maybe you don’t-it doesn’t matter. When you are desperate, frantic, in pain, or worried to death over someone you love, you will go to ANYONE.
And Jesus knew that he would just be another in a long line of people who can heal. But that is not who he was.
He came for something else. And in the next to last verse of today’s gospel you hear this realization, this awareness, this recognition hit him. EVERYONE is searching for you! They tell him. But they weren’t really. They were mad and angry that Jesus wasn’t where they wanted him. In the house, curing people. Healing people. Doing what they NEEDED.-He wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do. And he certainly wasn’t who he was supposed to be. And Jesus knew it. And so he turns to these frantic, these anxious new best friends and he says the words that they could not possibly understand: "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
What did he realize in that moment? What did he learn in his brief time in Capernaum? What was the revelation that came to him? That he was going to be a disappointment for a lot of people. That he was more than a healer. That he was more than an exorcist. That he was not just a guy who cured people-he was something else. People were going to get angry at him and frustrated and disillusioned and disenchanted with him. And as much as people wanted healing and being rid of their demons, Jesus came out to do more than that. He came out to encourage people to change, to repent, and to know that the Kingdom of God had come near them, to lead new lives, to become new people.. He came out to bring us back into closeness and intimacy with God. He came out to help us get over our fears. He came out to show us what real life is like.

Don’t worry if you don’t have “it.” Don’t fret if you don’t feel “it”. Don’t agonize if everyone seems to have faith and trust and belief-and you don’t. Here’s what we learn this morning-Jesus isn’t always where we want him. That’s pretty frustrating. Jesus doesn’t always do what we want him to do-that’s pretty disappointing. Jesus isn’t always who we want him to be-that’s pretty disillusioning. And a lot of times, when we look and look and look and he’s not there, we think to ourselves-maybe he was never there in the first place? Maybe I never knew him, saw him, felt him, experienced him at all? That’s why they were hunting so feverishly for Jesus. That’s why they were hunting. They wanted to put him in the house and heal people. Their house. Their healer. Their exorcist. And that’s not why he came out.
Go out to a lonely place. Wait there. Sit and be quiet. Say your prayers. Don’t expect anything. Be quiet. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid. And don’t wonder if you’ll ever get it back, or why everyone has “it” but you. You’re not alone. You’ve probably just been hunting for Jesus in the wrong place. You’ve probably just been looking for what everyone else “seems” to have. Be patient. One night a long time ago, people went hunting for Jesus, afraid that they had lost him. And that’s when he came out. Not the Jesus that they wanted., where they wanted, doing what they wanted Not the man that they all craved. They were looking for him in the wrong place. It happens. It happened to them-it happens to us. Just wait and be patient. Stop looking so hard in the wrong place. Jesus will come to you because that is what he does. Faith will return. Don’t worry about it. That intimacy with God will come again. Don’t be afraid of losing “it” forever. Some days we just get so weighed down by all our preconceptions so overwhelmed by our needs that we can’t find him.. But “it” will return. Just wait. Be quiet. Go to a lonely place. And pray. Let Jesus be Jesus. “It” will happen.
1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
1:30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
1:31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
1:32 Tha t evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
1:33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.
1:34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
1:35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
1:36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
1:37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
1:38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
1:39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

1:36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
1:37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
1:38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “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.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Mark 1:29-39
1:29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
1:30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
1:31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
1:32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
1:33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.
1:34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
1:35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
1:36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
1:37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
1:38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
1:39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Isaiah 40:21-31
40:21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;
40:23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the ea rth as nothing.
40:24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
40:25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
40:26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
40:29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
40:30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
40:31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.