Why Did His Fame Spread?
Mark 1:21-28
by Jim Westmoreland
Sometimes, news travels really fast. Other times, it hardly travels at all.
Yesterday, it happened again. There was another space shuttle disaster. It went like this:
SPACE CENTER, Houston, Feb. 1 -- Space shuttle Columbia plummeted to Earth in flames and
crashed in central Texas on Saturday, taking the lives of all seven astronauts on board.
As NASA confirmed the loss of the spacecraft and its crew, soldiers lowered the American
flags flying at the White House, Pentagon and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to
half-staff. President Bush, in an address to the nation, said, "The Columbia's lost.
There are no survivors. Our entire nation grieves."
I had been away from the house and came in as they were showing pictures of the contrails,
the vapor plumes, in the sky 200,000 feet above us, and then I began to see multiple
pieces, each with its own plume. Later, I would realize that this was probably the
fifteenth time they had shown it, and that they would show it at least 100 times before
the day was over. But, I was seeing it for the first time, frozen in my steps standing
just a few feet from the TV. They were just 15 minutes away from landing, 15 minutes away
from getting home. I kept waiting for more information and explanation. I was hungry for
every scrap of news about it.
In our reading in Mark today, people are fascinated with Jesus. They became hungry for
every scrap of news about him as His fame spread throughout the land. Why did His fame
spread? Our text gives us two reasons. First, he taught with authority, and second, he
changed lives! Unclean spirits responded, whatever blinded or distorted or bound the
spirits of people, Jesus set them free.
In our day people don't respect and respond to authority like they used to. We either
think we are to resist authority or to keep it in check. A few years ago a teacher noticed
one of her students, a shy young girl, was having trouble working out her arithmetic
assignment. The teacher went to the child quietly and asked if she could help with any
questions knowing the girl was timid about asking for help.
When the problem was sorted out the little girl thanked the teacher. The teacher told the
little girl not to be shy about asking questions, "that's one of the reasons I am
here."
The little girl thought about that for a moment and asked quietly, "What's the other
reason?"
Responding to the authority of Jesus changes the way we look at the world and life. When
we recognize the authority of Jesus, we can follow in His footsteps when there is no
apparent path to follow and when everyone else is giving us conflicting advice.
E. Stanley Jones, a famous missionary, tells a story of getting lost in the jungle. He got
lost with nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He finally found a small
village and asked one of the natives if he could lead him out of the jungle. The native
said he could. "All right," the missionary said, "Show me the way."
They walked for hours through dense brush hacking their way through unmarked jungle.
The missionary began to worry and said, "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is
the path?" The native said. "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the
path."
Our path out of the jungle of this world is God in Christ. We may have some rabbis,
masters, fathers, teachers, and preachers, but we are all like the missionary. We rely not
upon men but Christ who is our path. --Brett Blair,
www.eSermons.com, 1999. People sensed Jesus' authority was
different, and, today, He can still lead people through the jungle of their lives and be
their path to know the forgiveness and love of God.
The first reason His fame spread was this unusual sense of authority that people felt, and
the second reason His fame spread was because people's lives were changed! He spoke and
the evil spirits responded. Darkness was lifted, chains of evil and bad habits and
stinkin' thinkin' were broken and people were set free overflowing with the love of God.
Most people would say they want God to change their own lives, but the truth is, they are
much more comfortable with the idea of God changing someone else's life, like their
husband or wife, or their boss, or a neighbor or co-worker. Someone else!
I'm reminded of the story of the extremely nervous bride on her wedding day. She confided
to her minister that she was not sure she could make it all the way down the aisle without
shaking or crying. So the minister, a seasoned veteran of weddings, gave her a bit of
advice.
"When you begin your walk," he said, "just remember this three-point
formula: First, look straight down the aisle; second, when you get about half-way, look
straight up at the altar; and third, when you get near the front of the church, look
straight at your groom. First the aisle, then the altar, then him. I think this will help
relieve your nervousness."
The trembling bride agreed to try his advice. And it worked beautifully. She walked with a
radiant glow on her face and poise and confidence in her step, with no sign of
nervousness. However, there was on small problem. Imagine the surprise of the congregation
as they heard her rhythmically repeating three words over and over as she came down the
aisle: "Aisle, altar, him!" "Aisle, altar-him!" "I'll alter
him!" "I'll alter him!"
"Aisle, altar, him!" or "I'll alter him!" Well, the truth is, most
brides don't have a lot of luck in altering their husbands. But the good news of the
Christian faith is that God can alter us! --James W. Moore, Some Things
Are To Good Not To Be True, Nashville: Dimensions, 1994, p. 48. And,
when God takes away our hurt and anger and the insensitive things we do, he replaces them
with His love, and we are changed! The terrible flaws in our personality that have plagued
us are taken away. We are happy and those around us are even happier. That's why Jesus
fame spread back then. Do you suppose it's any different today?
A certain Army man had been a heavy drinker for 35 years. For all those years he had been
angry, angry at everyone and everything. Finally, he encountered Christ, and his whole
life changed.
He was speaking once before a group of medical people. He told them of his personality
change, how he was now sober as he once had been drunk; considerate as he once had been
severe; concerned for others as once he had been selfish and self-serving.
A psychiatrist, who believed that personalities are so firmly set in early life that no
one can change, protested to the Colonel that at his age a person could not have such a
radical transformation.
"Well," replied the Colonel, "that may be true. But I am under new
management, I answer to another authority, the highest and truest there is."
The psalmist wrote in 111:4, He has gained renown by His wonderful deeds. The Lord is
gracious and merciful." And Mark wrote, "They 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." At once his fame began to spread throughout
the surrounding region of Galilee."
When did His fame begin to spread in this text? V. 28 says
"immediately", "at once"!! Now, let's go back to our original
question, Why did His fame spread? Because people's lives were
changed as they obeyed his authority! Now, I have three questions to close with. Can
His fame spread here? When will it spread, and Why will the fame of Jesus spread?