能力更大的那一位 He Who is Mightier

Title: He who is mightier
Date: 7 Jan 2024
Preacher: Rev Enoch Keong

Lectionary readings: Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11

The following sermon explores the understanding of “power” in the lectionary readings:

In the gospel passage, John introduces us to one who is mightier than he. For unlike John who baptizes with water, the one who comes after him shall baptize with the Holy Spirit. We churchgoers know what John is talking about; hence we do not bat an eyelid when we hear the way he introduces the person coming after him. Yet for the crowd who heard John firsthand, they must have been puzzled and shocked on hearing the claim made. To them, it was God and God alone who gave the Spirit to the prophets in the Old Testament. So, who is this mightier one coming after John who would be doing that which only God could?

We as Christians know very well that the mightier one refers to Jesus. We who have been in church long enough also have the language and the words to explain why Jesus is able to baptize with the Holy Spirt, for he is God incarnate. Yet what we might need from time to time is to ask ourselves, “Who is this mightier one to us?” And the start of a new year can be a very good time to ask ourselves this question.

Each of the 4 readings in today’s lectionary has something to say in response to this question. Let us look at them in turn.

I.
The first reading takes us to beginning of time, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

The point of this verse is that all possibilities within the world that we live in are dependent upon this creative act of God. Because God created, we have nature. Because God created, we have civilizations, cultures, and history. Because God created, we find the stuff we call raw materials to make all the useful and fanciful stuff.

The reading stops at the first day of creation, which pushes readers to think more about what was done on this day. What would be the best thing to bring forth at the very start of creation? Light, of course. It is only when there’s light that you can see the green trees, the blue sky and the golden sunshine. Without light, beautiful colors won’t show. It is also light that allows the beings created subsequently to be able to tell between left and right, and whether what lies ahead is safety or danger. Light is the basis of life and order. And Genesis tells us that God, whom everything that exists depends upon, is a very wise God. Beginning with light, all possibilities became realities.

God created light and brought all things into existence through speaking the word. Human speech is powerful, our words can build up or destroy a person, they can shape ideas and bring changes to a society, but they can never create realities the way God is able to. Hence, “And God said” a short 3-word phrase, opens our eyes to see what really is going on between the creator and the created. God makes good things come about and continues to do so. And all else in the world is dependent on the power and goodness of God, perhaps much more than we are often ready to admit.

II.
Yet there is another aspect about God that is receiving even lesser focus in churches these days. Let’s read a few verses from Psalm in today’s reading, and we will quickly know what I mean.

‘The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, ‘Glory!’’ (Ps 29:4-9, NRSV)

These are not words reporting actual events. The psalmist is affirming that God is the Lord of all existence, that he can command the fearsome natural forces. That he can bring in thunderstorm that will “breaks the cedars… shakes the wilderness… causes the oaks to whirl and strips the forest bare”. In other words, the psalmist is saying that God is so powerful that can command the strongest forces in nature that he ever seen in life.

While the Gensis reading affirms that God is the source and sustainer of life, Psalm 29 declares that he is also Lord and judge of all there is.

If we find the psalmist to be overimagining things, we are not alone. Churches today don’t quite see God this way. Instead, there is this tendency to characterize Jesus as a brother and a supportive friend. And God as an intimate and comforting presence. One writer describes what she observes in today churches considering the words of Psalm 29:

“The churches are like children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets,
mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.
It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets.
Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.” [1]

An exaggeration, but we get the point, don’t we? I

think this might be a good time to pause and ask ourselves once again the question, “Who is this mightier one to us?” We may also ask; “Do I imagine a God much smaller than who he really is?” “What should be different since God is both the loving source and sustainer of life and the fearsome judge of all there is?”

III.
In the New Testament there is this account about Paul meeting some disciples at the inland region of Ephesus, and very soon in his conversation with them he asked, “‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” (Acts 19:2)

I can’t help but wonder what had caused Paul to ask such a question. It is not like he goes around asking everybody this, the way I tend to have people asking in church on Sundays, “s’up bronoch?” Paul must have seen or sensed something for him to ask the question. Was it because those guys were unchurched? Was Paul prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask them? Was it because he saw something lacking in them? Or is it that believers are supposed exhibit some observer difference when they are filled with the Holy Spirit?

Neither the passage nor commentaries I have read answered my curiosity as to why Paul asked the question. But what follows in the rest of the passage is what we want to take note of. Paul baptized them in Jesus’ name, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and prophesized (Acts 19:5-6). Let’s be clear, Acts is not saying that there is a correlation between baptism with speaking in tongues and prophesizing. But prophesying they were, and what could this group that was spirit led be prophesying? Similar things happened in Act 2, so they must be prophesying God’s deeds of power.

We asked ourselves a few minutes ago, “What should be different since God is both the loving source and sustainer of life and the fearsome judge of all there is?” Taking the lead from the Acts passage, it would be to actively reflecting God in all that we do – not the God we imagine, but the God whom the Spirit is showing us.

Showing, present continuous tense, showing in real time. It might be a situation where you want to mete out justice and punishments, but God somehow reminds you of his mercy at that very moment, then show mercy. Or it could be a setting where you prefer to one eye to some wrongdoings or just let the bullied get bullied even more, but Psalm 29 which says that it is God and not the bullies who is the “Lord above all” comes to mind, and you are prompted to speak up, then speak up. Reflecting God can be a joy, or it can be rather scary, either way, our motivation to do so is our faith in a God who is both is the source and sustainer of life, and also the Lord and judge of all there is.

IV.
All that we have said about God comes together in a very special moment in human history according to Mark. The mightier one, the judge of all there is, took on the form of man out of love for humankind and went forward to receive the baptism of repentance; while he who is sinless did not and will not ever need to repent.

The baptism scene is often depicted with images that depict warmness, humility, obedience and so on. But here is where a picture does not speak a thousand words. The lectionary readings and Mark himself, want us to not forget that the Jesus who is meek, is also the mightier one.

Mark clarifies what he means by Jesus is the mightier one in a single verse parable in chapter 3. Here Satan is the strong man. And Jesus, the mightier one, the only one powerful enough to binds the strong man, plundered his possessions and in turn liberated the sprits and people under Satan’s control.

The parable demonstrates that God is one who first do something for humanity, before doing something to them. He first helped us to overcome that which we are unable to before he asks us to actively reflect him in worship and all that we do. And this has been God’s way since the beginning of time. In the creations story, God first had all the setting up done before he asked Adam and Eve to keep the garden in order.

Jesus first coming signals a new beginning. In this new beginning, the very thing that God is doing, is to gives new life in the Holy Spirit that John announced to the crowd at river Jordan.

In this new year, let’s pause and ask God not only to lead and guide not to live lives, but also the live the new life he is giving. We asked earlier who is this mightier one to us? So, is he mightier than the problems and threats in life? Will we continue to trust in him even if situations have yet to become better? Is he mightier than all that captivates us, that he shall be our sole object of worship? Is he mightier than we ourselves and our great ideas, that we will always look to him?

I will leave us with these questions.

[1]Annie Dillard, Teaching a stone to talk, New York: Harper Collins, 1982. 40-1.

华语崇拜视频链接：https://youtu.be/zu6B_MWogPs?si=WzMnhSarGE1S1v5J

Bilingual Service Video Link: https://youtu.be/oS1zoQY3m_k?si=VRrB2cX2y-ElW3Y_