A curious thing happens in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus goes into a synagogue and teaches on the Sabbath day. That in itself is not strange. But what is curious are the reactions to his teaching and to his presence. The people who are there realise that Jesus is different, different from their other teachers. For the Gospel tells us, “[The people] were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
As one having authority. That means they can recognise, there in that religious setting, that his teaching is coming from God. And not just his teaching, but Jesus himself. The people may not be able to say that just yet, but they can tell that Jesus’ presence and his teaching bring something new and different to them.
This reaction by the people is then strengthened by something else that happens, by another reaction to Jesus’ presence. There is a man there with an unclean spirit, the Gospel says. That means he is beset by evil. And before Jesus says anything to the man, the spirit cries out, accusing Jesus of trying to destroy it and proclaiming that Jesus is “the Holy One of God.” The evil spirit can recognise who Jesus really is.
I’ll tell you something. Years ago, when I was not really a Christian, but I was reading the Bible every day — I read it out of interest, and out of some desire to read it, sensing it would be good for me spiritually — well, honestly, I think God drove me to read the Bible. Anyway, I remember running across this passage, or others like it, and noticing that the evil spirits knew exactly who Jesus was, even though the people kind of had an inkling but weren’t too sure. And I, who was struggling with believing whether Jesus really was from God, noticed that the evil spirits were afraid of him. And that fed into the many things coming together to help me believe that Jesus really was from God. It was kind of like the people at the synagogue that day who are amazed, we hear, “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.’” And Jesus’ fame begins to spread.
So the unclean spirit knows who Jesus is. Knowledge is important. But knowledge is not the same as faith. There is something missing, which the evil spirit could not have.
The secret ingredient is told to us by the Apostle Paul in our second reading, from First Corinthians: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.” In order to have faith, one has to have love.
Knowledge and love are often mentioned together, such as in the blessing often used in churches: “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Knowledge and love. Knowledge is important. That’s why we teach Sunday school and confirmation classes; it is why we read and learn about God in Christ. But knowledge alone is not enough. Knowledge about something allows us to keep a distance from it, keep it at arm’s length. So if we just know about God, or about Christ, or about anything, it’s just in the mind, like an intellectual thing.
Instead, the kind of knowledge we need is knowledge of something, meaning it becomes part of us, and we part of it. We know it intimately; we are awed by its mysteries. This can apply to the knowledge of secular fields, even science.
But it especially applies to God. Faith is not an abstract kind of intellectual knowledge. It is meant to be a knowledge filled with and guided by love, so that God in Christ becomes part of us, and we part of him. As Paul says, “Anyone who loves God is known by him.” It’s a two-way street, a two-way relationship: the love between us and God. Years ago, when God drove me to read the Bible every day, I gained knowledge: knowledge of Christ’s life and his deeds, knowledge of how the early church grew because of the faith and the courage of Christ’s disciples, knowledge of the Old Testament as Jesus’ own Scriptures and how these books form the background of the Christian faith. Much of this I actually already knew, but reading the Bible then, in the context of my life at the time, helped me to grow in love of the Lord, and to recognise that God driving me to read the Bible was a movement of love from God, drawing me to love Christ.
As a side note, in the eGleanings, our email newsletter, for this week, I said that Kirk and I have taken up a plan to read the Bible in a year, which comes down to three or four chapters a day. We are using a scheme that I will put up on the church’s website. I am finding that reading this much each day, in sequence, immerses me in coming to know and, I pray, love the Lord evermore.
Our psalm today ends with a verse that says,
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
those who act accordingly have a good understanding.”
This line about the fear of the Lord shows up elsewhere in the Bible too. It is much quoted. And I know people don’t like the idea that they are meant to be afraid of God. But it’s connected with this thing about knowledge and love.
The “fear of the Lord” does not mean a cringing, resentful kind of fear. That’s what the evil spirit expressed toward Jesus, in his knowledge devoid of love. The fear of the Lord means awe, the kind of awe that might just drive us to our knees because we recognise our position relative to God: that God is infinitely more mighty than we are, and that in itself brings both wonder and accountability. Wisdom is born from a combination of knowledge and love; it comes from a sense of perspective: that we are so small in the vast expanse of God’s creation, and yet we are still an integral part of God’s creation, held and cared for by God. Wisdom is knowledge, but it is knowledge born of experience and tempered by compassion and a recognition of one’s own limitations. Wisdom is knowledge with discernment — recognising what is the will of God. “Anyone who claims to know something,” Paul says, “does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.” It is better to love God and be known by God than to think we know all things and have no love at all. That would simply be to know nothing.
I pray again the Collect for the day:
Creator God,
who in the beginning
commanded the light to shine out of darkness:
We pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief,
shine into the hearts of all your people,
and reveal the knowledge of your glory
in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord.