January 28, 2024

“Anything But Normal”

Richard Voelz

“Those who gathered thought it was going to another normal Sabbath in the Capernaum synagogue,” begins Richard Voelz, Professor of Preaching and Worship at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. In today’s passage from Mark 1:21-28, Voelz says, “But then a stranger stood up. When he began to teach, there was a weightiness to what he was saying – the words he spoke hung in the air, thick with meaning. He taught the worshipers with authority, with power that they were not accustomed to hearing. They looked at each other in astonishment. This was anything but normal!” And then a man with an unclean spirit showed up…

Note: This sermon was originally released as B10: The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B (2021).

Manuscript available: click HERE