The Gospel According to Cliff Clavin

Epiphany 4 + Luke 4:31-371 + Pastor Petri

A Christian Approach to Know-It-Alls

You might know Sue Ann Nivens of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Cliff Clavin of the sitcom rerun . If not -if you’re too young- you do know someone like these TV characters—folks who have an answer to everything, and who bless you with unwanted expertise. It’s that one person in your life (outside of Mom) that suggests a better way to remove stains, consistently corrects your grammar, and blurts out the punchline that ruins your story. These people are “know-it-alls,” and they drive us crazy. But why? In today’s Gospel, even Jesus faced such a person. Mind you, the man in his case was more than just a show-off; he was demon possessed. I’m not saying that all wiseguys are demonic. One or two probably aren’t. I am saying a spiritual engine drives our discourse, and when it goes bad, we should ask why, for Satan often uses the unsuspecting in evil ways. He especially feels devilish delight when we blindly look past him and blame his schemes on the Sue Ann Nivens and Cliff Clavins we know. So what is our response to know-it-alls? Let’s turn to our text.

[THE LOVE OF POWER (4:31-34)] We find Jesus some time after he was ejected from Nazareth. But if Jesus walked away from his hometown, he did not walk away from preaching. On this Sabbath, in Capernaum, folks were astonished by his teachings, until one man spoiled it. Unlike last week, this synagogue’s resistance was not widespread; it was just one fellow who yelled, “WHAT HAVE YOU TO DO WITH US, JESUS...I KNOW WHO YOU ARE—THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.” Two things stand out here: The man was hostile, and he exposed the Lord. Jesus was teaching the kingdom of God,2 planting faith seeds for the Holy Spirit to nurture, each person according to God’s timing, 3 each person according to his own readiness. But then this fellow blurted out the end of the matter, with no regard for timing or readiness. He just had to show that he knew it all! Of course, it’s more than that. The man was possessed. Satan works in people, even church mem- bers, and he exploits our love of power—of being right, of being first, of beating others to the punch. This ought to alarm us, for we all fall for it. And it doesn’t matter that we are right. If we get pushy, or say, “Here, let me do it,” are we not flaunting our maturity in childish ways? Then it is we who become ‘Cliff Clavins’ and ‘Sue Ann Nivens’! And if we sniff imperiously and say, “But it’s God’s truth,” I’ll remind you this demon spoke God’s truth. It just wasn’t his place or prerogative to do so! He was the wrong one to speak such right things.4

1 Unless otherwise noted, all passages are from The English Standard Version of the Bible. 2 Mark 1:14-15 “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” 3 Lamentations 3:25 “The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” 4 Luke 4:41 “Demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But [Jesus] rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. [THE POWER OF LOVE (4:35)] However, as we show a love of power, Jesus showed the power of love. On one level, he did seem to jump into the fray and ‘fight fire with fire’. He interrupted the interrupter and impatiently rebuked the impatient. But Jesus didn’t really scold the man at all. He wasn’t even talking to him but to the dark spiritual force pulling his strings. A demon controlled this fellow, though no one would have guessed it. The man was not wild. He didn’t foam at the mouth or lurk among tombstones. He was a member of the church, for goodness’ sake! He was ordinary, just like you and me. Yet Jesus loved him. Imagine that! The man disrupted the Lord’s message and yet Jesus loved him enough to rescue him from his demon. Now, if Jesus did that for a fellow spoiling his church service, don’t you suppose he’ll do it for us? Our issues are not as severe. Sure, we can become disruptive. We may sometimes feel the need to prove how smart or wickedly funny we are. We may feel an irrepressible need to stir others up. Or we may be filled with love yet express it in inappropriate ways. There are a thousand instances when we do the right thing the wrong way. Jesus looks past all of this. He knows how Satan savagely exploits us. In the end, the devil will know God’s wrath; but we know his love, a love that is patient and kind, and that bears all things.5

[THE TIME OF GRACE (4:36-37)] How shall we then respond? In the synagogue at Capernaum, the people “WERE ALL AMAZED.” We saw earlier that they were “astonished” at Jesus’ teaching (4:32) and there is no real difference between the two reactions, except that now they saw Jesus in action. Where a possessed man tried to take over the service, our gracious Savior prevailed. This is what the congregation witnessed. They were previously amazed to hear what Jesus taught about life, but now they were even more amazed to see him change a life. Now the age of grace had dawned. God was coming into the world, not to show how great he is but in order to rescue us from our demons and set us free! At once, the people began to spread reports about Jesus in the surrounding region. And the good Lord did nothing to stop them. They had seen his love. So have we. No church will ever be perfect, and there will always be Sue Ann Nivens and Cliff Clavens even within our church. They may be quick to show how smart they are because, quite frankly, they are trapped by a love of power. But Jesus has shown us the power of love, and it’s strong enough to overcome the unwanted advice and meddling of others. Should we cast those people out? No. We embrace the ‘know-it-alls’ and instead cast off their offenses, assured that as Christ loves us we can love them apart from their foibles. And we are glad for this to be the case because, at one time or another, we have been Sue Ann Nivens and Clifford Clavin. But now we know only Christ, and him crucified.6 Amen.

5 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 6 1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”