From the Pastor |
Mark 1: 21-28
Out of the four gospels in the New Testament, Mark is the shortest… the most succinct and fast-paced. Unlike Matthew… Mark is writing for an audience who are unfamiliar with the Hebrew texts and faith, and he portrays Jesus as the suffering Son of God… a man with power and authority… focusing more on the actions and miracles of Christ than on his words. This is a gospel of action… In this first chapter we can see just how quickly Mark will move through this story: we were introduced to John the Baptist who heralds the Messiah’s coming. Then Jesus came and was baptized… he was led into the desert where he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. Then John was arrested and Jesus begins his own ministry by calling the first of his disciples to follow him. All of this in a mere 20 verses. Wow! Our story today… moves us to Jesus’ first public demonstrations of authority and power. Jesus… together with those first disciples, goes to Capernaum. On the Sabbath, he enters the synagogue and begins to teach. Think about that for a second… a strange man you have never seen before walks into your church… walks right up to the pulpit and begins to preach. It had to be strange and a little disconcerting… however, Mark tells us that the people were astounded by his teachings which were given with authority and different from the scribes. Then… suddenly… a man in the synagogue “with an unclean spirit” cries out… challenging Jesus: “I know who you are… why are you here? Have you come to destroy us?” There he is… His first appearance in public ministry and Jesus is heckled and challenged by an “unclean” spirit who protests Jesus’ very presence there… yet Jesus casts the spirit out succinctly and with again with authority and a demonstration of power: “Be silent, and come out of him!” The unclean spirit fought against this order, but it was futile for Mark tells us that “the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” Now… we can read that as a great short story but really? A man with an unclean spirit? Seems like a campfire ghost story in the making. In those ancient days, the idea of “unclean spirits”, demons and spiritual forces was common. Most ancient cultures firmly believed that spiritual powers existed and while they were not all evil… many were indeed harmful. It was a widely held belief that demons were the cause of most of mankind’s ills. Demons would invade the body and they were the cause of mental illnesses, epilepsy and other physical diseases. There were some who even believed deafness and blindness were caused by these “unclean spirits.” But come on… in our modern civilization we know... through science… that a person… say… someone suffering from schizophrenia is not possessed by a demon… but is, in fact, suffering from a mental illness. Demonic possession is something we see in movies and fictional stories. So how can we relate to this story of Jesus driving out a demonic spirit today? I think… in order to truly grasp the message of this story we need to let go of the Hollywood images of demons we all seem to have in our heads… the images brought on by movies like The Exorcist with the heads of possessed people spinning around and pea soup flying across the room. Instead, we need to consider that these “unclean spirits” are any and all forces that are diametrically opposed to God. They are the things that curse, disparage and tear down rather than bless, encourage and build up… they are the things that promote hate instead of love, and divide us rather than unite us. The idea of demonic possession illustrates the reality of evil in our world. Although our advances in science and medicine make the ancient notions of illnesses being attributed to “unclean Spirits” obsolete, these stories still reveal that there are forces that can wreak havoc on individuals, and communities. Sometimes we find that we can be caught up in things that are so powerful and compelling that they actually seem to possess us… separating us from God and the abundant life God brings. In fact… when we look at it in this way… I imagine that we have all been possessed by “unclean spirits” at some time in our lives… if not at this very moment. Naming our demons is the best way to recognize that they DO exist. The biggest demon we have to face is unbelief… losing our faith in God, AND even in our fellow human beings. However, there are so many others: We can so easily become possessed by the spirits of fear… anger…and jealousy; by hatred and prejudice… possessed by greed and our desires. We can even find ourselves possessed by our addictions, depression, and grief. Our world is also infected with the demons of racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, violence, and poverty. Just to name a few. Being a Christian does not exclude us from becoming taken over by the “unclean spirits” that are all around us. People of faith are susceptible just like everyone else. The gospel reminds us clearly of this fact because the man with the “unclean spirit” was IN the synagogue. This confrontation with Jesus takes place INSIDE a synagogue… a holy place where only the ritually clean were allowed to gather for worship, and still the “unclean spirit” was there. All evil needs is to find the door to our heart even slightly ajar and then it can enter in… taking hold. Pulling us away from God. And once these spirits enter in… they will not willingly leave. However, the Good News that Mark has shown us is that Jesus has the power and authority to drive out the demons that invade us… oppress and enslave us. Those things that keep us from fully knowing and living in the love and light of God. These verses clearly demonstrate the amazing authority of Jesus… it shows that he has the power, and the one who was possessed recognized it. The man with the unclean spirit was the one who recognized Jesus… who perceived him as a threat… who had the most to lose. For an encounter with Jesus can change everything. This is not just a healing story or a simple miracle… it is a reminder that God is at work… then and now… to free us from the unclean spirits that still possess us. Our God is the God of the broken and Jesus is the one who can break the hold these things have on us so that we might be free to live and grow as individuals and a community as we receive healing and restoration and the abundant life God desires for all of us.. Jesus is the “Holy One of God” who has come to cleanse us from such spirits; to defeat the power of sin and death and to restore the world of life that God created. Mark begins Jesus’ public ministry with this story of confrontation and freedom to remind us that, through Christ, God is at work to free us from the unclean spirits and the powers that would possess us… pulling us away from God and seeking to rob us of all the good that God intends for us. So this week… take time to consider what things possess you? What keeps you from fully embracing all the life, love and light that God offers you? And then consider how encountering Jesus can change that… casting out the ‘demons’? Turn to Christ and implore him to (as the hymn written by Mary Louise Bringle "Cast Out, O Christ) says): “Cast out, O Christ, cast far away The demons that destroy The haunting dreads that choke our souls, The hates that stifle joy.”
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Yeon Shin
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