Psalm 111 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 1: 21-28 (Common English Bible)
This season of Epiphany reminds us that God makes God’s self known to us through the teachings of the prophets written in the Hebrew Bible about the reality of God’s character, which is justice, healing and love. They are filled with promises about faithfulness and honesty about the alternatives. In the reading from Psalm 111: 5, it reminds us that only one kind of fear gives us knowledge, the respect and awe of the Ground of Being we call “God.”
Today we are going to address a situation about evil spirits or demons, which always draws attention. Recently I saw a fairly new movie called “Exorcist: Believer” which was supposed to be a kind of sequel to the original 1973 movie, “The Exorcist,” although that is debatable. But Ellen Burstyn who played “Chris MacNeil” in the original movie was in it and Linda Blair who played her daughter “Regan Macneil” in the original movie made a very brief appearance at the end of the movie. Of course as in most movies, the original is the best.
In Mark’s gospel we find Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum. This is the beginning of his ministry of healing those who are afflicted back to wholeness. Then suddenly Jesus is confronted by a demon-possessed man. The demon or evil spirit within the man shows both terror and resistance, and its response to Jesus’ teaching indicates the demon knows the importance of Jesus’ message of the Good News. The use of the plural “us” the possessed man utters makes it clear the demons know about Jesus and fear him. This encounter shows the type of conflict Jesus will have, both from demons and humans.
According to ancient Jewish belief, demons could eat, drink and even beget children. They were, according to some Jewish traditions, seven and a half million demons. They lived in unclean places, such as tombs and areas where there was no clean water. Demons lived in the deserts where their howling could be heard. Demons were especially dangerous to a lonely traveler, to a woman during childbirth and those who voyaged by night. And they were especially active between sunset and sunrise. There was a demon who caused blindness and a demon who caused leprosy and heart disease.
The demon or evil spirit tries to persuade Jesus from getting too involved in this world. The demon tells Jesus, “What do you have to do with us Jesus of Nazareth?” The dark shadows which had possessed the man, feared the Light of Christ coming into the world.
After taking away the demon’s power to do more harm, Jesus casts it out by exorcizing it from the man. Jesus just doesn’t cast out the disease, he gets rid of any source that might repeat the pattern and brings healing and wholeness to the man.
The people who witnessed this healing realize they are seeing something completely new, this is a new type of teaching and healing with authority. Jesus is so much more than they could imagine. It is no wonder they wasted no time to spread this Good News. What the people in the synagogue had just witnessed was also a narrative about authority, power and purpose. They had no idea at that time that Jesus would spread his ministry silencing evil and reversing the binds on humanity, with healing, freedom and wholeness for all.
When the demonic spirit asked Jesus, “Have you come to destroy us?” What is clear is that Jesus is dismantling the Evil One’s plot for world domination through its millions of demonic spirits and Jesus is not afraid to face down that evil, whether physical or spiritual. Think of the scene from the famous movie, “Silence of the Lambs,” as “Hannibal Lector,” wears a muzzle because he has bitten a nurse. Jesus muzzled the power of the demon and cast it out from its position of power to do harm.
There are still those people on this tiny planet of ours who are convinced that all we need is the kind of human authority who can end their vision of evil. But often the reality of evil is in the mind of the beholder. Some still believe that desegregation was evil even though integration has been a blessing for millions. The reality is that life in this complex universe we live in is so vast that many are hesitant to ask the big questions. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why are we here? What does it mean to be human? What will happen after we die? Besides the Bible you might want to read “Why Does the World Exist” by John Holt.
For many of us, the words “authority and power” have been closely linked together. We look to authorities to exert power over us, even if we don’t admit it. But the word “authority” comes from the Latin word “augere” which means “to cause to grow.” The dictionary defines authority as “that which or those whom one has reason to trust.”
Jesus’ authority did not reside in his ability to prove his point and thereby exert his power over people. Jesus’ authority came because he added to what people already knew and believed. His authority is derived from the Good News that the One we call “God” is Love.
Jesus insisted that he came that people might have life and live it abundantly. He taught the way of living that began with the Law of Moses. All the rules and regulations which people adopted so they may live in harmony with one another. And Jesus was the climax of that Law.
As we struggle to balance our everyday transactions, whatever authority we look for, it must be grounded with facts. It must flow out of what we already know to be true. As our knowledge of the universe grows and expands, so too do our questions, our desires and our hunger for more knowledge. As we continue to other new realms of possibility one must have reason to accept the true facts. Evolution is a fact even if most churches seem to deny it. Whatever authority we hope to offer the world must derive its power from love and not division. We do need credible authority precisely for the purpose of helping us to discover, empower and encourage ourselves and one another.
Psalm 111 creates the space for individual and communal engagement with God’s presence and promises in our lives. This calls for creativity, energy and a willingness to find new ways in worshiping God. What worked for worship in the 19th and 20th centuries represents the old wine of the past. The new wine represents our ability to evolve and adapt our ability to claim God’s work in the world as a reflection of who God is.
Now, in a final word, what about those demons? How do we interpret them in this 21st century world? Well, maybe there are three ways.
One - is that they can be relegated as part of the primitive mindset who mistook demon possession before anyone knew anything about the diseases of the human mind and body.
Second - We should accept the fact of demon possession as literally true because it’s mentioned in the New Testament.
Third - And I kind of lean toward this position. The Christ came to earth as Jesus with all the knowledge of the universe, but were 1st century peasants in Palestine ready for that knowledge? Could they have understood schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental diseases? I think not. Jesus had to speak to people on their own level. Only then could he identify with them and the sick people could identify with him as a healer to cure their problem.
But maybe there is a fourth opinion, that maybe we just don’t know the absolute truth. Several months ago a man visited me while I was in the church office. He said he had a problem with poltergeists. Poltergeists are not exactly demons, they’re considered mainly as malevolent spirits. And he did have some compelling evidence that challenged my skeptical thinking. Now to my knowledge there is no protocol in the PC USA to deal with a situation like that, whether in the Book of Order, Book of Confessions or Book of Common Worship. So I did the best I could to ease the problem this person had by reaching him on his own level. We went into the sanctuary, he knelt before the altar and I anointed him with holy oil and we prayed. I’m not sure if I cured his poltergeist problem, but I’m sure he left the church building feeling much better than when he first came in.
I’m also reminded of Shakespeare's famous novel “Hamlet” and its famous quote from the Danish bard, “There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
