|
The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Verses: Mark 1:21-28
EXORCIZING
29 January 2012
Mark 1:21-28 English Standard Version, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]
21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are— the Holy One of God." 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." 28And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee
[Dr. Jeffrey Oschwald offered very helpful notes on this text at Lectionary Lunch found at www.csl.edu. A link to this resource can be found weekly at www.textweek.com]
EXORCIZING
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Immediately before this text, four young men had just left old lives and their families behind to follow Jesus. Why? We learned last week that it was the kairos – the right time, God’s appointed time. God’s Son Jesus came calling, and they followed immediately. The four former fishermen went with Jesus to the city of Capernaum, which had a population of about 10,000. They went with Jesus into the synagogue, which would have been larger due to the size of the town, and He began to teach on the Sabbath day.
These worshipers were used to hearing wise and learned teachers all the time. They were used to good teaching from God’s Word. But when Jesus begins to speak, the worshipers were astonished at His teaching, because His Word had an authority they had never heard before from all those wise scribes.
Immediately a man with an unclean spirit (the Greek text says literally “in an unclean spirit”) cries out: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth (literally ‘what have we in common with you’)? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God.” Curiously, the demon knows what even the four new disciples don’t know: Jesus is God’s Son in human flesh. Of course, we readers and hearers of Mark’s Gospel learned that in the very first verse of chapter one.
The demon recognizes that Jesus is possessed by the Holy Spirit when it says “what have we in common with you?” And perhaps the demon is trying to imply that the unclean spirits outnumber Jesus when it says “us.” And by claiming knowledge of Jesus, the demon seems to be trying to claim authority over Jesus. Of course, the demon’s speech is a matter of knowing about Jesus but not really knowing Jesus. In fact, it doesn’t have a clue what it means to say Jesus is “the Holy One of God” until Jesus says simply: “Shut up. Come out of that man.” He is the Holy One of God who has authority over sin, death, and the devil.
When the people see what Jesus does with that man, His astonishing teaching with authority becomes even more amazing: “What is this new teaching? He commands even unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Mark says immediately the worshipers spread the news about Jesus in all directions.
TRANSLATING
Today’s gospel lesson sounds out of the ordinary, because, in our day, we would classify this story about demons as science fiction. Now, yes, lots of people in our day watch science fiction movies and TV shows. And science fiction video games are always popular. There is even an entire subculture most of us never see that is obsessed with dark forces and dark powers.
In ordinary experience, rather than speak of demons, we use the language of medicine or psychology to talk about mental illness or antisocial behavior. In the words of the show “Law and Order,” some crimes against people are particularly heinous. We are especially disgusted by crimes against children and the elderly. We talk about serial murderers and pedophiles as inhuman. We talk about those that sell drugs to youth as a cancer. We describe genocidal warlords in third world countries as beastly or monstrous.
When it comes to addictions that keep drawing people back into destructive and self-destructive behaviors, we talk about fatal, progressive illness or sickness. In light of today’s gospel lesson, our speaking about demons or evil in this way is ironic. By placing a label on a behavior or a person, it is, as if, we think we can, then, control it. That’s what the demon did when it named Jesus as “the Holy One of God.”
Labeling or diagnosis may make us feel better or less threatened. And, in a sense, that is true when we go for medical tests and a physician can then prescribe a course of action such a surgery or therapy or a prescription to treat the symptoms. But often the labeling or diagnosis can also produce a kind of helplessness as we see death as a real possibility for us. People ask the doctor very fatalistically: “How much time do I have?”
It was the late psychiatrist Scott Peck who suggested that we ought to recognize the limits of scientific labels when it comes to certain behaviors. Based upon his experience as psychiatrist treating US soldiers during the Vietnam War and upon his subsequent private practice, Peck came to see the value of using biblical language for forces that were particularly beyond human or for behaviors that were more than a matter of illness. Peck suggested that we should use the word “evil” and even the personal name “Satan” as a way of describing deceptive and destructive forces at work in the world.
If you have ever experienced firsthand the power of an addiction to ensnare and disrupt a family, then you can understand what Peck meant. If you have ever felt or observed a particularly dark movement within persons or families or organizations or communities, then you can understand what Peck meant. If you have ever been reduced to a kind of powerlessness as you watched people you thought you knew and even people you loved fall into the abyss, then you can understand what Peck meant.
Sometimes our clinical language becomes inadequate to describe the all-consuming and destructive forces that seek to tear apart order and health and safety not to mention love and goodness. Perhaps our society’s fascination with science fiction is, in fact, our admission that even when we can place a scientific label on something that’s a far cry from controlling or even getting rid of it. Could it be that so many who insist on calling themselves atheists or agnostics are actually in greater bondage to sin, death, and evil precisely because they cannot acknowledge the battle raging between good and evil?
OUR BONDAGE AND WHAT GOD DOES
Last weekend, we explored the difference between chronological time and kairos time, between clock time and God’s time. We thought about the importance of preparing for God’s time by priming the pump through listening to Scripture and entering into a time of prayer. We remembered that at St. Matt’s we prepare for each Eucharist, each Lord’s Supper, by entering into a time of confession. We begin by admitting we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. It is a matter of recognizing God’s authority and His good and gracious will to save and redeem us from sin, death, and the devil.
Last weekend we thought about how easy it is to refuse God by staying locked into the interests and concerns of chronological time. Martin Luther would say that when we deliberately act out of our bondage to sin, we are so possessed by an unclean spirit that the Holy Spirit departs from us. It’s a matter of resisting God’s Son Jesus and His authority over us. Choosing to spend time with something or someone other than Jesus, we are consciously avoiding His authority over us. In the language of last weekend’s gospel, it’s a matter of choosing to stay on the beach fishing rather than following Jesus.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, they say: don’t drink, read the big book, and go to meetings. In the Church, we ought to say: don’t sin, read the Bible, and go to worship.
When someone goes to AA or NA, it messes up her or his drinking or drug use. When we go to worship, it messes up our sinning. Why? When we are exposed to God’s Son and His astonishing authority, our demons are exposed to His mighty power. He is the Holy One of God whom sin, death, and devil cannot overcome. So why do sin, death, and devil so often disrupt, enslave, and destroy? Because people don’t spend time with Jesus!
Mark’s Gospel begins by telling us that Jesus is the Son of God. His earthly life in human flesh is one long battle to reclaim the lost world from sin, death, and devil. Jesus exercises His authority over sin, death, and devil in Word and deed throughout His public ministry. Finally at the cross and empty tomb, Jesus destroys the ultimate power of sin, death, and devil. Since God’s Victory on the cross, the old enemy is on borrowed time. The old things are passing away, and nothing unclean will be able to overcome the Holy One of God. Whenever we Christians gather around Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit claims us again from the unclean spirit, the spirit of lawlessness that wants to destroy all that God has made! So, again, if we want to be free, we need Jesus to set us free again and again day after day!
NOW WHAT?
When the demon recognized Jesus in the Capernaum synagogue, it knew right away that Jesus was possessed by the Holy Spirit. The demon knew that the difference between unclean and the Holy was not a matter of words. While the demon recognized that the two had nothing in common, it didn’t know Jesus or His authority.
In the Sermon on the Mount, God’s Son Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Some old preachers used to say it this way: “Everybody talking about heaven ain’t going there.”
There is a superficial way of talking about Jesus that’s hardly more than dabbling in Jesus. And there’s a reason for that. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. Our personal demons have a way of refusing Jesus’ authority, so that they get to stick around and exercise their own authority over us. You know what I’m talking about. Everybody can get into singing songs they like. Everybody likes to feel good. Everybody can get into the kind of teaching that never pries or upsets or challenges. We like to be told three things we can do that will make us feel better about ourselves. And when it’s all said and done, we will be left in bondage to sin and unable to free ourselves!
When Jesus died on the cross for your sin and mine, He died to set us free from bondage to sin, death, and Satan. When we were buried by Baptism into His death and resurrection, He claimed us beloved daughters and sons of God. When we gather at the Table to receive Jesus, He fills us with Himself so that He will go with us where we go.
It’s only when we spend time with Jesus, the Holy One of God that His Word can exercise authority over us and over the unclean spirit that tries to keep us away from Jesus and His authority. If we need a list of three things to do every day, then 1) listen to God’s Word; 2) return to the water of Baptism by repenting of the sin that God’s Word exposes; and 3) ask for the Holy Spirit to exorcize that unclean spirit and fill you with His Holy presence. If we need a list of three things to do every week, then 1) enter into God’s House with Jesus; 2) ask for His forgiveness for the things done and left undone; and 3) receive Jesus gladly as He comes in bread and wine to share God’s eternal life and love with you! If we need a list of three more things, then 1) study God’s Word; 2) admit that left to yourself you cannot do God’s will; and 3) ask that the Lord’s life would be made known in your words and deeds this week.
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
©The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Zumwalt, STS
szumwalt@bellsouth.net
www.societyholytrinity.org
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
|
This Week's Message
