The Rev. Keri T. Aubert  February 1, 2009

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Psalm 111

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Mark 1:21-28

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, RCL    

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, Jesus has an interaction with an unclean spirit. To the original readers of the Gospels, unclean spirits, or what might also be translated as demons, were “personified forces that had the power to control human behavior.”[i] As postmodern people, people raised to trust in science and our five senses, it may be hard for us to think in such terms. On the other hand, those of us who have witnessed a five-year-old throw a full-bodied and full-throated temper tantrum may be willing to at least entertain the possibility that demonic forces still have a place in our lives. Though it’s painful to admit it, I occasionally have sudden and unpredictable moments when I return briefly to my five-year-old self. Perhaps I am not the only one of us here who experiences such regression. At those times, I can feel myself wanting to throw a full-bodied and full-throated tantrum. If I’m not careful, out of my mouth pour words that seem to be spoken by someone else. Maybe a demon is involved.

I asked my thirteen-year-old daughter what it would mean in our world for a person to have a demon. Immediately she answered that she has a demon at the times when she feels driven to do something that she knows she will regret later. I asked her what she does to stop herself, and she said that she often consults the friend who is her usual consultant on matters of importance. That she articulated all this so quickly and so clearly made me wonder if she is already smarter than I am. Or perhaps it is simply the wisdom of uncluttered youth.

Despite our best efforts, each of us has moments when we think or say or do things that do not reflect our better selves. Perhaps as important, each of us has moments when we don’t think or say or do the things that would reflect our better selves. Whether through commission or omission, each such moment has consequences. Even if it involves just a thought, each such moment has consequences. It seems to me that, whatever the immediate consequence, the eventual result is fractured relationships: fractured relationships with ourselves; fractured relationships with others; fractured relationships with the world around us; and, inevitably, fractured relationships with God. Though we may get by without being noticed by others, our spiritual life always suffers.

Further, because we are individuals in community, our thoughts, words, and actions contribute to a vast pot into which everyone tosses ingredients. Institutions arise in our society, and their natures reflect the conglomeration of the contributions of the individuals involved. These institutions as a whole therefore also have the option to reflect, or to fail to reflect, our better natures. Through commission or omission, they too have the potential to perform in ways that are harmful. When they do, and when some members of society suffer as a result, the eventual consequence is again fractured relationships. The spiritual lives of all involved suffer.

Putting all this together, I think it’s possible to say that the demons with which we struggle as individuals have the power to interfere with our efforts to know God and pursue a holy life. You might also say that the demons with which we struggle corporately have the power to interfere with the coming of the Kingdom of God in all its fullness.

Returning to today’s Gospel reading, commentators agree that this story, which occurs early in Mark, in the first chapter, is about establishing Jesus’ position in the structures of power and authority, both earthly and cosmic. On the earthly plane, Jesus is teaching in the temple, and doing so with authority greater than that of the scribes. On the cosmic plane, Jesus casts out an unclean spirit, a demonstration that his power is greater than that of such cosmic entities as angels, spirits, and demons.[ii] With the arrival of Jesus, both the earthly and the cosmic orders are altered. Jesus, it would seem, has the power to cast out whatever demons might possess us, both individually and corporately. In contrast to unclean spirits, Jesus has brought the Holy Spirit, and with it, the power to make all things new.

That’s plenty, but I think there’s a bit more going on. We’re still in the season after the Epiphany, and so we’re still hearing stories about how Jesus is revealed as Christ. In today’s reading, that revealing happens through a perhaps unexpected voice. The words witnessing to the identity of Jesus, the first such words in the Gospel of Mark, are these: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” The words affirming Jesus as the Holy One of God don’t come from the people listening to Jesus teach in the synagogue—not even from the four who accompanied him there having just left behind their previous lives as fishermen. The people listening in the synagogue are “astounded,” but apparently they do not yet fully understand what is happening. Into their midst comes a man with an unclean spirit, and the words affirming Jesus as the Holy One of God come from the unclean spirit itself. The unclean spirit recognizes and voices the truth before the people do.

There may be times when, for ourselves or for our society, we may wonder whether the demons have taken over. But the promise of Mark’s Gospel is that the demons can never take over. It might even be that they are useful to us. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it is often in our darkest circumstances that we find the paths that bring us closest to God. Our witness as Christians is that, through Christ, the Kingdom of God has arrived, though it has yet to be attained in all its fullness. Our discipleship as Christians is to participate in opening spaces, both within us and beyond us, in which holiness may grow, in preparation for the arrival of that Kingdom.

Our task involves both avoiding what we would come to regret and repairing what has already been done. It is perhaps well to begin by turning fresh eyes and uncluttered hearts to the task of seeing and knowing ourselves as we are, and the world as it is. As we do so, we must also remember that we are not limited by what is. It is typical that when people are marginalized in one way, they end up being marginalized in others. Restoration in one way also brings restoration in others. The man newly without an unclean spirit would have been restored in his relationships with his family, his neighbors, his synagogue, and his God. It is our call not only to open our eyes to marginalization however it exists, but also to visualize and facilitate the restoration to which Christ calls us. In accomplishing that, we might get some surprising help.

While the demons can never take over, they can help us to know and understand the reality that exists in ourselves and in the world around us. It might not be a pretty picture. But when the picture is at its ugliest, when we are most tempted to despair, we need merely to look where the unclean spirits are pointing. There we will find Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God.