sermon notesA collection of resources, background information, and periodic reflections on the scripture readings in worship from Pr Josh Ehrler. Archives
July 2018
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Breaking all the Demons in Mark 1.21-281/23/2018 Our reflection is for the gospel of Mark 1.21-28.
We know nothing of the man with the unclean spirit. Mark reports that he appears “immediately” in the synagogue where Jesus was teaching. He arrives unannounced and fades to memory as soon as the demon is cast from him. Let’s assume he was part of the community. He got word that Jesus had brought his newly launched preaching tour to town and off he runs to encounter the Son of God. We don’t know much about him but we know that he was likely an outcast. He probably spent most of his days away from the common folk, the good and decent people of his community just trying to make a living and feed their families. They didn’t need his trouble. They refused to do much with his foolish ways. He had a demon, he was spiritually contagious. The local rabbi or scribe or whomever was in charge of healing had clearly either given up on him or never bothered to try. The nameless man was on his own, cut off and sent away. His life was an unclean spirit within him telling him to do hateful, harmful acts that defied God (as God was defined by the rabbis or scribes or healers anyway). His existence was defined by the community that would not love him or let him exist as he was, nor offer him any meaningful relief. It was hateful, callous treatment. They passed him along the way and pretended not to see him reaching for aid. The good people crossed the street to avoid getting to close, they passed countless invalid rumors between themselves about him. No doubt some charitable philanthropist set up a 503(c) with the expressed mission of making sure he had a meal or two and a decent set of clothes. But did they know his name? We’ll never know. We can’t really know any of this. Even if we know, in our guts, that he was not seen as human. He was less than everyone else in the synagogue. Emerson B Powery observes through James Cone in True to Our Native Land that, when Jesus pulls the demon from the man, he fulfills the man’s humanity (pg 123). The man’s identity was tied to an unclean spirit that encouraged the community to be complicit in his suffering. Because he was marked with a demon, he was nothing else. Jesus rewrites his narrative and restores him to life. And by doing this one act, Jesus also denies the powers of the culture that blatantly ignored the man (pg 123). And it is no small thing that this first public act for Jesus happens in a synagogue. Lamar Williamson, Jr in Interpretation: Mark reminds us that the power of evil moves through every space of humanity and can easily be found in a house of God (pg 50). Thus, the Son of God pops in for an adult forum session and is immediately confronted by everything destructive that defies God. That demon has got to go. Not only the demon of the poor unnamed man, every demon that has paralyzed, silenced, propped up and bound the community to sin. No one is innocent in this scene of good vs evil, everyone’s hands are dirty. Whether they pushed him down or pretended he didn’t exist, whether they assumed he did it to himself or acknowledged him with eyes of shame, the neighbors are in on the conspiracy of the devil. Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, contributor to the Women’s Bible Commentary, notes that Jesus’ authority is reinforced by his teaching and his actions as much as it reveals that God is not far off (pg 481). Malbon takes us back to the first line of Mark’s gospel, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God,” written to encapsulate the entire message of Christ from Mark. That statement of faith, coupled with Jesus’ first sermon declaring that the kingdom of heaven has come near (chapter 1, verse 15), is revealed in this fast paced interaction between Jesus and the unclean spirit. He’s already defeated the Tempter out in the wilderness, he’s started his movement along the seashore, and he’s started preaching in local synagogues. God’s kingdom is on the move and its coming to every town, every house, every person bound up in our demons, divisions and discrimination. God is here, at hand, so close that only the devil can see him straight. The rest of us are either bound up in our unclean spirits or blinded by the way things already are and when we are encountered by Christ through his living word and power, we are amazed and astounded. We are broken and set free, that we can see the suffering ones among us as us, equal to each other, loved fully by our Lord. Only Christ can bring this good news to bear, defining our humanity through God's unwavering love, so that we can respond with joy and his courage to defy the powers of this world as we stand with, reach for, advocate on behalf of and name our sisters and brothers waiting to be noticed in plain sight.
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