Help us, O God of love, to welcome Jesus into the
whole of our lives. Amen.
On what authority are you doing this? That’s a question that most of us have probably asked or been asked. We live in a society that has trained us to value autonomy above pretty much everything else. The right to self-determination is written in our psyches. We see ourselves as the consumers who have the power of choice, as directors who have the power of control, as constituents who have the power of a vote. And while autonomy is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s also an illusion because the harsh reality is that we aren’t really in control.
Where
this becomes an issue is when we think about the question of authority as it
relates to faith. Is religion something we choose or are we first chosen by
God? Do we come to faith on our own authority or on the authority of the Holy
Spirit? Do we decide what we believe or are our beliefs given as the result of
our DNA, experiences, and culture?
I
know it’s fashionable in our society to talk about the importance of autonomy
and free will. The rights of the individual are generally seen as something
sacrosanct. So if I were to suggest that none of us really have free will, I’m
sure many of you would disagree, maybe even rather strongly. Our response to
being told that we aren’t truly in charge of our actions and decisions is often
quite belligerent and hostile.
Many
philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and brain scientists though aren’t so
sure about free will. My aim is not to convince you about philosophy or neurology.
Instead, I want to speak to those places where you might feel stuck, those issues
where you feel bound up by something bigger than you, those problems that are
beyond your ability to solve.
To
do this, we need to open our imaginations as we interpret the passage we heard from
Mark. Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum where they encountered a man
who was possessed by a demonic spirit which Jesus exorcised. There may be a few
of us who hear this story and think “That sounds like exactly the sort of thing
that Jesus would do,” but many more of us think, “How quaint.” For most of us,
we do not live in a world in which we worry about demon possession, rather we
worry about those who worry about demon possession. Unclean spirits are not
usually something we think about when we run into a problem. And so our first
interpretative move when we run into a story like this is to demythologize it.
We say something like “Well, they were doing the best they could. They didn’t
know about schizophrenia, epilepsy, PTSD, or dementia, so instead of giving
this guy a medical diagnosis, they just called it a demon. But now we know
better than to be so superstitious as to believe in unclean spirits. We don’t
need a miracle because we have medicine.”
In
his excellent formation hour last week, Trevor Eppehimer talked about “chronological
snobbery” – the idea that we are the enlightened ones and those in previous
generations were trapped in their ignorance. Yes, I’m thankful for the advances
of science and medicine. But it’s also true that we’ve forgotten truths that
our ancestors knew. We’ve become closed off to wisdom that is deeper than a
microscope or telescope can ever find.
So
instead of explaining away what is happening in this exorcism, let’s consider,
even if just for a few minutes, what it means that Jesus cast out an unclean
spirit from this man. Because even if we don’t believe in ghosts, goblins, and demons,
we remain haunted by things that we cannot fully explain or solve. As is only
going to become more and more obvious until November, we are plagued by
division and intractable partisanship. I’d call that an unclean spirit. The
line between propaganda and journalism has been blurred with devilish consequences.
We are haunted by our regrets, our past, our traumas, our sins. Our society
grapples with the demonic realities of warfare, racism, and poverty. Many people
suffer in the grip of addiction, depression, and disease.
What
is a demon other than something bigger than us, that has authority over us,
that is beyond our ability to make it go away? If we reduce everything down to pathology,
we will be limited by the limits of medicine and politics. But if we see Jesus
as an exorcist, as the Messiah who contends with dragons that we cannot slay,
with issues that we cannot even fully comprehend, with truths we are not able
to face, with problems that we cannot overcome, then the peace and healing that
God desires for each of us and all of us together becomes possible, something that
we can pray and hope for.
To
be very clear about it – I am not, at all, suggesting that the solution to
cancer or racism is simply praying more often or pretending to believe in things
that we don’t actually think are true. Self-delusion is not the goal of faith.
Instead, the goal of faith is participation in what God is up to in Jesus. In
Jesus, God is working to make all things well, a wellness that is bigger than
our brokenness, a wellness that is more authoritative than our beliefs or our doubts.
Because
of Jesus, we know that God desires our flourishing and forgiveness. All those
things that stand between us and the peace of God can be understood as demonic
and unclean – whether it be an illness, our sins, or our broken and imperfect
relationships. Jesus has authority over the things that we do not have
authority over. Jesus can heal those things that we cannot. The question is
whether or not we will allow his word of peace to be spoken into our brokenness?
Or will our minds remain closed? Will our imaginations remain captive to demonic
doubts and a limited sense of what is possible?
It’s
important, as Mark tells the Good News of Jesus, that Jesus’ first act is an
exorcism. We begin the story of Jesus not with a teaching, healing, or sermon, the
banishing of a demon. It shows us that Jesus has come to do for us what we
could not do for ourselves – free ourselves from evils that are holding us
captive. Jesus comes and crosses every boundary of expectation to make it clear
that he has authority over all things.
The
unclean spirit asks Jesus a question that, if we’re willing to be honest, we’ve
all asked of Jesus – “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Another
way to translate that question would be “What do we have in common” or “Where
is the boundary between us.” Jesus makes it clear that the answer to that question
is that we have everything in common and there is no limit when it comes to
Jesus’ power, mission, mercy, or grace.
But
we still ask the question – What does Jesus have to do with how we cast our
vote? What does Jesus have to do with how we spend our money? What does Jesus
have to do with how we treat others? What does Jesus have to do with how I choose
to spend my Sunday morning? We like to be the authority when it comes to our
budgets, our priorities, our relationships, and our calendars. We aren’t
interested a in religion that has authority over us, that makes a claim on us,
that touches all aspects of our lives. Interviews and studies show that most
people look to religion for the benefits derived from it – community, moral formation,
and a sense of peace. Those are good things, and I hope that we all come and
see those sorts of things in faith.
The
faith of Jesus though is not about what we get out of Christianity, it’s about
how far we let the grace of God into our lives. Are we ready to lay down our
claims of being own masters, of being our own authority and instead have Jesus
speak a word of peace and liberation into all parts of our lives? Because the
brokenness that we carry is deep down. The demons that plague us have dug in. A
moderated religion isn’t good for much. A religion that has no place for
admitting that we are overwhelmed, that we are powerless, and that our lives
have become unmanageable on our own is not a religion that can free us from the
demons that haunt us.
Centuries
ago, a theologian said “What he has not taken on cannot be healed, but that which
is united to God is saved;” meaning the healing grace of Jesus will come to all
of those places he touches. But in those places where we say “You have no
authority here” or ask “What have you to do with us,” well, I’m not saying that
Jesus won’t still bring healing, it’s just we might reject it as we confuse the
medicine for the ailment, the doctor for the demon, the solution for the
problem.
As
far as how we do this, how we give Jesus authority to cast out our demons, how
we participate in the wellness of God – we need to be quiet. Notice that Jesus
and this demon do not struggle with one another. There is no fighting, no
debating, no wrangling. This demon knows that Jesus has final and full authority.
When Jesus confronts the evil and the demons that possess us, he does so standing
before an already defeated enemy who knows its own defeat. Jesus has overcome Sin
and Death. There is no place that the love of God will not go to redeem us.
Jesus demonstrates this by coming into our humanity, by confronting the depths
of our sin, by being crucified and going into the coldness of the tomb. But
love, by definition, cannot be defeated. Love always wins. And so on the third
day, Jesus rose with all power and authority to make all things well.
This
is why Jesus doesn’t have to struggle with the demon, because he knows his authority
over all things as the Lord of all. Jesus simply says “Be silent, and come out
of him.” Be silent – we are such noisy people. Always rushing to share our
solutions, shouting over one another for authority. Jesus tells us to be quiet.
Be quiet so that we can hear that call of belovedness, of forgiveness, of
peace. Be quiet so that we stop asking questions like “What do you have to do
with us, Jesus.” Stop telling other people why they are wrong and we are right.
Our world is so very noisy, we would all do well to speak less so that we can
listen more, so that we can stop deluding ourselves into thinking that we are the
solution.
And
then Jesus tells the unclean spirit to come out. Can we welcome Jesus to speak
to those unclean places in our lives and society? The first step is to admit
that we have demons to exorcise, unclean things to be removed. Can we admit to ourselves
and to God – I really didn’t handle that well. I was meaner than necessary. I
assumed I knew the full story before I reacted. I didn’t give them the benefit
of the doubt before jumping on them. I was not generous. Can we name our fears,
our mistakes, our prejudices as the demons that they are, as the things that we
are captive to and that have authority over our thoughts and actions? When
Jesus speaks that word of grace into our brokenness – “come out of him, come
out of her!” will we cling onto those demons because we don’t want admit that
they are there, because we’ve become so accustomed to them being a part of us
that we don’t want to figure out how to live without them? Will we welcome
Jesus to meddle in our lives – not just parts of them, but the whole thing?
We
are not in control of our lives as much as we like to think we are. Thanks be
to God that what is in control of our lives is not chaos, it is not brokenness,
it is not the demonic, rather the final authority over us is the peace of God
which surpasses all understanding. Let’s be quiet and listen.
