Mark 1:21-28[1]
We all carry some kind
of chains with us throughout life. Whether it is something we have done to
ourselves or something others have done to us, whether it is a physical
limitation or a psychological disability, whether it is a wound that others can
see or is hidden deep in our souls, we all know what it is to be bound. Some of
us may find a measure of freedom from the chains that bind us, while others may
carry those chains with them to the end. Many of us struggle against what binds
us, only to know the disappointment of defeat and the hopelessness of despair.
We long to be released from all that prevents us from knowing the freedom, joy,
and peace of the life God intends for us.
As we look at our
Gospel lesson for today, we may miss the fact that it is essentially a story
about how Jesus has the power and authority to break the chains that bind us in this life. That’s because
it’s a story about the encounter between Jesus and a man “with an unclean
spirit” at the synagogue in Capernaum. For some of us, the mention of an
“unclean spirit” sends us cowering into the corner of the safest place we can
find. They conjure up images that have been created by our own culture: images
of a supernatural enemy who is out to get us all. And in the face of that
enemy, it can leave you feeling powerless and helpless.
Others may respond
differently. They don’t believe in “demons,” and so they find the whole story
hard to swallow. Those who look at the passage in this way may believe that we
make our own destiny, and anything “evil” we may experience in life comes from
our own doing. They may also insist that whatever good comes in this life comes
from our own doing. They don’t fear “the Devil,” and they don’t believe in God.
And they don’t like the idea of Jesus having any power or authority over their
lives in any way. They believe they are the masters of their own fate!
While we dare not
discount the reality of evil in our world, we need not take the biblical
language that describes that evil literally. It is clear that language was
influenced by the prevailing views of the culture in that day. I don’t think we
have to endorse the personification of evil as “Satan” or “demons”, any more
than we would endorse the idea that the world is flat or that the earth is at
the center of the universe. In fact, I would say that many in the church give
too much credit to “Satan” and “demons.” While there may have been a time when
that was an adequate explanation for the evil in our world, the “Devil made me
do it” just does not suffice today.
Now that’s not to say we
can simply dismiss evil by attributing it to physical or psychological
disorders, or to human rebellion against God, or to oppressive social
structures. It is all of that at once and more: the Bible depicts the powers of
evil in terms of what is contrary to God’s will for us: the domination,
violence, destruction, and death at work in our world. Where ever greed, fear,
desire, or hatred take over human life, there is evil and its impact is greater
than the harm that our selfish impulses alone can inflict. We should and must
take evil seriously.
At the same time, I
would insist that focusing too much on the “power of evil” is just as much a
mistake as trying to ignore it. This passage is not about the idea that there
are “demons” who are lurking to overtake us at every turn. This passage is
about the truth of the gospel: Jesus is the one appointed by God to bring the
justice, peace, and freedom of the kingdom into this world. And that means that
he has the power and authority to banish—simply by saying the word—anything
that would prevent us from fully experiencing that new life. No “demon,” no
“Satan,” can stand in the way of the power of Jesus to bring new life to us all.
In this story Jesus
confirms the truth of the message he preached: “the kingdom of God has come
near” (Mk. 1:15). He does this by “enacting” the kingdom of God. Here that
means setting a man free from whatever was afflicting him. As we follow the gospel
story, wherever Jesus is present, there is the presence of God’s kingdom
dispelling all the powers of oppression, destruction, and death. The amazing
things Jesus did serve as concrete examples of the message Jesus preached:
where the presence of God’s kingdom is, there is healing, there is freedom,
there is life, there is joy!
We must acknowledge
the complicated and mysterious reality of evil in this life. And some of us
bear the burdens inflicted on us by those oppressive powers all our lives. But
from the perspective of the theological tradition of our Reformed heritage as
Presbyterians, the primary truth about these things is that there is no contest
between the power of God’s redeeming love and the power of evil.[2] The power of God’s love forces all the powers of domination and death to flee. Whether
in this life or when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our
Lord and of his Christ” (Rev. 11:15) everything we fear, everything that
creates despair, everything that leaves us feeling powerless will be banished
and we will be released from everything that now binds us.
[1] ©
2021 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. on 1/31/2021 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian
Doctrine, rev. ed., 166-191 for an excellent overview of evil and God’s response
to evil from a Reformed theological perspective.
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