 | The New England Church PulpitNew England Congregational Church UCC |
"JESUS THE EXORCIST" | Mark 9.14-41 | March 14, 2004 |
Mark’s gospel tells it this way:
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.
“How long has he been like this?” asked Jesus. “From childhood,” the father answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him....Then Jesus rebuked the evil spirit “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you to come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet and he stood up.
There are many such stories in Mark’s accounting of Jesus’s life. Demons caused all sorts or problems in the 1st century, breaking through human mental and physical defenses. Like thieves in the night, they stole in to inhabit the human psyche. They were hostile, malignant, spiritual parasites. Some of the demon-possessed went crazy. Others went violently and gravely ill. Many died. The healing of this child who had what we might call today a grand mal seizure brought the presence of God to that family in a radical way, transforming a life-threatening situation into a life-giving one.
But what has this to do with today? How many of you know someone who is possessed by a demon? Parents, stop thinking about your teenagers. Teenagers, stop thinking about your parents. We mustn’t dismiss the question too quickly, for while we may have conquered certain demons with modern medical and psychological treatments, Mark goes on to speak of possessed spirits we might be able to relate to.
As Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum, he asked them “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who among them was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus said to them “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Taking a child in his arms he said “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
The demons that tend to plague us today are subtle ones that create disagreements and fighting and wars, arguing about who is best, who is greatest, and who is on God’s side. The desire to be at the top of the heap is a demon that has possessed our world for an eon and continues to do so today. Jesus exorcises the demon with a simple word: if you want to be first, be the servant of all. Is it not true? As Joe mentioned last week, the people we often revere are those who were servants to the cause of human rights: Martin Luther King, Jr, the defenders of the Amistad slaves, and folks like Albert Schweitzer among them. In doing this, Jesus exorcizes the parochial, selfish spirit that would define God’s reign only in terms of the things that make life good for themselves.
Mark goes on to reveal another demon-possessed attitude among the disciples, not unrelated to the desire to be the best:
“Teacher,” John whined, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not one of us”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives a cup of water to a thirsty person in the spirit in which I have given and taught you, will not be condemned.
The disciples, who were just arguing about who was the best, now find themselves face to face with a pagan exorcist who is greater than any of them. The disciples were chagrined when they couldn’t cure the little boy with the grand mal seizure, and now this guy who isn’t a follower of Jesus comes along and is successful at healing and casting out demons.
Do these two stories give us any parallels with demons in today’s world? Are there any today who are arguing about who is best, who is on God’s side, who is first? Are there any today who are denouncing anyone who is not a follower of Jesus? Our world is rife with demons of both kinds, demons who possess nations and religious folk with visions of grandeur about being the only game in town. But Jesus casts the demons out when he set the standard: the first shall be last and the last first, and anyone whose deeds are motivated by love cannot be from anyone but God, regardless of their label, their social position, their religion, their beliefs, or their nationality.
We are called, like the disciples, to cast out those demons of pride in convention and correct belief, and to lead the way in creating faith communities that transform people into whole human beings. Let us exorcize the things that keep people from being fully themselves; let us move on from the attitudes and theologies and traditions that divide to being servants of love to a world gone mad with being the first and the best, and killing to do so. Theologian and social activist Walter Wink believes the “goal of life is not to get to heaven but to become truly, fully human: growing through our mistakes, being redeemed from our compulsivities over and over again, giving up being good, and instead becoming real, becoming friends with our shadow side.”
The Tao Te Ching puts it this way:
When the great Way is forgotten, goodness and piety appear. When the body’s intelligence declines, cleverness and knowledge step forth. When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins. When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.
Our moderator George Ball has challenged us to growth, to invite, to include. So let’s invite and include and be the kind of church that runs counter to conventional culture which only welcomes the safe folks to maintain the status quo. After all, what kind of community of faith will we have if anybody can get in? What happens if we lose control of who gets in and who doesn’t? But then, is it about protecting our way of thinking and our traditions, or is it about following Jesus to exorcize the demons of arrogance? Is it about being the best and the biggest or is it about exorcizing the demons of our self-righteousness? Is it about correct belief, or is it about caring for people regardless of their belief system? Is it about reading the bible literally to protect the tradition, or is it about exorcizing that obsessive compulsion and finding new life by following the spirit of God’s word? We are called to follow the one who challenges the demons of conventional thinking, demons that cause people to fight, demons that keep people from being less than they can be. We are called to be exorcists, transforming and healing in the name of love and acceptance. Amen.
–Gary L. McCann
(With grateful appreciation for Brian Blount for
sharing these thoughts in his sermon The Exorcist)
PASTORAL PRAYER
Spirit that brooded over the chaos and brought order from it at the beginning of time, brood over us and our world today, that out of the chaos which rears its ugly head each day in the newspapers and on the television there may be peace. Our faith is easily distracted by the chaos, our focus is easily sidetracked by the pressures of life, our trust is easily eroded by terrorists, and our hope is easily dissuaded by the relentless presence of evil, our concern is easily distracted by convention, by oughts and shoulds. Brood over our disquieted spirits and our disheveled world, gathering us together under the wings of care and the banner of good news.
During this lenten journey, cause our eyes to turn inward that we may center our spirits in the very heart of the universe that pulses with life even amid the chaos. The sun still shines during the day, the moon oversees the quiet, dark nighttime, the tide still comes in and goes out, air is plentiful for breathing and the steady rhythm of the world has never ceased beating through all the turmoil that would otherwise beset it. Turn our souls inward that we may hear the still small voice of God and know.
As we journey forward, turn our eyes outward as well, knowing that our hope is found in being part of the larger family of humanity, and our joy is found not just in the absence of chaos but in touching others even amid the tragedies. Knowing that we are saved from our despair by helping others in theirs, cause us to seek opportunities that would enable others to enjoy life more fully. Give us courage to reach out to those who society has unfairly labeled as those to be shunned.
Give us discerning eyes that we may see past the shams that keep us from being fully ourselves. Give us discerning hearts that we may see past the barriers we build to keep from touching the untouchables. Give us discerning souls that we may penetrate conventional thinking with life-transforming wisdom that honors the world in all of its variety and diversity.
Be to us all that we need to make a difference in our world. In the name of the One who empowers us, Amen
| Copyright © 2004 by Gary L. McCann. All rights reserved. |