28 January 2024 Epiphany 4
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
Our Gospel is set at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This really is the first story Mark has of Jesus’ ministry. And he starts it in a fairly dramatic way. With a confrontation. And in this confrontation, we see hints that Jesus has come to oppose all the forces that keep God’s children from the abundant life that God desires for us. As he is teaching in the synagogue, those who are there are amazed at his teaching because he is not doing it ‘like the scribes’. And then, when the man who has an ‘unclean spirit’ enters the synagogue, and the spirt recognises Jesus for who he is, Jesus immediately tells it to leave the man, which it does, and the people are again amazed because he not only speaks with authority in his teaching, but his authority extends to having power over unclean spirits. And his fame quickly spreads.
And you may be tempted to think, ok, nice story but how does it relate to me and what is happening for me in my life. We don’t usually talk about people having ‘unclean spirits’ and we also don’t really know what Mark is meaning by unclean spirits. So how does this passage about things we really don’t fully understand and don’t talk about anyway relate to me and my life today. Mark is signalling here that Jesus is still opposing those forces which keep us from the abundant life God has planned for us. God wants the most for us for our lives and opposes anything that robs us of the joy and community and purpose for which we were created.
We could look at this passage about possession and reflect what ‘possesses’ us in our lives – workaholism; anger; fear, and recognise that it isn’t just a matter of ‘praying right’ and it will all go away. We all gather in Christ’s name to support each other in escaping the hold our vices have on us so that we can grow – individually and as a community - to be people blessed to be a blessing. And we can also see in the passage that God regularly ‘shows up’ in places where we least expect God to be. In authoritative teaching, sure; but also in the man possessed by the unclean spirit; in the tearing open of the heavens; and in the piercing cry of despair from Jesus on the cross when the only one that recognised God’s presence was the one who crucified him.
When was the last time you were ‘amazed’ or ‘astonished’ because the presence of God in your life, or the life of someone else, was evident to you. When was the last time when a sacred moment, an encounter, a word or image or experience brought you to your knees. Stories of confrontation and freedom are at the heart of the stories Mark tells us, and they are also at the heart of the stories we are invited to live into and through.
So when you think about or remember those places of brokenness or disappointment or fear in your lives, remember that God is not absent from them; it is in these moments that God draws closest to us. And as you look at your family or friends or someone in your community, be prepared for God to work through you to draw that person into new life.
Those who joined Jesus in the Synagogue on this Sabbath, came – maybe out of habit, maybe out of duty, maybe out of curiosity to see who was going to be there to teach that day. But they also appear to have come with an openness to hear something new, to let God ‘speak’ to them, and in the teaching of Jesus on that morning, they got more than they expected. What about us, do we approach God, our Scriptures, our faith, with a similar openness? Do we approach with anticipation; ‘hungry’ for an encounter? Do we approach God and God’s people desiring and expecting the shock of actual divine presence? And if we don’t, why don’t we? Those in the Synagogue that morning were amazed and astonished by the work of God because they allowed Jesus to be unfamiliar to them, they allowed him to open new doors and show them things that were not familiar. And Jesus will be amazing to us too, if we allow him to be.
When the ‘unclean spirit’ heard Jesus’ teaching, it not only recognises him for who he is, it realised that its hold over the man was about to be challenged, so it asked a very important question, ‘what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’ And in exorcising the spirit from the man Jesus answers this question with an answer which is current for us now as well – ‘everything, I have everything to do with you’. Jesus tells us, wherever pain is, wherever the darkness is, wherever the torment is, there God is. God has everything to do with us, even when we are at our worst. When the shadows overwhelm us, when the demons shriek loudest, when the hope of liberation feels like nothing more than fantasy – that is when Jesus’ authority brings the walls down. These stories of confrontation and freedom are at the heart of the stories Mark tells us, and they are also at the heart of the stories we are invited to live into and through. God is still casting out the unclean spirits of the world and God is using us to continue Jesus’ work.