“Be silent, and come out of him!” Mark 1:25
Demons. Great topic, right? We like our demons to be fictional, something you’d see in a good horror movie or a sci-fi show on TV. In today’s Gospel, the demon is an unclean spirit, who has taken residence in a man. A very real presence.
The scene begins on Jesus’ first day of public ministry in Capernaum. The people sitting in the worship assembly don’t necessarily recognize Jesus when he walks in the door. But he goes in and teaches with an authority that astounds them. In Greek, it’s closer to saying, “an authority that blows the minds out of them.” Changing their perspective to something completely different, something new.
Even though the crowd is astonished, only one in the crowd recognizes Jesus as the Holy One of God. The demon. Or rather, the man possessed by the unclean spirit.
I suspect if we were in that crowd, we’d be focused on the unclean spirit, heckling Jesus about his intentions. Was he really going to destroy them? Fear can be such a motivating and manipulative tactic.
Jesus cries out, “Be silent. And come out of him.” And with dramatic flair, the unclean spirit screams and disappears from the man. The people saw Jesus as a healer, someone who could magically remove an unclean spirit. Even on the Sabbath. What does this mean?
It means Jesus can see beyond the demons and unclean spirits that possess us. Jesus first sees a man, a beloved child of God. Being tortured by the evil that embodied him.
Jesus looked past that unclean spirit to see the person it occupied. The man with the unclean spirit was likely an outcast of society…or would be if Jesus didn’t take action. Jesus knows that our demons get in the way of seeing God clearly. Our doubts and sin can make us question everything, even God’s intentions for our lives. He knows when we need help silencing the unclean spirit within.
People I love battle addiction. Drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, smoking, gambling, self harm. They are good, smart, logical, wonderful people. People like you, sitting in the pews every Sunday. But their bodies and minds were possessed by one more drink, losing one more pound, promising this would be the last time. I watched them become walking skeletons of themselves, illness diseasing their minds and bodies, until they were hardly recognizable. Yes, demons exist, these friends of mine, they can tell a story or two.
But my guess is, you have your own stories. People you know and love, possessed by illness, addiction, desire. Times in your own life when personal desire trumps all else. No matter what the cost. We know the voices of demons of our day. It can be hard to silence them so that we can listen more intently for God. Sometimes, even our demons cry for help.
And sometimes, we enable the demons to stay in our midst. This week, I heard a powerful statement on the news. It was Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman confronting her abuser, Larry Nassar. She was one of at least 98 victims expected to read statements about their sexual abuse in front of the former USA Gymnastics doctor. It is alleged that USA Gymnastics, the USA Olympic Committee and Michigan State University were complicit in covering up the abuse by Nassar. Silence becomes a safe haven for the unclean spirit in our midst.
Women continue to come forward, breaking the silence. Struggling with the effects of sexual abuse, the shame, the fear of speaking out.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Be silent” to those victims, or any who meet injustice in our world. Larry Nassar’s demon of sex addiction, that has to be silenced, giving much needed voice to those who were silenced by him. Jesus demands justice from the unclean spirit, calling it out and driving it away from the man. And from the victims of Larry Nassar. And from all who struggle with inner demons.
The Good News, today and always, is that Jesus is willing to cross any boundary to return us to God. Removing demons. Restoring us, even on the Sabbath. Silencing evil. Giving voice to the silenced ones. He knows how lonely and scary it can be when the unclean spirit takes over.
The Gospel of Mark wants us to see Jesus in action, to understand that being a follower of Jesus means seeing, believing AND doing. Jesus teaches us in a new way, one that blows the minds out of us so that we pay attention. Confronts evil and takes authority over it. Restores us back to health. This is what the kingdom of God looks like. Evil cast aside every time, death doesn’t win. Jesus is the authority, the healer.
Johann Hari wrote an article called “The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is NOT What You Think. ” He makes a direct connection to ending addiction cycles through community connection. He reports, “Professor Peter Cohen argues that human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It’s how we get our satisfaction. If we can’t connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find — the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe…So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.”
A division in community can also be like a demon. Removing the demon restored the man from outcast to participant in society. Jesus says, “Be silent” to the unclean spirit. But he didn’t say it to the worship assembly. The worship assembly served as witnesses to that restoration. And at once, Jesus’ fame began to spread. Because you know a good story or juicy detail in any church gets around in 2.2 seconds.
We experience the astounding moments when we are gathered together, focused on what is important to God. Community. Love and concern for our neighbor. We need each other.
Today, Jesus tells us we will recover, return and live, not because of what we do, but because of what Jesus does for us. Casting out death, and resurrecting us to new life. The demons won’t have the final say. They will be silenced, so that we may return to the God who never left. And in the event we hear the words, “Be silent,” in our own lives, we can be confident that God is once again preparing us for something new and astounding. Amen.
1 Rolf Jacobson. Sermon Brainwaves. www.workingpreacher.org
2 Hari, Johann. Web. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html