i also reference the second reading, 1 corinthians 8:1-13
the holy gospel according to mark (1:21-28)
21Jesus
and the disciples went to Capernaum;
and
when the sabbath came,
[Jesus]
entered the synagogue and taught.
22They
were astounded at his teaching,
for
he taught them as one having authority,
and
not as the scribes.
23Just
then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,
24and
he cried out,
“What
have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have
you come to destroy us?
I
know who you are,
the
Holy One of God.”
25But
Jesus rebuked him, saying,
“Be
silent, and come out of him!”
26And
the unclean spirit,
convulsing
him and crying with a loud voice,
came
out of him.
27They
were all amazed,
and
they kept on asking one another,
“What
is this?
A
new teaching—with authority!
He
commands even the unclean spirits,
and
they obey him.”
28At
once his fame began to spread
throughout
the surrounding region of Galilee.
the gospel of the lord.
-----
our passage today comes right after jesus calls andrew,
peter, nathanael, and john. having
called them to fish for people, they are off to capernaum for worship. jesus is full of authority that the
scribes apparently don’t have.
jesus, the anointed christ, son of god, preaching and
teaching—spokesperson of god—stirs things up, as he is apt to do.
in fact jesus, already
showing up the scribes, is just beginning his ministry, a ministry that mark
clearly shows, will involve conflict.
the scribes, you see, have some power, some authority in the
community—and they’re pretty comfortable with that power. and then jesus comes and even the
unclean spirits are getting nervous.
the man with an unclean spirit shows up while jesus is
teaching in the synagogue, and confronts him, naming jesus as “the holy one of
god.” now, let’s be clear, names
have power. to name someone, to
know their name and be able to use it against or over them, was a sign of power
in those days. the unclean spirit
challenges jesus, recognizing that jesus threatens its status quo, and what
does jesus do?
he rebukes it!
one of my favorite things. jesus
calls out the unclean spirit and sends it on its way.
you know, i don’t think we rebuke things enough these
days. you see, to rebuke
something, you’ve got to know the evil in it, and we don’t much like to talk
about evil, but there is evil in this world. sometimes it’s sneaky, sometimes it’s obvious, but either
way it is in this world. to rebuke
it, you’ve got to know it and you’ve got to know that god’s got a different
plan.
martin luther used to rebuke satan all the time—i even saw
the spot where he threw an inkwell at satan when he was translating the bible
into german, all cooped up in wartburg castle! and his favorite way to drive away the devil was to proclaim: i have been baptized, i am a christian.
what if we went back to rebuking things?
these past weeks, i’ve been struggling with our environment
out here in utah. the inversion
has been going pretty strong—as if the pollution has possessed our whole
valley. yesterday about 3,000 of
us gathered at the capitol, with others gathering in other places throughout the
state, to rally for clean air.
throughout the new testament, especially the gospels,
possession by an unclean spirit is fairly common. unclean spirits possess a person and, as happens in today’s
gospel, jesus comes along and denies the demons the home they are
possessing. this doesn’t
necessarily mean the demons are destroyed, but they are now denied a place to settle
in.
jesus has the authority in this interaction. he is the one who claims the man
possessed by an unclean spirit.
jesus claims the man and denies evil a resting place in his good
creation. this week the inversion
has been possessing me. the clouds
hang too low in the sky, the mountains disappear behind the smog, and i even
got sick! i never get sick
and already twice this year i’ve been sick!
i feel possessed, as if the inversion is starting to seep
into my body. i wonder where the
sun is, where the stars are at night, what happened to the snow of winter,
where is my hope? but then the
rains come. jesus breaks in and
those baptismal waters flow, clearing the air, bringing the light of the sun
and moon and stars back into my little corner of the world.
i hear the inversion, with the man’s unclean spirit, in jest
or in utter terror—i’m not sure which—say “have you come to destroy us?” and jesus silences them, evicting the
unclean spirits from my valley and from my heart.
the unclean spirits have no resting place here. they may come, but jesus signs their
notice of eviction, guarding the space for us.
yesterday we rebuked the inversion. we declared it unwelcome and
unwanted. pastor david nichols
from mt. tabor lutheran church spoke and evoked deuteronomy, a few chapters aftertoday’s reading, after moses has laid out for the israelites their options in
covenanting with the lord. moses
says, “see, i have set before you today life and prosperity, death and
adversity. … choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”
pastor david encouraged us all to “choose life.” choose life for ourselves; choose life for
our descendants; and choose life for all of creation. and we did and we will continue to do it every day as we
continue to rebuke the inversion and the pollution that contaminates this place. there are still traces of it here and
there, but it doesn’t have the power it used to have—at least not over me.
i
have been baptized, i am a christian.
god’s creation is about renewal and rebirth, healing and wholeness. god’s creation is good. and i am part of that creation. you are part of that creation. and it is in the name of “the one lord, jesus christ, through whom are all
things and through whom we exist,” that we can rebuke the inversion, the
forces of pollution and contamination in the world.
we renounce them in our baptismal rite—renouncing “the devil
and all the forces that defy god, the powers of this world that rebel against
god, and the ways of sin that draw us from god.” we can always
renounce evil—a reminder of our baptism.
renouncing the forces of evil and the ways of sin that draw
us from god changes our direction and sets us on god’s path. renouncing that which harms, helps us
to affirm and live into the “love [that] builds up.” rebuking specific evils keeps us alert to how we can lose
sight of god. rebuking the
pollution that blocks the sunlight brings me back to the true light, which is
christ. the brightness that
highlights our diverse colors and hues, that celebrates life in creation.
jesus’ authority—jesus’ power—is the authority to displace
evil, the authority to remove its resting place and to break its hold on
us. jesus’ authority challenges
the powerful and the power of evil.
it claims our lives, our lungs, our whole beings for god. in the waters of baptism we are claimed
by the Ultimate Authority. each
day we die to sin and the forces of evil and
each day we are raised, justified, to life in christ.
god’s grace pours out on us like the rain and snow that
cleanse the air of this inversion, that make it easier to breathe. it is not an easy thing, dying and
rising each day, but it is the way god works. when there is death, god brings new life, hope,
resurrection.
jesus’ power and authority calls us and claims us and leads
us into a life of love and discipleship.
we are redeemed. creation
is redeemed. and we are all free
to live in the loving grace of our Ultimate Authority, jesus the christ.
thanks be to god.
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