Epiphany 4 Year B
Mark 1:21-28
Spirits
By Rich Gamble
Stories are different than math formulas, cooking recipes, or IRS instructions. Stories do not have to be taken literally to properly understand them. Indeed often, a literal interpretation of a story misses completely the intended meaning.
When Jesus sits
a group of people together and tells a story about two brothers, we generally
understand that he is not describing a historical event but is using a
narrative to convey meaning in the best possible way. Parables are not meant to
be taken literally, they are meant to be taken as sources of wisdom. We get
that but often we take the other parts of the Gospels as literal history rather
than a means to convey wisdom.
Today’s story
from the Gospel could be interpreted to be about an historical incident. Jesus
comes to a particular place, does some particular things and elicits a
particular response from those who were there. Taken literally it is history
about Jesus, and has little to do with us.
I think that
this is a story. That does not mean that I think it is less valuable than
literal history, rather, I think it is more so. As a story, it is not simply
about Jesus, it is about us.
Let’s think
about Spirits in a different way. Rather than being autonomous, independent
entities, imagine Spirits being internalized reflection of our vision of
ultimate meaning. This vision of ultimate meaning can be reflected in a person,
or a community or civilization. So we
can talk about the spirit of a church, or a nation, or a person. As we see
ultimate meaning so we act. The spirit of a person, church or nation is
reflected in the actions of that individual or group and in the values
reflected in those actions.
To talk about our lens on reality as spirit moves it out of the purely rational lines of thought and into our emotions and passions. This talk of spirit moves our understanding of this lens on reality into our subconscious. Once we are utterly immersed in a particular reality then thinking along the lines of that perspective does not require conscious choice. It seems natural. It feels right, even when, through the perspective of another spirit it is very wrong.
If looked at in
this way, modern reality looks different. We in the modern material world are
continually striving to measure ourselves materially. Dribble paint on a
canvass and it’s a mess, unless someone is willing to pay a million dollars for
it, then it’s a work of art. We win a war when we control the land of our
enemies. We win an election when our people control the offices of power. The
more we have the more we are worth.
What if this
world view was merely the manifestation of a spirit? If we are possessed by
that spirit, then that is the way we see the world. There is a cohesive logic
to it. Spirit then is not an autonomous external being which takes residence in
us. It is how we understand the nature of reality and our lives.
A way of
understanding this is to turn your television to the FOX news cable station.
Fox news provides a particular perspective on reality and it filters news and
opinion through that perspective. All news stations and news papers do the same
but because FOX is so extreme it is easier to see. No matter what happens in
the world you can count on Fox to look at the news and show us that Big
Business is good, labor unions bad, tax breaks to the well off are good,
welfare for the poor- bad, enemies are to be feared and destroyed, capitalism
good, socialism bad. No matter what happens in the world these maxims will be
proven by the news and opinions offered by Fox. When people allow Fox to be
their filter, then these maxims will be their reality no matter the course of
world events.
Understood in
this way, reality is something we can choose. There is a conflict of Spirits
out there and if we are aware enough we can exchange one for another.
Interpreted in
this way, the man who speaks up to Jesus is not a guy with demon who is causing
him problems, but a spokesman for the whole society which has taken on a world
view in opposition to the world view borne by Jesus. In healing this one man of
the evil spirit, Jesus is showing us the real nature of his work, to heal the
world of the spirit which is leading us to lives of pain, isolation, fear and
violence.
Please note that this guy with the demonic spirit did not have a problem until Jesus showed up. He was fitting in just fine in the Synagogue and in his community. Mark here is pointing out that the Spirit of Domination was quite at home in the day to day world of the people of that town. Throughout the Gospel of Mark and the other Gospels as well we see the leaders of the community of his day responded to Jesus with the same anger and concern as this possessed man. His possession is symbolic of the possession of the whole community.
Note that this
is the first act of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Mark. His first act is to
confront an evil spirit inside a synagogue. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus’
ends his ministry by confronting the men who run the Temple Temple
The man who
spoke up reflected the spirit which controlled most of the people alive in that
day. By driving out that spirit, Jesus was showing us the nature of the struggle.
It’s not about turf or wealth or gaining the power to harm or destroy. It is
about changing the spirit which guides the way our world understands itself and
ultimate reality.
What does this mean for us? It is what we are called to do and
be. Our work is to free ourselves, our neighbors and our world from the
“spiritual forces of evil” quoting Paul. That means that we are called to see
ourselves involved in a struggle for the hearts and minds and souls of our
community. We take actions in the world yes, but our goal is not defined by the
spirit of domination.
First we strive to chase the spirit of Domination out of our
hearts. We see it when it calls on us to be fearful of other people, to hate
others, to place ourselves over others. We see it in our community in the
subtle and not so subtle messages that tell us to consume, and to place a
lesser value on outsiders than on insiders.
Externalized messages can become internalized world views, and
we can unwittingly be controlled by the evil spirit of domination. That is what
FOX news does audaciously and other news sources do more subtly. That is what
advertising does, movies do, novels, cereal boxes, state budgets all reflect
and convey a spirit.
Once awakened to this, we realize that our job is to convey a
different spirit, a different understanding of ultimate and therefore present
reality.
The man who spoke up in the synagogue spoke for the world around
him. In chasing out that spirit, Jesus showed that the journey of faith is
about a spiritual struggle in a material world. Jesus showed us our calling. In
acts of love, in compassion and justice we confront the spirit of apathy and
fear and domination. We name it, not for being ultimate reality but being a
festering evil, and we plant a new vision.
That’s our
work: to name the evil on FOX news and in the budget of our state, and on
cereal boxes and in our hearts. We are enlisted in a struggle for the spirit
which governs our lives, our church, our faith, our nation, our planet. Instead
of guns we use truth. Instead of bombs we use humor, instead of hate we use
love, instead of fear we use hope. Instead of trying to gain positions of power
and privilege, we strive to align ourselves with the outcasts. In this work, we
must not lose sight that this is ultimately a spiritual struggle. It is
measured by our ability to help people see and live out of the truth of God’s alternative
spirit.
Thursday night
while most of our neighbors of King
County
The world is facing a hunger crisis unlike anything it has
seen in more than 50 years.
925 million people are hungry. Every day, almost 16,000
children die from hunger-related causes. That's one child every five seconds.
And though it would take about 30 billion dollars to end world hunger, the
world spends over a trillion a year on its military.
