Sermon: Jesus exorcizes unclean spirits

Text: Mark 1:21-28
1/29/06
Pastor Mark Schlenker
        A couple of months ago in one of my sermons I was comparing the openings, or beginnings of the four different Gospels. At that time I mentioned that I liked Mark’s beginning the best. I liked it because it got straight to the point: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Short, concise and directly to the point. As we continue to work our way through the Gospel of Mark this year, you’ll see that this is pretty much the style of Mark’s Gospel. Jesus rapidly moves from one scene to the next. Just look where we are so far in the Gospel: chapter 1, verses 21-28 today. So in 28 verses we’ve already encountered John the Baptist, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, then Jesus was immediately driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, Jesus begins proclaiming the good news of God in Galilee, Jesus calls four of his disciples, Jesus teaches in the synagogue, and Jesus casts out an unclean spirit from a man. That’s seven pretty significant events in the life of Jesus. Seven pretty significant events in anyone’s life. Mark certainly wasn’t interested in filling up pages when he wrote this Gospel. Quite different from the books and novels we read today right? Most writers or novelists today would write at least 5-10 pages for each of the events we’ve just read about in Mark. Well, Mark may be a man of few words, but that certainly doesn’t mean that his writing lacks any punch; quite the contrary. From the beginning, Mark establishes what his story is about: “the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, and he builds on that throughout the Gospel. Each story has to do with establishing the Good News that Jesus brings. Each event in Jesus’ life proclaims the Good News of God. The people in the story never quite understand or get it, but we get the benefit of seeing the whole picture. We know the end of this story. We know that it ends in Jesus’ death, and we see that death is not the end after all. Jesus rises from the dead, which gives us life and salvation.
        Looking at our text today we see how Jesus grants both life and salvation. Jesus gives life through the exorcising of the demonic, or the “unclean spirits” that capture us. While studying this Gospel reading this week I did some reading from Lutheran professor James Childs Jr. who looked at the word “unclean” in the New Testament writings. “Unclean” in the New Testament sort of has dual meanings that go together. There is a cultic “uncleanness” and a moral “uncleanness.” The cultic side had to do with being ritually clean for a worshipping community. If you were considered “unclean” you weren’t fit to be part of the temple or synagogues. Being morally unclean is how it is most often used in the New Testament. Morally unclean would reflect the sin and vices of the demonic. Jealousy, greed, cruelty and hostility are a few examples of being morally unclean.
        I don’t know about you, but that makes a little more sense to me. Hollywood likes to put a face, figure or image to the demonic. The meaner, uglier and nastier looking the better it seems to be. A friend recently gave me a movie to watch starring Keanu Reeves called Constantine, and it dealt with the devil and demons. I find it interesting to see what type of theology the writers and directors have for these films. Call it a hazard of the trade if you will. While I was in seminary my friends and family who weren’t in seminary started getting annoyed watching any movie with me, because I would always analyze it theologically. I’ve relaxed a little bit with that now, but movies like Constantine draw it back out of me. An interesting part of this film was that it put a normal human figure for the devil. The devil was a distinguished good-looking older gentleman. But the movie had all of the normal weird freaky-looking creatures for demons. Now, while I am interested in looking into the theological aspects of movies such as these, I don’t really get into the physical figures of demons. There is sort of a disconnect for me, and something I’m not really interested in, because it’s not realistic to me. I haven’t seen red or green scary looking creatures running around.
        What is realistic to me is the way demonic forces manifest themselves in the forms of jealousy, greed, cruelty, and hostility. These “unclean spirits” are real forces that I see at work everyday. Jealousy, for instance is commonly seen in sports, which is such a huge part of our society. You see it all the way down at the children’s level parents jealous of other kids getting more playing time or attention than their child. Youth or adults can also be jealous of other players, and you can watch that jealousy turn to anger or rage. Jealousy in sports goes all the way to the professional level with players calling to be traded, because they just know they’ll be the star of another team.
Greed is another common force that can take a hold of someone. I think that greed is one of the most common and powerful forces in our society. I was talking with someone the other day about travels to developing countries, and we talked about how happy and content many people in developing countries seem to be. When Americans travel to developing countries we think, “Oh poor things, how can they get by on conditions like this.” But the people in these developing countries manage and can be happy with what they have. In America however; there seems to be a never-ending cycle of greed. We can never quite have enough.
Cruelty we’ve seen happen throughout the world. From terrorist acts of cruelty throughout the world to domestic violence in the home. If you don’t see, experience or are a part of cruelty in the day to day, then the news has plenty cruelty for you to see that it is real.
Hostility is obviously being carried out in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and other war-torn parts of the world. But hostilities may also be evident at work, in school or in the home. Maybe you’ve even noticed yourself being hostile toward someone else when things weren’t quite going you way.
        That’s four forces that are working against us. We could name a number more I’m sure, but four is about all of the negative forces I want to look at today. I think four is plenty enough to get the point across that there are forces working against us. They may not take on the bodily form of creatures or demons that we can see, but they are powerful forces nonetheless. The Good News of today’s text is that the grace of God in Jesus Christ exorcises these forces. It reunites us with God and sets us on a path of love and reconciliation with our neighbors. The jealousy, greed, cruelty and hostilities are cast out by the grace we receive in Jesus. This grace heals our broken and wounded spirits, and makes us whole again.
The struggle with these forces working against us, jealousy, greed, cruelty, hostility and others don’t go away in this life. Our life here on earth is a constant struggle with these forces. But the same Jesus that casts out the “unclean spirit” in the synagogue, is also the Jesus that constantly casts them out for us. When touched by the powerful love and grace of God in Jesus we are transformed, we are turned from these evil forces. It may not be an easy process. We may convulse, or go down kicking and screaming like the man in our Gospel reading today. Sometimes these forces can be so firmly built up in us that we have a hard time letting them go. These forces are downright tough! We may recognize that we are greedy for instance, but boy we sure do want that new car. We may recognize that we get hostile and combative in the face of anxiety, but it feels so much better just to let it all out and really let someone have it. It may be tough to be exorcised of these forces, but Jesus’ love and grace conquers these forces. And when it happens what a freeing moment that is.
The foundation of the church is Jesus. The church exists to share this saving love with others, and to offer our thanks and praise to God for this awesome gift.
·        When we gather as a Christian faith community we are blessed with the opportunity to encounter Christ Jesus anew.
·        We are blessed when someone tells us of God’s awesome love in Jesus through some caring conversation that we have.
·        We are blessed when we here the Word of God proclaimed through scripture, words of forgiveness and through sermons.
·        We are blessed when we here the songs of Jesus and his love.
·        We are blessed through the waters of baptism, and through the breaking of bread together. In receiving the body and blood of Jesus in the bread and wine.
We are blessed in all of these things, for in these things Jesus changes our hearts and “cleans” our spirits. It may only be temporary, as the struggle with these forces continues in our daily lives, but Jesus’ love is never ending. Finally, we are blessed in all of these things because through them we are granted salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death and resurrection means a better life in the here and now, and salvation when our time here on earth comes to an end. What a blessing.
        See, maybe Mark’s Gospel isn’t lacking in literary strength after all. It may lack some of the fluff. The Gospel of Mark may get right to the point, and not mince any words, but he’s got something important to tell people. He’s got something important to tell us. He’s not going to waste any time sharing this Good News with people. Come to think of it, that’s a pretty good example for all of us to follow. Let’s not waste any time sharing this Good News. Amen.