Demons in the Church

January 31, 2021 Mark 1:21-28 Demons in the Church 4th Sunday of Epiphany Year B Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Open our hearts and spirits this day to hear the great good news of your power and presence with all your people. Fill our hearts with rejoicing as the words are proclaimed in song and story. Enliven us and remind us that you are with us, through the pillar of fire, through the magnificent words of the prophets, through the ministry and love of Jesus Christ. AMEN Stewardship Moment Offertory Prayer God of power and wisdom, we give you our eternal thanks for the gift of your Son, who came not only to save but to teach us about your kingdom and how we might live, readying ourselves for that kingdom. He taught with authority, and if we listen, we will live a life of generosity, mercy, and compassion. Bless what we give this day and help us be faithful in the use of all our resources, that we might live like those anticipating your kingdom. In Christ, we pray. Amen. (Mark 1:21-28) Scripture Mark 1:21-28 21 Jesus and his followers went into Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching. 22 The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. 23 Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.” 25 “Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!” 26 The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out. 27 Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, “What’s this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!” 28 Right away the news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee. Sermon : Demons in the church A friend of mine took on the task of organizing her father’s album collection yesterday. She would post her best find on Facebook. One of the albums that she posted was of the 70’s comedian Flip Wilson. Flip Wilson had a famous routine where he would always say the devil made him do it. Of course we would laugh at the routine because we don’t believe in demons controlling our behavior anymore. But in Jesus’ day it was common to blame your bad behavior on demons. It was believed that they were everywhere, and they affected all aspects of life. There was even a book called the Testament of Solomon, which outlined the behavior of demons, named them and told you how to get rid of them. I always enjoy preaching on the book of Mark. Mark is the only gospel writer who is not afraid to openly talk about demons. It seems the New Testament was unique in the way it talked about demons. Most literature of the day talked of a demon attacking a person. Whereas in the gospels, when Jesus speaks of demons- he speaks of them possessing the person. In the scripture story for today – Jesus calmly recognizes the demon. He does not attack of get mad – he just quietly asks for the demon to come out. When it comes out, the man seems to go back to normal. As I say, life has changed, now we don’t believe in demons possessing people. We have a little more control over life now. But have you noticed that in spite of our unbelief, evil still persist in the world? Demons in Our Modern World I was just as naive as I was sincere when I wrote a letter to a missionary in Papua, New Guinea. I was a 19-year-old college student trying to make sense out of the Bible. I was reading the gospels with an ardent desire to believe what I was reading but I kept getting hung up on these stories about demon exorcisms. If the gospels were true then there were real demons in the world and yet I didn’t see anyone but quacks and nut cases doing demon exorcisms on TV. Someone in my college campus ministry suggested to me that we no longer saw demons in the civilized world but that missionaries in remote parts of the world did. I knew the name of a missionary in the terribly primitive region of Papua, New Guinea so I wrote to him. I wanted him to validate the Biblical stories about demons by telling me that he had heard them speak, that he had witnesses an exorcism. I hope he could tell me some really hair-raising stories. It took him several weeks to answer my letter and it took me a few years to understand his response. He avoided my request for a description of face-to-face encounters with the demonic. He didn’t say anything about hearing them speak or of exorcisms. He did, however, say that there were demons in Papua, New Guinea and that he was shocked that I had not seen anywhere I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. "Do you not see the demons at work in pornography, prostitution, in racial hatred and in poverty?" he asked me. At first it seemed to me that he just didn’t understand my question...later it became obvious to me that I had not understood his answer. Racism, poverty and the whole abuse of women in the sex industry were certainly obviously present in the city where I lived and I accepted that these things were evil but they were everyday things.... things that were always there and always would be there. I wanted to hear about something more biblical...about a demon speaking to a missionary or some vision of demon possession.... he just wanted to write to me about everyday stuff. Roger Ray, Mr. Demon in His Pew I am reminded of a quote that I read in morning devotions this week – Evil does not have the power to do bad on its own, it needs the hands and feet of people to do damage. Evil needs to posses our feelings, our thoughts, our actions to do its work. Demons inside of us Kathleen Norris – a spiritual writer says “when I think of demons that I need to exorcise, I have to look inward to my heart and soul. The demon inside of her was her anger. Her husband pointed out that she could be very mean at times. She realized that her anger was destroying her marriage. First she needed to recognize it, then acknowledge the damage it was doing and make a commitment to change. Another friend – a pastor. Talked about getting a divorce, and experiencing all sorts of negative emotions – anger, shame, jealousy, and pain. He didn’t have to strength to preach, but he needed to be in the church. He needed to be in the presence of God, in the presence of the Word, the worship, in the presence of Jesus. Most of us think of ourselves as good Christian people, and yet all of us have those sources of anxiety, anger, fear, and other negative emotions. Daniel Amen, an expert on brain health encourages us to get to know and name the dragons inside of us that affect our behavior. I am absolutely fascinated by this story in Mark. This the beginning of Jesus ministry. What better place to get encouragement for your calling but the synagogue. As soon as Jesus gets up to teach, a demon possessed man starts to speak. The synogue, like the church is a sacred place. What a strange place for a demon to appear. That is why we ring the church bells before church, not only to call the people to come into the church for worship, but also to call the evil spirits out and to tell them to stay away. (evil spirits don’t like loud noises). It was thought that evil spirits like to hang out in dark lonely places – so why would one be bold enough to come to church? Well when we bring our hopes, praise, and joy to church, we also bring our fears, our anger, our biases, our unresolved feelings with us. The church is the place of open doors, open minds, open hearts. The church is the place we come looking for acceptance and love. Jesus wants the demons to come to church – that is the place were they can encounter the healing word from God. At it’s best, the local church functions as an arena in which conflict and hurts among participants who choose to stay can open up possibilities for spiritual progress. Where else will people still accept me after I stand up in a church meeting and harshly criticize something? Ah that’s just Dave, they say. They know me, I learn about the Christian virtues of acceptance and graciousness even as I am not accepting and gracious. By not taking my toys and playing elsewhere – this is finding a church that connects with my spiritual journey – I move forward in my spiritual journey. I give up control. I forfeit my options, in an environment of choices. Dadiv Goetz, Suburban Spirituality, Christianity Today, July 2003, pp34-35. When we come to church we experience God in spite of ourselves. A pastor speaks of entering a program to become a spiritual director. He got overwhelmed and had to drop out of the program, but he got insight into his own demons and was able to experience true transformation. Mark is not afraid to speak of demons because he was anxious to help us to understand the healing power of Jesus’ teaching. As Mark tells of the transforming power of Jesus, each time he calls Jesus the teacher. The teacher heals, the teacher calms to storm, the teacher provides. It is interesting, in this story the leaders in church on that day, don’t seem to be impressed with the demon in church and Jesus calling the demon out. They are flabbergasted at Jesus’ teachings. Who gave the authority to speak like that they ask. You speak as if you know what you are talking about – who gave you authority to do that? This is a new teaching – even the demons listen to you and obey. All Jesus did was show the man love and compassion. He teaches with love and compassion. It was his love and compassion that had the power to transform the situation. There are several stories in the gospels about Jesus removing demons from people. In each story there is always more than one. The collective word for demons is mazzikin, which means one Mazzikin means one that does harm. In this story the demons ask – have you come here to destroy us. Yes. What things in your life that harm us? What things in community harm us? What things in the church that are harming us and keeping us from moving forward? Because it looks like after the demon left the church, everything returned back to normal and they just went on with their service. The Church Dare Not Have an Influence In his penetrating book The First Circle, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian author who defected to America, makes an interesting observation about how the Russian authorities handle the church. He writes: "No one stops them from ringing their bells; they can break communion bread anyway they please. They can have their processions with the cross. But they will in no way allow them to have any connection with social or civic affairs." The church was allowed to go through the motions; it could have a presence, but it dare not have an influence. What bothered the scribes was not that Jesus prayed and preached. It was the fact that his prayers and his sermons were moving the people to action. I wonder if the church still has that concept of authority. So often our problem is not that we do not have authority, it is that we do not use the authority that we have. It is time that we quit defining the problems of the world and start applying the power of the church to the problems. We have been given authority by God, through Jesus Christ, to heal, to proclaim, to change, to bring redemption, and to expel. We are under an imperative from God and we need not fear either principalities or death for Christ has been given all authority over heaven and earth. Now we need to start applying that authority. Now the ball is in our courts. For if the claims of Jesus' authority are true, then that will require a response from you and me. In Shakespeare play King Lear, the Earl of Kent offers his services to the King. He wants, he says, to "serve him truly that will put me in trust, to love him that is honest; to converse with him who is wise, to fear judgment." Let us pray….. Prayer What have we done, Lord? We want to praise you, so we splash your words on screens on a wall, with brightly colored and powerful images. We shout your praises, with hands held on high. We teach and preach your word. But we don’t listen carefully for you. We are so busy trying to shout above the noise of the day, that we don’t take time to really listen and know you. The voices of the prophets spoke to people long ago who were too busy and anxious to hear. Their words streamed in the winds of time and have come to us. We need to pay attention to your message offered through them. You are our God, the God of all creation, the God of power and love, whose mercy is offered to us. In Jesus’ time, he proclaimed the good news through words and actions, reaching out to those who were troubled, alienated, cast aside. He offered healing and hope to those others turned away. Help us to learn that you alone can heal us and fix those areas in our lives that are wounded and twisted. Help us to understand that you alone can offer to us a new way of life through Jesus Christ. Remind us again that as we have spoken the names of people and situations that concern us, praying for your healing touch, that the same touch is offered to us in Jesus’ name. Lord, we need to let go of our control issues and place our trust wholly in you. Now and forever. AMEN. Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection: Help us Accept Each Other UMH 560 Announcements Benediction Jesus comes to us, offering healing and hope, speaking and acting with authority. Listen to him. Go into this world, confident in God’s love and healing power. Go in peace and may God’s love and peace always be with you. AMEN. Children’s Time Object: a rolled up newspaper (Have someone in the congregation throw a rolled up newspaper to you as you begin to talk.) Good morning, boys and girls. Let's see what's in the news today. (Pretend to read the front page. Read in the style of a newscaster.) Here's what the headline says: Jesus Quiets Person In Church! Jesus and his friends were in the city of Capernaum and they went to church. While Jesus was teaching a class at the church a sick person came up to him and screamed in pain. Jesus calmly told the person to be quiet. The person instantly was quiet and the people watching were amazed at what they saw. (Show them the front of the newspaper.) Now would we really find this kind of news in our paper? (Let them respond.) No, of course we wouldn't. But our lesson today tells us that "the news of Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the province of Galilee." Galilee was one of the names of the places where Jesus was. How do you think the news spread about Jesus? (Let them respond.) They didn't have radio and television or magazines like we do. It probably spread fast just by people talking to each other. They went to the market place every day and they talked about Jesus there. They talked about Jesus when they gathered to eat. They walked with different people and talked to them when they went from place to place. But it's still pretty amazing at how fast the news spread. If Jesus had lived today, how would the people have spread the news? (Let them respond.) People would send reporters to interview the person who became quiet when Jesus spoke. The reporters would have interviewed everyone who was around what happened. They probably would have interviewed Jesus or at least one of Jesus' close friends. Then all those reports would be in the newspapers, on the radio and the television news programs. With all the computers it would be around the world in minutes. But even though our news spreads much faster than it did in Jesus' day, we still need to tell others about Jesus with our mouths just like the people did in Jesus' day. That is still a good way to tell people about Jesus - one person to another person. CSS Publishing Co., , by CSS Additional Illustrations Unsanctified - Mark 1:21-28 Ever have one of those days when you just feel miserable, awful, ornery, grouchy? Maybe something has happened to make you feel like you have the grumpies. Or maybe nothing in particular happened at all. We call that “getting up on the wrong side of the bed.” Some days, our spirits sag, and some days, our spirits soar. Even the steadiest, most stable and secure people have days when they just feel “off.” But there is a difference between feeling down in the dumps or even grouchy and feeling nasty, vicious, hateful, or revengeful. Unfortunately, some people have an ongoing case of the “nasties,” and nothing and no-one seems to make them happy. These are people who seem to harbor no empathy, feel no compassion, act upon compulsion, and house a frighteningly aggressive and sometimes even murderous spirit. Often, these are people, who have turned away from God. Cause let’s face it. When you are feeling close to God, you just don’t have the nasties! God is the ultimate “anti-nasty” pill. Someone with a “nasty” spirit may just be someone, whose spirit has been somehow corrupted, overtaken by anger, or destroyed by abuse. Or in cases we know exist, it may be somehow who appears to be downright soul-empty. Whatever the reason, whether we call that person disturbed, angry, or evil, we know those people exist. They exist in our culture. And they can even exist in our churches.... The Authority of Jesus The church in the world is a lot like the story that E. Stanley Jones tells of the missionary in the jungle. He got lost with nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He finally found a small village and asked one of the natives if he could lead him out of the jungle. The native said he could. "All right," the missionary said, "Show me the way." They walked for hours through dense brush hacking their way through unmarked jungle. The missionary began to worry and said, "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?" The native said. "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path." Our path out of the jungle of this world is God in Christ. We may have some Rabbis, Masters, Father's, Teachers, and Reverends but we are all like the missionary. We rely not upon men but Christ who is our path. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com Help in Facing Our Fears Leslie Weatherhead once told a parable of a little boy who fled from a witch who had turned herself into a cat. As the boy ran, he kept glancing fearfully over his shoulder. The first time he looked back, the cat was the size of a calf. The next time he looked, it had grown to the dimensions of an elephant. Then the boy fell, and was unable to go farther. Resolutely he got up and faced the pursuing horror. It stopped. So he took a step toward it. It backed away. As he continued to advance toward it, it began to shrink in size as it retreated from him. Finally it changed into a mouse and ran under the door of the witch's cottage to be seen no more. The moral is clear: it pays to face up to your fears. But sometimes that is hard to do. That is when we need to turn to Christ. He can help us stand up to our fears and conquer them. He can cast out demons. Adapted from Leslie Weatherhead. A New Kind of Authority In Mark's gospel Jesus himself is the content of the teaching. The authority is not in particular speeches, but in this particular life. Jesus lived as one who had authority, an authority radically different from that of tradition. Different from what had been expected. To understand this authority we must not only listen, we must also look. Barbara Lundblad, Lutheran Speaker: The Protestant Hour A Rabbi Talks with Jesus Jacob Neusner is one of the world’s preeminent scholars on first-century Judaism. He has written more than 500 books on the subject. And one of them is a little book entitled, A Rabbi Talks with Jesus. Jacob Neusner calls this book “an inter-millennial interfaith exchange.” In it he engages the Jesus he finds in the Gospels in a conversation about matters of Jewish faith and practice. And while there is much about Jesus that he says that he respects and admires, he says that the point of his personal separation from Jesus would come at the point of Jesus’ separation from tradition. He understands that Jesus spoke “on his own say-so, and not out of the teachings of the Torah.” He understands that Jesus saw himself “as Moses, or as more than Moses”. He understands that Jesus taught as one having authority, and not as one deriving His authority from another. And for Jacob Neusner that crosses a critical line. It’s blasphemous. When Jesus speaks on His own authority He is putting Himself on the level with God. Unknown Jesus Christ Marked Down 50% Chuck Swindoll tells about a commercial product put out by one of the largest department stores in our nation. It proved to be disastrously unsuccessful. It was a doll in the form of the baby Jesus. It was advertised as being unbreakable, washable and cuddly. It was packaged in straw with a satin ribbon and plastic surroundings, and appropriate biblical texts added here and there to make the scene complete. It did not sell. The manager of one of the stores in the department chain panicked. He carried out a last ditch promotion to get rid of those dolls. He brandished a huge sign outside his store that read: “JESUS CHRIST – MARKED DOWN 50% - GET HIM WHILE YOU CAN.” And that is the constant danger – that we will remake Christ into a meek, harmless figure – discounted 50% to attract the masses. Brent Porterfield, www.Sermons.com How are we to understand this? Apparently, the Gospels and New Testament are unique in Jewish literature in the way they talk about spirits not as attacking people from time to time, causing odd or evil things, but as possessing people – coming to dwell within them, to reside in the heart, and over time, to give a certain shape and direction to a person’s life, become part and parcel of who they are, how they act, and how they are known by others in the world. Become their persona – their image or reputation, you might say. Does it make sense to say that in our lives we all accumulate a particular cluster of personal habits, practices, defences, priorities, values, assumptions and expectations of life and of others and even of God, that become our persona, our spirit? A spirit that at best is aligned with the way God desires we live. But that almost always, at some point also gets in the way and starts restricting, limiting, opposing and undermining our freedom to live in the way God intends, and in the way that God’s kingdom, if we are to be part of its coming, calls us to live.