First Lutheran Church
January 31, 2021 + Epiphany 4B
Mark 1:21-28. 21(Jesus and his disciples) went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he 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.
“Amazing”
“They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority!’”
When was the last time you were “amazed?” When was the last time you were left speechless, astonished, or astounded? When was the last time you experienced some serious “awe and wonder?” Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a while for me. Things are not so “amazing” these days. I don’t know about you, but I have found life under pandemic to be a little boring, wearisome, a bit anxious, and at times very depressing. I don’t feel like anything “amazing” has happened to me for a long time.
In today’s gospel an “amazing” thing happens in the synagogue. Jesus shows up and teaches in a way that the scribes never were able to do, and this teaching awakens a demon within one of the congregants, and that leads to a dramatic conflict. When was the last time you were “amazed” at church? When was the last time you were “amazed” at church on Zoom or while watching YouTube?
Today I find myself wondering where all the “amazement” in life has gone. Today I am wondering how I might find my way into this story, and in doing so somehow once again become “astounded” and “amazed!”
Perhaps the easiest way to find our way into the story is through the congregants, the people who have gathered together in the synagogue on the sabbath. That’s a familiar activity, we’ve all done that! It’s been a while, but we used to get up on Sunday mornings, drive over to church, and gather together in the sanctuary. And we still gather, albeit in a different way. Over the past few months, we have gathered up in front of our computers and our phones.
But even so, and even back then in the good old days when we used to gather in person, our gathering together didn’t always lead to “amazement.” Even though some of the sermons, I have to say, were pretty good, “astounding” is a pretty tall order. And as for dramatic conflict, sometimes the pews get moved around, leading to some tense moments of juggling for seating positions, but I have never seen any conflict that rises to the level of “angels verses demons!”
No, church is nice, even meaningful, but I’m not sure about “amazing.” Comparing our experience with the folks who gathered together in the synagogue on the fateful day when Jesus came to town, is probably not going to get us very far into the story. If we truly want to engage with this story, we need to find another angle, another character with whom we might identify, another shared experience that might open up the word to us.
So it is that we must consider another route into the story. And unfortunately, that leaves us with only one other real choice, “the person with an unclean spirit.” At first glance I’m not sure that’s the direction I really want to go, “the person with an unclean spirit.” I certainly don’t identify with this character. Yet I don’t think we have another choice. Jesus maybe, but that doesn’t feel right. So, I guess it’s the man possessed by a demon. Who knows, perhaps, this might be the character that gets us inside the story and on the way to amazement? It’s worth a shot!
As I began to look for ways to engage “the person with an unclean spirit,” I soon realized this would be no easy task, being able to find ourselves in “this person” is extremely problematic. On the surface level, unclean spirits and demons are just not a part of our “modern” understanding of the world. It’s not a “language” that is familiar to us. It’s not something to which we can easily relate. This is the “character” that we more often than not - just skip over, a character that we relegate to another time and place, a character that makes no real claim on our life.
Yet if we take the time to unpack the context and language, if we move beyond the literal and into the metaphorical, this person just might be more familiar to us than we have ever imagined. Contemporary theologians invite us to consider “demons” and “unclean spirits” as representations or metaphors for some of the great issues and problems we face in our modern life. This might include things like mental illness, personalities flaws, medical conditions, or chemical dependencies. We might also include our communal struggles with the social media malaise and a plethora of societal evils. Many New Testament scholars argue that spirits and demons in the scriptures are metaphors for anything that might influence, dominate, or destroy us. Things like anger, fear, lust, greed, hatred, or jealousy. The mythical language found in today’s gospel might be foreign to us, but the realities that they describe and name, are still all too familiar in the human condition.
Which brings us to perhaps the main reason why “the person with an unclean spirit” is a problematic character for us to relate to, to find ourselves in. You see, to enter into this particular “story” through this particular “character” means acknowledging and facing our own unclean spirits and demons. And that’s not something we all like to do! But truth be told, whether we like it or not, - we all have them! So maybe that’s the direction we should go this morning, maybe we should face our shadows, maybe we should do some critical self-examination; Because maybe that’s the way to an encounter with “amazing.” And I’d like to be “amazed!”
If you think about “the person with an unclean spirit” is probably the person who has the most amazing experience in the story. The others were surely astounded, but this man must have been “truly amazed.” If you take a moment to unpack the word “amazement” you can’t help but notice that it contains the word “maze.” These words are related. According to Etymologists, to be lost in a “maze” is to experience bewilderment, confusion, misapprehension, misbelief, and to be exhausted in your labors with all these things. To be “amazed” is to suddenly be overwhelmed or confounded with surprise or wonder, to find yourself suddenly and unexpectedly set free from the malaise of the maze. And this movement from “maze” to “amazing” is the actual story of “the person with an unclean spirit.” He encounters Jesus lost in the maze of his own particular human condition and emerges, most likely “bewildered,” on the other side, - suddenly saved, healed, transformed, set free.
Today God invites us all to begin the journey to true “amazement.” Not to be “amazed” from a far, not to watch an “amazing” show from the balcony seats, but rather to experience “amazement” personally from the inside out! Today God invites us to place ourselves in the story of “the person with an unclean spirit,” to bravely venture off to church, to risk being uncomfortable, to be vulnerable to Jesus, to listen to the word made flesh, and to be open to a living word sharper than a two-edged sword that speaks the truth.
In today’s Gospel we are reminded that this word does not come to us as judgment but ultimately as an invitation to healing. So let us not be afraid to allow the “demons” in our life to be named, to expose them to the light of Christ, and to the powerful love of God. Of course, this is never easy, such critical self-examination, deep honest confession, can lead to fear and convulsion in the pit of our stomach. But be of good courage, and make the journey trusting in the unconditional love of God, that you know and have experienced, in Christ Jesus. And be prepared to be “amazed.”
“Amazing Grace,” those two words go together perfectly. We all must travel through a variety of mazes in our life, we must all struggle with our lot in the human condition, the line between life and death, good and evil, faith and doubt, runs down the middle of every heart. In the midst of it all, sometimes we make good decisions and sometimes we make bad decisions, sometimes circumstances leave us with limited choices, we all have personality quirks, we all have genes that are healthy and genes that are not so healthy, blessings and curses, we have moments filled with courage and moments filled with fear. That’s life. We must all travel through a variety of “mazes” in our life. Yet today we are reminded that Christ is present, that God has descended into our life, not to judge us but to save us. Jesus has come down among us to lead us from the depths of the “maze” to the heights of “amazement.”
The story of “the person with an unclean spirit” ultimately ends with a person surprised and overwhelmed by love, stunned and bewildered by mercy, and finally and forever - “amazed” by grace! May this also be “our story” too! Amen.