Casting Out Unclean Spirits

The 4th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 28, 2024

In Mark’s Gospel this morning we hear about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. As he went from town to town preaching, often from the synagogue on sabbath. We hear that his preaching was riveting and challenging. Challenging enough to make at least one guy there in the synagogue come back at him and tell him to shut up.

I’d always seen this passage as a story of Jesus driving out an unclean spirit like an exorcism. Max Von Sydow exorcising the demon in Linda Blair from the film the 1973 film, The Exorcist.

This time however it read more like a story from a town hall meeting. I didn’t see the man with the unclean spirit as a possessed crazy demonic, but rather I saw someone paralyzed with fear.

Think about that term “unclean spirit”. This isn’t a Hollywood demon. This is the spiritual core of a person, or even a community, that has been corrupted. Corrupted by fear, and apathy, and uncertainty.

Jesus had been preaching things that would get them in trouble with the occupying empire.

The man was essentially listening to Jesus preach and responding by saying ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU’RE GONNA GET US ALL KILLED!”

I wonder if this guy was speaking from the unclean spirt or as a community member that was designated to speak for the group. Whatever it was he was blatantly opposing what Jesus was preaching. And yet he still acknowledges Jesus presence as holy.

As if to say “You’re the holy one alright, but we don’t need to hear this right now! Y’all we gotta stick with the status quo. Anything else is too dangerous!”

But here’s Jesus who says, “My brother, the status quo sucks. And whatever fear is in you that’s preventing you from seeing God’s love and plan for us… well it needs to shut up and get out, like right now!”

(SNAP) And it did. The unclean spirit of greed. The unclean spirit of fear. The unclean spirit of apathy, injustice, and complacency. POOF! Gone.

So, while what Jesus was offering may not have been the kind of holy the man wanted to hear that day, it was the kind of holy he needed to hear. It was the kind of holy he needed to experience.

We don’t know the identity of the man with the unclean spirit. He seems to possess a spirit of fear and content with the status quo. But we do know that he was changed that day and we know the word got out about it.

This story affirms that Jesus has the divine authority to cast out these unclean spirits in our midst. Later in Mark’s Gospel (3:4) we also learn that Jesus has affirmed in us this ability to also cast out unclean spirits

What kind of unclean spirits are we encountering today? How do we cast out these unclean spirits in our midst?

Sometimes it’s SOOOOO hard to let them go because they’re what we’ve known for so long.

As Jesus followers we too are called to cast off the unclean spirit of greed and avarice and selfishness. The unclean spirit of fear, apathy, injustice, and complacency.

Will we be a faithful or an unfaithful community as we patiently walk the trail that Jesus has blazed?

Working towards God’s kindom of loving justice for the beloved community requires both a sense of urgency and the practice of patience. And, like Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part.

Every day you get one more yard

You take it on faith — You take it to the heart

The waiting is the hardest part.

When it comes to tackling injustice, many of us have an impulse to push harder and faster. We’re eager to hit the accelerator and we don’t always pause to consider whether our zeal is prudent or proportionate. This can often create a strong reaction in those we want to reach by provoking a doubling down on our positions.

That question the man with the unclean spirit asks of Jesus still resonates today with those of us who fear change or perceive God’s justice as a threat to a way of life.

“Have you come to destroy us?” he asks. What a question! Mark is noting the first challenge to Jesus’ ministry. And there would be more for sure but with each account Jesus always responds with love and the well-being of the beloved community at heart.

We still encounter challenges to Jesus’ ministry. In our families, in our communities, our governments, even within the church. The Christian faith can be coopted as a tool for empire. And Jesus shows us how to push back.

Sometimes that means flipping the tables. It means speaking truth to power with our own prophetic voices. Or naming the evils in our world so that we might begin the tasks of confronting them.

A lot of times it also means modeling the way Jesus taught and responding with love and patience, even when walking into what might appear to be a situation with no possible positive transformation.

While following Jesus can create opposition even within our own communities, Jesus’ authority will always prevail. We are called to be a people of love, justice, and profound grace.

What will this look like for you in our world today? Amen.