Mark 1:21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" 25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching--and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
This is a passage about AUTHORITY…exousia in the Greek….a word that can be applied to the authority of a landowner over his property, or a King over his realm, or in the case of God in the flesh, the authority of God over the entire created order.
The lectionary has given us a very brief--yet dense Gospel reading for this Sunday. Before we even begin to plumb the depths of the reading itself, we have to begin by taking note of the Old Testament reading that the lectionary pairs it with. It's Deut 18:15-20, part of the goodbye speech of Moses to the people, where he assures them that the day will come when the Lord himself will raise up a prophet who will speak with the very words/voice of God. The Deut passage has long been seen as a Messianic promise. Many prophets were raised up after Moses, but only in Jesus do we see that when he opens his mouth and begins speaking, we hear the very voice of God.
And so what does this mean? What--specifically in terms of Mark chapter 1 does this mean? We have this interesting setting of Jesus, worship space (the synagogue), disciples, observers, and .... EVIL. One of the things I love about modern commentaries is that they wrestle with this idea of EVIL/UNCLEAN SPIRITS, and demonic possession, etc. The complete rationalist has so fully explained away the 1st century's superstition and penchant for ascribing EVERYTHING to the presence of an "evil spirit," that passages such as this end up being explained away. Oddly, they seem oblivious to the idea that if evil spirits/demons can be rationalized out of existence, so can evil itself. Yet, we continue to live in a world that seemingly has no shortage of evil. On the other hand, even those who readily have room in their theology for evil spirits are a little bit at a loss to address the sheer frequency/number of ....er.....'sightings' in the Gospels as compared to ALL of the rest of the Bible...and even into our day. In other words, in the Gospels it seems like every 3 paragraphs Jesus is confronted by another evil spirit. But where were these things in Genesis-Malachi? We see them a little bit in Acts, but where are they in all of the epistles? And what about now?
Here's my take on that question. In the weeks and days leading up to the Normandy invasion during WW2, the Germans knew the Allies would launch an assault. They didn't know precisely where the assault would occur, but there were only so many logical choices. And so there was a massive buildup of German forces in that area. I view the Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus in similar terms. This world of darkness had been invaded by the Righteous God, in the flesh...and this invasion did not go unnoticed by the powers of darkness. They were concentrated against him in a way that was unique to human history, with a multi-faceted goal: kill him before his time; or tempt him into derailing his cause. In other words, it seems like there was more demonic activity in the Gospel narratives than anywhere else in Scripture, and at any other time in history because there WAS MORE. It was THE theater of operations in terms of the cosmic battle against God’s plan of salvation.
This needs to be remembered when we get to the end of the story and view the Son of God hanging on the cross, suffering the insults, “he saved others but he cannot save himself.” He speaks with the AUTHORITY (exousia) of God. He tells the evil spirit to be muzzled (a literal rendering of the Greek in the passage) and it shuts up; he tells it to come out, and it comes out. It is this same one whose AUTHORITY far exceeds anything in the human or spirit world that hangs on that cross, and he does so not for lack of AUTHORITY, but precisely out of that authority. That the God of the universe would take on flesh, allow himself to be tortured and killed by his own creation, is often viewed as the greatest act of love ever. It was. But it was also the greatest demonstration of his authority, for it was with that act, there on the cross, that Satan, the demonic realm, and the entire power of Sin were defeated.
But there’s still evil in the world. All we need is to turn on the tv to see that. True. But it has been judged and sentenced, and when Christ returns it will be no more.
Cheers,
TM
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