Spiritual Forces of Wickedness [Epiphany 4B]

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Mark 1:21-28

Spiritual Forces of Wickedness

Public confrontations are so uncomfortable.  So it is not difficult to imagine the edgy energy present in today’s Gospel.  You can feel the tension ripple through the congregation.  Eyes shift to the floor.  The security team moves into position.  Parents hold their children tighter.  And Jesus pauses his teaching mid-sentence – his eyes fixed on the possessed man screaming at him from the center aisle.

Somehow, despite his demons, this man got into the synagogue.  Probably because no one was keeping an eye on him.  Because once the wickedness took over, friends and family slowly drifted away.  And he was left alone – a shell of a man, a shadow of his former self, a lost cause.  That is the thing about those evil spirits, those spiritual forces of wickedness: they corrupt and destroy.  They corrupt and destroy not only their host, but the corruption spills over, like toxic acid sloshing about, wounding anyone who gets too close.  Until all that is left is shame and loneliness and that inescapable feeling of despair.

It is hard to say why exactly the man wandered into the synagogue.  Was he dragged there for the confrontation or did he muster his last scrap of agency for the off-chance that there might be some salvation hiding in that holy place, a last desperate move of a desperate man watching his life slip away?  At once both invisible and impossible to miss, he bursts onto the scene.  This is what it looks like to be in the middle of a crowd and be utterly alone.  He stands there surrounded by the friends and family who left long ago.  You can’t blame them.  At first, they probably tried to help him.  They noticed the differences.  At first they were subtle, but eventually it took over and he was more unclean spirit than the person they knew and loved.

The village was small, as villages back then most often were.  And so probably everyone in the place knew him, or knew the man he used to be.  And probably they experienced that devastating mix of feelings: a mix of anger, embarrassment, and deep sadness.  They hated what he had become; mourned who they had lost; and hoped that by some miracle he might yet be set free. 

This is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry – and probably not exactly how he pictured his debut in the synagogue going.  We arrive at this moment in the Gospel rather suddenly.  Before Jesus makes this appearance in the synagogue in Capernaum, Mark's gospel, which is rarely bogged down in the details, speeds through the preparation stage in a cool twenty verses: baptized in the river, tempted in the wilderness, recruits a team down by the water, and shows up in the synagogue ready to get to work.  All of this and we are still in chapter one.

The lights go on, Jesus steps into the spotlight, his very first time before the crowd and… a heckler.  The very first act in his public ministry, at least the first act that anyone will remember (because let’s be honest no one is talking about the sermon on that walk home) is an exorcism.  That is the first thing; that is the opener.  The first thing Jesus does publicly in the Gospel is free this man from an unclean spirit.

And that matters.  This is no accident.  By placing this story first, Mark is setting the stage, telling us what is at the very heart of Jesus’ ministry.  Setting people free from the spiritual forces of wickedness, from evil powers, from unclean spirits will define Jesus’ ministry in Mark’s Gospel.  This is the first of four major exorcism accounts, not to mention passing allusions to this specific ministry, in a Gospel that is only sixteen chapters long.

This was an aspect of Jesus’ earthly ministry that was obviously important to Jesus, important to Mark, uncomfortable for most 21^st century Christians.  Most often we when talk about being Christian, being like Jesus, we mean loving those on the margins, caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, breaking bread with our brothers and sisters in Christ, stealing away to quietly pray, or challenging someone’s inhumane interpretation of Scripture – all of which Jesus did and all of which we are pretty good at.  Almost never have I heard an Episcopalian interpret “Be like Jesus” as embarking on a ministry of casting out evil spirits.  We just don’t talk much about this aspect of Jesus’ ministry, this significant aspect of Jesus’ ministry.

Now I have been a priest long enough to know that like most topics in the world, Episcopalians, including those present, are not of one mind on the topic of demons, of unclean spirits.  I have had enough conversations on the topic to know that there are people here today who are absolutely convinced that evil spirits exist and are active in this world much in the manner that we see in today’s Gospel.  There are others here today who find that very notion absurd.  And then there are the rest of us: good Episcopalians who are happy to leave plenty of room for mystery, which is an Episcopal way of saying: we just don’t really know.

But what we can all agree on, because we have seen this in the lives of friends and family members, maybe even experienced it in our own lives, is that there are spiritual forces of wickedness in this world, evil powers that exist to corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.  They are out there and we have witnessed their destructive power.

You know those spiritual forces of wickedness by name; you are acquainted with the evil powers of this world.  You have seen lives and friendships and families destroyed by Addiction and Substance Abuse.  We have watched wars declared in the name of Pride and nations destroyed by the corrupt forces of Greed.  We have witnessed the ways in which Jealousy can tear relationships apart.  We have seen Racism hang children from trees and Sexism leave women with scars that never seem to go away.  We have watched Hatred and Violence set off bombs and fire bullets, robbing victims of years and the victims’ loved ones of happiness.  Spiritual forces of wickedness.  Evil powers that corrupt and destroy, that ruin lives and shatter relationships.  And we have allowed the spirit of Apathy to whisper that all of this is just the way it is, just the way of the world. 

Jesus did not believe that; Jesus did not accept that; neither should his Church.  Jesus did not cast out evil spirits to fill the pews or make a name for himself.  Exorcism wasn’t some parlor trick; this is about salvation, transforming the world into the Kingdom of God one life, one soul, one family, one community at a time.  Jesus came into the world on a mission.  He came to confront the spiritual forces of wickedness that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.  He came to prove that good is more powerful than evil, that love is stronger than hatred and division, that the forces of life will overcome the forces of death and destruction.  He came to end the reign of despair and declare the reign of God.

It is a message that is as universal as it is intensely personal.  The Good News is for a world weighed down and worn out by too much bad news. But the Good News of Jesus is also for you and for me.  It is written across the cosmos but also it is spoken directly to the one desperate man standing alone in the middle of the synagogue.  Because Jesus there is hope. 

Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood in the synagogue, the genesis of his ministry, and locked eyes with a man who had been taken over, who was being held captive by the spiritual forces of wickedness, forces that seek to destroy and corrupt the creatures of God.  And with a word, he set him free; he saved his life. 

Two thousand years later, Jesus is still setting people free, still about the work of salvation in this world.  Friends, this is the Good News: Jesus has come to set you free from all of those things in your life that hold you captive, from all of those things that weigh you down, from all of those things that steal your joy. 

Jesus sees you in the crowd and can transform your life with a word.  And this message, this Good News, it is as universal as it is intensely personal.  The world is waiting for the people of Jesus, the Body of Christ, those of us who have been transformed by his love, to carry on his work, to share the Good News of his love.  Somewhere beyond these doors there is a lonely person, weighed down, held captive, waiting for Jesus to lock eyes with them and speak into their life a word of hope.  And you, you are the living, breathing Body of Christ in this world.  That someone is waiting for you.