Jesus and Demons
So like many of you (well maybe), I have always been a little memorized by the passage in which the Devil or some type of Demon (possessed person perhaps) encounters Jesus. Part of this is because theologically I am not sure what to do with this. There are tons of movies and story lines in which "evil" spirits are a part of our real world and we as Christians use the language of evil as if it is a true being; and yet you don't hear this being preached on Sunday. In fact in most mainline churches the devil, evil spirits and ghosts are left up to the belief of the individual and aren't discussed much. Yet they are discussed in our Bible - there for all to see. The biggest problem facing Christianity is our ability as Christians (no matter where you fall on the spectrum) to overlook and pick and choose which parts of the Bible one wants to believe. Why can't we be honest?
So in Mark 1 we have the following:
21They 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.
First, before I get to the spirits, I want to point out one piece - line 22. You see when a Scribe taught they didn't just read verbatim the scrolls. They also interpreted them - but not like the preachers in today's society. The ONLY interpreting they did was the oral and written interpretation that already existed. They would say that the forefathers hand said - or this great Rabbi interpreted it this way... SO for Jesus to be staying there NOT only reading the scroll but TEACHING not what other Rabbi's in the past believed but what he himself interpreted was a pretty big thing. This was for sure a sign to people that he was more then just any Rabbi.
The second part of this story is the "unclean spirit" part...it is the story of a possession and an exorcism. Now I'm not sure if the Catholic church still has been they used to have special Priest trained in exorcism and many people would get their house blessed. Today, the belief in evil spirits is considered for the nonsensical or something you don't want to admit. I personally will admit right now that I believe in them. I have seen examples of evil working. I think that we are being naive if we want to say that evil has no power. As for possession, I think it is real - although I also believe that mental illness is REAL and that we shouldn't fail to give someone mental help. I think possession is far less common then mental illness. Possession to me is when evil has a hold over someone and because of this they aren't able to see the evil they are spreading.
So, back to the passage! Jesus here rebukes the unclean spirit out of the man and all come to see the true authority that Jesus holds. Could they have come to believe in Jesus another way? Probably not - you see we as humans, before just as much as today, are skeptics. And the only way to prove a skeptic wrong is to show them something they can't refute. Jesus teaching with authority, although pretty great, didn't make him any greater then the Rabbis past. It didn't give him the "Son of God" authority.
We all come to God and find Jesus in our own time and our own way but no matter what our lives are changed! They are different and better because of our faith. This passage is a dramatic example, since I'm sure that not all of us are possessed by evil spirits...but the truth is the same. When we realize the true power and authority of Christ's message and the power of the LOVE of God and the forgiveness of sin our lives are transformed and evil no longer holds over us!
So blessings on your journey to find the HOLY
