Mark 1:21-28
Do you believe in demons? When we hear that word, we probably picture a red-skinned guy with horns and a tail. And that’s a comic figure, even when we see it about to be stabbed by Saint Michael. But there are such things as demons. It’s a matter of faith. And certainly Jesus knew about demons -- in the gospel of Mark we have four separate exorcisms described, in addition to the statement that Jesus went about healing the sick and casting out demons. Many years ago there was a comedian, Flip Wilson, who portrayed a character that was always getting into trouble, and had an answer ""The devil made me do it.” And I suspect we modern people say similar things -- I can’t help it, it’s my upbringing; or He made me so mad that I just lost it! You can think of your own excuses for behavior that you're a bit ashamed of. I know I have my own. But is our sinful behavior caused by demons? I think most of us would not agree -- we are sinful enough to cause our own bad behavior.
But here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter whether some terrible evil is caused by demons or nature or just sinful human beings. And we don’t have to parse it out. Sure, the Church continues to train exorcists, and every diocese is supposed to have one -- we do in this diocese. And when you talk to an exorcist or people who work with one, you hear about some very strange things, seemingly supernatural things, things like levitation, hearing a demonic voice, superhuman strength, speaking in languages that the person had no knowledge of before. I’ll accept that there are cases where demons possess a person, or more commonly, and I've seen this, “oppress” a person. This last term refers to people who have thoughts they can’t get out of their heads -- like one person I’ve met who is convinced she is damned and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Is that demonic? Or does she have a psychiatric illness?
In today’s gospel, Jesus teaches with authority, which surprises the synagogue people. Because rabbis always quoted scripture or other authorities when they taught. That’s still true today, not just with rabbis, but also with university professors, with clergy of other religions and denominations. When we teach authentically, we try to build on what has gone before. Jesus was and is different. In the Gospels he frequently makes authoritative statements; in Matthew, he gives a whole list of things in which he says, “You have heard it said…. And then “But I say to you…” And the parables he told were often surprising and showed his originality. The sewer who sowed seed on pathways and rocky ground and into thorn bushes -- no real farmer would do that. Or the priest and the levite who passed by the beaten man, leaving a Samaritan to come to the rescue. Jesus’ authoritative teaching often shocks.
But Jesus not only spoke with authority, which made people stop and listen, but he demonstrated his authority in the miracles he worked, including his exorcisms. Now this man in the synagogue, was he truly possessed? Or was he a madman, a schizophrenic perhaps? How much of our troubled world is caused by demonic forces as opposed to just plain evil people? We can see potential demons all around us -- those suffering from addictions might be from demons, those people who are trapped in pornography, those people who cause and propagate wars. Was Hitler possessed? Is Putin? And what about our own failings? Are they sometimes demonic? Saint Paul lamented: “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Saint Paul and Flip Wilson may have something in common.
So let’s face the fact that there is lots of evil in the world, some caused by real supernatural demons, much caused by our fallen humanity, and even some caused by indifferent nature. People are born with genetics that results in cancer or heart disease decades later. Hurricanes wipe out neighborhoods. But we Christians don’t have to sort through all that. One of the doctors of the Church, and unfortunately I forgot which one, said something to the effect that the best way to deal with the evils within us was to allow ourselves to be filled up with Christ. If Christ lives in us, then regardless of the evil, whether caused by the world, the flesh or the devil, it will be overcome. Jesus predicted that his disciples would suffer and even be put to death, but at the end of those predictions, he said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus has overcome the world. And he lives in you and lives in me. We have nothing to fear.
