AUTHORITY & DEMONS & HONESTY

THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY 2015

Today we continue in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 1 verses 21-45. The text is aimed at quickly showing that Jesus really is someone special. In Mark’s Gospel, while we have barely started reading it, Mark has claimed that Jesus is the Messiah. He chooses some events aimed at beginning to prove his point. When we look at verses 21-28 we note one thing, and Mark tells us the people note something else. We note that a man with “an unclean spirit—a demon” is ordered out of a man. The text says the people note that Jesus taught with authority. We might pause and just ponder why we react more to one part of this text, as compared to the people in the text.

Authority is the dimension that Bishop Wright digs into. We in the 21^st century read the word authority and think one thing…but what we are thinking is not the same as in Jesus’ day. Teaching, teaching the Law, was a big deal. Following the Law is what set the Jewish people apart from all others—it was a badge of honor. If you were going to set yourself apart by following the Law, you would want the best instruction on how to live the Law. Often times, the teachers of the day, the Scribes and Pharisees, would not offer their own understanding of the Law. Instead they would refer back to a famous Rabbi’s, or even Moses…in other words they did not teach as if they personally had authority...enter Jesus.

Jesus taught with authority. Not only did he teach with authority, but he backed it up with his actions.

The classic points that Christians make in these texts is that Jesus really is God, that he has authority over all, including phenomena that we have trouble understanding and explaining. The obvious conclusion is that we should let Jesus have authority over us.

So here are my two questions. How do you deal with authority? What do you think about the idea of unclean spirits? Quite frankly, how you answer those questions will go a long way into whether or not you can accept the Scriptures. Let’s turn first to authority.

When my mother yelled, “David Joseph Collum, you come in here right this minute” I responded. I moved. I did not delay. My mother’s authority was real to me. As I grew I went to college, worked, got married…the stuff of life. Who and what had authority over me evolved. In many ways, an idea had authority over me. By authority, I mean that “thing” which governed my actions. In my world it was my idea of success, or the American dream, or happiness…I would shape my actions and my focus my energy on these very fuzzy and ill-defined endpoints.

My point is that Authority is more than you or I starting or stopping something at the command of another. Authority is bigger. It is very similar to what I just described as how the Jews of Jesus’ day viewed the Law. Many of us think “we are our own people,” that no one has “authority” over us. But here is one of the reasons I put the word “honesty” in my title. It we are honest with ourselves, if we think about it, we will admit that something or someone has authority in our life. Not so much that if they tell us to “start or stop” that we will, but more that we keep aiming for, striving to achieve, some goal that they hold up. And quite frankly, it may be fuzzy and ill-defined in your life. But take a moment right now and answer the question: What are you aiming for?

Some people say they are aiming for fun, or happiness, or success, or family, health. The Gospel suggests that you aim to follow Jesus.

But following Jesus, at least from the text today means what? Does is mean we have to deal with all this unclean spirit stuff? Let’s again come back to this word “honesty.” For me, someone who is trying to share the Good News with others, I have to be honest. I have to be honest that there are things in the Gospels that our world struggles with. Honestly, would I prefer it if the text said that Jesus was confronted by a lunatic, and through his wisdom diagnosed him with a mental disorder and then saw he got proper treatment…honestly would that make my announcing the Good News easier?

At first blush, the answer to the question might seem like yes; but if I think about it I have to honestly tell you my answer would be no. No, don’t change the text, let me have the story of the man with the unclean spirit. Why? Because the story of Jesus the Messiah is the story of God come to earth. It is the story of this “person(s)” that is beyond our description, this force that is beyond our natural world, breaking into the world we say “he” created (and unpacking that sentence is more than a blog entry—but this is what we claim). My point in all of this is that to believe in God is to believe in things and forces and beings we cannot see, and to believe that there is One who has authority over all of it…that we are not merely caught up in some random chance world careening nowhere…but rather that we are loved by the One who creates and sustains it…want to see that love…want to know you are loved…want to believe that there is more to your life than fun…honestly do you…the text today suggests then that we follow Jesus because he has authority over it all…even the crazy stuff we cannot understand.