Jan 22 - Freedom

Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
10When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Mark 1:21-28
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.

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As Nancy & I have mentioned before, we both have been chaplains at hospitals in Atlanta. Most of my calls were for those who had died or were dying. But from time to time, I had the joyful privilege of giving thanks to God with patients who recovered from life-threatening illnesses or accidents. And that thanks included all of the doctors, nurses, and other care-givers at the hospital. What medicine is able to accomplish today is nothing short of miraculous. And sometimes the recovery of a patient even defies explanation – truly a miracle.

So it seems strange to hear the response of the witnesses to Jesus’ healing of a man in this morning’s story from Mark. Jesus has just called his first four disciples, and now he and his gang of four enter a synagogue. While teaching, Jesus is confronted by a man possessed by an unclean spirit, maybe a demon. Performing an exorcism, Jesus heals the man. And all the congregation can say is, ““What is this? A new teaching—with authority!” A new teaching? That’s what gets their attention?

Demons and unclean spirits. Not something we think about in this day and age of modern medicine and miracle drugs. Or do we? I remember the buzz when the movie, “The Exorcist,” came out. The depiction of the power of evil possessing a young girl, and the efforts of the priests to drive it out drew millions. Of maybe the attraction was watching her head spin around while she spewed out buckets of pea soup. Almost 40 years later, yet another movie about exorcism has been recently released. I guess we still think there is some truth behind demon-possession, or at least we’re fascinated by it. The idea even slips into our everyday language. “I don’t know what possessed me to do that.” Maybe it comes from our own experiences.

I don’t know if it’s ever happened here in Hector/Lodi, but I’ve been in a church during worship when someone who was deeply disturbed walked in off the street and began disrupting the service. At first you don’t know what to do. Then the ushers try to escort this unruly individual out the door. If it seems like the person is asking for money, a sympathetic worshipper slips him or her a few dollars and tries to send them on their way. Or an elder suggests the person stay for worship and talk with folks after it’s over.

But Jesus doesn’t rebuke the man, or try to calm him down, or promise to meet with him after he is done teaching. Jesus cures the man – liberates him – with his teaching – with his words – words that make things happen.

We all know the chant. “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” We call it out to those who would try to say mean or nasty things about us. That we feel we need to say this is proof that words, in fact, can hurt us, can cut deep to the bone. If you need proof, just listen to political ads and debates. What has been going on in South Carolina this past week is disgraceful. Words as weapons to attack and destroy. But words, truthful words, can also be a powerful, freeing tool.

Before I read from Mark, we heard a portion of the book of Jonah. We presented the whole book last fall. If you remember, Jonah is at best a reluctant prophet running away from his assignment. When he finally delivers his brief message to Nineveh, Jonah is shocked as all the people in the city listen to him, believe God, and reorient their lives – they repent. And God chooses to spare the city. God’s word through Jonah brings new life and freedom.

At the beginning of the story in Mark, Jesus himself is described as one having authority as he teaches. By the end of the story, having rid the man of what has enslaved him, it isn’t just Jesus but his teaching, his words, that have authority. The Greek word translated “authority” can also mean “freedom.” Jesus teaching, his words, are freeing.

I was watching the movie, “The Help” this past week. It painfully captures life for black servants in the South during the early 60’s. Slavery may have been outlawed for 100 years, but attitudes hadn’t changed for many. Jim Crow laws and the Supreme Court decision that accepted “separate, but equal” dictated much of life. In the movie, the black, female servants, who cooked and cleaned, who cared for the children of their white employers, were shackled by the threat of never working again or worse if they didn’t do what they were told. It took the honest truth of their lives exposed through the published stories of these same servants to bring some measure of freedom from the demon of segregation, and healing to women denied their dignity. Now, not all of that truth was pretty- it wasn’t. But the healing began once the truth was spoken.

Perhaps it’s significant that Jesus’ first healing occurs in a house of worship. It doesn’t take a huge leap of the imagination to recast this story in churches today. I wonder how many of us come to worship in hidden shackles.

The obvious examples would be addictions like alcohol or drugs or gambling. But perhaps fear is what is holding us back. The first response of the demon to Jesus’ teaching is, “Have you come to destroy us?” Does fear of failing or coming up short, stop us? Do we think we can’t measure up to some unrealistic ideal? Perhaps shame is what imprisons us. We’ve done or said something to hurt another person and we can’t forgive ourselves. Or maybe it’s anger – anger at another member that has hurt you and you can’t forgive them. Maybe our chains are built on grief. We’ve lost someone we love and we can’t go on. I also wonder if the church is the reason some of us are struggling with demons.

“In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus first act of public ministry is freeing someone, healing someone. And it happens immediately- a sign to us that the kingdom of God, the realm of love is here and is active. So maybe we could boil down the first chapter of Mark leading up to this story this way: Jesus has been baptized, tempted in the wilderness, and now comes to proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom of God on earth, and he does this by opposing the forces of evil which would rob the children of God of all that God hopes and intends for them” (David Lose, “Possessed” on workingpreacher.org).

We don’t know what Jesus’ words were to the man. I think Mark leaves them out because it would be all too human for us to turn those words into a magic incantation – just pray this or do that and all your problems will be solved. It would be all too easy for us to forget who the only one capable of bringing about true, full freedom is. Mark wants his congregation and us to see the Good News comes in the person of Jesus Christ whose teaching is not so much in words but in actions – teaching that makes things happen, if we will trust in him.

In the synagogue, the man found the Spirit-given courage and strength to confront Jesus, to be completely vulnerable in his presence. In the midst of worship, he let his disease, his brokenness, his captivity come face to face with Jesus’ holiness and healing.

Can we, as people of faith, find that same kind of courage? What might happen if we actually came to church, ready to experience God with all of who we are, not just as who we hope other people think we are? What might happen if we actually came to church anticipating and expecting that Jesus would meet us, set us free, and make us whole, just like he did for the man living with the demons of his life?