Mindekirken Feb. 2, 2003
Pastor jens Arne Dale

Jesus Gives Freedom

Mark 1:21-28

These last Sundays, we have followed Jesus at the beginning of his public work. The baptism was the great installation. Then he went along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and called his disciples. Today we read about what happened when they came to Capernaum. Even today, you may see the ruins of the synagogue where Jesus and his disciples went on the Sabbath. The synagogue is the house of God to the Jews. Our worship service is built on the traditions of the synagogue service to a large extent. They had a fixed liturgy with prayers, text readings and sermon. They did not have singing or music, nor did they take an offering. Jesus attended the service every week. And on the day we read about, he was asked to preach. What a sermon it must have been. He taught them with authority, and not as their scribes did.

Some people have an enormous aura and natural authority. It has been told about George Whitefield, the great Methodist preacher, that he could pronounce Mesopotamia with such a passion that the could bring a large crowd to tears. In each his own way, and without further comparison, George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein must have the ability to convince others. But not everybody is carried away. Some are only provoked.

That was what happened at the synagogue at Capernaum, too. Most of them were carried away by what Jesus said, except for one. He began shouting: 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. That man was a man with an unclean spirit. The presence of Jesus was such a provocation that the unclean spirit had to manifest himself, most likely as a foreign power or personality who totally took over the control of the man. The things he says about Jesus as God’s Holy one are true, strictly seen. Even the demons believe (that God is One) – and shudder. James 2:19. The devil believes in God, he knows the truth about God, but it’s not a faith with confidence and comfort as we may have as Christians.

What kind of reality lies behind when the NT speaks about evil spirits and possession? In the ancient times, they believed the air was filled with evil spirits who would get into people and cause all kinds of suffering. To be paralyzed, deaf, dumb, epileptic or mentally disordered, or stuck by immorality lying, theft, etc, could be seen as a result of possession by evil spirits. There was no lack of people willing to cure them. Exorcisms were done by special rituals, conjuring and offerings. Often, it was like negotiations with the evil spirits who would have to move to another place. The possessed might have enormous spasms, unbelievable power, foam and throw-up, and not seldom scary voices spoke through the person with the spirit. Such manifestations of possession are described in several cultures even today. Missionaries in Africa have told about possessed persons who act like the ones we hear about in the gospels. It’s told from may places that they separate between sufferings caused by physical illness and demon possession. Some places exorcism of spirits in the name of Jesus is done with the result that people get free from suffering, and obtain a good and worthy life. But it seems like the cultural suppositions are important. In cultures that include the concept of spirits, these have to go when the name of Jesus is declared. Jesus is the strongest. We, however, live in a culture that for several hundred years has had the impact of Christian faith, and we know that sickness and plagues are not caused by evil spirits. Be critical when someone claims that suffering is caused by demons. It will hardly be the case, and to give someone the diagnosis "possessed" might be an encroachment, sometimes with a very damaging effect. What might it do, for instance, to a gay person to hear that he or she has an unclean spirit? That could totally break down a person. Not seldom, people with mental illness would regard themselves as possessed. They need to be met with care that also matches their need of confidence. They don’t need an irresponsible diagnosis of their sick conceptions of having a demon and accordingly, exorcism. Experiments of exorcism may easily end as Jesus says: And the last state of that person is worse than the first. Luke 11:26.

What then, with Jesus? He commanded even the evil spirits. Did he do this like a doctor, who knows that his patients will only accept help on their own premises? Did Jesus think to himself that when it comes to demons it’s all superstition? It’s said that Jesus as a 12 year old boy in the temple impressed the scribes with his knowledge. But he was not omniscient. He was not a secret Albert Einstein. He was a child of his time, and shared the conceptions of his age, just because he was a normal human being. But he also had the authority of God. When he commanded the evil spirits, it was a real fight with the evil power. My point is that the devil as the angel of light he might be, would act differently, in our western culture. We don’t dismiss the counterpart of God even though we don’t believe that dumbness, deafness, epilepsy and mental disorders are caused by demons. And when it comes to Jesus, we should notice that he acted in a totally different way than the exorcists of his time. They commanded the spirits on the premises of the spirits. Jesus had his own premises. He didn’t need conjuring, but commanded the evil spirits to go with his own word, quite simply because he was the Son of God. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, Acts 10:38. Jesus rejected speculations about evil spirits, but when he met evil in that way, he made people free. Paul describes the death of Jesus on the cross as the final victory over the devil and all his creatures. Col. 2:12. Our struggle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, Eph. 6:12, require us to take up the whole armor of God: truth, righteousness, faith and to use the Bible and prayer. In this connection, Paul does not encourage us in exorcism.

We do think differently than the age of Jesus when it comes to possession. But still, the church has a mission of setting people free. Some would emphasize spectacular things as healing and miracles. But those are not the most important. The thing that really sets a human free is the gospel. Word and sacrament are not spectacular. But it relates to what Paul says: Whenever I am weak, then I am strong. My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor. 12:9-10. To proclaim the gospel with word and sacrament is and will be our main mission. The power is not within ourselves, but the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Rom 1:16.

Like Jesus, the church has a healing mission, too: A responsibility to help people and to work for a better world. Faced with a possible war against Iraq, there are a lot of questions one may ask:

-What values lie beneath when the president defines the axis of evil?

-What would justify an attack on Iraq?

-What about North Korea and Iran and possibly other nations?

In a world where weapons of mass destruction are getting more and more available, I’m afraid the doctrine of a preventive attack has clear limitations when it comes to secure a lasting peace. There must be really good reasons for war if the aim is to obtain security and co-existence with confidence. We should pray for those who have the great responsibility for peace in this world But we might also protest loudly if we presume that the ethical grounds for war are not sufficient. We look at evil in other regimes. But do we look critically enough at our own system? Are security, human rights and democracy used as arguments for war, when what we really want to defend is our own consumption and economic growth?