The Truth of Demons and Goodness

The Truth of Demons and Goodness

by Griff Martin
A Sermon for the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith
On Mark 1:21-28
For the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (Jan 31, 2021)

*This document comes from an oral manuscript.

Now Incarnate and Present God, we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and breathing reality we can all together experience. Make us attended to your presence here in this space and in these words God, for if we are aware of your being here then nothing else will matter, but if we are not aware of your being here then nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the Comforter.

One of my friends whose spirituality is deeply rooted in the recovery movement, what Richard Rohr calls the most important American contribution to spirituality, once woke my soul up with a very simple story. 

They shared about a meeting they attended where a new member was having trouble sharing their story. There is a vulnerability and honesty that comes with sharing your whole story, like even the messy parts that you never want anyone to know, the parts that make your heart blush and you pray no one ever discovers or talks about. In the recovery movement all of that is shared in radical honesty. 

This individual was having trouble sharing part of their story. They tried and they got paralyzed by shame and fear. They were stumbling along words and finally just said “I am not ready to share that part yet, it’s too much and no one would understand it.” 

Someone in the group piped up, “The thing you are having trouble sharing, we are not going to make you share, you share when you are ready but is there a word for it, like a name that sums it up without all the details that make it yours?” 

“Yes,” the individual responded, “why?”

“Because if there is a name for it then that means someone else has done it, experienced it, lived it… it means that you are not alone in the fight.” 

That story reminds me of the story I tell almost every Ash Wednesday about one of my first pastoral visits to the hospital with a woman who I know well and how she chastised me during the visit for not saying "cancer," telling me that she needed someone to name this with her so she could fight it. 

Calling things out is an important part of Jesus following, thus it’s part of our work today as Jesus followers. 

Our Gospel reading today begins with Jesus entering Capernaum… and it’s early in the Gospel so we need to pay attention to all the words here because they are telling us a lot about our Jesus. Jesus enters the synagogue on the Sabbath, pay attention to that. It’s the day that is always going to get Jesus in trouble because he breaks all the rules that they thought were so important. Jesus is our rebel rule breaker, but that is not all.

There in the temple he starts teaching and the people are amazed because he teaches as one who had authority, not just as a teacher of the law. Now, my translation there is, “Jesus was vulnerable and authentic, he taught from the heart and not behind a book.” People want to be communicated to at a soul level, he named things people wanted to hear named.

So Jesus is doing just that, communicating at a soul level and people are responding well. And then a man cries out, interrupting this moment of awe and inspiration. “What do you want with us, Jesus?” The text tells us that this cry comes from a man possessed by an impure spirit. 

It’s quite the sermon interruption. Although, it’s also a great sermon question we need to ask always, what do you want with us Jesus?

“Be quiet! Come out of him!” Jesus says, and note the adjective here -- Jesus says sternly. 

Sternly, not politely or nicely. There is a lot that can be said about Jesus, but I don’t think polite and nice make the top ten, probably not the top 50. So if you have any remaining thoughts from a very Southern Christian upbringing about that, let that go… polite and nice might work for Emily Post but they are not prerequisites for Jesus following. 

Nor should they be… in this moment polite and nice will just get in the way here. There is something that is more urgent, there is something that is holding this individual back, that is binding him and keeping him from Jesus and that needs to be called out and Jesus is not going to let anything get in the way of this man’s freedom.

Now we are not sure what to do with demonic possession and stories like this and there are several thoughts I could share here, but I don’t know that the sermon is the place to debate demonic possession, that seems less soul to soul communication and head to head, which we often favor because it gives us debate and makes us feel important but does not lead to transformation. 

I think the lesson we need to learn here is that Jesus following demands that we call out anything that is keeping people from Jesus. And God knows that is a long list today… White supremacy, patriarchy, classism, sexism, nationalism. In our recent history our evils have spoken very, very loudly, they have very much interrupted our lives recently… just like the individual with Jesus sermon.

And our only response is joining Jesus in sternly calling forth more… naming the evil, calling the evil out and calling forth freedom. This is Jesus following. 

What are you calling out today, protesting, naming as evil so that you can call forth more? Jesus following means this. It’s where we begin… It’s where our calling starts

But Jesus following also means more… I think just calling things out is only half the work, for instance would you rather be at a church that called out white supremacy or a church that both called out white supremacy and then also called forth a kingdom of beloved equality? 

Now, let’s keep reading because there is more we need to see about naming things because that is a two-sided coin…. We name what needs to be called out but we also name what needs to be called forth.

Follow the text, Jesus calls out the evil that has captured this man and frees him and that in turn makes all the people in attendance began to talk about Jesus, from his teaching to his power over evil. The text tells us they talked, “and news about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.”

Those who were there with Jesus on that Sabbath, they understood it… Jesus following is naming what needs to be called out but also what needs to be called forth.

And they want more Jesus.

Two weeks ago a story on the front page of the New York Times caught my eye… for starters it was a week where all the news was big headlines and the front page of the paper had been nothing but doom for days. And then there was this headline: “He Just Wanted to Play Catch.”

Frank Miller is a 74 year old gentleman from Dallas Texas and like most of us he has been very bored the last months. He had read a book about pitching and how to pitch and he was constantly gripping a baseball in different grips for a slider, a curve and a cutter. But he was tired of just holding a baseball and holding this knowledge in his head, so he mentioned it to his wife how badly he wanted someone to play catch with and did she think that if she posted something online on the next-door app, could she find him someone to play catch with? 

So she did. “My 74 year old husband would like to have a partner to throw the ball with. He is a former high school and college pitcher and is looking for a catcher or someone who knows how to throw a baseball.” She volunteered that her husband “is in good shape.”

Now stop and consider that… Someone at 74 being brave enough to ask for a friend to play catch with. That is vulnerability and bravery at its best.

They set a time up, 3:00 in Cole Park in a few days… and then they showed up not knowing if anyone else would. And slowly others showed up, too… some taken by Frank’s bravery, others because they wanted a friend to play catch with as well, once someone else named it they wanted in.

Jesus following is name what needs to be called but also what needs to be called forth.

I look at the last few years of church and I know we have not done everything we can yet… but I think we have been vocal about calling out things that need to be called out. Take white supremacy as one example, yes we were late and yes we have a lot of confessing still to do, but this summer we started a very honest conversation about what needed to be called out and then we did work -- we read books, we confessed, we started looking at our legacy, we empowered a group to work on creating spaces in our space for black artist and black businesses. All of this is coming to fruition right now. And we are still doing that work and will be for some time.

I think we do a solid job on calling out what needs to be called out, we have a voice and we use that voice. 

I think the progressive church at large has done a good job realizing the power of voice and calling things out.

I don’t think we have done as well with the second part of it, calling forth what needs to be called forth.

We can list things we call out -- white supremacy, nationalism, patriarchy, sexism -- but where is the calling forth of the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness? What if we replaced all the evil systems and powers with better ones?

We can name division and brokenness and scarcity, but are we calling forth healing, wholeness and abundance?

We can name the darkness but are we calling forth the life?

We can name the tomb but what about the womb…? We can point to all the things dying but can we point to new life and birth? 

As a church we might need to begin calling out and calling forth… Again this is Jesus following. 

Skip ahead with me, Jesus does this with Lazarus at the tomb… He calls death out and then he calls forth more, unbind him so he can live. There is no point in just naming things and bringing dead things still bound up and not demanding new fresh life. 

You see, this is the difference in the church and a political movement, we name things and then we call forth resurrection into the Kingdom of God. We call forth light and love and life. 

We find what is getting in the way of getting people to Jesus and then once we remove the obstacles we dance our way into the Kingdom. 

We know what is broken, do we know what we want more of? I want equality, I want power with, I want abundance, I want laughter and dancing, I want celebration, I want grace and freedom and sharing, I want more hope, I want more God, I want love.

Now the story ends with those who were with Jesus talking and spreading news of him all over town and state and world. We see this because almost every encounter in the Gospels begins with folks looking for Jesus or trying to get to Jesus, word of Jesus spreads quickly.

And then Jesus begins to tell us the truth… you want more Jesus, then be it. Don’t just call it forth, bring it about with your actions. You want equality, then figure out who you are not treating as equal yet and go connect with them. You want celebration, then throw the party. You want sharing, open your wallet and calendar and give generously then. You want hope, be more hopeful in your heart. You want more God, then open your eyes and look and point it out. You want more love, then in everything you do be loving. 

Jesus following… Call out what needs to be called out, call forth what needs to be called forth and then get to work bringing it to reality. 

I repeat it often but it’s the most simple clear summary of the Gospels I know, from Desmond Tutu, “Without us God won’t, without God we can’t.”

Let’s join Jesus… Call out what needs to be called out, call forth what needs to be called forth and then get to work bringing it to reality.

Because I am ready to be living in the new world we are going to build. Amen and Amen.

*artwork: Untitled, by Julian Schnabel