REBUKING YOUR DEMONS
Mark 1: 29-39
In a few minutes I have set myself up
to cover what could-and has- taken hours by others: what do we make of the idea
of demons as described in today’s Gospel text? Is it different from being
possessed by the devil, or Satan? In a survey a number of years ago, 75% of
those around the world believed that supernatural spirits could invade a body
and cause it to be possessed. By the same token 25% or more did not believe
that. Many Christian branches of the church spend sermon after sermon teaching
people how to avoid the devil, and calling illnesses “possessions by demons.”
Most Presbyterians join me in not giving anything evil or unexplained the name
of the devil or a demon; our worship, prayers, and attention are on the glory
of God Almighty. Even as it was once described, “if there is a watch, there
must be a watch maker,” so if there is Creation, there must be a Creator. Plenty of people want to avoid blame in all
circumstances, so they say, when they do a crazy or destructive thing, that an “evil spirit” possessed them, or “the devil
made them do it.” It is convenient to blame someone outside of ourselves
thereby not having to account for one’s actions.
A mother is behind bars because of
the suspicious murder of her child. Was it the devil that did that murder? Was
it someone else? Was she possessed? Or did she want a life different from the
responsibilities of motherhood, and just snapped? When I was in college, while
we were in our fraternity house, one of the brothers, after a long day, fell to
the ground, had his eyes roll back into his head, and he shook
violently, almost biting off his own tongue. Would you say he got possessed by
a demon? Many in the Bible, who had less access to medical knowledge, called
mysterious convulsions demon possession. But in our fraternity we called
paramedics to come to our fraternity house, not a priest, and they didn’t
diagnose him as demon possessed. “Epileptic seizure” they said, and the
brothers and I got an education about epilepsy. Our brother recovered. It is
frightening to be sure, to encounter such seizures. But I know it is not the
presence of evil, it is the acknowledgment and treatment of a condition. While
our youth group visited a feeding ministry years ago, a man walked up to the
center, walking erratically, with jerky motions, with a panicked look in his
eyes, and with a dry and crusted mouth. An astute staff member there knew the
man and upon seeing him, he ran in and came out with a glass of orange juice.
It settled down his shakes, his eyes grew calmer, and he became limp. He had
had a diabetic attack from too little sugar, a situation that I myself have
felt more than once since I developed diabetes. He was not possessed by a demon
any more than I was. How glad I am to not be living ages ago, but if I were,
I’d be so grateful to a healer named Jesus.
A dear woman who was in our church
who cared deeply for our children was Trudy Jones. Trudy did not hear well
because as a child, her parent’s branch of the Christian faith did not believe
in medicine, just prayer. So they prayed for little Trudy when she had an ear
infection, but gave her no medical treatment. The result was a dedicated
Christian who was hard of hearing all her life, but she grew up believing in
medicine and prayer. Dr. Larry Dossey
does to, for in a blind study, he had half of his hospital receive excellent
medical treatment alone, and the other half received excellent medical
treatment and the fervent prayers of his staff. (He did not include a study with
prayer alone since it was a hospital.) The side with prayer and medicine healed
decidedly faster and more completely. Our Body, Mind, and Soul health
ministries continue to convince me of the connections between the care we give our bodies, and our minds, and our souls (some
say spirits). An illness in one area—like a sin-sick soul, or a burned out
mind, or a body ravaged by too much or too little weight, too much smoke, too
much drink, or too much drug, affects the other areas.
I am convinced that there are people
who do evil things in the world, but it need not get blamed on the devil. John
Dominic Crossen, in one of his books, noticed how many people were terrified by
a vomiting adolescent in the film called THE EXORCIST. He said the scene
bothered him for a different reason: it trivialized evil, for true evil is what
is done to nations at the hands of brutal dictators, or
to children in the hands of sexually or physically abusive parents, or to poor
people by those who oppress them. The child tied up in the film was a victim; the evil in some children’s
situations may have been an older male who sexually
tortured them, or other children who tormented them with bullying, or authority
figures who became mentally or physically abusive. There is evil in the world, but placing blame on its victims is what
Jesus fought against. An uninformed or incompetent doctor or family member may
not recognize schizophrenia, psychosis, or other difficult but treatable
illnesses, but left untreated, victims can harm themselves and others.
Our text today shows Jesus healing
the people who were brought to him. And although he wanted to primarily be
their Savior, he first became their Healer because he was able, in his amazing
ways, to make them well and to invite priests to pronounce them so. Today you
may be a tormented person, by problems with your body, problems with your mind,
or problems with your soul. In our day and age, in the name of Jesus, I would
start a person who has physical
ailments with prayer and a visit to a
competent doctor. In our day and age I would start a person who has emotional turmoil with prayer and words of counseling, perhaps from me
or a therapist at our
Jeffrey A. Sumner