We’ve experienced them, haven't we, people who show up in our churches and don’t know how to behave. Clearly on some medication, or in desperate need of it, they mumble and shamble and can’t sit still; maybe they talk or shout during the sermon or the prayers. We know we need to welcome them as we do the “well-put-together,” but they can be disruptive, manipulative, even nasty when challenged.
Not that different in the synagogue in Jesus’ day:
“Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and 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.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”
What did the people around Jesus think? “Oh my God, don’t talk to him! Don’t engage….” Or did they think Jesus was harsh with his rebuke, “Be silent!” But Jesus knew the man was not the problem. As well as the demons could recognize his presence, he could recognize theirs. He knew this was not a case of mental illness or substance abuse or social disorder – he knew this man was held captive by a spirit not his own, a spirit of evil which sought to hold him in disease and undermine every effort toward freedom.
This is only the first of many times in the gospels when we see Jesus communicate directly with evil spirits, commanding them to loose their hold on an afflicted person. I have heard of such things in our times too – there is a category of evil beyond the categorizable pathologies we’ve become so adept at naming and mapping. Jesus never confused the person oppressed by the demonic with the forces oppressing them. He spoke right to the demons, casting them out in the language of command. Jesus knew he had power greater than they did, and they feared him.
I happen to believe that this can and does occur – people can be very vulnerable to an influx of dark spirits, especially if they have been victims of sexual violence or abuse that so thoroughly undermines their sense of self. People who have been involved in or subject to occult activities can also be at risk. But even if you don’t believe that this reality exists, you can affirm the movement toward freedom which Jesus consistently fosters. He was – and is – in the business of setting people free, from all kinds of bondage. He wasn’t about to forget the spiritual as he attended to medical, emotional, political, economic, judicial,social brokenness.
Paul reminds us in Galatians, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” We are invited to constantly seek our own freedom from anything that hinders our growth into the fullness of who God made us to be. And we are called to invest in the freedom of others, across every kind of category of person, condition and “-ism,” seeking to free the person beneath the oppression and offering our strength for their spiritual growth. Who do you know who needs to be set free? How is God calling you to help? And what freedoms are you seeking? Who might be your agent of deliverance?
Something wonderful can happen when we acknowledge the person hiding behind that “difficult” behavior. Often it is those “less presentable” people, when they are invited to speak, who articulate most clearly their experience of the love of God. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Indeed!
Good stuff, Kate. Thanks.
ReplyDelete