So . . . What’s that man with an unclean spirit doing in the synagogue anyway? It’s difficult for us to fully grasp how people living in the first century understood demons and unclean spirits. And we certainly need to let go of our popular images from horror movies like “The Exorcist,” with heads spinning around and other grotesque manifestations of possession. The Gospels do sometimes associate demonic possession with seizures, and in fact it may have been their way of understanding epilepsy. And there are some demoniacs that hurt themselves and are mentally deranged. But while there are different ways that people are harmed by demons and unclean spirits in the Gospels, one thing is always true: demonic forces, however we envision them, keep people bound and oppressed. Whatever their symptoms may be, those with unclean spirits are not free.
Which leads me back to this man in the synagogue. There are no wild behaviors attributed to him. Maybe he presented himself as relatively normal. And maybe he has been worshiping in that synagogue all his life. It’s unlikely that he is just visiting from out of town. And if he is a regular there, that means he has listened to the scribes preach and expound on Scripture. But he is still oppressed by an unclean spirit. Depression? Anxiety? We don’t know what his presenting symptoms are. We just know he is in bondage, and whatever he has been hearing from those scribes has not set him free.
Enter Jesus. He astounds people because he teaches with authority, not like the scribes. There is something authentic and powerful about what he says. And then to drive the point home, Mark shows him setting this man free from the unclean spirit. And how do people respond? A new teaching — with authority! That power to set the oppressed free is what moves those people to see that Jesus is the Real Deal — he speaks with authority, the authority of God’s love.
We can, of course, believe that Jesus has authority because the Bible says so, or because that’s what the church teaches, or because that’s what people who are close to us believe. But while those witnesses can be very important, ultimately we must experience the authority of Jesus for ourselves. It’s not quite enough that other people believe it: we need to believe it and make it our own. James Cone, an African-American theologian, said that experiencing the authority of God to see people free is the core of all black worship:. In his book, God of the Oppressed, he wrote “They sing because they are free. Black worship is a celebration of freedom . . . The people shout, moan, and cry as a testimony to the experience of God’s liberating presence in their lives.”
That may not be our style, but the point is essential for all of us. Has Christ ever set you free? He has certainly set me free. He set me free from the deep feelings of shame and inadequacy I felt growing up, and set me free to love and accept myself as I am. At various points over the years he has liberated me from anxiety, guilt, resentment, anger, and fear. That has not happened with a magical wave of a wand, but by allowing myself to accept his unconditional love and letting that love meet me where I am.
That is the remarkable thing about Jesus: he meets people where they are and loves them without judgment. We are not so good at doing that to others or to ourselves. It does not involve denial but a deep seeing that takes in everything with the eyes of compassion and understanding.
That doesn’t happen simply by repeating the Lord’s Prayer or the Nicene Creed. It is a spiritual practice. And it begins by acknowledging whatever hurt or pain or negative emotion is oppressing us and keeping us bound up. Then we can imagine Jesus looking at the anger or the fear or whatever is binding us, without condemnation. He won’t say that we shouldn’t feel that way or that we should feel a different way. He just loves us. And if we sit with it, that love slowly reveals our core, our soul, our truest self, and that self cannot be bound by anything: no negative condition can touch it. It is one with God and united with Christ in love. As we see that and sense that, all that oppresses us can simply fade away and we can be set free. Jesus works with the non-coercive authority of love.
I know this works because I have experienced it. But you shouldn’t just take my word for it. In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, the townspeople she has led out to Jesus tell her at the end, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world. Encountering Christ for ourselves is the ultimate authority.
No comments:
Post a Comment