There’s a Demon in the House!
The gospel reading on which the sermon is based:
The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the 1st chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
21[Jesus and his disciples] went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and 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.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
The Gospel of our Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Grace to you and peace from God our Creator, from our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and from our Sustainer, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There is an unclean spirit in the house! No. Let us get right to the point. Let us just say it. There is a demon in the house, and the house is a synagogue just a few miles away to the south of us in the town of Attleboro. The name of the synagogue is Congregation Agudas Achim, which has been the center of Jewish life in Attleboro since 1908. Listen to one of their core values, which are listed on their website “While creating a community for members of all ages, our gateway to Jewish living will offer a comfortable, warm, and inviting experience for all. Congregation Agudas Achim seeks to create and maintain a welcoming and inclusive community.”
It was into this comfortable, warm and inviting community that last Wednesday morning an employee of the congregation arrived for work, and found inside the synagogue an unclean spirit. No, let’s just say it. She found a demon in the synagogue. As she was walking into her office, she heard a message being left on the answering machine. The long, horrible, frightening, threatening, violent, demonic message included these words: “It’s time to end Israel and all Jews.” The rest of the hateful speech will go unheard. But make no mistake. There was an unclean spirit in the synagogue. There was a demon in the synagogue.
They went to Capernaum – a home-town-like friendly crowd- and when the Sabbath day came, Jesus, with his four fisherman, entered the synagogue and began teaching, and that home-town crowd was astounded at his preaching. There was a natural and inspiring authority about Jesus. But just then, in the middle of his preaching, there was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. OK, let’s just say it. There was demon in the house – in the synagogue itself! The demon – who recognized Jesus immediately as the Holy One of God, cried out, “Have you come to destroy us?” That demon, the unclean spirit knew the threat, felt the threat and was scared – scared of Jesus. “Have you come to be rid of us?”
Jesus’s response was quick, unflinching, right to the point, “As a matter of fact –yes,” Jesus responds. “Yes. Now, be quiet. (Scripture says, be silent.) Be silent and get out. Be gone. “And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.” That demon, that unclean spirit was done – for now. That demon, that unclean spirit was exorcised, and Jesus did that. I know we don’t talk about Jesus much in this way but it’s true. Jesus demonstrated this kind of power repeatedly – that is his authority to exorcise unclean spirits –to rebuke and to get rid of hateful, hurtful demons.
It is who Jesus was – as one having the authority, the power to rid the world of evil. The gospel of Mark, which is the focus for the whole year of 2024, makes a point of highlighting this part of Jesus’ portfolio – if you will. After all today’s story of Jesus getting rid of this demon, this evil in the synagogue is, according to the gospel of Mark, the very first public act of Jesus, and it follows Jesus forty day battle in the wilderness with Satan himself.
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ first public act was the Sermon on the Mount. Remember those words, “Blessed are you who…” So, Matthew tells us Jesus was an extraordinary, compassionate preacher. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus’ sermon to his hometown crowd was well received until the people realized Jesus favored the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. Then they ran him out of town. In the gospel of John, Jesus’s first public act was to turn water into wine at the wedding in Galilee so John’s focus was on Jesus’ abundant and generous love.
However, Mark – from the get-go- has a difficult and uncomfortable focus on the destructive power of blatant evil, but more importantly, a laser-like focus on Jesus’ authority to rid the world of evil – to exorcise evil from our very being. Where is that authority today? How is that power demonstrated today?
Listen. Listen! The police chief in Attleboro spoke with such authority. He spoke as if was staring down a convulsing, unclean spirit just as Jesus did in the synagogue. Police Chief Kyle Heagney said, “I’m disgusted with the suspect’s actions. It’s absolutely appalling and unacceptable in our community. We do not want his hatred.” The chief was using his power to name the evil, to declare it unacceptable, to exorcise such hatred from the community.
That is what it means to live on this side of Easter – this side of the resurrection. To know that Jesus death was not in vain, but rather his resurrection – thanks be to God! – planted the seeds of his power and authority in each of us. In each of us to have the courage to name evil, to call it out, to expose it, to lay it bare, to declare what is unacceptable and in so doing define what the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr spent his life creating – that is the beloved community.
We all know that that hateful message on the answering machine at the synagogue is just the tip of the iceberg. We all know the political discourse in our country is filled with horrific, hateful and divisive messaging – some blatant like the one at the synagogue and others subtle – dog whistles as they are called. As you know, the high-pitched tone of a dog whistle can only be heard by dogs. Likewise the language of a political dog whistle message may sound innocent but is in fact carefully calculated to send a hateful message about a certain group of people to another group of people – their supporters.
A perfect example occurred recently in how one politician referred to Nikki Haley. Now her full name happens to be Nimarata Nikki Haley – Nimarata being her first name given to her, of course, by her Indian born parents. Her middle name is Nikki, which she prefers to go by, but this politician when he felt threatened insisted on calling her Nimarata or even worse, Nimrod. The subtle message – the dog whistle to his base of supporters? She’s a foreigner. She can’t be trusted. She’s not one of us. She should be deported. Get rid of her. She’s less than. Another familiar dog whistle concerning gender diverse and transgender kids is when politicians repeat the phrase, “Let kids be kids.” The subtle message? The left, the deep state, is corrupting our kids. Those bad people are trying to do bad things to kids. They cannot be trusted. They are un-American.
However, more importantly that dog whistle sends a message to trans kids and gender diverse kids that ‘you don’t know yourselves. You cannot be trusted to know who you really are. In fact, you really do not exist as you think you do. Therefore, you don’t exist.’
What does the authority of Jesus have to say? What does our voice – the voice of Jesus on this side of Easter morning have to say? Let’s go back to the synagogue in Attleboro and another rabbi – not Rabbi Jesus, but the rabbi of the congregation – Rabbi Talya Weisbard Shalem. Rabbi Talya sounds like Rabbi Jesus when she praised Attleboro police for tracing the call, identifying a suspect and making an arrest on the same day. She said, “I feel supported in the Attleboro community. It’s sad and upsetting that there are some people who are upset and want to do harm to us.”
I hear compassion in her voice, which actually echoes the action Jesus took in that synagogue so long ago. Yes, Jesus exorcised the unclean spirit from the man. Yes, Jesus got rid of the demon in the man immediately, but he did not get rid of the man. He did not condemn the person. He did not write-off the human being in whom the unclean spirit resided. In fact, when Jesus exorcised that demon, he healed him! In fact, we read that when the unclean spirit left the man, all the people were amazed and with excitement and joy, they asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching…! Could the man once possessed and now healed been among those giving thanks and rejoicing? Yes, Jesus exorcised the demon AND he healed the person. He healed that child of God. He restored that child of God. Jesus gave him new life. This is what is possible with Jesus! This is what is possible for the people of God living on this side of Easter morning!
From our first lesson this morning from Deuteronomy: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from your own people.” So God raised up Moses as a prophet from his own people. Again, “I will raise up for them as prophet like you from your own people.” So God raised up Jesus as a prophet from his own people. Finally, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from your own people.” So God through Jesus raises you up, you and me, as prophets to speak truth, to speak truth to power, to speak truth at whatever cost – to expose the demon, to expose the unclean spirit, to expose the sin so that there may be healing. Through Jesus, God raises you up to speak truth – for truth alone will create the beloved community. Amen.