Mark 1:21-28: 21 They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 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.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They 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.” 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee .

When was the last memorable, really memorable, time you had in worship, in church? I mean one that really sticks out being so meaningful, or even totally meaningless! For one reason or another it remains lodged in your memory: the preacher was really good, or really long, or really boring! Or the songs sung were all your favorites, or you didn't know even one. Or perhaps something unusual happened during the worship: the offering plate was dropped, spilling coins and bills all over the hardwood floor; the minister tripped and fell on the way to the pulpit; someone's child started running around the sanctuary; the lights went out, an arrangement of flowers set too close to the candles ignited. You know what I mean. Simon and Neal, our teenage sons, have one such memory. I know because they mentioned it just the other day. It goes back several years to a congregation north of Minneapolis/St. Paul where I was guest preaching. They were 4 and 6 at the time. As young boys will do, when left on their own in the front row during a sermon, they began to giggle and jostle. So, while preaching I paused to speak to them from the pulpit, telling them that they were being too silly and disruptive. This remains one of their most memorable church experiences.

In the Gospel of Mark we have one of those memorable “church” experiences. It wasn't church, of course. It was a synagogue, a place for faithful Jews in Jesus' day to come together, say prayers, read their sacred scripture, the Torah, and be instructed in how those ancient texts could be relevant for contemporary Jewish life. Not so different from what we are doing in Wednesday chapel.

It was memorable for two reasons: one, there was a dynamite preacher in the house, and two, this preacher went head-to-head with a walk-in who, it appears, lived on the fringes of sanity and society. Jesus, from Nazareth, was one who taught with authority and commanded even the demons. It was a “chapel to remember!”

This is the first of many briefly narrated, quick-moving scenes that fill up the first half of Mark's gospel. Mark, more than the other three gospel writers, leaves the reader scurrying from one location to another, following the action-packed, fast-paced ministry of Jesus the teacher, the healer, and exorcist.

When we read Mark's gospel, as well as the other three, we see clearly that conflict is key to the narrative's plot, to Jesus' life. At times the conflicts are between Jesus and religious authorities, or Jesus and the political establishment, or Jesus and his disciples. In our story today, Jesus is in conflict with a demon or, in Mark's language, an “unclean spirit.” In Mark's gospel the “unclean spirits” present Satan's destructive power housed in the bodies of men and women. These spirits cripple, stymie, bind, and oppress. Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, has come to heal, release, and liberate. The result is conflict, real and deadly.

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Or, woodenly from the Greek: “What? You and us?” In other words, “Jesus, leave us alone!” This demon is plural. Did you notice that? “Us” is peculiar here. This confrontation in one man and demon is, in reality, between the whole of God's goodness come in Jesus and the host of evil.

We rarely speak of demons today, at least in this part of the world. I have, however, lived in other parts of the world where such words remain and such conflict is experienced as real. Even for moderns, or post-moderns, who have chosen to abandon such language, there remains today a demonstrable, demon-like presence that seeks to bind, stymie, cripple, and destroy what God has intended for good: turn on the TV, tune in the radio, surf the net, read the newspaper, take a walk, make a visit, just listen.

It is the demon within, however, that concerns our story for today. Perhaps it is as well what concerns our own story today. By faith Jesus enters our lives and goes to work on us. His presence in us is not always conflict-free. There are things unknown or willfully concealed within that Jesus wishes to confront, not simply sins, that's too easy, but our self-righteousness as well. We know that both are equally able to stifle and stymie, oppress and diminish. Perhaps the demons of righteousness are more sinister than those of unrighteousness. We may, at times, wish for Jesus to leave us alone. Giving up to death our attitudes, habits, and beliefs that have served us well, even our faith, though not of God, can leave us convulsing at times, shaking us to the bone, wanting to scream, “Leave me alone, Jesus!” And, you know what the good news is in all of this? He won't! Amen.

-Rev. Dr. Philip Johnson

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