Unclean demon?

01Sep
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Let us alone! 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!’ When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, ‘What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!’ And a report about him began to reach every place in the region. 
-Luke 4:31-37


It’s a strange story, isn’t it? Jesus meets a man “who had the spirit of an unclean demon.” Speaking “with authority”, we’re told, Jesus commands the demon to come out of the man, the demon reluctantly obeys, and the crowds are amazed. “For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come.” 

Demons? Unclean spirits? Really? While our 21st century minds have a difficult time with this, we need to first remember that these events aren’t taking place in 21st century New Orleans. The biblical scholar, David Armstrong writes, “The books of the Bible were written by ancient people living in the Southern Levant, Babylon, and the Eastern Mediterranean more than two thousand years ago. These were ancient people, with ancient beliefs about the divine and the world, who did not see things the same way as one another or as we do, who lived through events that we often only know about by verbal or archaeological representation (and which none of us were alive to see), who spoke languages other than our own and had experiences other than our own, who communicated with one another and their neighbors in ways we do not. As a result, the Bible is weird, and we have to let it be weird.”


So let’s set aside our questions about demons and unclean spirits for the time being and approach the story as its first readers and hearers would have. What was new and important to this audience was not “unclean spirits;” that was just an accepted part of the furniture of their world. It was the authority with which Jesus confronted the demon that lies at the heart of this story that is unfolding at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. Just before this incident, Jesus had preached his first sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth. Unfurling the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah, he had declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” His first words at the beginning of his public ministry were spoken with authority coming from the Holy Spirit. Now we hear him rebuking the demon with that same authority of the Spirit. All that Jesus spoke and did in his entire ministry was grounded in Holy Spirit authority. And the demon clearly understood Jesus to be a threat. What Jesus was doing would eventually break the oppressing, dehumanizing power of all that is demonic in human experience.


When we open our hearts to the movement of the Holy Spirit we too can confront the demonic with Christ-centered authority. The demonic powers of bigotry and exploitation of the powerless, the demonic powers of unjust wars and domination of the weak, the demonic powers of fear and prejudice, all of these will fall as we as Christians, both individually and as the Church, use the genuine authority with which we have been blessed to speak out and act for justice and healing and peace. This is our great high calling. May we have the courage and the grace to follow in Our Lord’s footsteps and call out the many demons of this world. We have been given this authority.


Musical Reflection - Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones


Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Grace

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