Sunday Readings: Deuteronomy 18.15-20; ! Corinthians 7.32-35; Mark 1/21-28
“Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 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.’” – Mark 1.23-27
Jesus challenges the law in a sense that amazes and attracts his hearers. Jesus is not about to have the spirit that possesses this man define him. The word unclean has its origins in the temple. The law keeps things with the potential to disrupt the holiness of the temple from coming in contact with the divine world the temple represents. The law calls such things unclean. They include certain animals, people in contact with the dead, women when they are menstruating or after giving birth.
The word unclean also developed a moral sense, identifying vices that distance one from God. The adjective characterizes the man in the synagogue as outside the boundaries of the holy.
The gospel seems close to our experience today as voices crying out angers and conspiracy theories convulse our democratic society. We all have the responsibility to keep asking and examining what possesses us.
Ambitions may drive us, headlines, a high-paying job. Angers may possess us, industries no longer offering job families can depend on.
Alcohol, pain killers, or chocolate can possess us, comforting us in our stress or pain, offering easier company than any human friend. Fear of COVID may narrow our world, so we withdraw. Efforts to contain the pandemic may close our business, evaporate the hours on the job that paid the rent. Listening is an act of love. People’s life experiences differ. Learning where people unlike us come from takes commitment, wanting to know their story.
What possesses me? What clamors for attention in myself? What erodes my wholeness? What energizes the self I want to be?