Parallels (February 9, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

“…We know that a person isn’t made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16; context)

…Filling Up…

Day four of New Testament week is upon us, and I want to touch on something about translation. I’ll begin with a short comparison between the Bible and the Koran. One of the biggest structural differences between the two is that the Koran cannot be translated. If you’ve read an English version of the Koran, then you haven’t read the Koran, because it exists in Arabic only. This single language transmission of the text keeps the purity of the original, but creates a barrier to those who don’t speak Arabic. As far as the Bible is concerned (at least since Latin released its stranglehold), the text has been translated into hundreds of languages. This makes for wonderful coverage across the world, but at the cost of having a layer of interpretation between the original and us.

What’s this mean for the New Testament? Well, I’m not going to ask you to become a Greek scholar, but I will invite you to read more than one translation whenever you engage in Bible study. This practice allows you to see the assumptions and choices that different translators make and to choose the one that makes the most sense for you. The Internet has several great websites through which you can compare various translations.

Here’s just one example of what I mean. Read the verse above again (from the CEB), and then read these three parallels from other translations.

“We…know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.” (NIV)

“We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (NRSV)

“…Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…” (KJV).

Notice the CEB and KJV talk about the faith(fulness) of Jesus Christ, while the NIV and NRSV talk about faith in Jesus Christ. The Greek word could be either, and the translators made their choices. But this choice drastically changes the meaning of the passage! Is it Jesus’ faith or our faith in him that is operative? Or both? If you don’t have mastery of the Greek text (and let’s be honest, that’s very few people, and I’m not one of them), then reading in multiple translations is the way to go. It can cause some discomfort when you read a familiar passage with new words. But this discomfort is often where new growth comes from.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you encounter each of us through the Bible just where we are and in the languages we speak. Help me to go deeply into the texts of the Bible to encounter the truth of the word in my life. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

Sometimes Different (February 8, 2012)

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment

…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. (John 2:7-9; context) (This story appears only in John)

…Filling Up…

Yesterday we talked about how and why the accounts of the Gospel are alike. Today, we’ll talk about how and why they are different. For some, the fact that the accounts of the Gospel differ is a source of consternation: if they are telling the truth, then why don’t they say the same thing, these folks wonder. It’s a good question. For starters, if they all said the same thing, we wouldn’t have four to begin with; we’d only have one account, and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

But furthermore, the variety in the storytelling is, in my view, a reason to trust the stories, not the other way around. Think of eyewitness testimony of a crime, perhaps on Law and Order or a show like that. If several witnesses all say exactly the same thing, it means they have rehearsed their stories to get them straight and are therefore playing the cops and lawyers a bit false. It is when eyewitness accounts differ on the details but paint the same general picture that the cops and lawyers know they are close to the truth.

The same holds for the accounts of the Gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are written for different communities going through various strains and strife. These communities are made up of Jews or Gentiles, those close to Jerusalem or those farther away, those nearer the time of Jesus or those who live later on. Each of these contexts leads to the story being told for each community in the way that best allows for each to hear it.

Isn’t this the same in our time? We tailor our speech to be well received by the listener. When our messages fall on deaf ears, it is most likely because we didn’t reach the other where he or she lived. The accounts of the Gospel tell the same story to different sets of people, and each is tailored to be heard by that group. This personalized nature of the texts don’t make them false – on the other hand, it demonstrates to us how best to proclaim the good news. We are heralds of the Gospel just like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were. When we tell the story of the Gospel in our own lives, we share a theme, but may vary the details depending on what hits home for us. This is how the Gospel writers shared the good news: they made it personal, intimate. We are called to do the same.

…Praying For…

Dear God, the witnesses to your Son’s life, death, and resurrection took to heart all that he did and said and then passed on to others what they thought most important. Help me to pass on the good news in the same way. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

Sometimes Alike (February 7, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.” (Luke 9:13; context) (also, Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6)

…Filling Up…

A question I’ve been asked several times in Bible studies is this: “Why are the Gospels so alike in some ways and so different in others?” When I am asked this, I first do my broken record spiel about there being only one Gospel (Jesus Christ’s), of which we have four accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Then, when the members of the class are done rolling their eyes at me, we get down to tackling the question. So, why are the accounts of the Gospel so alike and so different?

We’ll tackle “alike” today and “different” tomorrow. The most obvious reason that the accounts of the Gospel are alike is that they tell the same story. Jesus was a real guy who walked around, got his feet dirty, ate meals, and made a lot of people angry and a lot of other people joyful. The children’s education program Godly Play opens its parable stories with: “Once there was someone who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things that people followed him.” This introductory sentence describes the bulk of the Gospel pretty well. Many of the stories are different, but the theme is the same.

Of course, there are some “big” parts that all four accounts hit, the most notable being the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion (known as the “Passion narrative”). As each account nears its bloody climax (well, what we think is the climax until the real one with the resurrection), the accounts begin to speak with a voice that nears the unison. Because the events in Jesus’ last week are so important, the four writers each focuses in on telling that part of the story.

But there are other reasons that the texts are so similar in places, especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In fact, these three are known as the “synoptics,” meaning “through the same eyes.” Mark was written first, and his style is rather breathless, jumping from one event to the next with an immediacy that precludes much description or dialogue. Scholars tell us that Matthew used Mark as a basis, but expanded it quit a bit to include several long sermons of Jesus. Much of this material comes from a theoretical source called “Q” (which stands for the German word Quelle, which means “source”). Luke apparently also had access to Q, which explains why Luke and Matthew share so much that the other two don’t.

John tends to be the outlier (though John and Luke share some curious similarities) because John is concerned with telling the same story in a different way. All in all, the accounts of the Gospel tell the same story through different eyes – sometimes the story lines up and sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s what we’ll tackle tomorrow.

…Praying For…

Dear God, your Son encountered all sorts of people in his ministry who told us about him. Help me to tell others about my experience with Jesus in a way that is inviting and humble. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

Which Came First? (February 6, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2; context)

…Filling Up…

Last week we talked about the Hebrew Scriptures (also known as the “Old” Testament”). This week, we are going to talk about the other part of the Christian Bible – the New Testament. I tend to refer to the first testament as the Hebrew Scriptures and the second as the New Testament. I know that’s not very parallel of me, but that’s what I’ve got, so there we are. If you have a more parallel name for the New Testament, let me know! I don’t think the name falls into the same traps as the “Old” Testament does, so it works much better.

Anyway, this week we are going to talk about five things in the New Testament. First, the people who laid out the New Testament did not put the texts in the order they were written. They put the Gospel first because without the Gospel, the rest doesn’t really make sense. But the four accounts of the Gospel were written after Paul wrote his letters (well, most of them – Mark might have overlapped Paul a bit).

Why is this important? Well, for starters, when I read Paul’s letters I like to imagine myself never having read the Gospel. Perhaps, I’ve heard about Jesus. Perhaps, some of his sayings have floated around or people have told stories. But I’ve never heard anyone read or perform the Gospel according to Matthew. Maybe I live in Corinth, Greece, and Paul comes to my town and talks about Jesus. I wonder who this fellow is that Paul’s talking about. Well, I can’t go read about him in the Gospel because the texts don’t exist yet.

Paul helped till the earth that became hungry for the Gospel. As he and other first century missionaries spread out, they took the story of the Gospel – not in the texts we have, but in their personal witness – with them. Several decades, maybe even a century later, an account of the Gospel may have followed, depending on how far away you lived from Jerusalem.

Taking my mind back into this place helps me read Paul with a fresh set of eyes. Perhaps, you will try this exercise the next time you pick up Corinthians.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you sent your son to make yourself known in a new way to your people. Help me to make him known in my life, to be a living member of his body that preaches his good news to all people. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

It is Written (February 3, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. (William P. White)

…Listening In…

It was certainly our sickness that he carried, and our sufferings that he bore, but we thought him afflicted, struck down by God and tormented. He was pierced because of our rebellions and crushed because of our crimes. He bore the punishment that made us whole; by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5; context)

…Filling Up…

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the Hebrew Scriptures made up the Bible for the people who wrote the New Testament. Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews – they all quote from the texts that they grew up with, the texts of the Hebrew Bible. Sometimes, they do it verbatim: either they really know their stuff or they are looking at a scroll or something. Other times, they quote off the top of their heads and they get it right, sort of. These off the top of the head quotations capture at least the spirit of the verses they are referencing. In the New Testament, the times when characters in the Gospel or letter writers reach back to the Hebrew Scriptures are often prefaced with “It is written” or “In the words of the prophet so-and-so.”

This references to the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament is very important for us followers of Jesus Christ. Too often, we dismiss the Hebrew Scriptures because “Jesus isn’t in them” or “God doesn’t seem like the same loving God I know.” True, the character of Jesus is not in them, though Christians interpret much of the prophetic literature with Jesus as its focus. And true, God commands the people of Israel to do some pretty terrible stuff during their territorial wars as they laid claim to the Promised Land. These sections are difficult to read, and I wish I could give you some pointers on how to read them, but I can’t.

That being said, the Hebrew Scriptures are the rich, deep earth from which springs our Christian experience of God. There was an early Christian named Marcion, who decided that the Hebrew Scriptures should not be part of the Bible. So he chucked them away, preferring instead parts of the Gospel according to Luke and selections from Paul’s letters. Marcion thought that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures was not the same God as the God of Jesus. He thought the former evil and the latter good, hence his dumping of the Hebrew Scriptures. Well, the heads of the church excommunicating him for that, firmly cementing the Hebrew Scriptures, along with the New Testament, as the guiding texts of the Christian life. We ignore them to our own detriment. They are rich and they are varied. And they are ours.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you made known your glory to my spiritual ancestors, who wrote of your movement in the Scriptures. Help me to see your glory and reflect it in my words and deeds. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, grateful for your presence throughout time and space, as recorded in the Bible and lived in my life.

The Tapestry of Human Experience (February 2, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. (William P. White)

…Listening In…

During the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. A man with his wife and two sons went from Bethlehem of Judah to dwell in the territory of Moab. 2 The name of that man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the territory of Moab and settled there. (Ruth 1:1-2; context) (a bit of family history)

…Filling Up…

Yesterday, we talked about the order that the Jewish faith uses for the books of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is different from the Christian order in that the former is categorical and the latter is chronological. One isn’t better than the other – they are what they are. However, looking at the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures from the perspective of another religious group is a profitable way for followers of Jesus to challenge some of the assumptions we may have about those texts.

As students of the Bible, we have the responsibility to imagine the texts speaking to their original times and also to relate the same texts to our own time. The Holy Spirit is integral in this process because the Spirit continually breathes new life into the old stories, giving us the opportunity to hear, learn, and digest them for ourselves.

One of the amazing things about the Hebrew Scriptures is that, within the three broad categories, there are so many different ways that people encountered God. If you take a survey of the various genres of writing across the texts, an intricate tapestry of human experience with the divine emerges. There is prophecy, poetry, correspondence, sermon, song, vision, legal code, genealogy, novella, advice column, propaganda, shopping list, architectural schematic, ritual guideline, transcribed campfire story, fish tale, and family history. And those are just the ones I can name off the top of my head.

The people of the Hebrew Scriptures encountered God in all of these varied ways. If we enter into their stories, we can discover the truth that God infuses every facet of our lives as God did theirs. And in this, we can celebrate God’s presence.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you encountered your people Israel in many and varied ways. Help me to discover the ways that you are present in my life so that I can participate more fully in your movement. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, grateful for your presence throughout time and space, as recorded in the Bible and lived in my life.

A Different Order (February 1, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. (William P. White)

…Listening In…

The proverbs of Solomon, King David’s son, from Israel: Their purpose is to teach wisdom and discipline, to help one understand wise sayings. They provide insightful instruction, which is righteous, just, and full of integrity. (Proverbs 1:1-3; context)

…Filling Up…

Jews and Christians share the texts found in the Hebrew Scriptures. For the Jewish faith, these texts are the Bible, and for Christians, they are most of the Bible. (Ever notice just how short the New Testament is compared to the Hebrew Scriptures?) While some early Christians ignored the Hebrew Scriptures completely, the vast majority recognized that they were the Bible for the people who wrote the New Testament and therefore they were the Bible for them, as well. (Next week we’ll talk about the fact that the writers of the New Testament didn’t know they were writing the Bible when they did it.)

So we share these texts with our Jewish brothers and sisters. But, you know what’s a bit strange? We changed to the order. The Jewish Bible, on the one hand, puts the books in a categorical order, with each book fitting into one of three broad categories. The Christian Bible, on the other hand, attempts a rough chronological order. (The broad reason for this was that the Christian Bible drew on a Greek source called the Septuagint, which was ordered differently from the Hebrew texts.)

The Jewish Bible is known as the “Tanakh,” which isn’t really a word at all, but a Hebrew acronym. The acronym stands for the three categories that make up the order of the Bible. First, there’s the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy); oftentimes, Torah is rendered as “law,” but “teaching” is a better translation. Second, there are the books of the prophets (“Nevi’im” in Hebrew). Third, there are the books of writings (“Ketuvim” in Hebrew).

By organizing the Hebrew Scriptures into these broad categories, the Jewish order makes a point to show the varied ways that our common ancestors in the faith experienced the movement of God. This movement didn’t just happen in a linear, chronological progression: rather, it happened in poetry and prophecy, in tales of slaves and kings, in advice and song. Is this not how we understand God’s movement in our lives, too?

…Praying For…

Dear God, you revealed yourself to your people Israel in many and varied ways. Help me to participate as they did in your movement in my life, that I may have stories to tell generations yet unborn. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, grateful for your presence throughout time and space, as recorded in the Bible and lived in my life.

Grander than Fact (January 31, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. (William P. White)

…Listening In…

The heavens and the earth and all who live in them were completed. On the sixth day God completed all the work that he had done, and on the seventh day God rested from all the work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creation.This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. On the day the LORD God made earth and sky—before any wild plants appeared on the earth, and before any field crops grew, because the LORD God hadn’t yet sent rain on the earth and there was still no human being to farm the fertile land, though a stream rose from the earth and watered all of the fertile land—the LORD God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. (Genesis 2:1-7; context)

…Filling Up…

We come to day two of our five days with the Hebrew Scriptures. Today, we are going to touch briefly on the topic of “historicity”; that is, do the Hebrew Scriptures tell an accurate account of the history of the time with which they are concerned. (I’ll warn you: you may think by the end of this devo that I have avoided that question.)

Back in the Enlightenment (17th and 18th centuries, give or take), it became fashionable to try to figure out the factual basis for things. It was during this time that the idea of “fact” and the idea of “truth” were unfairly melded in a way they had never been before. This unfair melding still holds sway today: often when people ask for the truth, they really mean the fact. (Think about swearing in a courtroom.) So what’s the difference? Well, truth contains fact, but is not limited to it. Oftentimes, true things don’t much care about their own factuality because their focus is much wider and grander.

Okay, so what’s this have to do with the Hebrew Scriptures. Well, let’s focus in on the beginning of the first book, Genesis. Genesis contains two stories about the creation of the world (scholars tell us they come from different sources and both made it into the book). If one is factual, then the other must not be, right? Wrong. Neither creation story is concerned with fact. They are concerned with conveying the truth of God’s involvement with God’s creation. The first story uses the cosmic imagery of God creating and ordering the heavens. The second story uses the intimate imagery of God walking in the garden and sculpting the first human. Both stories tell the truth of God, which is always too big to fit in one, small point of view.

Expanding this idea to the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, the texts do take a historical tone in many places. But, as one scholar points out, if anything in the Hebrew Scriptures is historically true (meaning factual), it is by accident. In other words, occasionally the Bible makes historical sense, but it is not limited to historicity. The Scriptures are concerned with the truth of God’s presence in the lives of the people of the nation of Israel. Oftentimes, this presence cannot be captured by the merely factual, but can be hinted at and pointed to by trying to speak the truth.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you created and ordered your creation, and you breath life into each one of your creatures. Help me always to seek after the truth of your Word, as it appears in the Bible in in my life. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, grateful for your presence throughout time and space, as recorded in the Bible and lived in my life.

A Matter of Naming (January 30, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. (William P. White)

…Listening In…

I will open my mouth with a proverb. I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—ones that we’ve heard and learned about, ones that our ancestors told us. We won’t hide them from their descendants; we’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the LORD and his strength—the wondrous works God has done.  (Psalm 78:2-4; context)

…Filling Up…

Last year at the end of January and beginning of February, devotiONEighty looked at certain topics having to do with the Bible – five things you shouldn’t do when you read it, five things you should do, and five words that often get misinterpreted. This year, we are going to have a few more weeks of Bible study on devotiONEighty, starting today with the beginning of “Five things about the Old Testament.” (You can probably guess what next week will be.)

Our first thing about the Old Testament is the fact that “Old Testament” is not really the best name we could be using for this set of books that makes up the majority of our Bibles. Saying “Old” puts it in direct comparison with the part of the Bible we call “New.” Now, of course, when we say “New,” most of us mean “more recent.” This is a fact. The books and letters that make up the “New Testament” were written more recently than those in the “Old Testament” that came before it. But when we say “Old” and “New,” what we hear (and what some folks think) is “Obsolete” and “Current.”

But the truth is, both the Old and New Testaments make up our Bibles. One is not better or more important than the other. Indeed, the “More Recent” Testament developed from and built on the “Less Recent Testament.” So, if you retain the phrase “Old Testament,” make sure the word “Old” doesn’t carry the baggage of obsolescence. I tend to use the name “Hebrew Scriptures” because it says what they are, but doesn’t set them up to lose to the New Testament.

Stayed tuned tomorrow when we delve into this, the bulk of our scriptures, on what I will henceforth call “Five things about the Hebrew Scriptures.”

…Praying For…

Dear God, you were a guiding presence for so many of my spiritual ancestors, who wrote about you in the Bible. Help me to see your presence as clearly as they did and to follow your Word with all my heart. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, grateful for your presence throughout time and space, as recorded in the Bible and lived in my life.

Be Silent, and Come out of Him

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

 (Sermon for Sunday, January 29, 2012 || Epiphany 4B || Mark 1:21-28 )

I don’t know about you, but if I were the unclean spirit in today’s Gospel reading, I probably would have kept a lower profile. I would have lain low, kept my mouth shut, perhaps donned a pair of those Groucho Marx glasses with the big eyebrows and moustache. Then, after Jesus left the synagogue, I would have slunk home, incessantly cackling and cajoling, coercing and enticing, whispering, persuading, coaxing, craving, swaying, squeezing, luring. I would have slunk home, still embedded within my “patient,” as C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape calls you delicious people. I mean, us delicious people. I mean, us people.

*shakes head vigorously*

What I’m trying to say is this unclean spirit doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of self-preservation. If the unclean spirit knew that Jesus was “the Holy One of God,” and therefore had plenty of authority to command said spirit, then why did the spirit make a peep? And not just a peep, but a scene? And not just a scene, but a scene in the synagogue, which would be like the event taking place right now during this service. As I said before, I probably would have kept a lower profile.

However, maybe I’m not giving the unclean spirit enough credit for trying. Perhaps, this thing afflicting the guy in the synagogue did attempt to keep his lips zipped. Perhaps, the unclean spirit knew that Jesus would make the spirit’s existence rather uncomfortable if Jesus caught wind of the afflicting presence. And perhaps, the spirit just couldn’t help but cry out when Jesus was nearby.

The unclean spirit is caught in Jesus’ gravitational field. Like a satellite in a degraded orbit falling to earth, the spirit succumbs to Jesus’ gravity and reveals itself. The gravity – the authority – of Jesus’ presence compels the unclean spirit to cry out. And by this same authority, Jesus pulls the spirit from the man with the words: “Be silent, and come out of him!”

Now, I know that dismissing this kind of Biblical story is easy in our day and age. We look to psychology for a comfortable, modern lens with which to interpret unclean spirits. Demonic possession belongs to horror films and to currently popular fantasy worlds populated with vampires, zombies and werewolves. But for all the science and science fiction that we can use to explain away stories like today’s Gospel, the fact of the matter remains that Jesus took this man, who was afflicted by spiritual uncleanness, and made him well. The thought of unclean spirits may make you uncomfortable – sure makes me uncomfortable. But the reality of Jesus standing near and cleansing the filth within replaces my discomfort with wonder and awe and thanksgiving.

“Be silent, and come out of him!” says Jesus. He says this to the unclean spirit within the man at the synagogue, and he says this to the unclean spirits within us at St. Stephen’s church. Our afflictions may not look like the ones depicted in Renaissance frescos or horror film special effects, but that doesn’t make our unclean spirits any less real or damaging to our walks with God and one another. The question is: do we want to stand close enough to Jesus for his gravity to act on our uncleanness?

Whenever I ask myself this question, an overwhelming sense of lethargy strikes me out of nowhere. The status quo may not be perfect or even ideal, but I’ve gotten along well enough so far, I tell myself. May as well stay the course. “If it’s only somewhat broke, don’t fix it!” But honestly, this lethargy doesn’t strike out of nowhere. The lethargy comes from the unclean parts of me that want to be left well enough alone. I hear a voice within that sounds like mine, but I know deep down this voice is not the one I should listen to. The voice coaxes me back: back to bed, back to sleep, back away from the Holy One of God, whose gravity is always seeking to pull me to a closer orbit.

To this voice, Jesus says, “Be silent, and come out of him.” For me this voice belongs to pride and self-sufficiency and self-importance. Jesus calls the owner of this voice to leave me so that I can follow Jesus more closely. That’s mine. I wonder what your unclean voice is coaxing and coercing from you?

Perhaps, yours tells you that if you do just enough to get by, everything will work out. Your life might not be great, but your life will be easy, and that’s good, right? You don’t study for the test because you know you can scrape a C-minus, and that’s good enough. You don’t practice the piano piece because you can hit most of the notes most of the time, and that’s good enough. “Good enough, good enough” says the voice, which belongs to the indolent drifter within you, the slacker who’d rather just play video games all day. To this unclean spirit, Jesus says, “I never promised life would be easy, but I did promise life would be abundant, not just good enough. Be silent, and come out of him.”

Perhaps, your unclean voice tells you that working all those extra hours shows your dedication, and you never think to ask, “Dedication to what?” You stay late at the office most nights and the tonnage of missed dinners and little league games and ballet recitals piles up around you. You burned out a year ago, but you’re still plugging away because you’re no quitter. “You’re giving your family a better life, no matter if you’re not around,” says the voice, which belongs to the petrified consumer within you. To this unclean spirit, Jesus says, “Your relationships are more important than your money. Be silent, and come out of him.”

Perhaps, your unclean voice tells you that you are unattractive, unlovable, and doomed to a lonely existence; or that you should just shut yourself in your house so others won’t see that the years are taking their toll on your faculties; or that your challenges are too insignificant to ask others for help; or that others will laugh at whatever you say; or that whatever you do, nothing will be enough for God or anyone else to love you. To each and every one of these unclean spirits, Jesus says, “Be silent, and come out of him.”

These unclean spirits are familiar to us. They are comfortable, even though they demean and debase and shackle us. The overwhelming feeling of lethargy happens when they sense that we are moving nearer to Jesus Christ, when we are circling at a closer orbit. The unclean spirits feel the pull of his gravity, and they try to escape, to keep us for themselves. But they can never escape, because we were made not for them, but for God. And the Holy One of God has the authority, the mercy, and the grace to cleanse us.

When you give in to the unclean spirit within you, the enticing voice that speaks of lethargy or apathy or anger or fear, listen also for a second voice, the voice of Jesus Christ speaking from the depths of your soul. His is the voice of freedom from the filth that keeps us from living into the fullness that God desires for each of us. His is the voice filled with the gravity and authority of the Holy One of God. His is the voice that cries out: “Be silent, and come out of him.”