The Major Dude and the Demons: An Epiphany Homily

A Homily for the All Saints Saturday Apres Ski Series.

 

Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto.  Saturday, 3 February, 2024.

 

Text:  Mark 1: 22-28

 

 

So far in our Apres Ski meditations, we’ve focused on the major themes of the Epiphany season.  We began with Christ’s baptism and how it opens our way into adoption and new life with God.  We talked about the star that led the Magi and how the light of Christ leads us.     Last Saturday we talked about the Wedding at Cana and how the changing of water into wine not only establishes Jesus’ identity of power as the Son of God, but we also looked at how the abundance of excellent wine looks back to Isaiah who envisioned a day when God would  all his people together in feasting and joy.

 

Today I’d like us to think briefly about the first miracle that Jesus performs in Mark’s gospel, the healing of the man with the unclean spirit (Mk 1: 21-28), which we might call an exorcism.  It’s the first of many such episodes in Mark and in the synoptics, Matthew and Luke.   In John’s gospel, while there are healings of people with unclean spirits, but Jesus does have a lot to say about how he has come to oppose the demonic powers of the world.  When Jesus in John’s gospel says,   “Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out (Jn 12:31), he isn’t talking about Caesar.  Rather he is talking about the demonic order that opposes the rule and purposes of God.

 

As I’ve been thinking about this homily, there’s a lyric from of my favourite bands, Steely Dan, that’s been in my head.   

 

Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend

Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again

When the demon is at your door

In the morning it won't be there no more

Any major dude will tell you 

 

Our gospel reading from tonight and from last week (Epiphany 4) is about that Major Dude who banishes demons.

 

In our gospel reading, Mark’s account of Jesus’ first healing, the man says “"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” (Mk 1.24).  Who is speaking here?  Is it the man himself, or is it the unclean spirit?   I think we can say the latter for several reasons.   First, the voice uses the first person plural (“What have you to do with us?”) which reminds us of a later episode in Mark where a demon says to Jesus “My name is Legion, for we are many” (Mk 5.9).

 

Another reason to think that the voice here is a demon is that it knows who Jesus is, and it knows that Jesus is hostile to it:  “Have you come to destroy us?” Jesus isn’t having any of this conversation.  He silences the demon and drives it out of the man, and the process, with the convulsing and crying out, suggests the malignant influence that the demon has.

 

When the demon is at your door

In the morning it won't be there no more

Any major dude will tell you 

 

 

So is this a healing, or is this an exorcism?   Well, I would say that it’s both, but it’s certainly more than just a healing.  I think that’s important to note, because I’ve often heard it said that demonic possessions in the gospels are just just pre-scientific attempts to explain psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia.    Thus, Jesus’ healing looked to people at the time as if it was an exorcism but it was really just Jesus restoring people to mental health.  The danger here, I would say, is that we reduce Jesus’ purposes as being simply therapeutic, an ancient advocate for mental health and psychiatry.

 

I have two concerns about this way of thinking.   First, a miracle is still a miracle.   Jesus doesn’t treat the afflicted man as a client to be treated over many sessions.  He restores him to wholeness suddenly.   So why wish to diminish Jesus’ power by qualifying it.  Second, the psychiatric interpretation of these episodes ignores what is actually said by the spirits, specifically these words:  "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  

 

Those words “What have you to do with us” sound a bit like someone protecting their turf: “What are you doing here?  You’ve got no right to be here.”   That sort of thing.  But that’s exactly what Jesus’ mission is.   Fleming Rutledge, from whose wonderful book on Epiphany I’ve quoted before in this series, writes this about the first healing in Mark:

 

“The incarnate Son of God did not arrive in peaceful neutral territory, but in a world under occupation.  If Jesus’ identity is to be fully displayed, then his power has to be established”.    

 

When the demon is at your door

In the morning it won't be there no more

Any major dude will tell you 

 

 

Epiphany establishes the Son of God’s identity, power, and glory because his mission is to free us from the reign of sin, death, and the devil.     Understanding Jesus’ identity and mission does not mean that we have to buy into Hollywood stereotypes about the demonic such as the Exorcist films.    Perhaps it’s enough, as Rutledge says, to understand the demonic as “the rampaging adversary of God, the would be destroyer of all of God’s purposes”.   Anything that pulls away from wholeness and the image of God - racism, oppression, wars of conquest, genoicide, dictatorship, addiction, etc - could fit into this category.   It’s enough to know that Jesus has set his face implacably against these things, and that they will not survive when God’s kingdom is established.

 

Epiphany always brings us to light, the light that guides the Magi, the light that aged Simon recognizes, the light drives dark shadows away, guides our feet into the way of peace, and leads us to Christ the Lord of life.

 

When the demon is at your door

In the morning it won't be there no more

Any major dude will tell you.