Demons in Church

I always find it fascinating, and a little frightening, that if I read the scriptures a little closer, deeper truths will jump out at me.  It’s frightening because I don’t read the scriptures very closely very often.  Too many times I set out to read what I think I already know and end up missing the very thing that Christ is trying to transition me to do.  Take for instance the freshly scrubbed disciples’ first foray into public ministry.  Thankfully, Jesus isn’t asking them to do much but watch.

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus when into the synagogue and began to teach.  The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  Just then a man in their synagogue who possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” 

“Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly, “Come out of him!”  The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this?  A new teaching – and with authority!  He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” 

Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think, that Jesus just waltzes into church, in some strange town and begins to teach.  The people seem pretty receptive – most of them anyway – they probably were tired of the pastor that they had; he’d probably been recycling sermons for quite a while, not done enough pastoral visiting.  Jesus words bring about amazement, awe from a congregation that was used to being talked at by preachers of the law.  Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?  Preachers of the law – that includes me, at times, when I recklessly pound the Bible as the way to transition to be a better person, or a better thinker.  But Jesus was not just a preacher of the law, but of the good news, the authority of the way that God was going to make it all right, and righteous, and it wouldn’t be with regards to following the law…

It was following the Christ.

But there is always one in the crowd.  Maybe more than one.  I sometimes wonder how many people in our Christian congregations worldwide who are possessed by evil spirits, those that cry out, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus?  Have you come to destroy us?’  What they are saying is, “What do you want with us, Jesus?  Have you come to destroy our traditions that we’ve meticulously tended for all these millennia? Have you come to destroy the idolatry of our worship where we worship the service rather than the God who has been invited?  Have you come to destroy our comfortable lives, our comfortable places of worship, our comfortable places of repose where we imagine that you are a God that simply loves to live on the fringes of life and one who doesn’t really want to capture us with his imagination of the kingdom of heaven right here and right now?  Have you come to destroy our castles made of sand?  We know who you are, but don’t destroy all this that we’ve built!”

It works on a very personal level also.  There are parts of me, perhaps parts of all of us at times, that catch a glimpse of the Holy One, or hear the Spirit speaking the deepest crevices of our souls and we gasp and hope that Jesus is not really speaking to us.  Somehow he overlooks the evil spirit that might not necessarily possessing me but it is certainly directing my thoughts.  Whether or not its claws sink deeply into the epidermis of my psyche is irrelevant; my thoughts are often directly influenced by that still loud voice that continues to say to me sweetly (not in the exorcist kind of demonic way) “This is your life.  What does God have to do with it anyway?  Has he not given you dominion over all things?  Why would he stop at the animals?  Why not you, also?”

All too often, I tap my foot and nod my head to the rhythm of the demonic voice, “You’re right!  Why would God put me on this earth if it not to enjoy myself?  And if I’m going to enjoy myself, I’m definitely going to make hay while the hay is worth making.  I’ll get to God when I’m good and ready.”

Jesus brushes this away with a swat of his hand as if both the demons sentence and my response are a gnat swirling in front of his face.  “Be quiet.”

But my brain won’t give up that easily and the war that goes on within me when Jesus requests my silence is anything but noiseless.  Screaming loudly in the midst of a crazy life, I want to tell Jesus that sacrifice is a thing of the past.  Giving things up for the sake of religion – that’s what weak people do, and I certainly do not want to appear weak.  With a shriek, my heart, soul, mind and strength scream out in agony…

I just want to be happy.  Nothing I hear about Jesus seems to bring happiness to anyone.  I don’t want to give up any of my freedom because if I rely on Jesus, I have to relinquish my hold on control.  In that way, I am like those who have to come to terms with a God that demands something, no, demands everything.  Yet, most Christians I know seem perfectly willing proclaim their reliance on God and yet live as if every day is independence Day.  Perhaps the body of the church is possessed by its very own demon.  Perhaps that demon is Self Interest. 

But from Jesus only six words are needed:  Be Quiet.  Come out of him. 

A transition to silence.  A transition to emptiness.  You gotta fill it with something.