Speaking to the Spirit

Mark 1:21-28
God’s preference for you is that you are a healed, whole, self-actualized human being---growing to your fullest potential, to the glory of God. After all, as Psalm 100 aptly says, “it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves”. So it is only natural that one who is created by a God who makes no mistakes, should be freed in their spirit to become all they can become, using their God-supplied tools and energies. When a person excels, when they are beautiful inside, when they live redemptive lives with a self-giving purpose, they are the very evidence of the love and compassion of God. When we are healed; when we are joyful; when we are selfless and compassionate; when we are tolerant and patient and respectful of others, we are in the truest sense, evangelists.
Too often our efforts at bringing people, or inviting people, to accept Christ are impaired because such invitations are too often extended by people who are themselves bound by some variation of the same unclean spirit that caused the man in our lesson today to yell out to Jesus in the synagogue.
We cease to be agents of the gospel, the good news, when we ourselves are bound by the demons of resentment, bigotry, and a compulsion to judge others; by lust, by addictions of various kinds, by class prejudice, color prejudice; by ignorance, anger, envy, low self-esteem, fear, impatience, you name it. And sometimes, we can be miraculously rid of one demon, but rather than having our spirit freed, we trade in one demon for another. And what is more toxic and self-righteous than a reformed, intolerant anything? (ex-smoker, ex-philanderer, ex-overeater…) There are few things more overbearing and off-putting than a person who has only recently seen the light.
It is the Lord’s will, not that we trade or substitute demons, but that we are rid of them, that we are totally, completely, thoroughly unbound! His aim is not to condemn us, but to call out of us the spirits that contaminate our lives--- to free us of our bad attitudes, our negative outlooks, our feelings of victimization, our need to dominate and control. His will is that our lives be redeemed and set free to serve others.
God’s love for you is immeasurable. His perennial focus is your rescue from the shadows, to bring you into his marvelous light. His hatred is for the spirit that keeps you from channeling his love and grace in the world. You are not the enemy of godliness; instead, the unclean passions that direct your conduct are God’s enemies. That is why Jesus speaks not to the man in the synagogue, but to the spirit that is within him. “Be quiet! (He says) Come out of him! And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”
By whatever name the unclean spirit goes, human beings are seldom without one or the other. They cause us to yield to the temptations of the world. They cause us to put ourselves first in all things. They cause us to fear acknowledging we are weak and in need of help.
But it really doesn’t matter what they are and how they manifest themselves, whether quietly or in open defiance, they need to come out, and the blood of Jesus is the vehicle for our purging. He can wrench them from us if we fall to his feet and avail ourselves of his mercy.