When most of us think of exorcisms, we think of the 1973 movie, The Exorcist. In that movie a 16 year-old girl made strange sounds, flailed her arms, levitated above the bed, her eyes
bulging, and all the while nurses and doctors were trying to strap her to the bed. That
certainly was a Hollywood version of an exorcism. Since
Medieval times there have been exorcists in the Roman Catholic Church. But today
most Roman Catholic Priests have discounted the medieval ritual as more superstition than religion. And even when in 1991 the TV program 20/20 filmed an exorcism—the results of that exorcism, caused
the TV producer to remark, “I did see compassionate people trying to help...but they were desperate to believe.”
However,
in the ancient world, many illnesses, as well as emotional disorders were considered demon possession. Therefore, exorcists
were in high demand. Early Christians practiced exorcism by appealing to Jesus’
authority. They also were in completion with non-Christian Jewish exorcists.
For example, there is a story in Acts 19 of the Apostle Paul exorcising demons.
In their superstition, the people believed that even a handkerchief or apron
that touched Paul’s skin would cure illnesses and drive out demons. There
then is an almost comical scene in which some non-Christian Jews, the seven sons of “Sceva,” tried to perform
an exorcism on a disturbed man. When they tried to cast out the demon, the demon
spoke back to them saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” The
possessed man then jumped on them, tore off their clothes and beat them, and they fled in terror from the house.
In today’s
story from Mark…John, one of the inner circle of disciples, came to Jesus with a concern. The disciples had witnessed a stranger, not a member of the 12 disciples, casting out demons in Jesus’
name. The exorcist obviously had seen Jesus or one of the apostles casting out
demons, and he simply copied their methodology.
The
disciples sought to make him stop healing people, not because he wasn’t successful, but because he was not a part of
their group of disciples. They felt that they were the only ones who should be
able to cast out demons through Jesus’ power. Despite their trying to stop
him from performing these exorcisms, the man continued his ministry of healing. Jesus
however told them to leave the man alone, and to stop trying to prevent him from healing persons. He said that any one that was using his name in healing persons would not soon be criticizing his ministry.
As we
try to understand this story, let us begin by trying to understand what was going on with these disciples. We do know that they were feeling great stress in their lives. Only
shortly before, Jesus had told them that he was going to be arrested, and killed. With
that announcement, their whole world had seemed to come apart. They immediately
were thrust into grief for Jesus’ forthcoming death, as well as fear for their own lives. One day they had been catching fish for a living or being a small-time toll-booth tax collector, and the
next they had been caught up in the crowds always pressing in upon Jesus, the criticism by the religious leaders, and the
danger that always seemed to be lurking. And then they had learned that Jesus
was going to be killed. It was too much for them!
They
therefore began arguing among themselves in jockeying for their place in the pecking order. When
Jesus picked up on what they were doing, he stood their pecking order on its head and told them that the first must be willing
to be the servant of all—a new way of establishing importance. But in their stress, they ignored what he was telling
them.
Therefore,
when they saw this non-disciple casting out demons—they immediately tried unsuccessfully to stop him. But when he did
not do so, they ran to Jesus and asked him to make the exorcist stop. Their control needs were extremely high.
We know
also that Jesus too had been affected by the crowds and the criticism. Time and
time again he told his disciples to stop calling him the Messiah, or promoting his ministry. He
found that he had to escape from the crowd and find time with just the 12 disciples. He,
therefore, was also feeling stress in his life.
But
even under such stress, Jesus did not regress into an “insider-outsider” thought pattern. He refused to allow his disciples to circle the wagons—to erect a defining line between insiders and
outsiders. He therefore told his disciples “Do not stop him; for no one
who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.” Simply put, Jesus was not about
defining people as insiders or outsiders. Rather, Jesus’ ministry was about
hospitality—he sought to be engaged with those who were seeking to be positive forces for good in society. For evil needed to be confronted wherever it existed in peoples’ lives.
In refusing
to define people as insiders and outsiders, Jesus sought out those persons that were considered outsiders in that society—lepers,
people will illnesses, those considered demon possessed, prostitutes, tax collectors, and even Gentiles. These were the very people that would not be welcomed into the synagogues, and who were excluded from the
Temple
in Jerusalem. He reached out to the unacceptable and accepted them into fellowship. Instead
of allowing his disciples to draw a circle defining insiders and outsiders, Jesus knew that his disciples could learn from
this exorcist, this outsider—they could learn ways to define their own ministries in Jesus’ name.
Moreover,
whenever the exorcist used Jesus’ name in his acts of healing, in his using Jesus’ name the exorcist himself was
being transformed. For in his using Jesus’ name, he was being drawn into the circle of disciples. It is worth noting
that Mark is the only gospel in which the story of the exorcist is told. Perhaps the writer of Mark included this story in
his gospel, because his congregation was attempting to draw circles in determining who the insiders were and who the outsiders
were. The Bible doesn’t say, but just perhaps, some of the members of that
congregation even had come to know, that in time, the exorcist had become a disciple.
To quote Edwin Markham: “He drew a circle and shut me out; rebel, heretic, thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win, we drew the circle and took him in.
Perhaps
when a congregation begins the process of planning for the future, it is somewhat like that mosquito that Douglas Fairbanks,
Jr. once spoke of, when he said, “I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony. I
look around and I know that it’s wonderful to be here, but I don’t know where to begin.” In order not to
be like that mosquito, perhaps one place to begin is where we are at this point in our ministry.
For the past two years this congregation has been in a partnership with our Presbytery,
Synod and our General Assembly in the planting of a campus ministry at Mountain State University. The presbytery, synod and General Assembly are giving
us a total grant of $119,000 over seven years to be used as seed money in developing a campus ministry at Mountain State University. And toward the development of that ministry, you have
called Janice as your Associate Pastor. Under her leadership, we have the opportunity
to establish a new model for campus ministry that can be used in other places for other future congregational campus ministries.
Like that mosquito we have a wonderful opportunity in our very neighborhood—in
fact, just down the street.
At the
same time, during next year the YMCA early childcare program will be moving to a new building at the YMCA. We then will have a large space in our educational building that currently is being used for the early childcare
program. We will have the opportunity to use that space in support of other ministries
within the community. Could that space somehow be useable in developing our ministry
to the university community? And can we be in a partnership with other groups
within this community in furthering that ministry? Like that mosquito, there
are wonderful opportunities all around us. Yet like that mosquito, we sometimes
wonder just where do we begin?
As a
part of that discernment process, perhaps we can begin a dialogue with some of the students and faculty at Mountain State University. What if we asked them, how we can help to meet some
of their needs? How might that conversation develop? What insights might we gain from that dialogue with the students and faculty? How would that impact our future ministry as a congregation? Yes,
like that mosquito, we have a wonderful opportunity before us!
