Men Who Fear Demons See Demons Everywhere

The title of this blog post comes from the character Brom, the mentor (the Obi-Wan!) from the popular book, Eragaon.  I chose it because it was selected as a quote "For Further Reflection" in a UCC.org contemplation over the focus scripture for Sunday.

And I can immediately see why.  It immediately reminds me of the religious authorities who have been observing Jesus doing what Jesus does:  healing folk and kicking demon butt.  (No wonder I always enjoy playing the cleric.)  And they come to the conclusion that the power that Jesus has over demons must be...

...demonic.

"Men who fear demons see demons everywhere."

I try very hard not be judgmental.  After all, Jesus rightfully points out that the act of judging invites being judged yourself.  But wow, Jesus sounds pretty judgmental himself in this story, doesn't he?

This is maybe one of the most human moments in the story of Jesus.  And in all honesty, I find a lot of comfort in that.  Jesus has been walking long miles and working long, exhausting days.  His fame has spread.  He is beset on every side by people needing his help and he is too good to say "Not right now, come back tomorrow when we're open."  He's too good to say "I'm sorry, it's the Sabbath.  I'm sorry, you're unclean.  I'm sorry, I shouldn't."  And so he is also beset by rulers and authorities who are afraid of the chaos that follows Jesus wherever he goes.

The poor man doesn't even have time to sit down and eat.  Have you ever had a day like that?  I know I have.  Are you at the top of your game on those days?  Or do you get a little...  cranky?  I know I do.  The fact that Jesus was human as well as divine--the very idea that maybe on a day like that he might have gotten a little cranky, too.  Well, maybe I can forgive myself for that failing every once in a while.

There's so much going on in this passage.  It's so chaotic that it's hard to parse out.  Jesus is cranky, yes, but he's still making a point that we need to hear, if we can just listen.

So what does Jesus say?  My power is not demonic.  It just doesn't even begin to make sense that the good things I do come from an evil place.  Everyone will be forgiven the blasphemies they utter--except for those spoken agains the Holy Spirit.  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

What do all these things have to do with each other?  Is there a common theme in all this chaos?  I think maybe yes.  I think it's all a question of drawing lines, and drawing them in the right places.

The truth is that we were all made in the image of God, inherently good, but capable of going astray.  One of the ways I witness this truth in humanity is that nobody sets out to be evil.  The most believable villains in storytelling are the ones who honestly believe that they're doing the right thing.  It's all a matter of drawing lines and drawing them in the right places.

As a geek, this process of drawing lines makes me think of the Harry Potter series.  So much of that story was about trying to figure out when to follow the rules and when not to, what makes an act good and what makes it evil, what makes a person a hero or a villain, who you should associate with and why...

These are the same issues that the religious authorities I mentioned early were struggling with.  And the answer they seemed to come to is that you always follow the rules.  A good act is a lawful act.  A good person is one who always follows the rules.  A villain is a rule-breaker.

Lawful Evil

The opposite of Law is Chaos.  Chaos is the enemy.  Dungeons & Dragons actually has a great concept that'll help here.  They used to describe a character based on two axis.  One from Law to Chaos and one from Good to Evil.  What I'm trying to point out is that the struggle against chaos and the struggle against evil are not the same thing.  You can get so focused on suppressing chaos that you lose track of being good.  There's such a thing as Lawful Evil.  And it looks like Deloris Umbridge.

Or maybe Caiaphas.

Jesus is redrawing the line, drawing attention to the other axis, uplifting doing good as more important than suppressing chaos.  When he says that blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is the only unforgivable blaspheme, it's like saying that the only unforgivable sin is the rejection of forgiveness.  It feels really obvious when you put it that way, and I think that's what Jesus was trying to accomplish.  These good things I'm doing can't be evil because they're clearly good.  And the only true evil is intentionally confusing the two.

And of course the question, "Who is my family?" will always make me think of Harry.  We don't know what became of Joseph by this point in Jesus's life.  Only his mother and his siblings are mentioned here.  We also don't get to know if they ever actually get in to see Jesus.  I suspect the answer is "yes."  Jesus clearly loved and respected his family.  Mary is the recipient of one of the Seven Words from the Cross.  And his brother James would continue Jesus's work on behalf of the poor with such devotion that he became known as James the Just.  So when Jesus says, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother," is not a rejection of his family, but rather a broadening of it.

The family you build.

It's like Harry obsessing over discovering who Lily and James Potter were even as he formed his own family, Ron and Hermione, Ginny, the Weasley family, Sirius Black, Dumbledore...   There's the family you're born with and the family you build.

I think maybe we can all identify with that, right?

But what Jesus is doing here--and Jesus is want to do--is a little more extreme.  And it is something every church should be challenged by as it draws its lines.  The lines that dictate who is "in" and who is "out" of the house, so to speak.  Because if we're honest with ourselves, in many cases, "church family" ends up being code for "impossible for new people to belong."

But what Jesus says it that everyone who does the will of God is family.  Everyone.

How do we know if our neighbor is doing the will of God?

Come on now.  I think if you search your heart, you can tell.  You know instinctually when the Spirit of Truth and Light and Forgiveness is at work in a person.  You can tell when the Spirit that scatters rows of ducks and turns your expectations upside-down is at work.

Because good things happen.

Be good to each other,

Rev. Josh

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Lectionary texts


Genesis 3:8-15

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." The Lord God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this,
   cursed are you among all animals
   and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
   and dust you shall eat
   all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
   and you will strike his heel."

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
   O God, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive
   to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O God, should mark iniquities,
   who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,
   so that you may be revered.

I wait for God, my soul waits,
   and in God's word I hope;

my soul waits for God
   more than those who watch for the morning,
   more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in God!
   For with God there is steadfast love,

With God is great power to redeem.
   It is God who will redeem Israel
      from all its iniquities.

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture — "I believed, and so I spoke" — we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Mark 3:20-35

And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

"Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" — for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

Since I Look Like A Demon...

The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is one of those passages that it simultaneously very simple and very, very complicated.  Basically, it goes something like this:  One Sabbath, near the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, Jesus went into a synagogue and began to preach.  And everyone was amazed at the authority with which Jesus preached.  Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "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."  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"  And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.  This only served to make the people even more amazed at Jesus’s authority--he can even command spirits!--and the news of what he had done spread all over the countryside like gossip through a middle school cafeteria.

It terms of the plot, it’s pretty simple, right?  But there’s one element that complicates matters for the post-modern reader.

And that one element is…  Demons.

Already it is happening—with the invocation of that single word, each and every one of you has experienced a different set of images, thoughts, and emotions.  Some of you are probably remembering the disturbing imagery of any number of popular movies and even television, from The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.  Perhaps some of you disapprove of such dark musings, believing that such entertainment indirectly or unintentionally worships Satan.  And I imagine that some of you do not believe in Satan, or demons, at least not literally—humanity is capable of enough evil on its own and the real demonic forces are societal and personal and very human.

On the other hand, I once heard someone say that only rich white folk can afford to not believe in the devil.

There’s always another hand with which to say, “On the other hand…” isn’t there?

I have heard stories of addiction referred to as a battle with personal demons.  I have heard stories of struggle with mental illness in which the concept of demons seemed to be very literal.  Others see this Gospel lesson as demonizing what is simply an illness.

Actually, the idea of demonizing--presenting something or someone as purely evil or diabolic--is something geeks could teach a thing or two about.

For example, this concept always reminds me of one of the X-Men.  His name is Kurt Wagner, but he is known as Nightcrawler.   Kurt is covered in dark, blue fur, he has glowing eyes, his hands and feet have too few digits, he has a barbed, prehensile tail, and he has the power to disappear in a puff of smoke that smells of brimstone.  He looks like a demon, and yet not only is he one of the good guys, but he is also a devout Roman Catholic who was in training for the priesthood.  Can you imagine being Kurt Wagner, a truly good person who is unable to go out in public because the people, in their fear, might seek to harm you?

I’m still not sure what to say about the impudent little demon from the Gospel lesson.  But I once had a really interesting conversation with a group of clergy about how they would preach over the passage.  One pastor immediately described this passage as presenting itself as silly to the modern reader and concluded that the only way to make any kind of connection for you would be for me to share at least one of my personal demons with you all.  The next pastor said that I should be very careful of that kind of sharing and that he himself would not share any of his personal demons from the pulpit.  A third pastor said that this would be a great chance to say a prophetic word and name the demons of the church.  And a fourth pastor said that we should be very careful about naming the church’s demons, as she had heard a horrible story about a pastor naming something that turned out not to be true at all.

All this talk of naming or not naming demons reminds me of Harry Potter.  The arch-villain of the story is an evil wizard of unimaginable power who calls himself Lord Voldemort.  Most of the wizarding community refuses to call him by name out of fear that doing so might somehow invoke his evil presence.  He is instead called You-Know-Who, He Who Must Not Be Named, and The Dark Lord.

If Arthur has Merlin, and Luke Skywalker has Obi-Wan Kenobi, then Harry Potter has Albus Dumbledore.  And at the end of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry almost slips and says the name “Voldemort” in the presence of Dumbledore.  When he catches himself and says “You-Know-Who,” instead Dumbledore says, "Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."  Dumbledore’s advice is wise, for needlessly increasing your fear of something is to give it power that it would not normally have.

In fact, no matter how you define what a demon, or a demonic force, is, we can learn from Dumbledore’s advice here.  We have to be careful not to give the demonic power that it does not have on its own.  And so I want to let you in on a little secret.

Sunday’s Gospel lesson is not about the demon.

Even the demon acknowledges that it is not the star of the story.  This Gospel lesson is about Jesus.  Jesus is the one with the power in this story.  Jesus is the one with the authority.  When Jesus teaches, he teaches as one who has authority.  And whether you believe in a literal demon who speaks, saying, “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.” or if you believe that the demon is a metaphor for the societal ills that Jesus continually preached against, or if your beliefs fall somewhere between the two—when Jesus interacts with the demon, Jesus is the one with the power.  Jesus is the one who speaks with authority.

It really is just that simple.

Be good to each other,
RevJosh
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The scripture lessons for January 25th—The 4th Sunday After Epiphany—are:


Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: "If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die." Then the Lord replied to me: "They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak — that prophet shall die."

Psalm 111

Praise God! I will give thanks to God
  with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright,
  in the congregation.

Great are the works of God,
  studied by all who delight in them.

Full of honor and majesty is God's work,
  and God's righteousness endures forever.

God has gained renown by wonderful deeds;
  God is gracious and merciful.

God provides food for those who fear God;
  God is ever mindful of God's covenant.

God has shown God's people
  the power of God's works,
in giving them the heritage
  of the nations.

The works of God's hands
  are faithful and just;
all God's precepts are trustworthy.

They are established forever and ever,
  to be performed with faithfulness
  and uprightness.

God sent redemption to God's people;
  God has commanded God's covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is God's name.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom;
  all those who practice it have a good understanding.
God's praise endures forever.

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.

Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "no idol in the world really exists," and that "there is no God but one." Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as in fact there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. "Food will not bring us close to God." We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

Mark 1:21-28

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "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." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching — with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Simply A True Myth

In an earlier post I talked a little bit about a reoccurring theme that pops up in many hero journeys—the idea that an ordinary or even unvalued character turns out to be the most important person in the story.  I talked about how it's a great place for everyone who's ever known rejection to relate to the hero and feel some of that same importance for themselves.  And let's face it, who among us has never known rejection?  Who doesn't want to be the Chosen One every once in a while?

Harry Potter living with the Dursleys.  Scrawny young Arthur as a Page known as "Wart."  Garian hidden away on Faldor's farm and raised by "Aunt Pol."  Luke Skywalker growing up on a moisture farm on Tatooine—I mean really, that's as close to an actual dirt farmer as you can get, right?

There's something that kind of rings hollow about the geek version of that theme, though.  The idea is that maybe the little ol' ostracized geek is actually vitally important because Harry was abused and look at him, he's the Chosen One!  But when push comes to shove, most of us aren't actually holding our breath for an owl to deliver our invitation into the wider wizarding world.  (Those of us who are actually so mentally ill and delusional as to have lost our grip on reality are actually very few and far-between—but that's a post for another day, perhaps.)


What I'm trying to say is that if this aspect of the hero journey is all that we have to lift ourselves up, we're in trouble.  Yes, it's awesome to watch Harry go from the Boy Who Lived Under the Stairs to the most important wizard in the world.  But it doesn't mean that I'm important.

Unless it turns out that I'm actually a powerful wizard.



Nope.

But check this out:  Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved to read.  In fact, he may very well grown up to be the most well-read man in human history.  He placed a great deal of value in mythology--in hero journeys.  And then, one day, a couple of friends took him on a long walk and convinced him that Christianity is the world's most important myth because it actually happened.

And that's how C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity.

The point I'm trying to make is that when I read the scripture and see that God sends an angel to the epitome of normal and unimportant—a young lady named Mary—it's actually very important.  Not just to the story, but to humanity.

You see, God could surely have saved humanity from on high, and all on God's own.  But God chose to involve Mary.  God chose to become human in the person of Jesus.

God chose to involve us in our own salvation.

And that doesn't just mean Jesus.  It doesn't just mean Mary.  It means that we all can and should be involved.

What I'm trying to say is that every one of us—even little ol' ostracized geeks—really are important.  We can't just sit around and wait for God to save us.  Apparently God doesn't save us without our own involvement.

Everything we do is important.  Because every choice we make either makes the world a little bit better, or a little bit worse.

It really is just that simple.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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The scripture lessons for December 21st—The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B—are:
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16—Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26—Romans 16:25-27—Luke 1:26-38

But I am the Chosen One!

In an earlier post a made a quick reference to Harry Potter, "...that kid forced to live in the closet under the stairs by his wicked aunt and uncle after the horrific murder of his parents who turns out to be The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One..." and made an even quicker reference to something that is at the heart of what it is to be a geek—namely being ostracized and rejected.  I think maybe that's one of the appeals of one of the stereotypical hero journeys, the kind where the little guy, the underdog, the powerless one forced to the margins of society turns out to be the one who's actually important.  In other words, we geeks can instantly relate to Harry being whaled on by Dudley Dursley and we all—well, I was going to say we all secretly wish for an owl to deliver us an invitation attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but I think most of us are actually out in the open on that one.  That's the other piece of being a geek—openly loving things that might get us pushed to the margins ourselves.

Jesus tells a story about the end of days, when we shall all be judged and separated out into two groups—the in crowd and the outsiders.  Only he used the metaphor of sheep and goats.  Of course, that's probably because he was talking to people in First Century Palestine.  But you get the point.  They guy in charge, a character Jesus calls "The Son of Man" comes to earth and separates us all out into two groups.  One group will be "in" and the other "out."  So the most important part of the story is learning what the measuring stick is that will decide whether you're in or out.

And in the story, the measuring stick is how the people treated the Son of Man during their lives.  The people who fed the Son of Man when he was hungry, gave him something to drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was naked, took care of him when he was sick, and visited him in prison get to be part of the in crowd.  Everyone who refused to do those things is tossed out in the cold and dark.

Which all makes sense.  Except that both the "in" folk and the "out" folk are thoroughly confused.  "When did we do that?"  So the Son of Man explains, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Do you see what Jesus is doing there?  He's taking the marginalized people—the little guy, the underdog, the powerless ones—and he's saying that they are the most important!  It feels pretty good, doesn't it?  After all, who doesn't like Harry Potter?  Who doesn't want to be the Chosen One?

But here's the thing:  as is frequently the case, this story carries both hope and a challenge.  It's pretty easy to see the challenge that this story has for the privileged upper classes who's mantra of "I worked hard for this!" not only keeps them from feeding the hungry and taking care of the sick but also subtly implies that the sick and the hungry simply aren't working hard enough.  But there's a challenge here for the marginalized—and yes, I'm looking at us, fellow geeks.

You see, in my experience groups of marginalized people have a tendency to get hyper-focused on their own oppression.  The gay and lesbian community sometimes gets so caught up in their own struggles that they fail to support the struggles of trans folk—let alone other kinds of genderqueer people, for example.  Some furry communities get so marginalized that they become completely xenophobic, for another.

So the challenge for geeks (and the queer community and furries and whomever) in this story from Jesus is to recognize the Son of Man in each other, not just their own people.

What it comes down to is simply what I tell you every week.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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The scripture lessons for November 23rd—Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A—are:
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24—Psalm 100—Ephesians 1:15-23—Matthew 25:31-46

For another blog entry that relates well to Matthew 25:31-46, click here!