February 5, 2012       John A. Baldwin

This morning's Gospel gives us a glimpse into the healing ministry of Jesus. Not only does he heal Peter's mother-in-law and others in Capernaum, but Jesus also goes about casting out demons. Some have suggested that the term "casting out demons" is a quaint way of saying that Jesus healed people of their mental illnesses - schizophrenia, bipolarity and the like. Perhaps so. Jesus may well have been an early practitioner of psychiatric cleansing and healing.

On the other hand, all of the demons Jesus cast out may not have been quite so exotic as paranoia or obsessive-compulsive disorders. They may have been unclean spirits present and familiar to us in our own lives, yet nonetheless just as powerful and debilitating.

The Gospels portray Jesus as possessing an acute sense of discernment. He had an amazing ability to see into a person's heart & soul, and to know what's blocking their growth towards wholeness & maturity. Jesus knew the names of these demons - envy, fear, hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and the like. He called them forth by name, rebuking them & exorcizing them from people's lives.

Knowledge gives power. Evil flourishes in the dark, and withers in the bright light of the truth. This perhaps is what lies at the foundation of Jesus' casting out demons. Consider an "AHA" experience you may have had in life, when it became clear why you'd been acting the way you were. Effective counseling leads to many "aha" experiences and the opening to transformation in our lives. When the hurts and fears which trouble us are called by name, they become less powerful & menacing. When we become aware that our wounds are shared by others, they become more bearable and manageable.

Adult children of alcoholics, for example, have been known to say, "When others began describing their childhood experiences, it was truly amazing. They sounded just like mine. I had a new sense of awareness & understanding." When we are able to name our demons, they lose their power to control and cripple us.

Jesus was able to name and address unclean spirits with authority because he was as whole and healthy in mind, body and spirit as a human being can be. The unclean spirits knew that they were diseased when they encountered Jesus, and this is what gave Jesus power and authority over them.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like, if we were walking through a park & there was Jesus himself sitting on a bench, inviting us to join him in conversation? Would you expect it to be all warm fuzzies, or would something within our spirit feel mighty uncomfortable. Would Jesus look deep down inside us, recognize some unclean spirits, & call them forth.....spirits we've perhaps become too comfortable with, like excuses for our behavior, laziness, egotism or self-absorption. It's hard to maintain illusions of sweetness & light when we meet health & wholeness in its power & might, and know we have a long way to go.

During the summer before my final year of seminary, I entered a 10 week Clinical Pastoral Education program at Boston State Hospital where I served as chaplain in an acute schizophrenic ward. It gave me plenty of opportunities to see unclean spirits in action, and to reflect on how they might be affecting my own soul as well. The head chaplain for the program, the Rev. Joe Woodson, was a crusty Baptist minister who had a reputation (like Jesus) of being able to see into the souls of the ministers in training, past our defenses & pretensions, and nailing us in our weaknesses & vulnerabilities, so as to enable us to mature and grow strong in our abilities to be pastors in a hurting world.

Fortunately for me, Joe Woodson was retiring at the end of this summer. He was on autopilot, and I escaped his intense scrutiny. This made for a much more comfortable summer experience for me than I had anticipated. In later years, however, I've come to the conclusion that I was actually the poorer for it. Escaping his scrutiny meant my avoiding having to deal with the issues, wounds & liabilities which impeded my full effectiveness as a pastor & minister until later in time.

I have little doubt that Jesus could find traces of unclean spirits in every one of us were he to focus his scrutiny upon us. He certainly saw them in the Pharisees & Sadducees of his day, who though very pious & religious, were lacking in their compassion for the poor, the marginalized, and the “sinners” in their society. They resented Jesus deeply when he named their hypocrisy and self-righteousness.

Unclean spirits do not like being exposed at all. They react with anger, defensiveness and indignation. They are subtle and devious too, masters of the lie, and adept in distorting the truth. I think, for example, of that little demon who whispers to us, “Am I my brother's keeper?” who was surely present when the priest and the Levite stepped around the victim on the road to Jericho in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and who is present in all of us when we express little concern for the very poor or homeless.

I think of that little demon who was present in Jesus' parable about the Pharisee who stood up in the temple flushed with pride that he was not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers or like that miserable tax collector over there, and who is present in us whenever we look upon others with scorn or contempt.

When we read, mark, learn, reflect upon and inwardly digest the parables and teachings of Jesus, it seems clear that he is getting at all of the ways in which we allow demons, unclean spirits, fears and anxiety, selfishness and greed, to impede our growth towards health, wholeness and closeness to the heart of God. We make a huge mistake when we only see the flaws and impediments getting in the way of others, and don't discern them within ourselves.

Perhaps it may seem too scary for us to make honest, moral inventories of ourselves, but therein lies the only sure and certain path to spiritual health and wholeness. I believe we may draw deep courage to face and overcome our demons and unclean spirits in this scripture passage from the First Epistle of John: “God is love, and he (or she) who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. …..There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us.” (1Jn 4:16,18).