Luke 4:16-19
Matthew 4:12-13
Mark 1:21-34
Jesus really bursts onto the scene with some intensity, doesn't he? Last week, we talked about the Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and what happened immediately after that. As Jesus is baptized, the heavens open up, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove, and God the Father declares Jesus his beloved Son – and then the Holy Spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness – into the desert – where Jesus fasts, and is tempted, and prepares himself for the work that's ahead of him.
Well, today's story is what happens next. Today, we read about the very beginning of Jesus's public ministry – what happened after he passed the wilderness test, when he returned from his time of fasting and preparation and temptation and began his public ministry, began the work that would make him famous – and that would eventually get him killed.
And how does it start? It starts with preaching and teaching. Each of the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – tells the story slightly differently, because each one is written from a different perspective, each author is trying to emphasize different things to make a slightly different point about who Jesus is, what he does, what he means for us. But, they generally agree that Jesus begins his public work by teaching. Our first reading this morning is the first of Jesus's sermons that Luke records – Jesus reading from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, in which God announces liberation and hope and uplift for the poor – God is promising to overthrow all that is unjust and bring about a new reign of justice. And, Jesus, for his sermon, basically points to himself and says "This is what's happening in me. This is what I'm doing. And it's going to be for everyone – not just the religious insiders, not just the people who are like us – but God is going to break down the barriers and welcome all people into my beloved community – into the Kingdom of God." And, of course, telling the religious insiders that they don't get special treatment, but that the outsiders and the rejected are going to be welcomed – well, that tends to upset the religious insiders, and so, almost as soon as his mission has started, he's upsetting people, there are folks who want to kill him.
But, even though he's upsetting people, he's also causing a stir, he's causing a commotion – and people love a good controversy, they love to see some drama, they hope to encounter something powerful, something deep, something that matters, and so people start showing up, chasing after Jesus, following him. Because, even though it upsets some people, it's also downright amazing – people are in awe of the power in his words, of the authority in his teaching.
And, so the crowds begin to gather. They come to hear this teacher, this man whose words contain a power that's hard to explain. And, then, it happens. As we read in our story from Mark, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue – impressing people yet again with his wisdom and insight and authority – and, in the midst of his sermon, he's interrupted by a man who we are told "has an unclean spirit."
Now, if we're honest, stories of Jesus battling against demons and evil spirits make us uncomfortable. We aren't comfortable with the idea of demon possession being part of everyday life. We prefer scientific explanations for our problems. And, let's be real, a lot of the things described in the Bible as caused by evil spirits – from blindness to the inability to speak to some conditions that seem a lot like epilepsy – well, we have good, solid, medical explanations for those things – we don't attribute them to demons anymore. But, it's important for us to remember that the Bible wasn't only written for us. The vast majority of people since the time of Jesus have had unscientific or prescientific understandings of the world. And, more to the point, the people who wrote the Bible – and the people with whom Jesus interacted – believed that the world is full of spirits – good and evil – who could significantly impact their lives. They looked around, and they saw spiritual forces at work everywhere. So, Jesus met those people where they were – he didn't sit them down and explain – well, actually, there's a very rational scientific explanation for this – because that wouldn't have made sense to them, because they didn't have the tools to understand that kind of talk. It is the height of modern arrogance to think that God should have interacted with people 2,000 years ago in a way that wouldn't have made sense to them, just so it could be less off-putting to us. God meets people where they are.
And, more importantly for our story today, God heals people where they are. Jesus, confronted with something that is not-as-it-should-be, confronted by a person who is broken, hurting, in bondage – Jesus does something about it. This man is described as being possessed by evil, and Jesus liberates him. Jesus takes his demons – whether they are literal demons, metaphorical demons, or whatever else, and drives them out. And, part of what this story is doing is reminding us that Jesus wants to drive out our demons too. There are many demons that we face, that haunt our world. Our age is full of unclean spirits – of evil forces that have spiritual power over us, that bend us to their will. Addictions – to alcohol, drugs, money, sex, power – get us in their grip and cause us harm. The unholy alliance of political and religious power that murdered Jesus is still around – it's changed forms, its membership has shifted, but it still hunts and haunts and harms our society today, it is an evil spirit on the loose in our world. White supremacy, xenophobia, fear, hatred, selfishness, the voices within us that tell us we aren't good enough, that we aren't loveable – all of these might be described as demonic forces, unclean spirits, that are on the loose in our world. And the Good News is that part of Jesus's mission, part of the work he has come to do, is to drive them out. Jesus wants to liberate us, to liberate our society, from these demons, and replace them with something holy – with the Kingdom of God.
That's the thing about stories of healing in the gospels – like the one we read in the second half of that story from Mark, where Jesus, with a crowd gathered around him, shows up at his new friend Peter's house, and heals Peter's sick mother-in-law. So often, in these stories of exorcisms or healings, we get caught up in questions that are focused on us. Maybe we get hung up because they are miraculous, and we don't believe in miracles. Or, maybe, with a healing, we wonder why it won't happen for us or for our loved ones. And that's a real struggle. So many of us wonder, we pray, for healing – we are fighting – or our loved ones are fighting – against disease, against death, and we want God to bring healing. And, sometimes, healing doesn't happen. And that hurts. It can leave us – leave our spirits – battered and bruised, as we cry out to God, begging for an answer, begging for our own miracle, asking why this happened to us, why this couldn't be taken away.
And those are important questions. They are questions that make sense, given what we know about Jesus. The Bible doesn't explain healings, it doesn't give us a formula for making them happen, it doesn't tell us why they happen to some people and not to others. But, what these stories of Jesus do show us is that God cares. God cares about our suffering. Jesus reveals the heart of God, and God's heart overflows with compassion for those who are suffering. The flame of God's love for humanity – and for individual human beings, for us – that flame of love burns bright. God loves us deeply. And, Jesus, these stories show us, Jesus shows up in the midst of our pain. Jesus enters into our brokenness. These stories, of healings, of exorcisms, they show us that Jesus is not afraid to enter into the places of sickness or stand in the midst of our darkest demons. I can't explain to you why some people are healed and some people aren't. But I can tell you, for sure, that Jesus is there when we are desperate, Jesus is holding out his hand to us when we are sick, Jesus loves us even when our demons overwhelm us – and wants to work with us to drive those demons away. When you are at your lowest point, Jesus is there too. You may not feel his presence – sometimes the other voices are too loud, sometimes we are just too broken – but these stories tell us that, from the beginning, from the start of his ministry, Jesus is there, in the midst of our hurt. No darkness can keep God's light away. No hatred can overpower God's love. No hurt is too broken for God to heal. At our lowest moments, we are never alone, because God, in Jesus Christ, is always with us. That's the essential truth that we are telling when we tell stories of Jesus healing people.
But, even that truth, as important as it is, kinda misses the point of these miracle stories, of these wonders Jesus works when he drives out demons and heals the sick. Because, the real point isn't about us, and it's not about the people who Jesus healed – the real point of these stories is Jesus, and what they tell us about him. Jesus has been sent to overcome the forces of evil, of death, of despair – and, in these stories, he does it. Jesus preaches a word of hope, and in these stories, he makes hope come alive. In other words, Jesus not only teaches us about the Kingdom of God, he embodies it. His very presence is God's Kingdom. He is God's love put into action. He is God's love in human flesh. He is God's heart as a human being.
The point of all this, all this faith stuff, isn't what we can get out of God – even when that stuff is real, and important, and life-giving, and transformational. The point is Jesus – Jesus brings Good News to people, and he embodies the news he brings. Even more, he is the Good News. The Good News is that God became one of us in order to save us – more than that, the Good News is that God is good. God is Love itself. God is life itself. Therefore, we can trust God, even when the world seems to be falling apart, even when things don't make sense, even when we feel broken and lost and overwhelmed – Jesus is God with us, and Jesus keeps showing up – God keeps showing up – in places of hurt, places of darkness, to light the fire of divine love, to cover us in life-giving grace.
So, what do we do with all of this? Well, take a look at Peter in this story. Peter knows his mother-in-law is sick, he knows she needs help, and he knows that he can't help her. So, what does he do? He brings her into proximity with Jesus, and he trusts Jesus to do the rest. In a sense, that's all we can ever do. We can't force someone to love God, we can't force someone to discover the beauty of a life lived in God's love. All we can do is put them in contact with Jesus, and trust Jesus to do the rest.
Or, take a look at Peter's mother-in-law. Once her life is touched by Jesus, how does she respond? Having been transformed by the touch of God's love, she goes out to share love with others – practicing hospitality, caring for people. That's the invitation God gives to all of us – once we step into God's presence, once we have been transformed by God's grace and love, we are invited to go forth and share that love – to help other people find their way into God's presence, to practice the justice Jesus pronounced, to lift up the poor and feed the hungry as Jesus declared he would do, to work to drive out the demons that plague our world, to care for the hurting and put the broken back together. Jesus comes to heal us, and then, as people who have been healed, we are invited to go out into the world and multiply that healing – to take the love we have received and share it with a world that is desperate for it.
But, again, the point of these stories isn't about us. The point of these stories is Jesus – the one who overcomes the forces of evil, the one who heals us, the one who holds us together when we are falling apart. When Jesus Christ heals the sick, he is showing us what God's Kingdom is, how it looks in our lives, how it will look in the end when God sets all things right. Jesus heals the sick because, in the end, there will be no more sickness and death. Jesus drives out the forces of evil because, in the end, evil will be defeated and good will triumph.
That's where the story of Jesus is going – to the ultimate victory, a victory that comes in his cross and resurrection. That's where our world is going – to a total transformation, in which light shines and love spreads and God is all in all. That's where we are going – to God's Kingdom, in which all shall be put right, in which Jesus Christ, our healer, our protector, our savior – the One who is love in the flesh – he is the Kingdom of God, he is our ultimate destination, he is where we are going. In the end, when we get there, Jesus Christ will heal every hurt, drive out every evil, wipe away every tear from our eye, and he shall be, love and life shall be, God shall be, all-in-all.