10/30/24

Henry David Thoreau, the American writer/philosopher, wrote, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

October is “spooky season,” and I love spooky season! When I was a little kid, I loved dressing up for Halloween. But more than that . . . I loved watching all the scary movies they would show on TV – not the gross, gory things they make now, but the classic, black and white movies where good clearly wins out at the end. Every Saturday night, my family would watch Shock Theater, get scared of things that go bump in the night (dad sneaking into the room with a sheet over his head didn’t help much) and then we’d go to church the next day to be reminded that Jesus won the victory over the powers behind the real spooky things! 

Probably the best gospel story for spooky season comes from Mark 5. Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee to a Gentile country (which Mark ominously calls “the other side”) and as he steps out of the boat, he is accosted by a man out with an unclean spirit. That’s a bunch of things wrong just in that first couple of verses! The country is unclean, the man is unclean, the spirit is unclean . . . a good, law-abiding Jew wouldn’t have anything to do with this man much less be in this unclean land to begin with! 

And listen to Mark’s description of the man: “He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones.”

Pretty spooky! I can see myself watching this on Shock Theater, late on a Saturday night, clutching my baseball bat for protection . . .  in the dark . . . in the night . . . 

When he sees Jesus, the man with the unclean spirit calls out: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” Which to me is really interesting because, although he knows Jesus' name, Jesus has to ask him his name! 

And the answer? “My name is Legion, for we are many.” This is REALLY  interesting Legion is not a Hebrew or Greek word. Legion is a Latin word for a 6,ooo man division of the Roman army. 

In this man, everything the Jews feared was gathered together. He represented everything the Jews feared – and hated. 

All these details in this carefully crafted story told by Mark show that Jesus is surrounded by places, people and influences that belong to the enemies of God’s people. You know the rest of the story; the demons beg Jesus to send them into the pigs and pigs drown themselves in the sea.

Which is exactly what the Jews wanted to happen to the Romans! They came by sea when they invaded Israel, and the Jews wanted to see the Roman pigs driven right back into the sea! 

However, Rome is not the real enemy, the “other side” is not the real enemy – the real enemy is Satan who is deceiving Israel into thinking that Rome is the real enemy so that Israel will not figure out what the real enemy is. Remember the Thoreau quote? The Jews, in their fear and hatred of the unclean and the Romans were just hacking at the branches of evil and not going for the root of evil. 

Jesus is going to what they thought of as enemy territory, taking on what the Jews thought of as the  enemy – but Jesus cuts through all the “thought of” and goes for the root of evil, the real Enemy.  

When doing research on this passage, it amazed me how many writers try to make this passage, and all the passages about demon possession,  to be about some sort of physical or mental illness. But that is really missing the point. Jesus is doing battle with the capital “E” enemy. The issue is not about physical nor mental illness nor self deception nor anything else. 

The issue is the Enemy.

And this is a war, a clash of kingdoms that began in the very beginning of the gospel, when Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. In Luke 11:20, Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees, “If I by the finger of God cast out demons, and then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” And every time Jesus cast out a demon, it was a sign that the Kingdom was breaking through, and that he was winning the war – a war that would come to its climax at the crucifixion. 

All throughout Jesus' ministry, by his goodness, Jesus lured evil out into the open: the shrieking demoniacs, the conspiring Herodians, the hypocritical Pharisees, the plotting chief priests, the brutality of Rome – even the betrayer among his own disciples. At the cross,  all this evil gathered together in one great wave that would crash over Jesus. But behind all this evil, there was just one enemy – one puppet master that was behind it all. 

And through his death and resurrection, Jesus defeated Satan! 

We live in a time of great anxiety. Every day there seems to be some new insanity, some fresh hell, that comes against us. And speaking of spooky season . . . we have an election next week! For some, that’s very frightening! And on top of that is the usual fears of things like sickness and death . . . and what greater fear is there than the fear of death? 

We’ve no reason to fear nor to be anxious! Jesus didn’t come to just hack at the branches of evil, but to strike at the root of evil! “Do not fear,” God tells his people in Isaiah 43, “you are mine.” “Do not be afraid,” Jesus tells his disciples in John 16,  “I have conquered the world!” And in John 14, Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  

That’s a good message for any season, spooky or otherwise! 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry