And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the
synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his
teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the
scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with
an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “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.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out
of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out
with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so
that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching
with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” Mark
1:21-27
“…there are other worlds than these,” from the
Stephen King novel The Gunslinger.
The second quote is an unusual way to start a
devotional, but it says much in light of today’s passage. In truth, there is
another world existing within the one we see every day. The Bible speaks of it
often. Jesus Himself must deal with its “residents” often in His ministry. The
Gospels tells of Him casting out spirits from people who seem to be insane or
very ill. Sometimes, there is a conversation. The spirits ask Jesus what He
wants from them, beg Him to leave them alone. In one case they ask permission
to enter a herd of pigs (Mathew 8:28-34). These “unclean spirits” know who
Jesus is, and are afraid of Him.
Jesus never shows fear, only authority. He says
“be gone” and they are gone.
In our world, we devour movies and books that
aim to frighten, like self-contained amusement park rides. Demons, another name
for the spirits of the passage, are portrayed as all-powerful entities,
monsters devouring the innocent and unstoppable forces of evil. They are evil,
thriving on hate, the antithesis of God who is the epitome of love, but they
are not all-powerful. They have no power over Jesus, whose Spirit and Word
drives then away, cowering in fear. Should we, as “mere mortals,” be afraid of
such forces? Not if we have Jesus’ Spirit in us. Like the Israelites in the Old
Testament, we are God’s chosen. There is a force, an army if you will, trying
to bring us down and destroy our relationship with God. To win any battle we
must know our enemy. Pretending it doesn’t exist is akin to living in fear.
Many Christians are not comfortable with this
aspect of our faith. We believe in God, in His love and grace, have given our
lives to Jesus and rejoice in our relationship with Him; but we must remember
there is an Adversary who wants to keep us from the life our Father desires for
us. This enemy fears and, yes, hates God. Unlike characters in books or movies,
we should not fear them but stand upright in confidence that the name of Jesus,
spoken confidently with the power it represents, is enough to cast these demons
away. Against the name of Jesus, they have no power over us.
Be strong in faith, and do not fear the world we
do not see. Jesus conquered it with his death and resurrection, and we share
that victory every moment of our lives. We have won, because He has won.
Pray
Father, thank you for defeating death and the evil influences hiding in the
world. Give us courage and strength to stand against evil in Your holy name.
Amen.
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