Rev. David Boyd

Scripture: Mark 1: 21-28

The title of the Lenten reflections books for this year is Why Would Jesus Say That?. It's a provocative title. (And by the way, we have these books in the office for sale.) The scenario of Jesus entering one of our churches and looking around is a scenario that is often mentioned when we come to think about who we are and how we are called to live. What WOULD Jesus say and why would he say that? What would Jesus do? In answer to these questions we have some clues in today's story from Mark's gospel. It is one that challenges our western, modern (or post-modern as you wish) ears and brains. We don't believe in demon possession, at least not in The Exorcist –Hollywood kind of poltergeist possession. We don't believe in other world, supernatural things invading our bodies or spirits.

But there is possession in our culture. Janet, Alanna and I got caught up in a Fifth Estate CBC program last Wednesday night in which four people became absolutely possessed by an interactive website called 2^nd Life, a virtual world of avatars in which real people become possessed by a fantasy world. We were possessed, you might say, by the horror of four people becoming addicted to this virtual world and ruining their lives in the process. My family struggles with being possessed by food; when we are upset or anxious, we eat. People can become possessed by alcohol, drugs, sex, the internet, games, adrenaline, and the list goes on.

In the story from Mark, we hear of a man possessed. Perhaps he was mentally ill, perhaps he was addicted to something; whatever the possession, the man had lost his way. And in the process, knowing what we know about 1^st Century illness, he'd lost his community, his family, his place in society, and he'd been marginalized and pushed out; that's what happened to people who were ill with what was thought to be a potential threat to the community. What kind of agony did he face? What kind of loneliness? What kind of struggle was his lot in life?

And the other person in this story—Jesus. We might also say that he was possessed — possessed by the Holy Spirit. This story comes early in Mark's Gospel; Jesus has just been baptized by John in the river Jordan. The spirit has descended upon Jesus and God has declared Jesus to be the Beloved. Jesus goes out into the desert for a time alone where his possession by the Spirit is further strengthened. Jesus then comes back into civilization and calls his first disciples, Simon, Andres, James and John. Full of the spirit, he then goes to the Synagogue in Capernaum to teach and there encounters the man with the unclean spirit. Jesus is possessed by the Spirit in a way that leads to healing and wholeness. The man is possessed by something that is not clean and that leads to death and destruction.

But Jesus has authority, the authority of the Spirit, and he heals the man. Or the Spirit, flowing through Jesus, heals the man. Or the man comes to his senses and realizes his possession of things unclean and wants to be whole. However it happens, the man is restored to health, to community, to family, and Jesus' authority as a healer is confirmed.

What happens in this healing, among other things, is that the man is restored. He is restored to his community, his family and his health. He is restored to what was before his illness. One of the things that Jesus confirmed in Judaism is that we are whole people, body, soul, mind and spirit. Our bodies are not just vessels for our souls but are an integral part of who we are. So, in his healing, Jesus confirms the sacredness of the man, that he, too, is full of the Spirit.

One of the interesting speakers at this year's Epiphany Explorations in Victoria was Rita Nakashima Brock. Her topic was Saving Paradise. She and a colleague have done some extensive research about the fact that until the 9^th Century, the concept of paradise was a "this-world" concept and had nothing to do with the after-life. Charlemagne, who was Roman Emperor in the 9^th Century co-opted the Christian message to sanction state violence, forced conversion to Christianity, holy wars, and crusades. From this point onwards in Western Christianity, there was shift from seeing paradise as this world to seeing paradise as the next world and that the only way to get into paradise was through the death of Jesus on the cross. Previously, in artistic Easter portrayals of Jesus, it was the vibrant, healthy new life of Jesus that was portrayed and a very positive image of creation. There were no portrayals of Jesus on the cross and Christians participated in Jesus' life not his death.

Nakashima Brock's thesis is long and complicated, but the shift in the 9^th Century to sacred violence and salvation through Jesus' death on the cross has led to environmental degradation, state sanctioned violence, a persistent image of the evils of the natural world and a denigration of other ways of spirituality and cultures. By shifting paradise to the after-life, Nakashima Brock points to the fact that we have lost a sense of the beauty of this world, this life, every life, and all life. Jesus' promise for healing and wholeness is a recovery of a state of well-being and an affirmation that this world is where paradise can be experienced.

I've been reading an historical novel called The Princes of Ireland and the first part of this novel described the Celtic Christian view of life. This Celtic Christian practice affirmed well that paradise is to be experienced in the here and now. That's good advice for us today for it meshes well with the new directions in the United Church and in many of our lives. We live that kind of affirmation, surrounded by the beauty of this place. But it also leads us to seek not just our own healing but the healing and mending of the world. We seek to be restored to the wonder of the beauty of the Garden of Eden, metaphorically speaking, where there is no want, no greed, where everyone has enough love, enough food to eat, enough shelter, enough to live the good life.

The man with the unclean spirit experienced this new Eden—or he was restored to Eden. Our world can recapture this vision of paradise and we can know the love and beauty of living life. We can end so-called holy wars, environmental degradation, unhealthy feelings of unworthiness and guilt, poverty, starvation, genocide when we let go of our possession and let the Spirit flow in and through us; when the Spirit flows, affirmation of this world and every life is the natural consequence and we are restored to the paradise that is this life.

Let me leave you with a poem by the Eco-theologian, Wendell Berry.

I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.
(Earth Prayers, p 44)