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Demons, Disease, Self-determination, and Jesus

Mark 1:29-45

Throughout my five years at LAC, I have often made the point that Jesus did not come to this world to ruin our lives but to give us life.  I’ve said, “Jesus did not give his life to destroy ours!” Jesus declared in John 10, “I have come that you may have life – life to the full (Jn 10:10)!”  Jesus’ promise is directly tied in to the beautiful Hebrew notion of shalom.  We often think of “shalom” only as “peace” but shalom is much more than the absence of conflict.  Shalom speaks of how our Creator intended life to be lived.  We have shalom when our lives are like Adam and Eve’s were in Genesis 2 – when God dwelled with them.  We experience shalom when our lives are in right relationship to God, to self, to others, and to all creation.  A life of shalom is a life that flourishes.  It’s what all people long for, isn’t it? 

     The absolutely essential thing for a shalom-filled life is, according to Jesus,  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mk 12:30).”  God must be first.  If we will flourish, we must all start with the 1^st Commandment, i.e., nothing can be put in God’s place.  When God reigns in our lives, we flourish -- according to the Bible.

     What the Lord has put on my heart all week is the flip side of that teaching, i.e., that when we allow anything else to rule our lives, we will not flourish.  Those other “anythings” may promise so much but they cannot deliver on their promises.   Tim Keller says, “Sin hinders human flourishing.”  As we come to Mark 1:21-45, we are going to see stories teaching us how that is true as Jesus encountered a lot of people whose lives were not filled with shalom.  Most of the people we see in this passage were not flourishing because of the kinds of wrongs that are in this imperfect world.  The two main problems Jesus will encounter are disease and demons.  But, we will also be forced to see how the problem is not just out in the world but also in our hearts.  And, we will end the message learning from how Jesus lived a life of shalom in the face of busy-ness, non-stop demands, demons and disease.

The Stories -- Three Problems Hindering Shalom (demons, disease and self-determination):

     The stories show us 3 hindrances to flourishing that we often categorize as the devil, world and flesh:

Problem 1: The demons of this world (1:21-28, 39)

     We have a specific case of the damage demonic power can do in vv. 21-28 and then we have demonic activity mentioned in general both in vv. 32-34 and in v. 39.  Most of us in the USA have problem even talking about this problem.  So let me allow Mark to give us an introductory primer on demons:

• They are not mere evil forces – not like the dark side in the Star Wars epic.  Demons are personal beings.  They speak, they shriek, they try to battle against Jesus’ authority and… they know who Jesus is (v. 24).  So:  we learn that a person can know who Jesus is without being a follower of Jesus.
• They are impure (or “unclean”) – This word was not saying they were grimy but that that they did not belong in a place where God is ruling.  When something was called unclean, it could not enter into the house of God.  What the Bible is saying is that these spirits do not belong in a world in which the kingdom of God is at work.  It’s clear that when God’s kingdom comes fully, unclean spirits will not be present at all!
• They like to attach themselves to good parts of God’s creation – I don’t understand fully why this is so but it is.  In Mark 5, a legion of demons are cast out of a man but they desperately want to destroy another part of God’s creation, i.e., the pigs.  “Why?” people have always asked.  At least a part of the answer is that unclean spirits want to make clean parts of God’s creation unclean.  When they victimized people people, they wanted to keep people out of the presence of God and out of the beauty of community.  They want to destroy the shalom for which God made us.
• They have no authority over Jesus – Jesus speaks, “Be quiet!  Come out of him!”  The demons tried to resist but they had to obey.  The lesson for us is this:  When Jesus is the Lord and we fear displeasing him, then there is nothing in this world to fear – even demons.

     So, that’s the first enemy in this world to human flourishing.  One thing is for sure:  when people are being oppressed by demons, they are not experiencing shalom.

Problem #2:  Disease (1:29-34, 40-45)

     We meet two people in this text who are facing another debilitating problem in our world, i.e., disease.  The first is Peter’s mother-in-law.  She was a woman who loved to serve – to have her life be a blessing to those around her.  This, of course, is a Jesus-like quality.  Jesus said specifically in Mark 10:45 that “he had come to this world not to be served but to serve.”  All followers of Jesus will become people who serve.  This is obviously a life of shalom.  When we know that our lives have been used to help someone else, we are more fully alive ourselves.

     But, this woman could not do what she longed to do.  Disease kept her from flourishing.  Let me be clear:  Sometimes it’s hard for us to sort out which human problems are caused by evil forces and which are caused by disease – but they are two different problems.  And, Mark’s gospel gives us a primer about disease:

• Disease was not a part of this world when God created it and declared everything to be good.  So, disease entered this world when sin entered this world and began messing everything up. 
• Disease is not always caused by one’s own sin.  Many people in Jesus’s day thought that all disease was caused either by a person’s sin or his parents.  Sometimes this is true.  Even here in Pasadena, we have to deal with babies born with problems because their mothers were addicted to crack cocaine.  And sometimes, we have physical problems because we make foolish decisions about how we eat or sleep -- or by failing to put on sunscreen and developing skin cancer.  However, most often disease comes about because we live in a world in which so much is wrong.  Disease is one outworking of the sin that has proliferated since Genesis 3.
• Jesus has authority over disease and is committed to recreating a world in which there is no more sickness.  Beautifully, Jesus took the woman’s hand, helped her up and set her free from the fever.  And, hallelujah, she was set free to flourish.  She began to serve (v. 31).

     That last point brings me to the second diseased person (1:40-45).  The man had a serious disease called leprosy.  V. 40 tells us that the leprosy made the man “unclean”.  In vv. 21-28, the demon was unclean and here the disease made the man unclean.  It excluded him from the community – from his family, from the work place, and from worship.  One who had leprosy was viewed as dead as long as he had the disease.  Leprosy robbed a person of shalom.  And, people believed that only God could heal leprosy.

     What I want you to notice is that Jesus hated the fact that a person made in God’s image was diseased.  What v. 41 says is that Jesus was indignant about disease being in this world.  Disease is not to be a part of a world in which God reigns.  This response by Jesus is much like what happened in John 11:33 when Jesus went to the grave of his friend Lazarus and recognized the damage and sorrow that death had brought to people.  The Bible says Jesus was anguished in his spirit.  Death will not be in this world when Jesus reigns fully.  In Mk 1, the message is that disease is not going to remain in this world when the kingdom of God is complete. 

     Disease kept this man from shalom.  So Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man (who probably had not been touched by anyone for years.  He said, “I am willing to change your life.  Be clean.”  And immediately the man was clean.  Jesus sent him to the local priest because only the priest in a town could say officially, “You belong again.  Come back to your family.  Come back to your community.  Come back to worship.”  But, as we know, people were not made to live isolated lives.  And the beautiful lesson of this passage is that Jesus acted so that this man could begin to flourish again.

     Do you sense the ring of truth in these stories?  Have you ever experienced how disease or injury can rob you and your loved ones of shalom?  Remember that Jesus came to introduce the reign of God into our hurting world.  Even when he healed people, that healing was only for a season.  But, a day is coming when there will be no more sickness.  Jesus as Jesus was among the people then, God will be in our midst in unrestricted ways.  In Rev. 21:3-4, God will wipe away every tear.  There will be no more crying or pain.  All things will be made new.  But, although Jesus’ reign is not yet here in its fullness, Jesus is still among us.  In a few moments, we will consider one thing we are to do in a disease-filled world until Jesus returns.

Problem #3: Self Determination (1:43-45)

     At this point, the message becomes personal.  The first two problems – demons and disease -- are often things in this imperfect world that we have to contend with – that we may have had little to do with.  But, we all know that the problems we must wrestle with are not just “out there” in the fallen world but also in our own hearts.  You may not have even noticed the seriousness of disobeying Jesus in the story because, from our perspective, it seems so innocent.  Jesus heals the man so that he can live a life of shalom in his community.  Then, Jesus asks him to do something – and the Bible says he does it with a “strong warning’:   “See that you don’t tell this to anyone.”  But the man immediately goes out and disobeys.  Using a strong phrase, the Bible says, “Instead (of obeying Jesus), the man went out and began to talk freely.”

     Jeremy Rose told me, “Don’t be hard too hard on this guy.  He’d been an outcast for so long and now he’s able to go back home!  Who of us wouldn’t want to run out and tell everyone?  And, Jeremy is right.  We dare not be self-righteous in this.  We can relate to the man.

     But notice two things:  First, Jesus strongly commanded him not to do it – and the man did it anyway.  Jesus could command demons and they would come out.  Jesus could touch a hand and the fever had to go away.  We’ll see in coming weeks that Jesus could speak to a violent storm, “Be still!”  And the winds and waves obeyed.  But he spoke to a human being – a creature made in the image of God – and Jesus gave the man the opportunity to disobey.  The same thing will happen often in the gospels.  In Mark 10, he called a young man to leave his possessions and join the mission. But, the rich young man said no.”  Jesus is the Lord of the universe but when he calls we must make a choice whether to obey.  And when we say no, we do damage to the world around us – and our own lives will not be filled with shalom.

     And that brings me to the other thing we see here:  Jesus beautifully brought this man back into community – to a place of belonging.  But this man’s disobedience led to Jesus having to “stay outside in lonely places” (v. 45).  Jesus has the ability to speak peace not only to those demonized and to those who are sick – and peace to our inner souls.  But we who are human must say yes.  We must surrender to his lordship.  Remember: you can know who Jesus is as the demons did – and you can be amazed at what Jesus did as the people were – but the issue is whether you will follow him by faith.  So I ask you:  Have you surrendered all you are and have to Jesus?  When you sense there is something he wants you to do – or does not want you to do – are you ready to obey?

Moments for Reflection: Sin diminishes human flourishing (Tim Keller).

     Do you truly believe what Tim Keller said – that sin keeps you from experiencing the life God made you for?  I sometimes think we don’t really believe that sin and evil damage our own lives and the lives of those around us.  The Bible is consistent in teaching that sin makes us less than we were made to be – and it affects everyone and everything around us.  I think JRR Tolkien portrayed this as powerfully as anyone ever has in his Middle Earth series.  Throughout his narratives, Tolkien shows how the “ring of evil” possesses the one who possesses it.  Those who come into contact with it find that good things about them are distorted and perverted.  The ring takes things that are whole and turns them into husks.  The good and mysterious elves are turned into orcs that slavishly and callously fulfill the wish of evil leaders.  Kings of men are turned into the ring-wraiths that terrify others but have no real substance themselves.  Men become shadows of what they once were.  Smeagle the Hobbit turns into the duplicitous Gollem.  Smeagle’s good quality of loving beauty is turned into the obsessiveness of how precious the evil ring is.  He becomes an emaciated slimy skeleton of what he once was.

     Tolkien is showing us that evil and sin take good things and diminishes those things – perverts those good things.  When we stop and reflect, we know this is true:

• Quests for beauty become eating disorders.
• Sexual activity meant to bind marriage partners becomes lust that divides and consumes.
• The desire to be productive becomes workaholism that fractures our lives and relationships.

     When a different “lord”, a different authority, enters our hearts and lives, we hide things from those around us, we fill our minds with things that embarrass and harm, and we become shells of what God meant us to be.  Bottom line:  We begin to experience shalom when we practice the presence of God – when we live lives putting nothing before God (1^st Commandment).  And, when we turn away from God or open our lives to other lords, shalom is lost.

What Should We Do?  Practice the Presence of God

     When the problem is our own sin, what the Bible calls us to do is to confess our self-directed ways to God, seek his forgiveness, and turn from the sin.  There is no way to read this passage of God’s Word without seeing that it is a call to surrender our thoughts, attitudes and lives wholly to the authority of Jesus.

     But, what about those evils that we didn’t personally cause but that devastate us at times?  How do we live in a world filled with demons and disease?  The Bible gives us a powerful lesson from the life of Jesus.  It’s found right in the midst of these stories of Jesus’ busy-ness, success, and battles with demons and sickness.  See 1:35-36.

     Jesus went to a place where he could be alone with his Father – and he spent time in prayer.  Is that what we do?  Jesus was experiencing great success with demons being cast out and people being healed.  Everyone wants to come hear him – great success is beginning.  Jesus’ own disciples say, “Jesus, everyone wants to be with you.  It’s working.  We’ve got to build on this great success.  It’s working!  Woohoo!”  We would say, “This is no time to stop.  It’s time to keep pushing forward!”  But Jesus pulls aside to be with the Father.  The busier Jesus got, the more he prayed.  The more demanding life became, the more he prayed.

     And because of that, Jesus’ life never became shallow.  All who saw him saw the presence and power of God.  All who heard him heard the authority of God.  And, if Jesus needed to be with the Father in prayer in the face of the kind of world he had come into, how much more do we need to be with God.

     What do we learn from Jesus about prayer?  We learn first about the priority of prayer over anything else in our callings.  In the best of times and in the worst of times, we need to pull aside and be with the Lord.  If Jesus needed to be with the Father the busier he got, how much more do we need the Father.  If Jesus needed the Father in the face of evil and disease in this world, how much more do we.  You know how we are – the business at last is going and we think, “This is the time I need to work more.”  When the ministry is going well, we think, this is the time to do more.  Jesus shows us that when busy-ness increases, when challenges increase, and even when success increases, prayer must increase.

     Second, Jesus shows us what the most important thing is about prayer – it’s a relationship with God as Father.  Look at almost all the recorded prayers of Jesus and you’ll see they start the same way, i.e., “Father.”  “Abba.”  In the Lord’s Prayer, the first word is Father.  The starting place for prayer is not, “Give me stuff today.”  The first words should not be, “Deliver me from temptation” or even, “forgive my wrongdoing.”  The first thing to do is to realize that the Creator has become our father when we place our faith in Jesus.  When Jesus was with the Father, his strength was renewed.  His sense of purpose was renewed too.  He had come to begin a message of good news – to bring the reign of God into the world and create a people from every people group in the world who will also know God as father.  As Tim Keller says, “The purpose of prayer is not first to get things from God – but to get God.”  To the degree that you and I know the presence and love of God, we can handle whatever this world throws at us.

     I’ll end today with a call to prayer.  When Jesus was here, the king was here in human flesh.  He would say, “The kingdom of God is among you.”  He spoke and demons were cast out.  He touched lepers and they were healed.  Jesus will soon return and we will see this kind of liberating and healing power in its fullness.  So, what do we do until he comes?  We pray.  And sometimes, we pray to our Father together.  James 5 tells us to pray for those who are sick – and we do that here at LAC.  We will be having members of our pastoral team, our Ministry Council, and our Prayer Team available to pray after today’s service.  If you need prayer for healing or have a loved one who is sick, come and we will pray.  It you are longing for God to set you free some something that seems to be binding you, come and we will pray…

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor