Mark 9:14-29 (NRSV)

When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.  When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him.  He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"  Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so."  He answered them, "You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?  Bring him to me."  And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.  Jesus asked the father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood.  It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us."  Jesus said to him, "If you are able!  All things can be done for the one who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!"  When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!"  After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand.   When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"  He said to them, "This kind can come out only through prayer."

 

The father of the possessed boy says, “I believe; help my unbelief!”  This passage takes place immediately after Jesus, Peter, James, and John come down from the mountain where Jesus was transfigured before them.  They return to the disciples who are trying to cast a demon out of a boy.  However, the disciples are not able to exorcise the demon.

This passage shows the abilities of disciples who are trying to act out their faith.  Obviously, it is a problem for them.  Jesus seems frustrated with what he calls a “faithless generation.”  I don’ t think Jesus says this to belittle them, but to set them straight on their actions.  I have a feeling that they were trying to reenact the miraculous “dog and pony” show that the people are always asking for – what they think proves the power of God.  Their “actions” didn’t work because they were not backed by prayer.

Of course, Jesus is able to easily restore the boy to perfect health by casting out the demon.  It looks like he does this prior to the arrival of the crowd.  This would be exactly what we would expect of Jesus at this point, trying not to draw too much more attention to himself.

The call that I hear today is pray.  Prayer builds and guides belief.  A healthy prayer life becomes a centering force that strengthens you and guides your actions.  Prayer becomes a part of everything that you do as you seek to be closer to God.  We would just pour out our heart and mind and make ourselves vulnerable to God.  In prayer we make ourselves a receiver for the divine word that may come to us.

Mark 5:1-20 (NRSV)

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.  And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.  He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him anymore, 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.  When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I adjure you by God, do not torment me.'  For he had said to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’  Then Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He replied, 'My name is Legion; for we are many.'  He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.  Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, 'Send us into the swine; let us enter them.'  So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.  The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened.  They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid.  Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it.  Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.  As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.  But Jesus refused, and said to him, 'Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.'  And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

The word “tombs” speaks to me in this passage.  I’m not sure if I ever noticed it in prior readings.  The man with the unclean spirit lived among the tombs.  We still associate tombs and gravesites with scary places where spirits are thought to linger.  The man that Jesus encounters doesn’t only have one unclean spirit, but has many.  The man has been tormented by the demon for some time.  The demon knows exactly who Jesus is, and immediately pleas for mercy.

In the passage Jesus performs an exorcism and casts a demon out of a young man.  The manner in which it is done is interesting.  Jesus chooses, at the demon’s request, to be cast into a herd of swine.  I wonder why the poor pigs were allowed to suffer such a fate.  We must realize that the Jewish laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy considered the swine an “unclean” animal, unfit for human consumption.  What a better use for an “unclean” animal then an “unclean” spirit.

After the man has been cleansed, people came and saw him sitting there in his right mind.  They were afraid and begged Jesus to leave.  The man wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him that he needed to return to his family and tell everyone how much God has done for him to restore him.  Everyone was amazed.

The call I hear today is to tell the good news.  The swineherds told the good news in the city and the country, and the man proclaimed the good news in the Decapolis.  The good news is what wonderful things God does in order to restore things to the way they are supposed to be.  As hearers and responders to God’s wonderful works, we too are proclaimers of the good news so that others might come to believe and have faith.

Mark 3:19b-35 (NRSV)

Then [Jesus] went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.  When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind.'  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.'  And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, 'How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.  But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

'Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin' for they had said, 'He has an unclean spirit.'

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.  A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, 'Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.'  And he replied, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?'  And looking at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'

This passage takes the story in an unusual direction after the appointment of the twelve.  The phrase that stands out to me today is, “a house divided against itself will not be able to stand.”   Jesus is faced with accusers saying that he has a demon.  He said to them, “How can Satan cast out Satan?”

In this passage, Jesus goes home and confronts accusers there who say that he has a demon.  Some think he is out of his mind and possessed.  Jesus teaches them in a parable, saying that the kingdom cannot stand if divided against itself.  He also relates it to plunder a strong man’s house…  that one must first tie him up.  Jesus goes from talking about a kingdom divided to the forgiveness of sins and blasphemies, saying that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness.  He said this because they said he had an unclean spirit.

Then, he abruptly goes from there to define who his mother, brothers, and sisters are.  Jesus says that the ones with him are his mother and brothers and sisters, and whoever does the will of God is his brother and sister and mother.  This is also the first time in Mark's Gospel that indicates Jesus has kin (mother and brothers and sisters).

The call today for me is unity.  It came to me from his explanation of a house divided.  If we, as disciples and children of God, are in union with each other, then anything is possible.  Unity is strength and power; Unity is wisdom and influence.  Without unity and a shared mission, we are divided, and we will fall.