Epiphany 4
I am a great fan of the programme “The West Wing”. It is a programme, which covers the life of an imaginary president (Bartlett) and how he and his staff actually carry out the business of government. It is a great programme which is just about to come to an end & the other day I was reading an article by Ben McIntyre about the importance of this series over the past few years for an understanding of power which resides in the sole superpower on the planet. Four years ago on this very day, 29th. January the President of the United States gave the periodic state of the union address to the Congress which he is required to do under the constitution and will do again next week & in which he sets out how he sees the state of his nation & the world. It deals with a huge range of issues traditionally starting off on domestic policy & progressing eventually to foreign policy. It is invariably an occasion of great significance to the American people as they will apparently watch it in diners or bars or wherever. When in Washington in 2002 I was fortunate to obtain a pass for a debate in the Senate, which, is along the corridor from the House of Representatives - a little like the Lords & the Commons are separated here in our Parliament. The State of the Union Address however is more than our State Opening of Parliament altho’ the similarities cannot be overlooked. It is much more important in that the President is setting before the people his future plans for the good govt. of their nation. By virtue of this he is seen to be speaking with great authority. Leader of the nation, head of govt. commander in- chief the lot all rolled into this one smallish man before the elected representatives, the foreign dignitaries & & other very important invited guests. Our Prime Ministers, with the possible exception of Sir Winston Churchill, never seemed to have captured that gravitas whereas some of their iffiest Presidents manage it. It is something to do with how people see the office of President which is invested with a great authority something our prime Ministers never ascend (although many have aspired to).
In eight days time, Monday week to be precise, we celebrate the 54th. anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty the Queen to the throne. She also represents authority only of a different kind - in her person - as opposed to the American president whose authority stems from his office. Authority is something we live with in every aspect of our daily life. It can be the authority of our national govt.; the police & judiciary, the armed forces, the local head teacher, even our District Councils’ often referred to as the local Authority. Having said we live with it; most of us do so without too much thought. Occasionally we might question the misuse of authority or more accurately the power of those in govt. because we think they have misused it but on the whole we accept it through what is called in politics Social Contract theory (common consent to you & me)
The people of Israel knew what authority was- as do so many people around the world in our own day: it was a regime which made life difficult for the people & by oppressing them forced them into a way of living by the exercise of power which had neither legitimacy or moral authority. Their rulers were, if not corrupt - oppressive & cruel & their authority was maintained by the force of might. The religious authority had also lost the way & become bogged down in rules that sought to control the people rather then free them to grow spiritually & morally. They, like many in every age succumbed to the use & often misuse of power to maintain the status quo. I do not know what it is but people with a hand on the reigns of power somehow seem to love the status quo in a way that the rest of us do not seem to share. It might be fear or possibly arrogance on their part.
Religious authority, which, seeks to oppress is even more appalling & it was something the Jewish people knew all about. Then along came this man who knew the people needed help not hammered, grace not guilt, love not law. The writer of the gospel manages to take the idea of authority up for us in this little story about the man who was possessed by the unclean spirit in the synagogue. It is a classical situation of someone teaching in the local synagogue, which would have occurred up & down the length of Israel. In it we have differing pointers to the one authority that was Christ’s. He taught them in a way that was different & they recognised this all too clearly. Curiously, & in a similar fashion today, most teachers within the rabbinical movement would have presented their arguments as part of a long line developing their case. They would have appealed to other teachers, the prophets & great leaders & as a consequence looked for authority for their teaching from the fact that it was in line with what had been said before – in law we would have called it precedent. Jesus favoured method was, “You have heard it said”, & would then give his argument. He did not use, with the exception & even then very rarely of Moses, the arguments of others to bolster his case. He told the listener what he wanted them to hear & then expanded his own teaching in order they would understand. This was done because he was adding to the law by developing it. He wasn’t giving them more burdens to weigh them down but rather by subjecting the law to love he was freeing both it & them of the negative understanding of it that had evolved.
The other pointer is of course the encounter with the man possessed. This is strange in itself because the idea of the unclean man in the synagogue, which presumably was where only the clean would be, is in itself a contradiction. Something of this thinking still exists in those who cannot go to church because they think they are too bad. The worst thing is, we in the church, very often encourage them to think their lives are unworthy by reminding them what awful sinners they are. So here we have this man who is possessed in the very place where the authority of God is invoked at every level. The writer of the gospel tells us that even the demon, which had possessed this man, recognised who Jesus was & shrieked at him, “I know who you are – the Holy One of Israel”. It would seem the unclean spirits recognised that in Jesus here was someone who had an authority that was beyond all others. In the passage the exorcism of the demon was not about Jesus power but about compassion for the poor man. Remember this passage comes within the same band as the baptismal passage where the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus & the writer is only drawing to our attention that this Holy Spirit was at work in Jesus ministry. Significantly tho’ everyone at that time was aware that when the holy One of Israel appeared his authority would silence even the unclean so maybe Mark has inserted this piece as a pointer to where he was going to take the Jesus story through the rest of his gospel. His gospel was of course written to clarify who exactly this Jesus was in the great scheme of Israel’s life and faith.
If we are possessed it will not be an unclean spirit but more likely the spirits of our age, jealousy, possessions, abuse whether it be self inflicted through addiction or imposed, the need for influence or power, many such demons, the things that suck life from humanity as they did from that man in the synagogue. Demons come in many guises even angelic if one considers some of the pronouncements of the religious authorities on occasions. The writer knew this & so we have this wonderful wee story set in the synagogue telling us the authority of Christ is greater than all these things. Live by his word & you will be free. In this world there are many people & things that would claim authority over us: we have to decide which is more important & will ultimately bring freedom. The authority of Jesus or that of the tyrants, whether they be possessions, systems or people.
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