Tag: evil

Contending with Forces Beyond Our Control (Mark 5:1-20)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
6th century mosaic of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (New International Version)

Jesus cures the Gerasene demoniac, from the Gospel Book of Otto III, Reichenau,
Germany, c.1000

The Evangelist Mark wants his readers and hearers to understand and know that Jesus is the Divine Warrior who fights against evil in the world. Many times in his earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus encountered some rather militant demons. In today’s Gospel lesson, an entire legion of them were tormenting a man who was unable to be with others and hung out in cemeteries all the time, practicing self-harm.

Much like Pharaoh’s army being drowned in the Red Sea by an act of God, so Jesus sent the legion of demons into a herd of pigs who rushed over an embankment and into the sea to drown.

The chaotic man comes to his right mind. The chaos evoked by the demonic realm is restored to order.

But, similar to an Old West movie in which the townsfolk are shortsighted to the sheriff’s heroic feat, the people in the region of the Gerasenes only see the loss of pigs, and not the loss of demons. So, the people pleaded with Jesus to leave the area.

Yet, at some point, everyone must deal with Jesus, simply because he is a force to be reckoned with. 

Eventually, we all face unseen forces that are beyond our control. It might not be today, and the sun may out, but the weather will change; everyday isn’t the same. Summer will give way to autumn, and then winter. The landscape will look very different. It’s not a question of “if” but “when.” We may console ourselves that we don’t have to deal with those forces today, but contend with them we shall.

Jesus will come. A person might not have to deal with him today, maybe not tomorrow. However, eventually, there will be a whopper of a gale force, and we will have to deal with it.

In today’s Gospel lesson, a man who was severely influenced by a strong demonic force approached Jesus. Inside of him was such a terrible inner storm that the demons shouted at Jesus.

Jesus, unfazed by the man’s inner violence and outer screams, uttered a command from a place of confidence. As fierce as the man was, Jesus had the authority to deal with the situation. As a result, the terrible force within the man subsided.

Yet, the bad weather was not over – it picked up momentum with the townsfolk. It seems they had been living their merry lives with no thought to Jesus. But he showed up. So, they had to contend with his authority right there in front of them. Unfortunately, they chose poorly. 

The Evangelist, Mark, wants us to see a connection in the story between the demons who begged Jesus, and the people of the town who begged Jesus. They did not humbly beg to follow him; they begged him to get away and leave them alone.

Jesus is an authoritative force to be reckoned with… and he is coming to your town.  Maybe not today, perhaps not tomorrow. But things will not always be the way they are right now. People will have to contend with unseen forces, and they will eventually face Jesus, one way or another.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, you are Lord over the wind, the waves, and the weather. You also command the unseen, and they obey. You are God with us. Oh, that all people would beg to follow you and not beg you to leave! I am grateful for your power and authority over all things. Amen.

Have Some Spiritual Discernment (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Prophet, by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, 1902

Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder, in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshiped before. Even if what they promise comes true, do not pay any attention to them. The Lord your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the Lord with all your heart. Follow the Lord and honor him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him. 

But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the Lord, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the Lord has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil. (Good News Translation)

It’s a foolish notion that a servant of God can have a moonlighting gig with another god. A shortsighted philosophy believes that worshiping God on the Sabbath allows one to then do whatever they want on the other six days. And a downright deadly act is to become enamored with a miracle and then follow the miracle worker who did it, even though they want nothing to do with devotion to the Lord.

It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bushel basket of them. Just one rotten egg in a six egg omelet will ruin the entire thing. And one bad prophet amongst the people will end up destroying the congregation. Evil isn’t something to dabble with; instead, wickedness is something to rid yourself of altogether.

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Jesus (Matthew 5:29-30, NIV)

Jesus declared that believers must take decisive, drastic, and radical action against idolatry. Serving other gods, along with the one true God, requires an amputation. The biblical text of both Testaments leaves us no room to believe that it’s okay to dabble in things that the Lord condemns. And if we think we are not hurting anybody to hold onto such a thought, we very much need to think again.

True prophets and preachers don’t lead people into idolatry, no matter how spectacular their omens, wonders, or miraculous signs. False prophets and preachers exist only to test the sincerity of a believer’s love for the Lord. Israel was to take decisive and radical measures to rid themselves of false gods. Failing to do so would certainly lead to idolatry.

These are the regulations and the case laws that you must carefully keep in the fertile land the Lord, your ancestors’ God, has given to you to possess for as long as you live on that land:

You must completely destroy every place where the nations that you are displacing worshipped their gods—whether on high mountains or hills or under leafy green trees. Rip down their altars and shatter their sacred stones. Burn their sacred poles with fire. Hack their gods’ idols into pieces. Wipe out their names from that place.

Don’t act like they did toward the Lord your God! (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, CEB)

Believers of every era need to learn that the occurrence of supernatural manifestations, and/or wild success in ministry, does not automatically authenticate the prophet or preacher.

Theology always takes precedence over miraculous signs and wonders. A growing church doesn’t necessarily mean that God’s favor rests upon it, anymore than a declining church signals God’s displeasure. This is why we are to never add to or take away from God’s Word to people. (Deuteronomy 12:32)

“It is the nature of false prophets to create a conscience where there is none, and to cause conscience to disappear where it does exist.”

Martin Luther

If Christians are ever invited to disobey and rebel against the words and ways of Jesus, they are to refuse the offer. This, of course, requires actually knowing God’s Word and handling the worship of God and the interpretation of God’s Word with great care, humility, and wisdom.

There are many times that false preachers are quite sincere, believing that they are proclaimers of truth, when they are really leading others astray. We are always to be students of Holy Scripture, consistently discerning the difference between truth and error, right and wrong. Let us be careful to avoid the situation of the believers in the New Testament book of Hebrews:

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14, NIV)

Let’s be people who take the time and effort to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus; and be patient and humble enough to learn over time what truly pleases the Lord.

Blessed God, give your servant a discerning heart to govern, lead, and teach your people, so that we may all be able to distinguish between right and wrong, doing your divine will and obeying your divine commands, to the glory of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Against Injustice (Jeremiah 19:1-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 

They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

“‘In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals. I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds. I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”

Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’” (New International Version)

When God wants to get someone’s full attention, the Lord engages the people’s full senses in order to communicate an important message. Through the prophet Jeremiah, we get symbolic action that does just that.

The symbolism, in this case, is a judgment speech, visually and viscerally depicted through the breaking of a pottery jug. The point of the action, and the words, was meant to convey a singular message: God will bring disaster and destruction against Jerusalem and its surrounding towns.

The act of breaking the pottery took place at the entrance to the Potsherd Gate – which was also known as the Dung Gate because that is where the garbage and refuse came out of the city to a dump located in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. It just so happened that this valley was also the location of altars to false gods other than Yahweh. Idolatrous practices – including child sacrifice – were carried on there.

In the ancient Near East, smashing pottery was a ritual act that depicted the destruction of enemies.

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have become your father.
Ask me,
    and I will make the nations your inheritance,
    the ends of the earth your possession.
You will break them with a rod of iron;
    you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” (Psalm 2:7-9, NIV)

The prophet Jeremiah was going to make his oracle against the people both unforgettable and irreversible. He wanted to be clear about what God truly thinks about harming children in religious rituals. But more than that, that it’s absolutely unacceptable for people who worship Yahweh to let it happen, just outside their own city gates, and to even participate in it.

The pottery jar represented Jerusalem. And when a piece of pottery is broken and smashed, there is no opportunity of remaking it from all that destruction. That’s what it would be like for the city who turned their backs on the Lord’s holiness.

Sometimes contemporary people may struggle with the reality that God gets angry – even angry to the point of pouring out wrath on a city. Yet, perhaps we fail to notice the gross and terrible injustice that has been done in the name of religion. The anger of God is always a reflection of God’s love. For love cannot contend with evil perpetrated on innocent people, especially children.

Love is purely subversive. It declares that harming others and hurting people by means of religious violence is not to be accepted nor tolerated. Love is an absolute refusal to settle for the injustice that exists in the world.

Today, and every day, is our opportunity, purpose, and privilege to put love where love is not – to upset the status quo of injustice and establish love as the supreme ethic of God’s commands.

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Confronting Spiritual and Emotional Pain (Psalm 79)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Scream, by Edvard Munch, (1863-1944)

God! Barbarians have broken into your home,
    violated your holy temple,
    left Jerusalem a pile of rubble!
They’ve served up the corpses of your servants
    as carrion food for birds of prey,
Threw the bones of your holy people
    out to the wild animals to gnaw on.
They dumped out their blood
    like buckets of water.
All around Jerusalem, their bodies
    were left to rot, unburied.
We’re nothing but a joke to our neighbors,
    graffiti scrawled on the city walls.

How long do we have to put up with this, God?
    Do you have it in for us for good?
    Will your smoldering rage never cool down?
If you’re going to be angry, be angry
    with the pagans who care nothing about you,
    or your rival kingdoms who ignore you.
They’re the ones who ruined Jacob,
    who wrecked and looted the place where he lived.

Don’t blame us for the sins of our parents.
    Hurry up and help us; we’re at the end of our rope.
You’re famous for helping; God, give us a break.
    Your reputation is on the line.
Pull us out of this mess, forgive us our sins—
    do what you’re famous for doing!
Don’t let the heathen get by with their sneers:
    “Where’s your God? Is he out to lunch?”
Go public and show the godless world
    that they can’t kill your servants and get by with it.

Give groaning prisoners a hearing;
    pardon those on death row from their doom—you can do it!
Give our jeering neighbors what they’ve got coming to them;
    let their God-taunts boomerang and knock them flat.
Then we, your people, the ones you love and care for,
    will thank you over and over and over.
We’ll tell everyone we meet
    how wonderful you are, how praiseworthy you are! (The Message)

The temple was destroyed. The conquering army gloats over their victory. That’s the context of today’s psalm. It’s a prayer, an angry cry for God to step in and act on behalf of the humiliated people. The prayer is more than a simple plea for help; it’s a deeply passionate appeal, that says in 1960’s terms, “God, stick it to the man!”

In the face of evil, when there is destruction all around and violence everywhere, prayer does not become some sort of polite knock at the side door of God’s house. Instead, prayer is a pounding on the front door with a demand for God to do something about this terrible trouble.

For the psalmist, the incongruence between who God is and what has happened to God’s people is inconceivable and unacceptable. To profane God’s temple is to profane God; and to kill and maim God’s people is to flip the middle finger at God. The psalmist is beside himself and overwhelmed with emotion.

There is something very instructive here that we ought not miss. When we have been brutalized, victimized, and/or demoralized, we just want someone, especially the Lord we serve, to take notice and feel what we are feeling. Never underestimate the power of empathy and solidarity. To feel alone and bereft of help is an awful feeling.

Perhaps the psalmist’s prayer offends some sensibilities. I wonder, for those who find the language difficult, have ever had a daughter raped, or a house destroyed by fire, or seen a person killed without mercy in front of their own eyes. Methinks they have not. The feelings of helpless despair and sheer anger defy human words. These are not casual affronts; they are malicious destructions of property and people.

We need someone to affirm the raw ruthlessness of it all, to have some understanding of the impossible place we are in, with having to deal with such wanton cruelty. When our very support is ripped from our lives, the madness within is too much to bear. Who will rescue us from this body of death?

God is big enough to handle our rage and our hurt. The Lord is available and hears our desperate voice of prayer. Yet, God is not always going to directly and immediately answer on the terms we stipulate. God acts out of God’s own providence and justice, and not from our expectations. And that is a good thing, not a bad thing.

God sees. The Lord knows. And the Sovereign of the universe feels it all with us. The realization of this divine empathy enables us to recenter and reorient ourselves around faith, hope, and love. New life is never a gift in a vacuum; it comes out of agonizing struggle in having to reckon with the existence of evil.

So, when someone goes through a hellish experience, let us exercise our capacity to listen and witness the horrible spiritual pain of the person. Healing hurts: it is not a pleasant affair. So, hang in there and walk alongside another in their hour of need, even when their vitriol seems over the top to us. For only in telling our story to another will any of us find relief and renewed hope.

The biblical psalms permit us to use language appropriate to what has happened. They also allow us to move beyond the venom to the God who restores broken lives.

Lord Jesus Christ, by your patience in suffering you hallowed earthly pain and gave us the example of obedience to your Father’ will: Be near me in my time of weakness and pain; sustain me by your grace, that my strength and courage may not fail; heal me according to you will; and help me always to believe that what happens to me here is of little account if you hold me in eternal life.

My Lord and my God, as Jesus cried out on the cross, I cry out to you in pain, O God my Creator and Sustainer. Do not forsake me. Grant me relief from this suffering and preserve me in peace, through Jesus Christ my Savior, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.