There’s a song about the squirrel who went to church. How about the demon who did the same thing?
The first thing I notice in Marks Gospel is that it moves more quickly through events than Matthew and Luke. There isn’t any discussion of Jesus’ birth, his childhood, the wise men, or even how John the Baptist was born to Zach and Elizabeth. Mark penned the shortest of the Gospels, and was probably the first to write. Which explains why the other authors spent time on the birth of Christ…Mark hadn’t covered it already.
When reading about how Jesus cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue it occurred to me that they were IN THE SYNAGOGUE. What was a demon doing in there? That was a holy place, and there was a demon possessed man in there. Was he praying, or attempting to pray? Was he working there, or bringing an offering? Why would a demon allow someone to visit the Synagogue? In my thoughts there can only be one reason, it was because the demon didn’t see the Synagogue as a threat to itself. I think the people of Israel (mostly) were simply going through the motions of worship, not being serious about it. “We’re Israelites, this is what we do”. That kind of faith doesn’t pose much of a threat to demons.
However, as soon as the man is healed of his possession (the demon cast out) the people are awakened from their spiritual slumber. “what’s going on with this guy” they ask. “could something significant be happening?” And they were very excited. And excited people talk to others.
Right after this, Jesus goes to Peter’s house and heals his mother-in-law. It doesn’t say where the synagogue was, but it was probably in the same town. The ruins of a synagogue can be found there today, within site of Peter’s house. By the time Jesus finishes at the synagogue and travels over to Peter’s place, many other ill and demon possessed people have come to be healed. That’s what the full effect of the Gospel does. It attracts, it changes the narrative, it casts out evil, it alters our course and our conversation. It absolutely changes forever anyone who allows the message to soak into their soul.
Thinking back, I also notice that Jesus didn’t go looking for the man who was demon possessed. The demon was the one who started screaming and creating a problem. This tells me that demons aren’t all that bright. The smart move for the demon would have been to usher the man out of the synagogue and prevent the story from unfolding in the way it did. I don’t think that demons can remain silent in God’s presence, remember the man possessed by the legion of demons? He came running and met Jesus on the shore. If we are to be filled with God’s power and authority, we should expect that the demoniac s will confront us as well, and that is good news because we know how they can be healed.
One other quick thing today: When Jesus spoke the demon left, when Jesus touched the leper the leprosy left. We often live in fear that we will become contaminated by the world, when what really should be happening is that the world should be healed by God’s touch through us. Fully committed believers who operate in the power of the Holy Spirit can and will see these sort of miracles happen.
Feeling both blessed and challenged,
PR