FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Prayer of the Day: Compassionate God, you gather the whole universe into your radiant presence and continually reveal your Son as our Savior. Bring wholeness to all that is broken and speak truth to us in our confusion, that all creation will see and know your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
“And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” Mark 1:26.
“Pastor, I think we have evil spirits in our house,” said Carlos. “I hear voices at night calling me to ‘come with us.’ The children say they are seeing ghosts in their rooms. My wife says that there is an old woman watching her from the stairway while she is working in the kitchen, but whenever she goes to the stairs, she disappears. Is there anything you can do to get rid of them?” Carlos and his family were recent immigrants to the United States. In his culture, unlike ours, spirits and demons were not just the stuff of horror movies and occult classics. Our enlightenment skepticism over the supernatural had not penetrated the village in which Carlos grew up. The presence of supernatural evil beings and the mischief of which they were capable was taken for granted.
I took a walk with Carlos and his family over to his house-which was next to the church office. We walked through the house and I said a prayer for each room. I prayed that God would make the kitchen a place of bodily and spiritual nourishment, the living room a place of family togetherness and fellowship, the bedrooms places of sanctuary, refreshment and peace. I even blessed the basement-though I can’t remember what I said about that. Anyway, this is as close as I have ever come to performing an exorcism. No blood curdling scream of departing demons rent the air. For that I am thankful. I don’t know where I would have sent them, there being precious few herds of pigs in northern New Jersey. But I will say that, a week or so later, Carlos told me that he and the family got the best night’s sleep ever after my visit and that the spirits had not been troubling them since. Make whatever you will of that. For my part, I am not convinced that there were evil spirits afoot in Carlos’ house. But I am convinced of God’s power to confer peace where there is anxiety, faith where there is fear and joy in the face of despair.
So what are we to make of the evil spirits Jesus confronts in his ministry? Can we dismiss them as primitive explanations for diseases we now know as epilepsy or certain psychiatric disorders? That would make gospel narratives, such as our lesson for this Sunday, a lot more palatable to our modernist tastes. But I am always suspicious of interpretations that make Jesus more palatable. Moreover, as Lance B. Pape[1] reminds us, the foundational assumptions of modernism are crumbling fast, leading us to question the supposed infallibility of our empirical methodologies. We are slowly coming to the realization that the insights and world views of non-western cultures we enlightenment folk cavalierly dismiss as primitive superstition actually illuminate ecological and cosmic realities our colonialist regimes have neglected to the peril of us all. Hence, while I saw nothing to convince me that there were demons in Carlos’ house, I am too well aware of my cultural blind spots simply to dismiss them.
In his book, The Historical Jesus,[2] John Dominic Crossan discusses the phenomenon of demon possession in the context of colonial domination and military occupation. Citing the work of anthropologist Mary Douglas, Crossan points to her insight that a person’s physical body is a microcosm of the society of which s/he is a member. While the human body is common to us all, our social condition varies. An individual’s body is presented to the individual by instruction through society generally and, more specifically, through education and inculturation by family. It takes little in the way of imagination to understand how a people subjected to military occupation by a hostile power or a colonial government bent on converting its subjects to its religion, values and priorities might begin to view itself as “possessed.” When this powerful dialectic between one’s cultural self understanding and the occupying power’s determination to erase it collide within the microcosm of the oppressive circumstance which is the body, this possession manifests as an individual affliction.
Crossan further points out “the somewhat schizophrenic implications of demonic control: it indicates a power admittedly greater than oneself, admittedly ‘inside’ oneself, but that one declares to be evil and therefore beyond any collusion or cooperation. Yet one must surely, at some level, envy it or at least desire its power in order to destroy it.” p. 314. That goes a long way toward helping us understand the depraved violence serial killers who were frequently victims of abuse as children. It helps to understand the unspeakable violence recently inflicted upon Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists. How long can a people go on living under a regime that denies their existence as a people, exercises suffocating control over every aspect of their lives and wields lethal power they can never hope to match? Oppression generates hatred and hatred transforms haters into the image of what they hate. When one becomes so thoroughly possessed by the object of one’s hatred, it is hardly surprising to find oneself out among the tombs bruising oneself with stones. How else can you get at this enemy inside you? That is what happens when your enemy manages to “get into your head.”
So now we come to “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” abbreviated “TDS.” The term has mainly been used by Trump supporters to discredit criticism of him. Instead of responding to such criticism, Trump’s supporters resort to ad hominem attacks on the mental stability of his critics. It is a typical “gas lighting technique.” Repeat the lie with consistency and regularity and before long, the hearers cease to doubt your word and instead begin to doubt their sanity. All that being said, I think Fox News & Co. might actually be onto something here. (Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.) It is admittedly maddening to view the flagrancy and frequency with which Donald Trump flat out lies about important matters. More maddening still is witnessing the ease with which his lies are accepted, excused and explained away by the Republican party[3] that he owns. Having to hear again and again about the stolen election, the armies of terrorists crossing our borders, the crime rampant in our cities streets, the crashing economy, WOK propaganda in our schools, to say nothing of the Satan worshiping pedophile cult run by Hillary Clinton and George Soros as though all of this malarky were credible-it is enough to make one a little crazy.
But I think that in this respect, us white liberals might finally be getting a little of our own medicine. What we have endured for less than a decade, Black Americans have been living with for centuries. Young black males know the indignity of being pulled over, stopped and frisked and asked to leave high end stores for no good reason. They know, too, the dangers they face should they question or fail to comply. People of color live daily with the awkwardness of being told that they are surprisingly articulate, unusually hard working or amazingly successful-for people of their kind. They learned in school, as did I, that America is a place of limitless opportunity for anyone who studies and works hard. Like me, they studied and worked hard, but unlike me they met with racial profiling, discriminatory hiring practices and limited housing choices. To add insult to injury, they are told repeatedly that such discrimination does not exist. Slavery ended when Lincoln freed the slaves. Jim Crow ended with the civil rights movement. All is now right with the world. People of color are reminded in so many ways that their failures are their fault, that racism is a thing of the past, that the daily indignities they experience are all in their head. In short, they are told that they are deranged.
Though I have a hard time integrating evil spirits into the world as I understand it, I believe in demonic possession. I believe that many of us are possessed by the myth of the “white race” and delusions about its superiority, fears of its being “replaced” and the malevolence of peoples of color. I believe that people of color are injured in body and soul by these ideologies and the systemic oppression they spawn and support. I believe it is possible for these ideologies and the lies upon which they are based to become internalized and make us sick. In extreme cases, they can get so thoroughly ensconced in our heads that they shape our character and drive our conduct. They can drive us to hateful acts of violence toward others. They can also drive us to violence against ourselves. It is no accident, I think, that so many mass shooters wind up killing themselves before they can be apprehended.
I think that individual instances of demonic violence are symptomatic of systemic racial hatred woven into the fabric of American culture. What we need is a collective exorcism. I am hardly an expert on that topic. But here are a few things that seem to be implied by the gospel lesson:
- Do not let the demons speak. I am all for freedom of expression, meaning that I believe all should be able to preach whatever they wish, however vile or offensive. That, however, does not translate into an obligation on society’s part to build them a pulpit. I was appalled when years ago NPR granted white nationalist leader Richard B. Spencer an interview and an opportunity to spew his sewage over the airwaves. I do not believe we need to remain discretely silent when Uncle Ned pops a racist joke at Thanksgiving dinner. The long discarded pseudoscience of racism, baseless racially charged claims and thinly veiled dog whistling should not be admitted into serious discourse. Spencer needs to be told to preach his garbage in whatever slimy hole he can find enough fellow sewer rats to listen, but that he will not be heard on any reputable media. Uncle Ned needs to be told to shut up or pack his bags and go home.
- Do not let the demons into your head. We are not Jesus. We cannot cast demonic ideology and racial bigotry out of anyone’s head. If we waste our energies trying to do that, we risk letting the poison of demonic anger and hatred poison us. The only weapon we have is the truth as we know it in Jesus. The Holy Spirit must do the rest. Truth requires only our witness, not our defense. So speak the truth, but do not be drawn into heated arguments. There is nothing to be gained by getting lured down rabbit holes of conspiracy theories, junk science and unsubstantiated claims. There are times when you simply have to say, “I am sorry. But it is obvious you lack the information, conceptual tools and capacity for learning to engage in the sort of discussion you want to have with me.” Do it as unabrasively as you can, but do it firmly and decisively.
- Do not confuse the possessed with the demon. Saint Paul reminds us that “we do not contend with flesh and blood.” The devil would have us believe otherwise. The devil would have us at each other’s throats, killing each other and wounding ourselves in a vain effort to get at him. But our fight is with “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12. The necessity of firmness and resolve toward the evil words and acts of the possessed does absolve us from the duty of love we owe them as neighbors. The Richard Spencers, Donald Trumps and Uncle Neds of the world are as much victims as they are predators. They have been consumed-possessed-by hateful myths and ideologies infecting nations, rulers and governments the world over. These demonic forces have twisted their characters, bent their minds and poisoned their souls. They are in the worst sort of bondage. They need our pity. They need our prayers. They, too, need Jesus.
- Exorcism begins with me. By now it should be clear that we are all caught up with the spiritual forces of wickedness that infect our government, schools, workplaces and justice system. Those of us who have benefited from racial injustice and exploitation built on the foundation of white supremacy and privilege need all the help we can get to extradite ourselves and begin dismantling the machinery of oppression. As a member and minister of one of the whitest churches in the United States, I count myself among this number. Saint Peter reminds us that “judgment is to begin with the household of God.” I Peter 4:17. So, too, does exorcism.
According to the gospels, casting out demons was central to Jesus’ ministry and a task entrusted to his disciples. Demonic forces are no less real today than they were in the First Century and so the commission to cast them out is no less urgent. The disciple’s task might aptly be described in the words of poet Sonia Sanchez as “hold[ing] oneself like a sliver to the heart of the world, to interrupt if necessary the rhythm of the world, to upset if necessary the chain of command but…to stand up to the world…do battle for the creation of a human world that is a world of reciprocal recognition.” Below is the poem in full.
Progress Report
In this country
where history and herstory stretches
in aristocratic silence,
our Black, white, brown activists
have come at the beginning
of the twenty-first century carrying
the quiet urgency of a star.
And the country is not the same.
i say, who are these people singing down
the lids of the cities with color?
i say, i say, who are these people always
punctual with their eyes, their hearts, their hands?
i say, i say, i say, who are these
singers who resurrect summer
language on our winter landscape?
They remind each other
of what Fann said: “what is needed is to hold
one’s life like a sliver to the heart of the world, to
interrupt if necessary the rhythm of the world, to
upset if necessary the chain of command but…
to stand up to the world; I do battle for the
creation of a human world that is a world of
reciprocal recognition.”
What does honor taste like?
Does honor have a long memory?
What is the color of honor?
Jose Marti wrote: “in the world there must
be a certain degree of honor just as there must be
a certain amount of light. When there are many men
without honor, there will always be some others who
bear in themselves the honor of many men.”
i turn the corner
of these honor-driven activists
find memory beneath their doors
taste the blessings of their midwifery
their miracle songs giving birth
to un-ghosted wounds
their words coming to us
glittering like silver stars,
and I catch them in mid-flight,
swallow them whole.
i say, behold our sisters and brothers
questioning the flesh of national monuments
peeling them down to waste of bones.
i say, behold our sisters and our brothers
shaking dew from their eyes, as they remember
Brother Floyd’s last words:
i can’t breathe, i can’t breathe, i can’t breathe…
And we greet him,
his body submerged with no air
and we anoint his eyes
with ancestral light
and we breathe…
Source: The 1619 Project, edited by Nicole Hannah-Jones (c. 2021 by New York Times Co.; pub. by Penguin Random House) p. 479-480. Sonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver in 1934) is an American poet, writer and professor. She is a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement. Sanchez has written several books of poetry. She has also authored short stories, critical essays, plays and children’s books. She received Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 1993. In 2001 she was awarded the Robert Frost Medal for her contributions to American poetry. You can read more about Sonia Sanchez and sample more of her poetry at the Poetry Foundation website.
[1] The Scandal of Having Something To Say, Pape, Lance B. (c. 2013 pub. by Baylor University Press).
[2] Crossan, John Dominic, (c. 1991; pub. by HarperCollins Publishers).
[3] Please don’t tell me that Trump’s base is not all there is to the Republican party. There is little doubt that, criminal conviction or no, he will be the party’s presidential nominee. And there is less doubt that, as they have done every single time, the rest of the Republican leadership, including those who offered tepid criticism of him, will kneel to kiss his ring. For more on that, see “Unmasking the Republican Party.”
Peter's Outer Cape Portico 