January 29, 2006 ~ Mark 1:21-28

You gotta love the Gospel of Mark! Mark's understanding of Jesus is through the eyes of a person of few words and lots of action. Mark's Gospel is the shortest of the four and has the least amount of the spoken teachings of Jesus. Oddly enough, Mark refers to Jesus as "teacher" more often than the others. Perhaps that's because he teaches through his actions as much as through his words?!

Today's scripture lesson is case in point. We don't get the full effect of it because our lectionary doles out scripture in pieces. If we were to have been reading Mark through from the beginning, we would have read:
1. A prophecy about Jesus from Isaiah
2. John the Baptist's call
3. The Baptism of Jesus
4. The calling of the disciples
5. And now, the healing of the man with demons.
All in the first chapter!! The other gospels take at least 5 chapters to get to this point! You are remembering now what I said a couple of weeks ago? Mark uses the word for "immediately" 42 times, and 31 of those uses are in the first 15 chapters. Mark sees Jesus as a man of action, and actions speak louder than words.

So what is Jesus' first public act of ministry as recorded in the gospel of Mark? Well, he stands up to preach and right away he is interrupted with a man possessed by demons. Well, that's my interpretation. Actually, the text says "a man with an unclean spirit." I don't know what you may or may not think about demon-possession in the 21st century, but I can definitely relate to persons having "unclean spirits."

We are smart enough in the post-modern world to not get such a person confused with folks who have mental illness. No doubt many, if not most persons with severe mental illness would rejoice in having their illness taken away from them, but we do not mistake spirit-possession with such scientifically proven problems of the mind: birth defects, chemical imbalances, severe trauma to the head or to the psyche. We would be doing ourselves and our neighbors in need a grave disservice to simply call anyone we see who is unkempt, talking to themselves, or with tics "spirit-possessed."

No, having an unclean spirit might not even manifest itself so that others could tell you were in the grips of something so powerful and so deadly. You might be going along your merry way taking the bus to school or work, shopping, or shoveling snow and no one would know that you or me or any one of us had "an unclean spirit." You'll remember in the story that Jesus did not identify the man first, but, rather, the man interrupted Jesus. (We never did get to hear that sermon!)

The Greek word for "unclean" here is "akarthotos" which simply means "not clean" either physically, ceremonially, or mentally. Simple enough. But, its root word is "kathairo" which may mean either "to cleanse from filth, impurity" or, and this is what intrigued me the most, "to prune trees and vines from useless shoots."

Now there's an image I can wrap my mind around! Rather than "unclean spirit," what if the man who confronted Jesus had a spirit that really needed some pruning. Oh yes, Jesus, I need healing in that way, too! I need a bit of trimming, shaping, opening up in my life, too. And Jesus, man of action, is the perfect gardener, knowing exactly how to prune my soul that I may give glory to God and serve my neighbor in need.

First, I had to check with HGTV on the Internet to make sure that winter pruning was appropriate. Yes, says the expert Marianne Binetti, there are three good reasons to prune in the winter:
1. The leaves are gone and you can see what you are doing better.
2. Since there is little or no growth happening, you can really get control of things that are getting too big.
3. It gets you out of doors during the winter! (well, if you use your imagination!)

Now, that same episode talked of the "three D's" for pruning: Dead, Diseased, and Damaged. If you were pruning in the spring or summer, you would also look for suckers.

In the context of asking Jesus for healing by pruning our lives, lets see if there are any parallels.

1. Dead stuff – A lot of our "unclean spirits" are because we hold on to that which is dead. I'm not talking so much about appropriate mourning for people in our lives who have died. No one has the right to tell anyone the "right amount of sorrow" for anyone else. Rather, the "dead stuff" that needs to be pruned from our lives usually has to do with attitudes about the past.

Life is change. To not change is to die. How can we learn from the past without trying to drag it into our future? We must constantly evaluate those memories and images from our history and see if we are rejoicing in them, learning from them, or simply beating ourselves up because we can't recreate them.

2. Diseased stuff – this is perhaps the hardest thing to do, because more often than not, that which is diseased in our lives is not dead, and we are loathe to prune out something that isn't completely and undeniably dead. The problem is, of course, that if it is diseased, then it may be killing us. Just like the tree limb that has the worm or the parasite, the longer we allow diseased stuff to remain in our lives the more likely we are to go down with it.

Here I am willing to be bold: Get those diseased people out of your life! You know exactly who I mean! There are people that we allow to hang around us, and our families, who are unwilling to grow, to change, to become healthy. They are a risk to your own health and the health of those whom you love.

It is an absolute truth in my experience that Disease hates Health, and diseased people will stop at nothing to drag people who are trying to improve their lives back down with them in the muck. It can be as dramatic as drugs and alcohol, or as subtle as cynicism or negative thinking. Prune, baby, prune! Get rid of those diseased branches and get ready for new life!

3. Damaged stuff – I like to think of these branches and limbs in terms of dreams and ideals in our lives that never materialized. You know, those things you regret, and seem to still have power over your life? Perhaps it was a relationship that never blossomed like you had hoped. Perhaps it was a job that you really wanted but for which you were not chosen. Perhaps you wanted to have children and didn't. Perhaps you dreamed of moving away or going to school.

It doesn't mean that none of those things will ever happen, but they certainly won't happen in the way you once thought they would. Hard as it is, cut off the damaged parts of your life. Your body and mind and soul need that energy to work in healthier and more productive ways.

4. Suckers – as I said, you won't see many of these in the winter, but they flourish in the growing season and they waste valuable resources. Suckers are those little branches and leaf thingies that grow up in the joint between a trunk and a branch. They make the bush or tree look too crowded and unnatural. Suckers are people and projects that really aren't bad, but they are just too much for you and may distract you from things that really require and deserve your attention.

We live in an over-the-top culture in an over-the-top era. Pop stars are showing us that more is better and too much of a good thing is great. Well, it's just not true. You don't have to befriend every person on the street in order to be a good person. You don't have to say "yes" to every request for your time and energy. "No," is as grace-filled and holy as is the word "Yes." Say no and cut a few suckers out of your life.

Now, let's come back to our scripture. In the process of the man with the unclean spirit identifying himself to Jesus, he asks, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?" In other translations it reads, "What business do we have with each other?" The man uses the plural, because there are many things in each of us that are unclean, that need pruning. Dead things, diseased things, damaged things, and lots and lots of suckers. The unclean spirits are rightly afraid of what this Man of God will do to them, now that their presence is known.

But his question echoes deeper for us. "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?" What have you, Beloved of God, to do with us frail, conflicted, and fallen individuals? How can God use us in building the great Commonwealth of Love?

Well, if we are willing to be pruned, willing to cut with the past, trim off the diseased people, clip the damaged dreams, and snip off the suckers -- God can do quite a lot with us. The man shouts "you have come to destroy us!" It may feel like that, but Christ comes not to destroy us, but that which is within us that distorts Gods vision for us. There is a lot that God can do with us, and shall, if we just allow a little winter pruning to do its wonder. Quietly, with very few words, God's work can be done in us. It will seem a little severe now, but come spring and summer, it will all be worth it. New life will appear, healthy and holy.

I end with Paul's words from Romans 12, which tells of one who knows the true purpose of such pruning: I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.




Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2006 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096