Thomas Kleinert
“Does the world ever speak?” Julian Bell, a painter and writer, recently recalled how his grandson—an impossibly inquisitive four-year-old—once stopped him in his tracks with that question. “Years later, I still wonder how best to have replied.”[1]
It’s a terrific question, regardless of whether initially you’re leaning toward responding, “Well, yes, of course, the world speaks all the time” or toward, “No, it is certainly filled with speech, but the world itself is silent.”
I imagine I would reply to the youngster, “That’s one of the best questions ever. I have heard the world sing, but I don’t recall hearing it speak. What do you think?”
The Gospel of Mark poses a different question, implicitly. We’re still in the first chapter, and we’ve heard the voice of Isaiah, announcing the “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.” We have heard the voice of John the baptizer, proclaiming, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me.” eWe have heard a voice from heaven, declaring at Jesus’ baptism, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased;” and we have heard the voice of Jesus, saying to Simon and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
We’re still in the first chapter, yet we’ve already skipped a scene, because the church has long saved that reading for the beginning of Lent, and that’s the two-verse notice about Jesus being in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.
In the Gospel according to Mark, the devil has a part, but in contrast to Matthew and Luke, it’s not a speaking part. In Matthew and Luke, the devil sounds concerned, friendly even, reasonable and tempting, but there’s not a single line for the devil in Mark.[2] So the question Mark implicitly poses, is, “If evil could speak, what would it say?”
Let’s leave that sitting for a moment. Listen to this: “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.”[3] Jesus said that, sounding like a master thief. “Tying up the strong man and plundering his property” is a rather curious way of illustrating the mission of Jesus, and yet, this is how he himself sees it. He has entered the strong man’s house. Following his baptism, Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan, and now he’s back among people, proclaiming the good news of God. He has tied up the strong one, so his house can be plundered.
It sounds like burglary, but the mission is to free the residents of the house from foreign occupation. Forces of evil have taken up residence in the house, keeping in thrall the people who live there, manipulating them, abusing them, oppressing them. But now Jesus has returned from the wilderness. Now Jesus is in the house. He declares that the time if fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.
On the sabbath, when he teaches in the synagogue at Capernaum, people are astounded. They perceive an authority their scribes — we would call them teachers, preachers, or scholars — don’t possess. I imagine they are beginning to note the difference between those who, steeped in tradition, teach about God, and the one in whose presence and voice the presence and voice of God become manifest.
Jesus is in the house, and while the people are astounded, the anxiety level among the unclean spirits and demons is high: they know who he is and they know the purpose of this intrusion. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” they shriek, and in my mind, because I’ve been catching up on a couple of seasons of Dr. Who during snow week, they sound like the Dalek. “Why are you picking this fight? We know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Jesus is in the house, their time is up, and they know it. This is Mark’s answer to the question, “If evil could speak, what would it say?” The unclean spirits cry, they whimper, they taunt, but they cannot resist the authority of Jesus. “Shut up and come out,” he rebukes them, and the man is free. This is the ministry of Jesus, according to Mark, to spread this freedom, throughout all of creation. Jesus is a Holy-Spirit-empowered invader who reclaims the house of creation that has become a playground for demons.
“What is this?” people ask, amazed. “A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” A new teaching—well, you can get that scrolling on your phone and googling around the web: new, exciting, hip, astounding, and forgotten tomorrow.
This is a different kind of new. This is a teaching that brings about newness like the voice that spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai. Jesus is not just a terrific new teacher who surprises and inspires us, and satisfies our hungry hearts and minds—he does all that. What’s new is that he speaks with the voice of the Holy One who brings light and life into being. He speaks, and it comes to be. He speaks, and the oppressed are unburdened, the possessed are unshackled, the wounded are healed, the shunned are forgiven. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.
“Mark wants us to know, here at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry — that Jesus’ authority will be a contested authority,” writes Matt Skinner.
Jesus’ presence, words, and deeds threaten other forces that claim authority over people’s lives. These other authorities have something to lose.[4]
They have everything to lose, and yet they have already lost, because when the unholy coalition of temple, empire, and mob accused, condemned, tortured and executed Jesus, God vindicated him. These other authorities that have everything to lose can do their worst and crucify the One who embodied the kingdom of God on earth, but they cannot stop God’s reign from coming in fullness. They can’t silence the voices that declare its nearness. They can’t buy off all its witnesses. They can’t deport those who discover day after day, that with one foot they’re already standing in the kingdom, on solid ground: beloved, forgiven, empowered, free.
Jesus comes from a place of blessing, where in baptism he was filled with the Holy Spirit and a voice from heaven declared, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And Mark contrasts this affirmation and claim with the man in Capernaum, possessed by an unclean spirit, a spirit of lies that will not, indeed cannot ever tell the man who he is — God’s beloved, a delight in the eyes of God. But now Jesus reclaims the house of creation that has become a playground for demons, and his authority is the authority of his fierce love, liberating, healing, empowering.
The first-century world was full of demons and spirits; they regularly interfered in human life, often capriciously. It was common knowledge that they did control human behavior because they were more powerful than human beings, and evil spirits were widely regarded as principal causes for physical and psychological maladies as well as natural disasters. Most of us don’t think of the world as occupied by demons and other spirit beings, but that’s not the point. The point is that we all continue to experience life in the grip of powers that are stronger than ourselves, ungodly powers that oppress us, individually and collectively, powers that thrive when we believe that this is just the way things are, and that there’s nothing any of us can do about it anyway.
I come from a people who, under self-inflicted authoritarian rule and in the grip of idolatries and supremacist worldviews, unleashed war across Europe and beyond and systematically murdered six million Jews. Human beings, not demons, did this to other human beings. Human beings, not unclean spirits, did this and are responsible for doing what they did and what they didn’t do.
There are historical circumstances to take into consideration, yes. There are economic factors, political and theological failures, cultural trends, yes, but such attempts at explaining the unfathomable can capture the big picture only from a high altitude, and to me, such distance easily feels like betrayal.
There is no room for demons in the house, but they are here because we are here. In the face of evil, explanations will not do. In the face of evil, only fierce love will do. And yes, I will spell it out for you, in the face of white supremacy and proto-fascist aspirations, only steadfast resistance will do, in the name of Jesus and all that is holy.
I need Jesus who has tied up the strong man, to tell the demons to shut up and get out. I need Jesus—living, breathing, loving Jesus, because in his presence the demons become anxious, and when he speaks, the unclean spirits within us and among us are driven from power.
His words and his fierce love loose the bonds of injustice, and he calls us to join him in his life’s work. His words and his fierce love let the oppressed go free, and he empowers us to join him in his work for life’s sake. His words and his fierce love break every yoke, and he unburdens us so we can serve the flourishing of life in his company.
You are not too young, nor are you ever too old, to help others see their true identity and full dignity as God’s beloved. Humbly and courageously, listening to Jesus and following him, we must do our part in casting out the demons that feed on our fear.
Does the world ever speak? I don’t know, but I do know with my whole heart that it’s supposed to sing, all of it, to the glory of God. And it will.
[1] https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/12/21/the-emptied-cosmos-gabriel-pihas/
[2] Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; Mark 1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him. See also Mark 3:23, 26; 4:15; 8:33
[3] Mark 3:27
[4] Matt Skinner https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-mark-121-28-3