Authority & Humanity

Once upon a time Meg and I were at the soccer fields watching our kids’ games and nearby there was the usual herd of younger siblings running up and down the area right behind us, our daughter among them. And there was a pile of dirt there too, probably from some sort of field maintenance work, so some of the kids were running up and down that. They were laughing and screaming - having a great time.

Then I saw this one kid pick up a clump of dirt or maybe a rock and throw it at another. He missed and it almost hit Elizabeth. So I said, “Hey, stop throwing dirt.” And this little kid, 4 or 5 years old picks up another clump, looks me right in the eye and throws it halfheartedly 5 or 6 feet, not at anyone but just to show me that he wasn’t going to obey what I said. While maintaining eye contact, which was impressive, he picked up another clump.

So I did what any man faced with such a direct challenge would do. While maintaining eye contact, I said, “Do I need to find your mother?” He still looked at me defiantly, but you could see his little mind coming to grips with his defeat. His head dropped, his shoulders dropped, and he dropped the clump of dirt and shuffled off to reevaluate his place in the universe.

That illustrates a major change that has occurred in my lifetime. When I was a kid, you had to listen to what any adult said because authority was much more based on position or standing. Now, unless you’re in a formal structure, corporate or military, it is largely tied to relationships. Teachers have to establish themselves in the classroom or get run over.

In fact, they even taught us in seminary that we should use a story or humor to get past people’s authority filters – which I just did. Not just by telling you the little story but by the relationship we’ve been building for a couple of years now. That enables me to share two main points about today’s Gospel, one on authority and one on demons.

We tend to think about authority in the top-down sort of structural way that its Latin root, autoricas, imparts. This includes the pecking orders we formally impose like corporate organizational charts or a military command structure, as well as the informal ones that exist in families or groups of friends.

The Greek word translated as authority here, exousia, is a bit different. We can break it down into two parts. The prefix ex- means “out of”, as when we ex-hale. The root word is ousia which means substance, so the literal translation would be “out of the substance.” In other words, the authority described here arises out of who Jesus is, out of the substance of his being.

That is so important that Mark doesn’t even tell us what Jesus taught that day. All we know to this point is that he has said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand” as he called his first disciples.

Jesus’ authority arises out of his unique connection with the Father as his Son. It’s authority borne not out of his position – he has no position – but rather by his agency on behalf of his Father. The scribes would simply recite the law along with some rabbinic maxims, reminding everyone what the scripture said. Jesus is able to speak at length about its depth of meaning.

Which begs the question, how do you receive his authority? We call him Lord and he means to be Lord over everything about us. That includes our families, our work, our leisure and play.

Mark makes that point he quickly illustrates it not by what Jesus says but by what he does as the scene shifts to this man afflicted by a demon. I am struck by the distinction between the man and his demon. Clearly there was something very wrong with him, and that wrong had its own personality unaffected by the synagogue or the scripture that was read or Jesus’ commentary on it.

After a few years serving as a chaplain at Camp Wingmann, there were always a few kids who struggled to function within the rhythms and responsibilities of the camp. The campers have to keep up their cabins, they have to get to meals and activities on time, they have to participate in the activities and they have to treat each other and the counselors with respect. Some kids, a small percentage usually, just can’t do it. This leads to some real problems and often the chaplain would be needed.

But I noted that in every instance, the child in question had either an underlying medical/mental health issue and/or real trouble at home. I remember one boy in particular who was driving the staff nuts. Talking to him, I learned his parents had just divorced and his father had moved to Chicago the prior week.

I shared that thought with Fr. Bill Yates and he agreed. I’ve shared it with a number of teachers over the years and they did too. Eventually I realized that what is true for kids is true for everyone. I’m not suggesting that relieves anyone from responsibility for their behavior. But there is a distinction between the sin and the sinner and we must not forget their humanity.  Somewhere in there is a child of God.

Jesus’ authority over the demons that haunt each of us is complete. He is able to see past the behavior, past the attitude, past the errant thoughts that run through our heads.

People sin willfully and get so broken that separating or exorcising the demon away from them is horribly difficult and we may never see it happen. We can’t and we won’t see everything or everyone fixed and healed. But as the Body of Christ we don’t regard anyone as beyond God’s redemptive love or Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice or the Holy Spirit’s redemptive love.

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Unfortunately, we see a growing tendency to do the opposite. Demonizing people or groups of people is ascribing the very nature of evil to their person. It’s like the reverse of what Jesus recognized, that the demon had to come out and be banished from the man so he could be healed. Instead, their errors or sins are ascribed to their person. Once they are demonized they are dehumanized and it becomes easier to say and/or do awful things to them.

I don’t see that among you, among the people of this church. A friend pointed out to me this weekend that, “People don’t live that way.” We tend to get along. But I do see it happening increasingly in the press, media and on social media and the bar for using such rhetoric is getting lower and lower even as the rhetoric gets hotter and hotter.

Guard your mind, guard your heart and guard your spirit in Christ through prayer. Inasmuch as it depends on you, resolve to be as Christ, to live and speak under his authority, his substance, and work to cast out the demons while respecting every person as a beloved child of God.

AMEN