Out Our Way: New sheriff in town!

Now in the Synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit. Immediately he began to shout hysterically, "What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - you are the Holy One of God!" Jesus spoke sternly to the spirit, "Be silent and come out of him!" The unclean spirit began to convulse within the man and with a great shriek, it came out of him. The people in the Synagogue were dumbfounded at this and began asking each other, "What is this? It is a new kind of authoritative teaching in which even unclean spirits must obey him!" And immediately the word about Jesus spread across the countryside and throughout the entire province of Galilee.

- Mark 1: 23- 28

Out our way, many of us grew up on the old Westerns and know the standard plots inside and out. The peaceful town is suddenly over run by the "bad guys." (We can tell because they all have black hats!) They run people off the streets - making the weak and timid folks "dance" as they shoot into the ground around them, pushing the elderly off the sidewalk and sneering at the tottering old "sheriff" who is too old, timid, weak or whatever to stand up against them.

Then, suddenly, a "stranger" rides into town. Tough - dangerous - powerful. The bullies begin to back away. He pulls back his vest to show the star of the Texas Ranger or the federal Marshal - and he has come to clean up the town. There may be a showdown in which he outdraws, out shoots, and out fights the whole cowardly gang and puts them on the run.

And what makes it all the more fascinating is that some of these things really happened. There really were "bad guys" - gangs like "The Wild Bunch" and Jessie James, and the Daltons that robbed and killed and disrupted the lives of folks in the West. But there were also real marshals and peace officers like Wyatt Earp, Bill Hickok and Bat Masterson who came after them, stopped them cold, and ran them out. They wore a badge, but their real authority came from within. When they came into town, it was the bad guys who started shaking in their boots. As big and tough and dangerous as these bad guys might be, these legendary peace officers were bigger, tougher, and more dangerous. And the bad guys knew it.

That is sort of what is happening in our text today. The "unclean spirits" - what we call demons - really ARE bad guys who terrorize and bully and dominate the culture. They take over - they push us around - they force us to follow their agenda. The folks in this synagogue - the "townsfolk" are terrified and helpless. Even the rabbi - the sheriff - is helpless against them and the "bad guys" have taken over. But then in comes Jesus. confronts the bad guys, and runs them out.

Some years ago the movie "Amityville Horror" came out. Rod Steiger or someone played a priest who was called in to confront the demons and instead he was run out in terror. Now the movie and the book claim to be based on a "true story" - and it appears some of the movie is accurate. Apparently these folks really did feel the house was possessed and asked for an exorcism.  Unlike the movie, however, those who actually performed the exorcism said it was the demons, not the believers who ran. They simply called on the Name of Christ with authority - and the unclean spirits left.

That is something we moderns don't really understand. Satan is not the Yin to God's Yang as so many would have it. Satan is not a god - but an angel. He has no power of his own except the illusion of power in which deceit, trickery, and fear can grow. How many "monsters" filled our bedrooms as children when the light was out - and how many remained once mom came and turned on the lights? Where was their terror then? 

As light destroys the "power" of darkness, so Christ destroyed the "power" of Satan. At a word the unclean spirits are cast out because in Christ, God has "turned on the lights" and the shadow world cannot exist where the light shines. This is what the people saw and what astonished them. For they had come to accept the power of darkness in their midst and forgotten the power of the Light.

Jesus spoke the words of Light and the darkness fell away ... and the people were astonished. They called it a "new teaching" because they had forgotten the old one.

In the beginning darkness covered the face of the deep. And God said, "Let there be Light." And there WAS light! And there IS light! And there WILL YET BE light! "

"Smile when ya say that, Partner!" And we are all a-grinning like a Cheshire cat!! 

(John Bruington, Scout and Goliath can be reached at [email protected]. Their book "Out Our Way: Theology Under Saddle" is available at Amazon.com. Many thanks to whoever bought one last year! Copies of this article and others as well as "Bruin Town Tales" and the weekly sermon are at http://www.havrepres.org.)