Mark 1:21-28

Some episodes of Doctor Who remind me of stories about Jesus. The presence of the Doctor seems to disturb things that are hidden and secret, things that control the minds and hearts and even the bodies of not just individuals but the population of entire worlds. As soon as Jesus enters the synagogue in Capernaum something that has been hidden, something that may not have been noticed before or something presenting in a certain way reveals itself more clearly. It seems to respond to the teaching of Jesus, it recognises who he is and the authority he possesses. Just as the name of the Doctor is feared throughout the universe the name of Jesus is also known, but the knowing causes a reaction… a disturbance … a transformation.

How does a story like this relate to us? When some people read this story and other stories about exorcisms they can get exceedingly worried that they could be possessed by some evil spirit and not know it. There is a sense in which I think we are all possessed and can be totally unaware of it or be choosing to ignore the unease, the disturbance it causes within us and how it expresses itself in the world.

One has to ask who really was possessed in the stories about Jesus. Was it just some individuals who were possessed and to be pitied or were these individuals acting as a prophetic voice? Were these individuals more in tune with who Jesus was and the authority of his teaching than the Scribes and other religious leaders and the people themselves? Were they in tune with the need for transformation, of throwing off the religious and cultural shackles imposed by religious leaders and political leaders to control and manipulate for their purposes and gain.

It astounds me that we can be so immune to or unaware of what may be controlling us, much of the history of the church testifies to that and much of our history has been written by the victors, those who did the oppressing, those who expelled the weaker ones, the minorities, the women as witches, the heretics, the dissidents, the speakers up for justice, those who cried foul!

St. Paul cries out ‘who will rescue me (us) from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24, 25)

The kingdom of God which Jesus spoke of and ushered in challenges all the power that we would desperately hang on to. The confession of faith by all possessed by power is a crying out for the transformation of all things without and within.

I finish with the lyrics of a Nick Cave song which I have just heard on ABC 2 Australia – a concert of cover versions of his songs

There is a Kingdom

Just like a bird that sings up the sun

In a dawn so very dark

Such is my faith for you

Such is my faith

And all the world's darkness can't swallow up

A single spark

Such is my love for you

Such is my love

There is a kingdom

There is a king

And he lives without

And he lives within

The starry heavens above me

The moral law within

So the world appears

So the world appears

This day so sweet

It will never come again

So the world appears

Through this mist of tears

There is a kingdom

There is a king

And he lives without

And he lives within