my demons

And they (Jesus and a few of his disciples, c. AD 30) went into Capernaum (Galilee, in present day Israel), and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (Mark 1: 21-28)

What are your thoughts today about Coronavirus? About Covid 19? After two and a half years it’s still with us. And that virus has brought into the open the effects of some invisible things which most of us would prefer to be hidden. Many have given the name “demons” to those invisible things which have brought into the open not the demons themselves but their effects upon us all. The effects are very visible. One is the vastly increased turning to alcohol and drugs. Another is domestic violence. A third is determined isolation. Behind these visible effects are the so-called “demons” – and they are invisible. Here are some of the things people have said recently about their demons: - • We all have inner demons to fight, we call them by different names. • Demons don’t hide under my bed; they hide in my head. • I can’t drown my demons; they know how to swim. • You can’t defeat the demons that you enjoy playing with.
Maybe you’re thinking – “Is this all about mental illness?” About illness of the mind?”	.
All of us choose our words carefully, don’t we? Including when we refer to our very-real mental, emotional and spiritual problems. We try to ensure that no-one will discover anything wrong with the real me. My mind may be ill – but the real me is alright. My mental illness is curable – my me is AOK. My demons too can be overcome. I just need help – the real me needs help. I’m good, thanks. When Jesus of Nazareth was living on earth, he devoted his time primarily to teaching. See bold above. Folk there at that time were absolutely blown away by his teaching. It was so different. He spoke as the author. Others spoke from their learning. The one who has written the computer program is the author; the author knows much more than the one who later describes the program. Very early on he was teaching like that in the synagogue in Capernaum in Galilee. A man was there with a demon, an unclean spirit and he cried out, stating, “This is between US and you, Jesus the Nazarene. You have come to destroy us. I know who you are—the Holy One of the Godhead.”
This one man, with one invisible unclean spirit may have been speaking as well for other demons in other people in the synagogue. “This is between us and you”, he shouted. And he knew why Jesus was there in that synagogue, in that church. “You have come to destroy us.”	.
Maybe the other folk in the synagogue thought that their demons weren’t demons at all because they thought they had no uncleanness. With invisible demons within one may only see, within ourselves, the nice outward things. Pride, greed, envy and desire easily put on good faces. But the unclean demon in this man spoke for all demons in that church that morning. What was Jesus’ response? He said, “Be silenced and come out from him.“Be silenced”? That demon would never speak again. “Come out from him”? Convulsing the man and crying out with a loud voice, the demon came out of him. What about the other demons in others in the synagogue - the "us" to which this emon referred? That was back around AD 30. Demons then; demons now. Invisible then; invisible now. Drivers then; drivers now - like the invisible drivers on our devices. Driving us to be what we really don’t want to be – better, driving us to be what we really don't want to be seen to be.

Sinner Syvret

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