"Casting Out Demons"
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
February 1, 2015
The scripture reading for this Sunday is one of the exorcism stories from the Gospel of Mark. (You can read it here.) Jesus is teaching in the synagogue when he is confronted by a man possessed by a demon. Jesus rebukes the demon and casts it out of the man, much to the amazement of those in the synagogue.
For Mark's 1st century audience, such a story wouldn't be considered out of the ordinary. However, It can be difficult for those of us living in the 21st century to wrap our head around the idea of demons and evil spirits inhabiting and controlling human beings. Yet we don't necessarily have to adopt the pre-scientific worldview of Jesus’ day in order to understand that we sometimes find ourselves controlled by powers that are larger than ourselves – powers that can possess us and damage our lives, both individually and collectively. Perhaps demons are every bit as real to us as they were to the ancient world. We just have a very different understanding of what they are.
Join us this week as we think about our "demons" and the power of Jesus to liberate us from them.
See you on Sunday!
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