The Gospel of Mark clearly states that Jesus is the unique bearer of a new kingdom. As a sign of this kingdom, Jesus heals. Mark believes in the demons of his day. In our day and age, we can demythologize those demons, but to Mark they are demons. Jesus, as we shall see later in this chapter has the demons’ number. A new power is breaking into the world. This is the power of the man from heaven.
For Jesus, to heal is not really a big deal. In the completion of this new kingdom there will be healing for everyone. What is soon discovered is that our kingdom cannot handle the completeness of this new kingdom. There are still healings that happen. We cannot box up those healings. There is mystery to healing, for there is a mystery to the way the kingdom of God touches our kingdom.
We can offer healing in the name of Jesus, but we are not Jesus. He is a one-time event. He is the bearer of a kingdom which is both here in part, and not yet. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the “not yet” in his healings. Jesus does, however, go away.
The power of his spirit is with us. Healing and wholeness can happen in the name of that Spirit, but it is not as patterned and controlled as many “healers” claim it to be. I have the same anger as Jesus had when I see the manipulation done in his name.
For Jesus, there is no mystery in healing. He simply does it. When we see him face to face we too shall receive the full benefit of that healing. In this life, where the kingdom of God struggles to be felt and made real, healing is not as evident.
I know there are miraculous, sudden healings that cannot be explained. They are few in terms of all that could be and all that are needed. I will not package the healing of God nor do I believe anyone can. Jesus is a pattern in many ways, but there can be some danger in those who think they can also say boldly, “Stretch out your hand.” Some things are to be left to Jesus.
To pray for healing in the name of Jesus is most appropriate, but there is always an element of letting it be after the prayer is said. I fully believe that when I lay my hands on someone or anoint them with oil and ask for God’s healing grace for their lives, that God gives a measure of healing to that person. I am not to control or package what kind of healing that will be.
Usually I do not get the kind of physical healing I desire when I pray such a healing prayer for someone. I have seen many cases of healing of relationships, emotional healing, and spiritual growth come from such healing times. When it comes to the physical, we stand at the edge of mystery.
Jesus contains the full mystery within himself in some way that I do not pretend to understand. Many creeds are written after Mark pens his gospel. Those creeds attempt to present the mystery of the Christ. All creeds fail in this effort. Faith recognizes the mystery.
The mystery touches a man’s hand and the hand is restored. The Pharisees can only see the infraction of an old rule. They cannot even see the mystery. Jesus’ anger is centered in their being so much in the dark when they are supposed to be those whose job it is to be sacred handlers of the mysteries of God.
Mark 3:7–12 The Crowds and the Demons
This is a scenario that most preachers would recognize: If you ask someone who comes to church on a certain Sunday, “How many people were there in church today?” they will give you a certain number. If you ask the preacher of that church the same question, the answer will have at least another fifty people added to it.
Mark tells us that Jesus departs to the sea with his few disciples (he has not called all of them yet) followed by “a great multitude from Galilee.” No doubt that this is a large crowd, but because the followers are surging forward and jostling each other so much, it probably feels much larger. The reason for the numbers is the “new preacher,” although Mark states that the people are gathering not so much because of what Jesus is saying but rather what he is doing. Everybody wants healing. This man can heal.
Your age will determine how you will picture the scene in these verses. My generation would use the image of The Beatles arriving in America. It is a mob scene. Jesus is a star and the crowd is mob-like.
Mark, as usual, does not go into great detail so one must pay attention to get the big picture. Jesus has his few disciples prepare a boat for his escape from the crowd. This sounds like a man who understands mob scenes. Jesus understands desperate people. The people who gather around Jesus do not want autographs. They long for something more personal. They desire healing.
At other times the crowd is interested in what Jesus is saying; today’s mob is hungry for Jesus’ touch. Word is out that he has “the power.” At a time when there are no hospitals and few means of healing there is no way to imagine what these people must be feeling. There are many rumors about itinerant healers at that time, but this healer is for real.
Despite the fact that the crowd is eagerly pressing in, Jesus still has some work left to do and he does not want to be trampled to death by the crowd. He takes advantage of the boat that the disciples have prepared to give himself some space. Unlike some ideas that people have of Jesus, he does not and will not “leap tall buildings with a single bound.” That is another character and not a real one.
Jesus is a very real person who is very special but not an unreal character. The prior sentence may sound like a bad translation of some original Greek, but what I mean is that he is divine but within human perimeters. Jesus is not some Superhero. He is a unique blend of human and divine. There are limits, and Mark’s Gospel, being the one that was written closest to the time of Jesus, reveals some of those limits. Jesus needs some protection from the crowds.
It is obvious from the text that Mark believes in “unclean spirits” or demons. At that time in history, it was thought that demons caused mental illness but today we would not want to equate mental illness with demon possession. It can be very destructive and alienating to those who suffer from mental illness to be told that they are in some way demon-possessed. Nowadays we understand that mental illnesses have biological and social bases, rather than spiritual ones.
Much speculation has been brought forth as to whether Jesus believes in demons. Would not the divine Son of God know better than to participate in the mentality of his time? We can see that he uses language that indicates his belief in demons. God allows Jesus to be a child of his time. Whatever the case, the important thing is that Jesus is healing people in body, mind and spirit.
Mark of course would not know to think in these terms. For Mark the demons simply represent the powers that Jesus has come to defeat. Those who know Star Wars imagery can easily acknowledge and recognize “the power of the dark side of the Force.” Jesus knows that there exists “a dark side” and he is well aware of the powers that bind, oppress, and exclude people. Today, demons may be thought of not as beings, but as anything which pushes against the healing, wholeness, justice, and love that God desires for individuals and for society as a whole.
In Mark’s dealing with demons, the demons are the ones who first recognize who Jesus is. Jesus tells them, in this case, not to “come out” but to “be quiet.” The demons are the strange light from the dark side which illuminates the outline of Jesus’ messiahship. The demons are the foil against which Jesus is first seen.
It almost seems that Jesus wants the demons to be silent so that they won’t spoil the surprise coming later. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ suffering and servant leadership are primary, not his miracle-workings or his titles. The fact that the crowds are following Jesus because of his actions demonstrates what kind of Messiah the people are looking for. They are attracted by his “magic wand.” The demons, by calling out that Jesus is the “Son of God,” are more in tune with what Jesus is really about.
I preached a sermon one time at a small, rural church I was serving. The congregation consisted for the most part of farming people with minimal formal education who had gone to textile mills to make a living when farming no longer provided an adequate way of life. My own education was, in part, a hindrance to my efforts to communicate with them. One Sunday I decided to preach about “demons.” I tried my best to show that today we need to understand the symbolic and metaphorical quality of demons in our own lives. To “name our demons” was the first step in allowing God to help us deal with them.
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