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“Devil/Evil”. Monday Meditation. 05/11/20. Alan Neale.
Trinity Church, Newport, RI

As I prepare to read the passage from Mark 3, I feel as if for many it will be like entering a theme park… confronted with bizarre and strange images made real, invited to participate in what our minds tell us is just not real. Well here goes,
Mark 3 19 Then he went home; 20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
In the first half of my parish ministry (about twenty years) it was not uncommon for me to be involved in exorcisms either of people or of places; this ministry continued with me in South Dakota and then (God knows why) there has been nothing similar since. This is not necessarily the exorcism of movies though some have uncomfortable aspects of realism about them.
But this work of dealing with evil is only one of the many forms in which we as Christians and as a Church must embrace the vocation to (in the words of our Baptismal vows) “renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces that rebel against God” and “renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God”.
Evil draws near in many forms and not only in the dramatic forms mentioned in the New Testament.
It is characteristic of evil to destroy, divide, distract and diminish and this is revealed as unwillingly many are subject to the evil of addiction; and this is revealed as abuse takes place at home, in the workplace; and this is revealed as abuse takes place on the grand scene of national life. Apparently when President Coolidge returned from church one day he was asked, “What was the preacher’s subject?”. “Sin,” said the president. “And what did he say about it?”. “He was agin it.” Whether it be sin or evil we are called to be “agin it” and to rescue ourselves, our churches, our families, our nation from its unquenchable desire to destroy, divide, distract and diminish.

Look at today’s passage… destroy (“the householder’s end has come, the house is plundered”), divide (“a house divided against itself cannot stand”), distract (yet again the religious leaders propose questions that seek to distract from the mission) and diminish (“the people were saying ‘He is gone out of his mind’”).
John 10:10 “He/Jesus has come that they/we might have life and have it in abundance”; this mission is undertaken to edify rather than destroy, to unite rather than divide, to focus rather than distract and to enhance rather than diminish.
In Holy Scripture the Devil has many names (Satan, Destroyer, Beelzebul [Lord of Flies], the Accuser). As I reflect on over 40 years of pastoral ministry the majority of pastoral healing has been evoked to deal with those who hear voices of “accusation” even from years past in their lives, or from a current sense of failure. This is evil and should be named and in its place poured lavishly the affirming, accepting, active of God for any and all individuals.
In February 1942 Professor C.S.Lewis published “The Screwtape Letters”. The language now is a little dated but the thrust of his purpose is as (maybe much, much more so) in 2020 as in 1942. They are a wry, authentic account of how the “patient” (man/woman) is deviously, subtly tempted to do harm to selves and to others. It’s still worth a read and many smiles and knowing nods!
I end with the opening verse of today’s passage Mark 3:19 “Jesus comes home”. Have some real sense of sympathy for the man who looks to his home (meaning both building and family) for some rest and affirmation and then… finds little. But, of course, as the Baptism once affirmed, and the Transfiguration will affirm again, Jesus is the Beloved of God, with whom God is well pleased.
The first sermon I ever preached in Trinity Church (January 1991) was on this theme of required, needed, empowering divine affirmation. As then so probably even more now… this we need to hear above all other voices.