As we continue in our season of Epiphany, a season of pointing to Jesus’ divinity, we come to a story that reveals Jesus’ authority when, on the Sabbath day in Capernaum, he enters a synagogue in Mark 1:21-28. Here we see that Jesus teaches in a way that astounds his listeners, teaching them things not as the scribes have done. And from this place Jesus encounters a person with an unclean spirit.
Now our scripture may not be a story we might choose to associate with. For we do not automatically see someone and wonder if they have clean or unclean spirits. This story may even have connotations of demonic spirits or Satan himself. And if we believe this unclean spirit is Satan, which in Hebrew means to oppose or to act as an adversary, we might begin to relate with this man in the synagogue. For the term adversary actually refers to that voice we have in our minds: the voice that tells us that we are not good enough; the voice that tells us to live in fear to protect our hearts; the voice that tells us that love is too risky to share; the voice that replays scenarios over and over again in our minds so that we continue to live in fear; the voice that says our bodies are bad; and the voice that echoes sentiments of our western culture, saying our ageing bodies are bad.
I believe it is this voice that is within this man with an unclean spirit. In fact, it is this voice that tries to defend and rationalize Jesus’ teaching as he cries 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.” And just like the adversary in our own minds, often what it has to say is reasonable and rationale. Which is why it is easy to fall into the trap of listening to it.
However, Jesus’ response doesn’t acknowledge the questions of this person but rather, commands the adversary to “be silent and come out.” It is as if Jesus knew the power of the mind. A power that cannot be undermined with an answer to his questions. So Jesus, instead, silences him – stopping the adversary in its tracks – and tells it to come out through the body. At once the adversary comes out through a visceral and physical response: through convulsions and loud cries.
And I wonder if this was the new teaching that the people at the synagogue were talking about. A teaching not of words, as the scribes would teach, but of silencing our minds and healing through listening to our bodies? We are not told what Jesus taught – and perhaps this was because it was a teaching that couldn’t be repeated. Perhaps it was a teaching of presence, of meditation, of prayer and silence as everyone listened to the immense wisdom of their own bodies. And perhaps this person with an unclean spirit, finally understood the wisdom everyone else was on about, when he felt the convulsions, the cries and wisdom of his own body.
So perhaps this story feels closer to home after all. How many times has your mind led you into dark thoughts, reasoning, rationalizing and convincing you to live in fear or to live in anger? When is the last time you have been honest with your emotions, when you have shared your grief or anger in prayer? And when you have exhausted yourself from rationalizing your thoughts, have you sat in its silence, let your attention onto your body, and listened to her speak?
The voice of God is not stuff of dramatized movies, with a voice booming from the heavens or from any preacher or teacher you will ever encounter. The voice of God is in the silent place, when you turn your awareness to the wisdom of your own body. Only then will you understand Jesus’ teaching.
by Rev Alisha 
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