February 5, 2012

Mark 1:29-39

29As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Last week the scripture mentioned Jesus casting out an unclean spirit. One point which I did not emphasize was that the spirit which was cast out was unclean -- NOT evil. To the Hebrew, unclean simply meant that it was not pure... The spirit was not where it should have been. It was attached to a physical body which did not belong to it. But they may not have been evil. All of us can be called unclean, in that we have thoughts or perform actions which not pure in their intentions. That does not make us evil. It simply shows that time to time we do or think that which is not pure.

In today’s scripture, the word used is demon. In verse 32, the scripture tells us that people who were sick or were possessed with demons were brought to Jesus. The word used here, in Greek, refers to those who had a falling disease... i.e., were epileptic. They did not have another word for those who had epileptic seizures, but grouped them with those who were possessed by demons. But rather than just understand that these were all epileptic, the scripture goes on to say that Jesus cast out many demons, and would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. Here, the scripture is again talking about spirits which did not belong in the physical body of the individual. But here, the implication is that they had evil intentions.

Now I am going to share with you a little knowledge which has come to me through my own experience and from the experience of others. Since we are spirit, and only have the body in order to live this physical experience, when we die, we return to spirit. If our life was spent concentrating upon the physical world only, and all our attention was directed to the physical pleasures, objects, desires, etc., Then when we die, that spirit, which does not understand the non-physical world, only has one desire -- to continue to live in the physical. And to do this, the spirit will do things that it is not supposed to do... It will find a physical human being whose spiritual defenses are not very strong, due to illness, injury, depression, drug use, alcoholic abuse, etc., And that spirit will then attach itself to that individual and attempt to influence that individual into doing things which satisfy the attached spirit’s desires. Sometimes it is successful, sometimes the individual’s own spirit struggles with the attached spirit. It is this struggle for control of the body which sometimes results in what appears to be an epileptic seizure. This is what the scripture is referring to.

Now, I don’t want you to get frightened by this. We do not have reason to be afraid. The people in Jesus’s time had a much lower level of spiritual defenses than we have today. A unattached spirit of low energy cannot attached itself to a person with a higher resonance energy. They are incompatible. It is true that our spiritual energy goes up and down, depending upon our emotional attitudes, our physical health, our mental activity, etc. For example, anger lowers your spiritual energy. Fear lowers your spiritual energy, being extremely ill, lowers your spiritual energy, whereas loving one another raises that energy tremendously. Helping one another, keeping yourself physically fit and healthy... They all raise the level of spiritual energy. There is a good reason that religions try to tell people to learn to be more loving, or more compassionate. And this is also a good reason to keep physically fit.

We, in our society, on an average, have much more spiritual energy than did the average person during the time of Jesus. They were often poor and malnourished, they were always angry at anyone who was not like them, and believed in “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. They lived in fear of the authorities... And of the people in the next village. They were often overworked and tired physically. Their spiritual energy levels were much lower than those of today’s societies, and they were more susceptible to having an attached spirit with evil intentions. And while it is still possible today to find examples of attached evil spirits, it is much more likely that any attached spirit today will be one of a higher energy itself, and will attach itself for what it thinks is a good reason, and not to control the body. I have encountered those spirits which were just trying to help the individual, or were attracted to a new way of understanding which the individual person had. These attachments, while not for control or for evil purposes, never-the-less do influence the individual in some way which may cause that individual some problems in life.

The early Christians on a regular basis, helped one another to rid themselves of such attachments, and thus free themselves to do what God had in store for them. For any attached spirit weighs upon your own spirit and body. It is a burden which you carry with you without even knowing that it is there. -- I recently bought a 40 lb. bag of bird seed and carried it from the car into the house, and down into the basement. By the time I got to the basement, I was huffing and puffing. I used to carry that extra 40 lbs. around with me all the time, and did not notice how difficult it was. The extra burdens we carry around with us, known and unknown, need not be there because they only cause life to be more difficult.

Jesus said to the people, and to us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” -- Jesus wants us all to do the work which God has planned for us, and he did all he could while walking on this earth to lift the burdens -- whether it was physical illness or spiritual burdens - from as many as possible. Jesus found his strength in God ( while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.) so that he could continue to proclaim the message of freedom -- the good news of the kingdom of Heaven -- to all the people. And this is the good news -- that no matter whether it is the physical, the emotional, the mental or the spiritual aspects of life, Jesus can help us... He provided the way, the actions, for us to follow and to share with one another. Whether it be casting out of spirits, or healing the sick, or learning to love with an unconditional love, He has given it to us. It is up to us to accept his gift, and to lift ourselves and each other higher in spiritual awareness and energy.