Casting out demons (Mark 1)

A homily on Mark, chapter 1, verses 29 through 39.

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     In today's Gospel, Jesus is in Capernaum, teaching and healing. We are still in the first chapter of Mark's Gospel, in which Jesus announces his message -- the fulfilment of the time, and the coming of the Kingdom -- and in which he calls his first disciples: Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus also casts out demons and heals the sick. All this in a few verses in the beginning of Mark's Gospel.
     Today's reading is mostly about healing the sick, and casting out demons. We know very little about the illness of Simon's mother-in-law, except that she had a fever. The presence, and the mere touch of Jesus are all that are necessary to restore her to health. And the mere word of Jesus is all that is necessary to drive out a demon.
     What can we make of this story, in our period of scientific medicine and of modern psychiatry and psychology? Does our story have anything to say to us?
     Let us remember the context of our story, in the beginning of Mark's Gospel, when Jesus's first disciples answer his call and decide to follow him without hesitation. Clearly, Jesus is such a charismatic personality that he inspires trust and respect and belief. His ability to bring out such a response is what is behind the stories of healing and driving out demons. Jesus, like any good healer, is completely in tune with his hearers, is open to them, has such a capacity to hear, to see, to perceive the real problems of the people he is communicating with, that they trust him completely, and they allow the reality that he represents, that he personifies, to transform them. Illness and demon-possession (which we may also understand as mental disturbance or mental illness) are here responding to Jesus's healing touch and word. Jesus is helping the sick and the mad to reconnect with reality, with their true nature below the surface, as it were, of their symptoms. The stories say that the cures were immediate. This is in keeping with the theme of immediacy, which we hear of in the calling of the disciples.
     It seems to me that Jesus's power over the demons may be understood as an instance of what we may call the power of true, loving attention. Jesus clearly sees, and hears, what is in front of him, and he responds, quickly and decisively. His deep insight, very much greater and deeper than that of the people around him, makes this possible. This kind of attentiveness and insight are also typical of the best of modern medicine and psychiatry as well.
     We know that rapid, miraculous cures happen, even in our world. As we know, the Roman Church has an elaborate procedure to verify the cures attributed to the saints. And the great healing shrines are full of the evidence which grateful believers have left behind, of their cures. So, it seems to me, we must allow for the possibility of such cures. In any case, all healing, immediate or not, comes from God.
     "That evening, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons." How great the need is, in the Gospel story, of the people who heard of Jesus. And they respond to him, again without hesitation. And such is their trust, their belief in him, that he is able to help them. The Gospel goes on to say that "he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons." It seems to me that this suggests that many, but not all, diseases and demons, were healed or cast out. This matches our own reality, in which we know that not all diseases can be cured, and not all madness can be helped.
     In the second half of today's Gospel, Jesus goes out to a deserted place to pray. The four disciples go looking for Jesus, and eventually they find him. "Everyone is searching for you," they say. Jesus responds by saying, "let us go on to the neighboring towns." I can't decide whether this means that Jesus wants to see the people who are looking for him, or to escape from them! In any case, this reminds us how great the need is, for healing and wholeness, how great the need is, for people to return to, to find, that connection with reality which Jesus represents. Jesus, of course, responds by taking his message, and his healing power, around Galilee. I suspect that the people of Capernaum, where in Mark's Gospel, Jesus's teaching began, and where his first healing occurred, would like Jesus to stay with them permanently. But Jesus does not allow himself to be pinned down to any place or time. But Jesus is not the sole possession of any place or people or tribe or city, or of any church either. This beginning of his ministry in Capernaum quickly moves on to Galilee, and, ultimately, to the whole world.
     The immediacy of Jesus's call to his disciples, and the immediacy of their response to him, the immediacy of the cures of illness and madness, are reminders of the closeness and power of God's kingdom. May we all, when we hear the call of Jesus, in his word and healing power, respond with the trust, the faith, of the people of Capernaum.

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.