Casting Out Silence
Our men's group has been reading and discussing Walter Brueggemann's book "Interrupting the Silence, God's Command to Speak Out." Each chapter focuses on a different biblical text which demonstrates Brueggemann's premise that silence oppresses, and speaking out leads to human liberation. The speaking out unleashes God's power to act.
In our last discussion we considered the story in Mark 9:14-29 about a father distraught over his son who comes to Jesus saying, "He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so" (Mark 9:17-18). We acknowledged that we and our protestant/reformed religious tradition are not comfortable with exorcism. I generally avoid talking about demons and evil spirits and focus rather on God, the Holy Spirit, the holy and good instead of dwelling on the evil and bad side of things. That does not mean that our tradition or I deny the reality of evil, demons, dark spirits.
Our first reaction to this story was to recognize that the father's description of his son's symptoms closely match what we know as epilepsy and grand mal seizures. If you've ever witnessed or experienced one, you know they are scary. Our 21st Century understanding of anatomy and medicine is far from that of the first century.
This story is about faith, prayer and fasting, and Jesus power to heal. It's also gives a rare window into Jesus' annoyance with his disciples who don't get it. His frustration I think is heightened here because he has begun to head toward Jerusalem, which he knew would lead to his passion. The very next verses (v. 30-31) are his second time telling the disciples of his coming passion. Time was running out for their training. School was about over. He would not be with them much longer. They would have to carry on the ministry he had begun.
Like the first disciples, we still often don't get it. We get lost in the mystery of God and God's power and confused and sometimes disheartened when we can't control God, when our prayers don't produce what we want, when we want it. The power and efficacy of prayer gets jumbled up for us with doubt and guilt of not having enough or the right kind of faith. We shy from suffering for the sake of ushering in God's reign of blessing. God's Easter triumph over death is jumping ahead of the story, but God not only raises Jesus to life again, but us, too!
The scribes, the religious professionals, show up in this story. Ignoring the boy, their only concern was who or what caused this ailment, and like Job's friends assumed someone had done something wrong. Jesus ignores the scribes question and focuses on the distraught father.
Brueggemann point's to a sermon by Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack at a Children Defense Fund Conference. "McCormack is an African American professor who was speaking to a mostly African American congregation who got his point very quickly. McCormack took the 'muteness" of the boy in our narrative as a figure for the 'muteness' to which African Americans have been subjected and reduced in U.S. society. The image of muteness (silence) meant for McCormack the actions, attitudes, and policies of white racism that have robbed African Americans of their capacity to speak, or live, or grow in their own future. Thus an African American, for all too long, could not speak until spoken to, could not look a white person directly in the eye, could not stay in town after dark, could not remain on the sidewalk where a white person wanted to walk, could not vote, could not enjoy the freedoms of American democracy, and could not benefit from the wealth of American capitalism...in sum, 'Could not!' This long term assault on African Americans in our society, so McCormack saw and said, was caused by the 'spirit' of racism in all of its violent power, a spirit that robbed too many for too long of speech and of life. It is not a far stretch from the outcomes of the 'spirit' of racism to imagine being cast into 'the fire and into the water' to be destroyed (v. 22), to be reduced to foaming, grinding, and becoming rigid with fear (v. 18). (Chapter 5)
With Brueggemann, I find McCormack's reading of this text "powerfully compelling." McCormack names the evil spirit which has been embedded in American society and culture which Martin Luther King, Jr., among many others, rose up to exorcise. He did so by refusing to be silent, when he was supposed to bow his head and look at his shoes. When he went to Birmingham, the white clergy publicly told him he should stay in Atlanta and mind his own business, in essence saying, "be silent." McCormack's reading of this story in scripture explains the sometimes uncivil behaviors of those who have been dehumanized for decades and centuries.
King interrupted the silence. America responded and has come a long way. But resistance has raised it's head again. When a black family moved into the white house, any thing Barack Obama wanted was anathema to some and to be defeated, irregardless of its benefit to the nation. He was charged as illegitimate, unAmerican. When Colin Kaepernick and NFL players took a knee in protest to the killing of black boys and men on the street, they were told to shut up. Kaepernick, a top quarterback, is still unemployed by NFL teams. When black lives matter marches hit the streets, the response was reminiscent of slaves being told by overseers "I don't want to hear your lip. Stay in your place." We like to think that racism has been dealt with, but it hasn't. People of good will, people of faith must listen to and stand with those who have long been silenced, break the silence which exposes the debilitating oppression. We must learn to recognize and identify laws, rules, policies and customs embedded in our institutions, including the church and then exorcise them.
This message resounds as we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Day, and as we approach black history month in February. But the same can be true for women who were supposed to remain silent in church, when men talked politics, to stay at home, stay in their place. As Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened to break that glass ceiling, resistant spirit greeted her as first lady. Stay in the East Wing, don't mess with public policy. And then as she ran for president the frenzied chant boiled to "Lock her up!" She doesn't know her place. Shut your face. Stay silent. Stay a diminished self.
We have seen the same dynamic for LGBTQ persons. They've been told, "Be who you are, but shut up, stay silent. We don't want to hear or know about you. Stay in the closet. Stay your diminished self." While we can see how this has led figuratively to foaming of the mouth, grinding of the teeth, and becoming rigid.
Brueggemann concludes, "If we read backward from McCormack's compelling interpretation to the time of Jesus, we may receive the answer to the scribal question (who/what caused this?) The boy is not undone by his sin nor by the sin of his father. The boy is ruthlessly reduced to silence by the imposing order of authoritarian religion by the imperial requirement of Rome, by the pressure to conform, by the lack of freedom to embrace emancipated humanness." (Chapter 5)
Bob Poel pointed out the power of those four clauses: religious authority, government, society/peer pressure, culture. That's the cause. None of these are bad or evil in and of themselves. But like power itself, they each can be used for good or evil. People of good will must learn to recognize and identify laws, rules, policies and customs embedded in our institutions, including the church, which diminish, disempower and silence persons. Then change them. Followers of Jesus are called to do so, because it's what Jesus did. And that we call exorcism, CASTING OUT THE SILENCE.
In our last discussion we considered the story in Mark 9:14-29 about a father distraught over his son who comes to Jesus saying, "He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so" (Mark 9:17-18). We acknowledged that we and our protestant/reformed religious tradition are not comfortable with exorcism. I generally avoid talking about demons and evil spirits and focus rather on God, the Holy Spirit, the holy and good instead of dwelling on the evil and bad side of things. That does not mean that our tradition or I deny the reality of evil, demons, dark spirits.
Our first reaction to this story was to recognize that the father's description of his son's symptoms closely match what we know as epilepsy and grand mal seizures. If you've ever witnessed or experienced one, you know they are scary. Our 21st Century understanding of anatomy and medicine is far from that of the first century.
This story is about faith, prayer and fasting, and Jesus power to heal. It's also gives a rare window into Jesus' annoyance with his disciples who don't get it. His frustration I think is heightened here because he has begun to head toward Jerusalem, which he knew would lead to his passion. The very next verses (v. 30-31) are his second time telling the disciples of his coming passion. Time was running out for their training. School was about over. He would not be with them much longer. They would have to carry on the ministry he had begun.
Like the first disciples, we still often don't get it. We get lost in the mystery of God and God's power and confused and sometimes disheartened when we can't control God, when our prayers don't produce what we want, when we want it. The power and efficacy of prayer gets jumbled up for us with doubt and guilt of not having enough or the right kind of faith. We shy from suffering for the sake of ushering in God's reign of blessing. God's Easter triumph over death is jumping ahead of the story, but God not only raises Jesus to life again, but us, too!
The scribes, the religious professionals, show up in this story. Ignoring the boy, their only concern was who or what caused this ailment, and like Job's friends assumed someone had done something wrong. Jesus ignores the scribes question and focuses on the distraught father.
Brueggemann point's to a sermon by Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack at a Children Defense Fund Conference. "McCormack is an African American professor who was speaking to a mostly African American congregation who got his point very quickly. McCormack took the 'muteness" of the boy in our narrative as a figure for the 'muteness' to which African Americans have been subjected and reduced in U.S. society. The image of muteness (silence) meant for McCormack the actions, attitudes, and policies of white racism that have robbed African Americans of their capacity to speak, or live, or grow in their own future. Thus an African American, for all too long, could not speak until spoken to, could not look a white person directly in the eye, could not stay in town after dark, could not remain on the sidewalk where a white person wanted to walk, could not vote, could not enjoy the freedoms of American democracy, and could not benefit from the wealth of American capitalism...in sum, 'Could not!' This long term assault on African Americans in our society, so McCormack saw and said, was caused by the 'spirit' of racism in all of its violent power, a spirit that robbed too many for too long of speech and of life. It is not a far stretch from the outcomes of the 'spirit' of racism to imagine being cast into 'the fire and into the water' to be destroyed (v. 22), to be reduced to foaming, grinding, and becoming rigid with fear (v. 18). (Chapter 5)
With Brueggemann, I find McCormack's reading of this text "powerfully compelling." McCormack names the evil spirit which has been embedded in American society and culture which Martin Luther King, Jr., among many others, rose up to exorcise. He did so by refusing to be silent, when he was supposed to bow his head and look at his shoes. When he went to Birmingham, the white clergy publicly told him he should stay in Atlanta and mind his own business, in essence saying, "be silent." McCormack's reading of this story in scripture explains the sometimes uncivil behaviors of those who have been dehumanized for decades and centuries.
King interrupted the silence. America responded and has come a long way. But resistance has raised it's head again. When a black family moved into the white house, any thing Barack Obama wanted was anathema to some and to be defeated, irregardless of its benefit to the nation. He was charged as illegitimate, unAmerican. When Colin Kaepernick and NFL players took a knee in protest to the killing of black boys and men on the street, they were told to shut up. Kaepernick, a top quarterback, is still unemployed by NFL teams. When black lives matter marches hit the streets, the response was reminiscent of slaves being told by overseers "I don't want to hear your lip. Stay in your place." We like to think that racism has been dealt with, but it hasn't. People of good will, people of faith must listen to and stand with those who have long been silenced, break the silence which exposes the debilitating oppression. We must learn to recognize and identify laws, rules, policies and customs embedded in our institutions, including the church and then exorcise them.
This message resounds as we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Day, and as we approach black history month in February. But the same can be true for women who were supposed to remain silent in church, when men talked politics, to stay at home, stay in their place. As Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened to break that glass ceiling, resistant spirit greeted her as first lady. Stay in the East Wing, don't mess with public policy. And then as she ran for president the frenzied chant boiled to "Lock her up!" She doesn't know her place. Shut your face. Stay silent. Stay a diminished self.
We have seen the same dynamic for LGBTQ persons. They've been told, "Be who you are, but shut up, stay silent. We don't want to hear or know about you. Stay in the closet. Stay your diminished self." While we can see how this has led figuratively to foaming of the mouth, grinding of the teeth, and becoming rigid.
Brueggemann concludes, "If we read backward from McCormack's compelling interpretation to the time of Jesus, we may receive the answer to the scribal question (who/what caused this?) The boy is not undone by his sin nor by the sin of his father. The boy is ruthlessly reduced to silence by the imposing order of authoritarian religion by the imperial requirement of Rome, by the pressure to conform, by the lack of freedom to embrace emancipated humanness." (Chapter 5)
Bob Poel pointed out the power of those four clauses: religious authority, government, society/peer pressure, culture. That's the cause. None of these are bad or evil in and of themselves. But like power itself, they each can be used for good or evil. People of good will must learn to recognize and identify laws, rules, policies and customs embedded in our institutions, including the church, which diminish, disempower and silence persons. Then change them. Followers of Jesus are called to do so, because it's what Jesus did. And that we call exorcism, CASTING OUT THE SILENCE.
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