B Cycle – 4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 23

Mk. 1:21-28

There is an interesting movie released recently about a man “possessed” by a demon.  It is creepy because the man possessed is condemned to die and is being examined by a psychiatrist to determine if he is sane or insane.  If he is declared insane, he will avoid execution, but the demon wants the man to be executed so it can be free to possess another individual.  The movie has this demon speaking to the psychiatrist and revealing its hatred for humans and the desire of its master to destroy God’s greatest creation – humans.  The movie reveals how subtle temptations are offered to us and how easily we surrender to its lure.  We are offered moments of pleasure or for something material that will enhance our status.    

Why is the knowledge of some force determined to destroy our relationship with God important for us to understand?  Because we ignore or reject the reality of the devil.  The latest surveys show a large percent of professed Christians (40%) do not believe the devil exists.  Another twenty percent somewhat agree evil exists, but it is not a force that is opposed to God.  On top of that we deceive ourselves into believing our sinful actions are separating us from God. There is a proverb which states, “there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Pro. 16:25).  Is there a force that is actively deceiving us with its lies?       

We cannot deny evil exists in the world because we see its impact on people, cities, states, and countries every day.  We do not have to look any further than the attack on Israel by Hammas. The brutality inflicted on innocent men, women, children. What they did that day in October should make us all sick to our stomachs. Men were forced to watch as their daughters and wives were raped and killed.  Mothers forced to watch their babies beheaded or placed in ovens screaming as they were slowly died.  Yet we hear prominent people telling us those barbaric acts were justified.  

Evil will always lie to us, but this time Hammas wanted to world to see what they did.  They placed videos of their atrocities on the internet and still people deny the description of their acts as evil and depraved.  In American cities we heard people defending their actions.  Acts so sickening we wonder how anyone can do such things and say they were justified. Evil always lies to us because it wants to destroy any sense of morality and accountability to God.

We easily avoid is the truth of the gospel telling us we are in a struggle with powers and principalities. A force which desires to destroy our moral compass and that part of us made in the image of God.  Yes, evil exists although the surveys show many Christians do not believe Satan.  We profess a belief in a merciful God who restores us, welcomes us, and seeks to strengthen us in holiness. 

The scriptures tell us God is always willing to restore us but that also means we need to admit we need restoring.  It means we have done something to destroy the relationship we had with God by sinning by what we do and what we fail to do.  John in his epistle tells us “All unrighteousness is sin’ and sin leads to death and separation from God.”  However, Christ came to overcome sin and evil. Again, we need to admit evil is attempting to draw us away from God. However, we to remember we have a savior who died to remove the barrier between us and God.  John the disciple tells us, “…we know the one born of God sins, but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.  We know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn.5:18-19).  
                                                                                                                                              Satan is constantly trying to convince us he is a myth.  We somehow have separated the evil man inflicts on itself is just sick, depraved individuals.  But their actions are motivated by a force that is at work to separate us from God.  Satan uses small insignificant sins more often than tempting us into the big news making type of sin.  Sin is sin, gossip can destroy lives as much as a gun can destroy lives.  Convincing arguments about small sins are not harmful to us does not change the fact that they do separate us from God.  Envy, slander, pride, malice, and sloth destroys lives and families just as often as adultery, drugs, or pornography.

All sin springs up from a desire created within us by a lie.  That lie promises us something that seems good but, in the end, it draws us into submission of our will and away from God.  That lie is the “tree in the center of the garden” inviting us to eat its fruit. Just as Adam and Eve fell for the lie, we believe it will be different and we experience the same fate.  Immediately they realized they sinned, and they hid from God.  We too hide from God by clothing ourselves in righteousness and pretend all is well. 

But all is not well because “all sin separates us from God.”  It puts a barrier between God.  It becomes a great wall which prevents God from touching our hearts.  Sin prevents the us from appropriating the grace of His death and resurrection to restore us and our relationship with God.  It dictates to us a concept that tells us we are unworthy, and we are unable to change how we live our lives. 

Until we learn how to allow God’s forgiveness to heal our wounds and change how we see ourselves we are easily deceived by the lies. We need to admit our need to receive not only the grace of forgiveness given to us by the death and resurrection of Jesu but also seek the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. 

The fulfillment of the promise of God to send the Spirit to us to change our hearts and our minds about sin and our ability to overcome all temptation.  We were created for holiness not sinfulness and the infilling of the Spirit is God equipping for holiness.  We have been given the ability to become the image of Jesus Christ by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.  We can sand in righteousness not by our effort but by the power of God available to us by the death of Jesus and the Spirit who dwells within us.