Evil in a Holy Place?

 This is the message I sent to the people of St. Timothy regarding this coming Sunday's gospel.

Gospel: Mark 1:21-28

21[Jesus and his disciples] went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried 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.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. What differentiated his teaching from the scribes’? It was the authority with which Jesus taught. I suspect the scribes were so focused on every detail of the law, of every action, and how it must be done that, compared to Jesus, their teaching was bleak.

There are certain places where we expect to have peace and quiet. One of them should be a place of worship, like a church or synagogue. How disruptive this man with the demon must have been! People are focused on Jesus, and then this happens. 

What was Jesus’ response to this attention-grabbing away from God’s Word? Jesus looks past the disruptive behavior and sees the man in need. He loves him and heals him. To be in a love relationship with our God is to be healed. 

One would think that a sanctuary would be a safe place to be. It wasn’t for the people in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. Bible study in the sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, SC, was not a safe place to be as congregants and the pastor were killed. Closer to us is the example of the quiet and peace of the Chautauqua Institution being shattered as speaker Salman Rushdie was attacked. 

A sanctuary should be a safe place to be, but it isn’t necessarily. Where can we find peace and safety? There is only one truly safe place. It is found in the Word of God, in Christ. As the old hymn says, “On Christ the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand” (My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #596). In the arms of the great I AM, there is no room for the devil, who seeks to steal, kill and destroy. In Christ, we find abundant life. (John 10:10).

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