Exorcisms key part of Jesus’ ministry
Driving out the devil essential to living in God’s kingdom
Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 7, 2021
Job 7.1-4, 6-7 | Psalm 147 | 1 Corinthians 9.16-19, 22-23 | Mark 1.29-39
In the progressive Western world, one rarely hears mention of the devil, demons or evil. Those are presumably vestiges of a superstitious past. Problems today can be better met with good doses of science and technology.
Thus, it was surprising to read of Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez of San Salvador asking the people of El Salvador to pray for “liberation from Satan,” in the wake of rising political violence in the country. "The devil is running loose in El Salvador; there are many demons on the loose," Rosa Chavez said in a Feb. 1 homily.
The cardinal sounds a lot like Jesus, especially the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel. Mark contains 16 references to demons and four stories about Jesus casting out demons. Only one of those stories is contained in the three-year Sunday Lectionary so a person could be excused for not noticing the profusion of references to demons in Mark.
The one exorcism story that did make it into the Lectionary was last Sunday’s Gospel, and this coming Sunday the Gospel includes three more references to demons. Jesus spent much of his Galilean ministry casting out demons.
Scott Peck, the psychiatrist whose book People of the Lie outlines his theories of evil and demonic possession, wrote that possession is extremely rare. Peck searched high and low for cases of possession to research and found only two. Yet, for Jesus, the devil seems to have always been in the vicinity. Perhaps demons sought out the Son of God in order to try gain power over him. However, I doubt that. The devil knows that its power is no match for that of God.
Anthropologists have apparently discerned that increased frequency of demonic possession is found where there is political oppression, social deprivation and rapid social change, factors present in first century Galilee. Those factors are also present in current-day El Salvador. Truth be told, they are present to some degree in every nation.
Through Jesus’ exorcisms, the kingdom of Satan is being defeated and the kingdom of God established. If all this is true, demonic possession would seem to have a socio-political aspect to it. Greater social justice is part of preventing the spread of demons.
But it’s more than that. In two of Jesus’ exorcisms (7.24-30; 9.14-29), the healing only occurs after the parents of possessed children proclaim their faith in Jesus. The possessed are unable to make declarations of faith so their parents express faith, and that is enough for Jesus to heal their children. Further, Jesus could do “no deed of power” when faith was lacking (6.5-6).
Casting out demons was, for Jesus, crucial to “building” the kingdom of God. The kingdom cannot be established if dark, evil forces hold sway over individuals and society. Our inclination today is to build the kingdom by creating dynamic forces in society which bring justice and help people in need.
But if we want God’s kingdom, not some human facsimile, we start by giving thanks and praise to God. We ought also to drive out the devil whose ways are subtle and not easily detected. We should avoid looking for the devil behind every door. But when faith in God is disintegrating, psychological confusion is widespread, and millions of people believe irrational conspiracy theories, we do well to recall the devil’s power and then take our rosaries in hand.