Jesus as Teacher and Exorcist: The value of being an "unanxious presence" Year B, 4 Epiphany: Mark 1:21-28 February 2, 2003 The Rev. Elizabeth H. Wheatley, Chaplain Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Mark 1:21-28 Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when they Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribe. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 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." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him." And the unclean spirit, convulsing and crying with a loud voice, came out him. They 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." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. In today's Gospel for the 4th Sunday of Epiphany, the manifestations continue with Jesus being manifest as a teacher and an exorcist. A teacher and an exorcist? [It is likely that any number of teachers would be grateful for training in the art and practice of exorcism, especially when it comes to dealing with some of their more demonic students.] Perhaps a better way of saying it would be that today's Gospel points to the transforming power of Jesus' teaching as a "a new teaching - with authority" -- Transforming, Authoritative Teaching. What is so new, transforming and authoritative about Jesus' teaching? Mark's back to the basics approach to telling the Gospel story is not especially helpful in providing clues as to what Jesus' taught or even how he taught; however, that the people were "astounded" and "amazed" provides a level of subjective affirmation. But even more telling is the way Jesus as a teacher is able to go with the flow and to deal with issues as they arise in an immediate manner without losing his cool. By remaining an unanxious presence, Jesus transforms a potentially explosive encounter into a teachable moment and creates a space for liberation and renewal, liberation for the man with the unclean spirit and renewal for the people. Consider the situation, Jesus and his companions go to the synagogue. Jesus begins to teach the people. In the middle of his teaching, a man with an unclean spirit interrupts with questions and challenges to Jesus' authority. Even though he acknowledges Jesus' authority as "the Holy One of God," his manner is unruly and disrespectful. Yet, Jesus does not falter in fear and frustration. He does not step down. He does not leave the synagogue. Nor does he turn on the man and attack him, verbally or physically. He remains calm and addresses the "unclean spirit" by saying, "Be silent and come out of him." He does not banish the man. He banishes the "unclean spirit." Jesus does not objectify the situation such that the man is demonized and equated with the "unclean spirit." He distinguishes between the man and the "unclean spirit." He remains present with the man while liberating him from the "unclean spirit." And the people are amazed. They, too, are liberated and renewed. This may sound simplistic. Or maybe we justify the story by saying, "Well, Jesus could perform miracles. That's how he made the unclean spirit go away." But, I think such an explanation would leave us with little to learn. So, I want to encourage a new way of hearing the story, a new way of learning, one which may prove to be transforming and liberating for us, as well. The new authority with which Jesus teaches is the authority of love. It is not magic or supernatural, it is love. It is the authority of love - engagement, connectedness - that allows him to remain present, to value the encounter and to place the relationship with the man and with the community before whatever he had originally intended to teach and before his own fears and frustrations. The way he values the face-to-face relationship gives him the integrity to be an unanxious presence, a transformational presence. Rather than receiving the man's questions and challenges as a real threat to his own security and lashing out in reciprocal anger, Jesus remains with the man and sees the man, the person, beyond the "unclean spirit", whatever the "unclean spirit" may have been - beyond mental illness, beyond anger, beyond addiction, beyond misunderstanding, beyond arrogance, beyond frustration and overwhelming fear. The authority of love allows Jesus, the teacher, not to be afraid of questioning and conflict, not to be consumed by the threat, and not to act out in fear. Even in instances where Jesus appears to lose his cool, as with the encounter with the moneychangers at the temple, Jesus overturns the tables and the money, not the people. He is able to distinguish between the people and their damaging behavior, between the man and the "unclean spirit." By so doing, by making the distinction, Jesus provides an opportunity for liberation, an opening for connectedness and love, a way to encounter Holiness. With this teaching and this learning about the transformational power of Jesus' teaching and the authority of love, I would like to move us into a larger arena and consider what it means for us as a people under the threat of war, as nation and a world struggling to discern a course of action in times that are mighty anxious and fearful. In his book The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer commented on this very issue from the perspective of the risk of objectification. He contrasts modern warfare with war and conflicts that were fought up close, subjectively, face to face. He says, "The cruelties of modern warfare are another outcome of objectivity run amok, just as the cruelties of the witch-hunt were the consequence of subjectivity gone mad." [Modern] technology "allows us to do violence to others at distances that keep us safe…" And we find ourselves "grateful… for the capacity to kill at great remove."1 This is not to devalue objectivity nor to say it is inherently wrong or evil, it is to place it in perspective and to recognize the importance of distinguishing between the person and the affliction or the people and the offense. Objectivity may run amok and subjectivity may go mad, but some degree of subjectivity and face to face encounter is required to prevent us from banishing a person or an entire people from the world community. It is this subjectivity, this extension of the authority of love - this willingness to remain with the man with the unclean spirit, face to face, and to maintain an unanxious presence - that I see as authoritative and transformational in Jesus' teaching. This model of teaching provided by Jesus, teacher as exorcist or teacher as unanxious presence, is a model which invites the students - the disciples, the crowds, the reader, and us - into a new place with a new authority. As a pastor, as teachers, as leaders, as a community, we are invited and encouraged to see the value of striving to be an unanxious presence and to create a space like the "synagogue" in which Jesus' taught: a space where questions and challenges are welcome; a space where we are not afraid to express our anger and our fear; a space where we can be assured that we will not be banished; a space where we can be seen for who we are, not how we feel, not how we behave, not how we react in difficult situations; a space where we can be seen and we can see others as beloved children of God. For it is in such a space - and only in such an unanxious and unreactionary space - where our "our madness can come face to face with the holiness of Jesus" and the authority of love can transform us - liberate us from fears, anger, arrogance, oppression, brokenness - and make us a new people.2 May God's holy and life-giving Spirit so move every human heart, that through our face to face encounters with one another and with the holiness of Christ, the barriers of fear, suspicion, anger, hatred, and misunderstanding may crumble, that we and all of God's people may remain with one another, that we may be liberated from our "unclean spirits" and that we may live in justice and peace. Amen. 1 Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach, p. 53. 2 William Loader, First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages from the Lectionary, Epiphany 4: 2 February Mark 1:21-28 from an internet resource, The Text This Week, www.textweek.com