Reflections on Mark's Gospel - Mark 1:25

Jesus' Rebuke

I have not had a direct experience of demon possession. I have never seen anyone possessed by a spirit, nor have I seen an exorcism. But Mark records for one episode, which is supposed to provide a glimpse into the nature of Jesus' whole ministry. And exorcism was common a enough element of Jesus' ministry for Mark to include it in his summary statement in Mar_1:34.

The words that the unclean spirit spoke in the previous verse contain no obvious factual errors. Jesus is from Nazareth. He has nothing in common with the unclean spirit. He is the Holy One of God. He has come to destroy the works of Satan.

But in response to the spirit's questions, Jesus offers no answers. He does not engage with the unclean spirit. He does not use reason.

Jesus acts with clear authority. He rebukes the unclean spirit. What does that mean? The Gk word meaning includes admonish or censure. He is clearly speaking as a superior to an inferior being. What right does this rebellious spirit have to question the Holy One of God? None at all. Jesus puts the spirit in its place.

And he also refuses to let it speak. The word translated "be quiet" is a much stronger term - more akin to "shut up" or "put a sock in it" (but less colloquial). This rebellious spirit has not right to challenge the Messiah (who has just withstood the assault of Satan in the wilderness), and anything he say will potentially cause observers to stumble, undoing all the good work of Jesus' preaching.

And then Jesus demontrated the climax of his authority over the unclean spirit by ordering it to leave the body of the man.

The episode informs the summary in Mar_1:34 (where is says that Jesus did not permit the unclean spirits to speak 'because the knew him").

This may point to Mark's theme of the "messianic secret". This is because the unclean spirit in this episode was able to correctly identify Jesus. But it may also point to the damage done by an untrustworthy witness, even when they speak the truth.

A useful thing to think about here is how this episode informs our attitude to those outside the kingdom. My default approach is to engage with people outside the kingdom and look to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ and encourage them to respond to that good news. But in this episode Jesis is not sharing with people whose eternal destiny is at stake. He is confronted by a rebellious spirit for whom there is no good news. Jesus does not engage with this spirit, debate it or try to prove it wrong. He simply rebukes, quietens and casts it out. There is no point in us debating with Satan. He is simply to be resisted and turned from.

I have encountered some people who hold different beliefs to me who I can engage with in a positive way and develop appropriate dialogue with the hope of persuading them to change their mind. There are others who are fixed in their opinions and with whom any engagement is a waste of time. The best course of action then is simply to dismiss them.