Jesus would cast out evil spirits in people. Do we have the same type of evil spirits in today’s world that are described in the Bible? If so, how are they cast out and if not, what stopped them?

                 I’ve been expecting this question ever since assigning Mark as the gospel to read.  I’m going to re-word your question in what I hope will be a friendly amendment.  If it isn’t then please re-ask it next week and be as specific as you can.  Here’s the rewording I’m going to work from:

What’s the deal with angels and demons in the book of Mark, and all this casting out of evil spirits?  Is that something I should be worried about as a Christian today? 

The book of Mark has many references to Jesus’ confrontation with those who are under the sway and power of demons/evil spirits.  The author of the book of Mark clearly wants you to know that there is no contest of power between Christ and the radical evil in the world.  It flees from the presence of the son of God.

From the beginning of the story of mankind in scripture there has always been mention of extra characters, the snake in the garden (Genesis 3), the angels who are sent by/or work for God (mentioned over 300 times in the bible), and the demons you mention in the gospel of Mark (even as early as chapter 1).  What is often frustrating to many Bible readers is the lack of information about them.  Scripture doesn’t give us their creation story, doesn’t give us an essay on how they work, and while there is reference in the Bible to some of them “falling”, we don’t have a play-by-play account of that story either.  Yet they seem to play an important role in the Old Testament, here they are in the New Testament – in Mark’s gospel, and in the book of Revelation (which speaks of future things) both angels and demons are mentioned.

This nebulous amount of information has been the cause of a lot of good study and scholarly work, a lot of informed speculation, and mixed in with all of that, frankly what I would consider to be a lot of guesswork by a variety of authors in church tradition.  To be quite honest, a lot of it makes for fascinating reading, but I won’t bore you with a long list of book reports.  Instead let me answer the question by saying that after having read a good amount and having at least a bit of experience working in the church, that no, I don’t think you need to worry about them.

In fact, I would argue that a position of “not worrying” may be the best answer to this question, and here are the reasons.  1)  There’s enough in the Bible to say that these ‘others’ do exist, but  2) There’s not enough in the Bible to explain in detail how they work, what their specific functions are, etc.  Sometimes scripture reads like demons have a sort of personality to them (Mark 5:1-20) and other times they seem to represent the spirit of something (Ephesians 6:10-20).  It is difficult to pin down what exactly is meant by that (one, or the other, or maybe both).  3) It is pretty safe to say, Biblically speaking that angels work for God, as disciples of Christ, we love God, God loves us, ergo—we don’t need to worry about angels,  4) I have yet to find a passage in scripture where a demon/devil/Satan-character wins in a contest against God.  The take-home lesson seems to be:  the closer we walk with God, the less we need to worry about whatever those things are.  5) All who have made a commitment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ walk in the way that leads to life, they try as best they can to stay as close to God as they can so…  they don’t need to worry about angels and demons.

Speaking for myself for a moment, there’s a reason why I don’t worry about these things.  And that is because  if I did worry, I imagine I would constantly want to know about spiritual beings.  I would read and read, and I would worry about whether I was in danger from evil spirits, and whether or not this or that person that I visited with was an angel.  If I did worry, I think I would be profoundly distracted from the two goals that Jesus sets out for us in the gospel of Mark:  to love God with everything we have, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:28-34).  Those goals have little to do with angels and demons, so I choose to let God do the caring about angels and demons instead of me.    Just to make this answer as clear as can be, choosing not to worry, and choosing to be ignorant are two different things.  I am not ignorant on the topic, but the topic remains a secondary concern.

I have had times, and know that there will be times in my ministry where I will be prompted to pray for someone’s protection, or to ask God to intervene when a situation seems supernaturally difficult.  In those times I unapologetically use the biblical language of casting out what does not belong.  But I trust that God will let me know when it is time to pray like that, and that Lord will provide the words when it is time to pray like that (honestly most of those words are provided in scripture anyway, so the more familiar we are with scripture, the better).  Adopting this attitude, I believe, best allows us to be about what is most important (loving God and loving neighbor).  It allows us to put the first things first in our walk of faith.

When you submit your questions about the Book of Mark that we are reading for Lent, answers will be posted weekly in the pastor’s blog.

In chapters 3 and 4, Jesus names His apostles but then refers to disciples. Is He talking about the same people or referring to disciples who aren’t part of the 12 apostles?

Let me start this one with a couple of definitions:

Disciple:  This was a common word in the first century.  It means someone who is devoted to a teacher or a particular philosophy.  You meet “disciples of John the Baptist,” “disciples of the Pharisees,” and “disciples of Jesus” in the gospel of Mark (Mk 2:18-22).  You could say the word means “follower” but I would be hesitant to do so because we may have diluted the word “follower” a bit in our society.  You can follow someone online with just a click of the mouse.  These disciples had truly devoted their lives to what they were following.  In the first century it was a life-changing decision to be a disciple, as it still is today for all who choose to be disciples of Christ.

Apostle:  At its heart, the word apostle means ‘messenger’ or ‘one who is sent’.  Which is why it makes sense to appear in Mark 6:30 as the twelve gather around Jesus (because Jesus sent them out in 6:7-13).  The ones who gathered to speak were the ones who were sent.  Later on in the New Testament you’ll find that Paul is a big fan of the word apostle and uses it a lot.  The book of Acts includes Paul and Barnabas in the list of apostles, but in the gospels it is usually referring to the twelve men chosen by Christ that we so often call the disciples.

Using the two words together:  Disciple seems to me to be a much more general word.  Both a disciple and an apostle are committed followers of Jesus Christ, they claim the sacrifice of God’s son for their salvation, and they are committed to live in the way of God, the way that Christ taught, the way that leads to life.  But an apostle is sent.  They are messengers of God’s way to others, missionaries, preachers, evangelists, etc.  Every apostle is a disciple, but not every disciple is an apostle.

Now, biblically speaking, it’s usually a safe assumption to say that when you read ‘apostle’ we’re talking about one of the twelve chosen by Christ.  There are exceptions to this (namely Paul), but in the gospel of Mark I think that’s a safe assumption.

The second part of your question though, about other people who were following Jesus but weren’t part of the 12 is really relevant, and I would say yes.  Sometimes when the word ‘disciples’ is used, I read it to mean more than just the 12 (Mk 2:15 for example).  Jesus called the 12 from the crowd that followed him.  All who follow the way of Christ, who accept the grace of God given through Christ are rightly called disciples of Christ.

When you submit your questions about the Book of Mark that we are reading for Lent, answers will be posted weekly in the pastor’s blog.

Elijah is mentioned nine times in Mark. Why was Elijah so important to the early Christians? Specifically, what does Mark 9:11 and 12 mean?

You bring up a great question here.  Elijah is not just important in Mark, but rather important in the Bible altogether.  He was an Old Testament prophet when Israel was a sovereign nation with its own kings.  God used Elijah to call the people back to faith, back to God, after they had wandered pretty far astray.  You can read about his story in 1 Kings chapter 17 all the way to the end of that book and into the first two chapters of the next book, 2 Kings.

In many ways Elijah set the bar for what a prophet is and what they are called to do.  Often standing alone, with no support other than God, often having to deliver very tough messages the people did not want to hear.  Often challenged, threatened with death and execution, and often a man through whom God works great wonders (pillars of fire, raising the dead, calling a 3 year drought, outrunning chariots, and more).

When you see the New Testament phrase “the Law and the Prophets” in the Bible, it is easily linked to two people:  Moses (to whom God gave the law in Exodus), and Elijah (the prophet through whom God worked so many Exodus-like wonders).   So in Mark 9 when you see the vision of a divine Christ in the story, He is supported by Moses and Elijah, and that provides a strong link to the Old Testament.

But that’s not all when it comes to Elijah.  The manner of his death (or lack thereof) is also crucial to the story.  He’s whisked up to heaven in a chariot of fire and a whirlwind in 2 Kings chapter 2, and there’s kind of a “what happened to him?” hanging question in the story.  Right as the Old Testament closes, in the words of the prophet Malachi (chapter 4), there is a promise that Elijah will return.   That promise was a big part of the list of expectations that first-century followers of God had when Christ arrived on the scene.

                Specifically in Mark 9:11-12, Christ is applying the expectation of Elijah to the person of John the Baptist, and there are a lot of links between the two.  John the Baptist had much the same responsibilities as Elijah (calling God’s people to faithfulness), his outfit was similar, both had times in the wilderness, and even meeting persecution or death from a queen-type character (Jezebel/Herodias).   There is, as usual, much more that can be said here, but I hope this has been a helpful introduction.  I encourage you to read the story of Elijah in the Old Testament.  It will enhance your reading of the gospel of Mark in some meaningful ways.

When you submit your questions about the Book of Mark that we are reading for Lent, answers will be posted weekly in the pastor’s blog.

We had a great comment this week about baptism, here is a part of what they shared:  “Here I was thinking Christians were the only ones that baptized but it hits me that John the baptist wasn’t a Christian when he was baptizing people.” 

That’s a great observation, and it brings up a neat point about baptism.  As we know it today, baptism in the United Methodist Church has strong links to more ancient practices, and this scene with John the Baptist in Mark 1 is one of the best places to point that out.

While the form of baptism we see in Mark 1 closely resembles Christian baptism, the meaning is both somewhat different and somewhat the same.  A better way to word it may be to say that the baptism that we practice now in the Christian church is a “more complete” version of what you see in Mark 1.  Even scripture makes a distinction between John’s baptism and later Christian baptisms (Acts 19:1-7).

But Mark 1 is not the first place you will find “something like baptism”.  Ceremonial washings were a practice in many ancient cultures.  Most of the commentaries I use make mention of the fact that the first-century Jewish community used a ceremonial washing for converts coming into the faith from a Gentile (non-Jewish) background and that John is using some form of that ceremony to call the crowd in Mark 1 to confess and repent.

This baptism that the gospel of Mark starts out with was similar in form but not completely the same meaning as our baptism because Christian baptism is rooted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in Mark chapter 1 those parts of the story have not all happened yet.  You begin to see the kinds of baptisms that are a part of our church life today, when the church itself begins to take shape in the book of Acts.

Today in the United Methodist Church we believe baptism to be much more than just a ceremony or ritual.  We call it a sacrament.  It is a necessary means of God’s grace, a part of our discipleship, and a powerful and meaningful interaction with the Holy Spirit.  There’s a great United Methodist resource called “By Water and the Spirit” (this link opens a PDF from the General Board of Discipleship website, www.gbod.org) that walks through baptism in much more detail should you have more specific questions.

Thanks for a great comment, and thanks for being the first to share online.