This Tuesday, we continue our reading of Richard Beck’s book Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for Doubters and the Disenchanted. We will discuss Chapter 3, “Jesus the Exorcist,” and Chapter 4, “The White Witch.”
Jesus the Exorcist: (pp. 29-34)
If you remember, during Epiphany last year, we looked at how the early church saw God manifested in the person of Jesus using the hymn Songs of Thankfulness and Praise. During one of those weeks, we went through Mark’s Gospel and how Mark primarily saw Jesus as an exorcist and a healer. For Mark, Jesus is the one who does battle on our behalf against the spiritual hosts of wickedness to free us from this present evil age. You can review our discussions here and here.
Most scholars consider Mark the earliest Gospel written. Therefore, for the early church, the existence of Satan – “the personification of all that is adversarial to the kingdom and people of God” (p.8) – is not only taken as a given but is the primary point of the Jesus story. Exorcisms and spiritual warfare were not just a side hustle for Jesus but were the very heart of Jesus’ ministry and the focal demonstration of his kingdom proclamation. p.32. We also recently discussed in our study of Luke how exorcisms were central to Jesus’ Galilean ministry.
Beck’s point is that we cannot understand the Jesus of the Bible without also understanding the Satan of the Bible. From the Temptation Narratives in the Gospel to the Last Battle at the end of Revelation, Jesus’ identity and the church’s understanding of who Jesus is cannot be separated from Old Scratch. p.34.
Jesus’s Alternative Kingdom (pp.35-37)
Throughout our book, Beck will continuously come back to the idea that Jesus did not directly try to overthrow Rome or the kingdoms of the world. Jesus clearly answers Pilate that “My kingship is not of this world.” John 18:36. Plus, as Beck points out, Jesus was not routinely gracious to the colonial occupiers, such as the Centurion and the tax collectors, but instructed his disciples to love their enemies, i.e., Rome. p.35. Jesus’s ministry was deeply political and deeply spiritual, but Jesus sought to establish a rival location of human flourishing and belonging, not just to establish another worldly political empire.
As Beck writes, he became involved in prison ministry because of his social concerns with mass incarceration and other issues with the criminal justice system. But what he found in speaking with the inmates is that their concerns were with their inner demons, a struggle to have hope, a longing for redemption, and a thirst for humanity. p.37. To truly help the men of the French Robertson Unit, Beck realized that he, too, had to become an exorcist.
As an aside, Beck writes about the Jefferson Bible. A modern online copy can be found here.
Dinner is at 6. The menu is shepherd’s pie. Discussion about 6:45. Compline at 8. Hope to see you here!
Philip went down to a city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. Acts 8:5-7