2024.01.28 | Casting Out Demons
“Casting Out Demons”
The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Senior Minister & Executive Director
Eden United Church of Christ, Hayward, California
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany; January 28, 2024
Mark 1:21–28 | Español
The gospel lesson today explores the question of authority, specifically, it explores the question of who has the authority to speak, to lead, and to heal. Jesus answered that question by healing a man with an unclean spirit.
The way that Mark tells the story, Jesus went to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and taught (v. 21).
Synagogues were (and are) places where Jews have gathered for centuries to pray and study Torah. Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, which was the center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.
The people in the synagogue were astounded at Jesus' teaching, because he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes, who were fluent in Hebrew law.
To build his case about Jesus’ authority, Mark went on in Chapter 1 describing a whole series of healing miracles that Jesus performed, beginning with this healing account of the man with an unclean spirit at the Capernaum synagogue.
Mark explained that the man was disrupting worship and upsetting the congregants who were trying to pray. The man just would not settle down, even when the greeters politely tried to shush him and tried to shoo him away.
The more people tried to calm down the demon possessed man the more aggravated he became, until finally he said in a loud voice, “What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” (v. 25)
Jesus did not respond directly to the man’s rant. Instead, he spoke to the illness that was consuming him. Jesus ordered it to be quiet and come out of him. Much to the surprise of the congregation, the unclean spirit did just that. It convulsed and cried some more, and finally, it came out of him (vs. 26-27).
According to Mark, everyone in the synagogue kept asking, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! Jesus commanded even the unclean spirits, and they obeyed him.”
This healing miracle at the synagogue in Capernaum was the first in a series of miracles that Jesus performed which served as evidence for Mark’s community that Jesus was divine. From there and then on, Jesus’ fame spread throughout Galilee (vs. 27-28).
II
Today’s gospel reading is right on time for us 21st century Christians, because we live in a time when everyone is questioning authority. Who is, or who should be in charge? Should it be the religious authorities, the government, law enforcement, healthcare providers, educators, or all (or none) of the above? Should anyone be in charge, or is it better to devolve into anarchy? Inquiring minds want to know.
In Biblical times, the synagogue leaders argued that the scribes and Pharisees were in charge. Rome argued that Caesar was in charge, and here in the gospels, the author of Mark asserted that Jesus is the true authority.
Today, the overarching question of authority persists. The question is profound and interesting, but for now, I’ll simply pose the question, who (or should be) is in charge of casting out unclean spirits?
Let’s posit that people with unclean spirits are living with behavior or mental health issues or both. One would be enough. It would be enough to live with schizophrenia or alcoholism, but today, especially in the past couple of years, we are encountering visitors to our church campus who are suffering from one or more forms of mental illness and at least one form of substance abuse.
I am not expert on mental health or addiction, but I know enough about both diseases to confirm that most of the folks on our campus who are particularly troubled with what Mark called “an unclean spirit” are suffering from a significant form of mental illness and they are addicted to one or more substances--and the most common substance they are addicted to is fentanyl.
We know this because I and other members of our staff, especially our Operation Team, have found evidence of fentanyl use around campus--most often when we encounter troubled persons who are making a disturbance that we are summed to address, or when we have to clean up behind them when they have left, or when we have to call law enforcement for help because someone is high on fentanyl and has become so aggressive or abusive that they are a danger to themselves or others.
What is fentanyl?
The California Department of Public Health describes fentanyl as follows:
Fentynal is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in California and the United States.
There are two types of fentanyl: pharmaceutical fentanyl and illicitly manufactured fentanyl (illicit fentanyl). Both are synthetic opioids. Pharmaceutical fentanyl is prescribed by doctors to treat severe pain, such as while in the hospital for and after surgery or for advanced-stage cancer. Illicit fentanyl is distributed through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect.
Fentanyl is extremely potent. It is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Illicit fentanyl can be added to other drugs to make them cheaper, more powerful, and more addictive. Illicit fentanyl has been found in many drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine, counterfeit pills, and cocaine. Fentanyl mixed with any drug increases the likelihood of a fatal overdose.
The prevalence of fentanyl use has grown astronomically in recent years in the United States. So much so that most faith-based organizations and social service organizations, like Eden Church, are providing training to staff, so that we recognize the signs of use and potential overdose and can administer Naloxone, a drug that can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
III
I have served in other venues where the mental and behavioral health issues of the church’s community were in our faces and we dealt with these challenges everyday.
That has not been the case for me, for us, at Eden, at least not until recently.
Over the course of the past couple of years, a growing number of unhoused people (18 to 20) have periodically pitched their tents or set up housekeeping on our campus--one trait that most have in common is that they live with mental illness and they suffer with one or more addictions, mostly addiction to opioid drugs.
Their needs and the needs of our campus community needs have challenged us to get to know our new neighbors and train up for these new ministry challenges.
For starters, we’ve had to think more deeply than ever how we define hospitality and safety, and we’ve had to work harder than ever to balance these polarities. Because you can’t have one without the other. A person can’t feel welcome if they are not safe, and they cannot feel safe if they are not welcome.
The big up-tick in unhoused people showing up at Eden began when CalTrans, with the help of law enforcement, closed down a large encampment that had taken up residence on their East Castro Valley Boulevard property. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office and Alameda County Public Health worked in tandem to invite encampment residents into public services, but they’ve never had ample housing to offer.
And the despite the best efforts of First Pres Hayward (next to TJ’s) who opened a Winter Shelter a few years ago, they’ve never had enough beds to to address the need, and they’ve often been criticized for causing the problems rather than for being who they are--a vital part of the solutions and the answers to prayer that we all need.
To better understand what an answer to prayer would look like, let’s reflect for a moment the question: Who are the people in our neighborhood?
Here are a few general characteris that I’ve discovered about our newish neighbors:
They all speak English.
They were all born in the US.
They are from the Eden Area.
They have relatives and friends living in the area.
The majority are single white men.
They have one or more behavioral and mental health issues.
Most have underlying experiences of trauma from physical, sexual, psychological abuse, privation an, and/or PTSD incurred during military service.
Most live along the SLZ Creek, and migrate throughout the unincorporated area.
Most have been able to forge a friendship with one or more of our staff.
Most seek and accept services from the TVHC Streets Team.
Most will not accept inpatient treatment.
As their disease processes have progressed, their relationships with family and friends have frayed, and they become increasingly more violent and unpredictable.
Some are so deep in their disease process that they are a threat to themselves and others, so that when they are experiencing an acute episode, we have little choice but to call law enforcement for help.
IV
Given the severity of opioid addiction in our time, the question of who does or who should have authority over the treatment of this disease persists. Some say, “Lock ‘em up!'” and argue that law enforcement should have the authority to heal these unclean spirits. Yet, the cops will be the first ones to tell you that they don’t have all the tools, much less all the answers to treat addictions, especially addictions that are so intractable.
The deputies can lock up fentanyl users for possession of illicit drugs, but most don’t have an amount of drugs in their possession significant enough to charge and hold them for more than a few days, and then the addicts are back out on the street, and nothing about their addiction has changed.
Consequently, others argue for public health solutions to opioid addictions. They propose harm reduction techniques like needle exchanges and supervised usage of drugs where public health workers strive to forge relationships with addicts and invite addicts to decrease their risky behaviors in order to save lives and ultimately lead users to sobriety. These programs take time, cost money, and are counter intuitive to some. And they are no less a panacea than lock ‘em up law enforcement practices.
So, prevention programs have become an approach that virtually everyone can get behind, because the social, emotional, public health, and economic impact of opioid addiction is growing exponentially. Some, in fact, are only interested in prevention programs, because they consider addicts too far gone to help. I understand where this frustration comes from. But as a pastor and as a person of faith, I can’t write off people just because I can’t cure or heal them. Each of these persons is a child of God, precious in God’s site, and inherently worthy of care.
V
Here’s where I come out. I believe that we all have a role in the healing of people with behavioral and mental health challenges. Our roles might not be the same, but if we do not embrace a role we become part of the problem.
I believe that we need a continuum of care in our society that spans from prevention to intervention to suppression to recovery and comes full circle with restorative justice.
It is not my job to tell anyone what their particular role is in the continuum of care. Each of us is in charge of our discernment process, and we can invite others to help us with that process.
All of us will have to come to terms with the fact that we can only do so much. We are not Jesus or God, and we cannot heal or help a person or people who will not accept help and do their own work.
Regardless of what role we feel called to in the opioid crisis, one cross-cutting need that we all have is the need to be all prayed up. This work is extremely difficult. We must set boundaries with the mentally ill, and hold addicts accountable for their behavior.
We must do this work from a spiritually grounded place by engaging in personal and group prayer practices. We must call each other out when our behavior is co-dependent and contributing to someone else’s addiction. We must discern, with the guidance of peers, what we can do consistently well for a significant length of time--and do it--because the road to recovery is long and circuitous.
Finally, we must let go and leave the rest to others and, ultimately, to Jesus, because we are human, not divine, and there are some things that only heaven can help. Amen.