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 him and crying with a loud voice, came out of 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.”
—Mark 1.23-27
Yes, he has come to destroy them.
Demonic forces that wreck people:
do not doubt that he has come
to cast them out, all of them,
not merely to touch individuals
but to disarm evil itself,
to reclaim the cosmos.
Demonic spirits of injustice
that dehumanize,
that possess people,
that bind us and blind us
with hate and diminishment of others,
with hard heartedness and violence,
demons of fear and self-protection—
he has come to do away with them.
He is not afraid of the loud voices,
the convulsions they will incite.
He has called all his beloved
to share in the baptism of his power.
He comes with authority.
For this love has the power, yes,
to overcome evil.
O Mighty One, Loving One,
O Capable Hand, O Willing Heart,
cast out my demons,
my fear and inadequacy,
and fill me with your Spirit instead,
the power to resist evil,
to set free from the grip of the demonic
what is human, what is fragile and beautiful,
what is yours.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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