This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 9:38-50. The English Standard Version divides the passage into two parts and supplies the headings “Anyone not Against us is for us,” and “Temptations to Sin.”
I’ll focus on verse 38, which reads,
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a demon is “any evil spirit or malevolent supernatural being, a devil.”
Do you believe there are demons? Do you believe demons are active today? Whom do you know who would answer “yes” to these questions?
And why are there so few demon stories in the Old Testament?
In the English Standard Version,
“Demon” is used three times in the Old Testament and 73 times in the New Testament.
“Devil” is not used at all in the Old Testament but is used 33 times in the New Testament.
“Evil spirit” is used once in the Old Testament and ten times in the New Testament.
That adds up to 13 times in the OT and 116 times in the NT.
The Old Testament occupies about two thirds of the Bible, yet supernatural underlings are mentioned more often in the New Testament.[1] Why?
The answer lies in the period covered by the documents, and their reason for being in the Bible.[2]
The Old Testament documents cover many centuries, and are designed to be foundations for life, worship, justice and government.
The New Testament documents cover about one century and are designed to show a turning point in history, the coming of the long-promised Messiah, Jesus; and to describe and prescribe life until he returns.
Evil spirits were often the first to recognize Jesus as the Son of God.[3] They must’ve been watching the news closely when Jesus was challenged, tempted for 40 days, by their master, Satan. They were waiting to see who would win the contest of wills.
People of Jesus’ time were aware of demons. This is why they flocked to Jesus and begged him to free them from demonic oppression. The gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus casting out demons.[4]
Are there demons today?
Christians and Muslims believe demons still exist, and that they are under the command of Satan. Satan who spends every moment deploying his forces to challenge people’s loyalty to God.
He does it principally by causing pain, suffering and a sense of bondage. But he also commands his demons to “take over” the bodies of humans.
Many people are aware of and acknowledge the activity of demons.
A 2020 survey of over 17,000 adults in the United States found half (50%) the respondents believed demons definitely or probably exist.[5] I suspect the numbers will be much higher in Southeast Asia, where people often go to temple priests and shamans or bomohs for relief.
We often fail to appreciate the importance of spiritual warfare in Christian life. Tokunboh Adeyemo, an African Christian leader once put it very vividly. He began an article titled “Our weapons of warfare” with these words:
The Christian life is a life of warfare. From the time we accept God’s invitation, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden,” to the time God withdraws us from the battlefront by way of death …, we are engaged in a serious warfare against three enemies:
(1) Satan and his demons (Ephesians 6:12);
(2) Systems that are ungodly, called the “world” (1 John 2:15-17); and
(3) Self, that is, the old Adamic nature (Galatians 5:17).[6]
I return now to the text. We read that John, one of Jesus’ favourites, said to Jesus that he and some others in his band of followers, also called disciples, saw a man who was not one of them, casting out demons.
John tells Jesus they tried to stop the man, because he was casting out the demons in Jesus’ name. John was expecting Jesus to compliment them, because they were protecting “the Jesus’ formula.”
Don’t miss the irony. As I pointed out last week, some of these disciples had failed spectacularly to cast out a demon, because, as Jesus explained to them, they had tried to do so in their own strength.
How did Jesus respond to John’s instinct to protect his Master’s brand, the Jesus name? We see it verses 39 and 40, which read,
39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us.
Jesus pointed out that the exorcist was doing “a mighty work.”
Those who do the work of exorcism say that immense power is required to overcome spirits. Exorcists will not shame the name which gives them the power. They will tremble at the name, not speak evil of it.
Jesus added the maxim “the one who is not against us is for us.” With this maxim Mark, through Jesus, warns his readers against being exclusivist. We must focus on recognizing who Jesus is, serving others, and telling them who Jesus is.[7] Not on who’s in our cluster and who’s not.
Also, Jesus often told people not to join him as companions on his death road to Jerusalem. One of many such examples is in Mark 5. Here we read that after the Gerasene grave giant had been freed of demonic oppression, he asked to join Jesus’ band. But Jesus told him,
“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (verse 19b)
We’re called to action. Action for the good of others. Action to overcome even demons, who’re real and active in our world today.
Our actions will be effective only if we use power which comes from God.
Power flows through us when we do things in Jesus’ name, through prayer. We should not stop those who do good works in Jesus’ name just because they’re not members of our communities. We must not reject diversity.
Peace be with you.
[1] You may be troubled that going by the definition of demon I cited from the dictionary, I failed to include counts of “Satan” in my word statistics. I chose to exclude “Satan” because my focus is the many (soldiers), not the one (king).
[2] It must not be forgotten that there are ancient Hebrew documents which are not considered scripture and therefore are not in the Bible. Some of these extra-biblical literature deals with spiritual phenomena.
[3] But not the first, because angels announced the birth of Jesus as “Christ the Lord” to shepherds (Luke 2:8-14).
[4] See my column Jesus, the Lord of the flies, and madness.
[5] About half of Americans believe ghosts and demons exist, YouGov, 31 October 2020.
[6] Deliver us from Evil: An Uneasy Frontier in Christian Mission, page 61.
[7] The use of “us” in verse 38 is subject to interpretation. Some scholars say when John used the word “us,” he meant the pair or group of which he considered himself leader, whereas when Jesus used the word, he meant those who associate with him.
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