What Should Christians Know About Jesus?

As the school year begins, we embark on a new sermon series exploring the essential stories and teachings of Jesus as presented in the Gospel of Mark. Because these stories are so rich and have so many applications for life today, they are my favorite ones to tell. Exploring one gospel in depth allows us to see how these stories connect, build on each other, and weave a narrative as crucial to our spiritual lives as reading is to our intellects.

An Astonished Assembly

We start at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, following his baptism and temptation in the wilderness. A great way to approach these stories is to put yourself not in Jesus’ shoes but imagine you are one of the other characters. For this one, imagine hat you are one of the religious leaders of the synagogue where Jesus preaches his first sermon. You’re a scribe, a guardian of tradition. Your job is to preserve the old stories and ensure the community adheres to the interpretations passed down through the centuries. But today, something new is happening. This Jesus, a carpenter from Nazareth, wants to say a few words.

You permit him, and he unrolls the sacred scrolls, reads scripture, and begins to preach. As he speaks, you notice the congregation isn’t just listening—they’re captivated. His message cuts through the air like a lightning bolt—unexpected, electrifying, and impossible to ignore. You see folks nodding in agreement, wide-eyed young people leaning forward as he paints a vivid picture of the Kingdom of God breaking into their mundane lives in Capernaum. Even old fuddy-duddy Hanklemew uncrosses his arms, intrigued by this carpenter’s words.

People looked at each other, mouthing, “Wow!” Just like you do listening to me. Except you’re communicating, “I can’t believe he just said that!” Maybe that was part of it with Jesus because his message was not what they expected or were used to; in fact, it contradicted much of what they’d been taught.

When Jesus finishes, a heavy silence falls over the room. His words and their implications linger, leaving everyone wondering, “What was that? A new teaching? He’s not quoting any religious authorities; it’s his unique take.”

Suddenly, you feel the heat rise from your chest, coloring the tips of your ears as you overhear someone’s gush, “He teaches with authority, not like our scribes.” Jesus didn’t just speak truth to power; he spoke truth to piety. And how does that feel, you religious leader who allowed this guy into your pulpit? What’s stirring within you?

Unclean Spirit

Just then, as if on cue, the text says there was a man with “an unclean spirit.” Now, before you mentally check out, let’s unpack that phrase. Forget what Hollywood has shown you about demon possession. The Bible was written long before we had the language to describe things like mental illness, epilepsy, or toxic attitudes. In the gospels, unclean spirits manifest in various ways—sometimes as seizures, which today might be diagnosed as epilepsy or as a man suffering from mental illness with bipolar tendencies. Other times, scholars suggest that the unclean spirit represents something more insidious—a poisonous attitude, a destructive disposition, or a venomous agenda that tears people down instead of building them up. Jesus didn’t just confront demons; he disrupted destructive dispositions.

It seems Jesus came not just to drive out the unclean spirits from one man in Capernaum 2,000 years ago but from all of us—from our hearts—the unclean spirit of meanness, selfishness, greed, deceit, rage, and bullying. Jesus came to say, “Poof, be gone—your breath is too strong,” to the unclean spirits of ingratitude, stinginess, cynicism, and negativity. He came to shatter the darkness with the divine light of God’s love.

Unclean Spirits in Religious Settings

The fascinating part of this story is that the unclean spirit seems quite at home, hanging out in the sanctuary. What’s an unclean spirit doing there? In my experience, unclean spirits love to dwell among the religious and cloak themselves in religiosity, giving cover for the meanness of their spirit. I can believe in this kind of unclean spirit because I’ve seen it. Haven’t you? Instead of compassion, they spout judgment; instead of acceptance, they offer rejection; instead of providing service to the less fortunate, they demand entitlement for themselves.

The man with the unclean spirit cries 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.”

“What have you to do with us?” Who is “us”? The antecedent isn’t clear. The only ones previously mentioned are the congregation and the religious leaders. Biblical scholar Ched Myers believes it may be you—the scribe, the religious leader, who is jealous of this upstart preacher. Or it could be someone else who has figured out that what Jesus is talking about will disrupt how they’ve always done things.

Jesus tends to do that—he didn’t come to smooth ruffled feathers; he came to pluck them. He commands us to repent, not to hold grudges, and to live with a grateful, not hateful, heart. He teaches us to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, do good to those who persecute us, and love our neighbors as ourselves—even when that neighbor is a Samaritan, someone we’d rather avoid. The unclean spirit in this story likely represents the spirit of resistance to Jesus’ teachings, a reluctance to embrace the new way of living he demands.

From Preachin’ to Meddlin’

I’m reminded of the old story about the Baptist preacher in Tennessee who began to wax eloquent about sin. He was against it, and the congregation was with him. He railed against dancing, tobacco, and pool halls, and with each new sin, he got an increasing chorus of “Amens.” But then he started preaching against moonshine, and suddenly, four men in the congregation got up to leave. “What’s the problem?” he asked. On his way out, one of the men turned and replied, “Pastor, you just went from preachin’ to meddlin’.”

Jesus has a way of going from preachin’ to meddlin’. He meddled with the scribes’ authority, where they personally benefited from collaboration with an oppressive government, justified robbing the poor to fatten the rich, and used religion to divide rather than unite. Jesus didn’t just talk about compassion; he commanded it. He disrupted darkness with divine light. In other words, he confronted the antecedent to the modern religious right. Yes, the unclean spirits love to manifest themselves in the strident, judgmental, hypocritical religious bigots of today.

What Have You to Do with Us?

The unclean spirits ask, “What have you to do with us, Holy One of God? Have you come to destroy us?” As Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men might say, “You’re damn right.”

Jesus didn’t come to destroy people, but he did come to drive out the destructive dispositions, attitudes, and policies that marginalize and oppress. We’re talking about prejudices, cynicism, hopelessness, and rage. Jesus isn’t interested in preserving the status quo but in upending it.

Jesus comes to us, his followers, in this holy place, and the resistances within us howl, “What have you to do with us, Holy One of God?”

• The time slots on your calendar ask, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”
• The numbers in your checkbook ask, “What have you to do with us?”
• Your actions toward the random people you encounter ask, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”
• Your ballot asks. You know.
• Your attitude when something doesn’t go your way asks.
• Your emotions when you encounter someone who isn’t like you or does things you don’t understand ask, “What have you to do with us?”

Jesus doesn’t have time for empty puffery. He goes from preachin’ to meddlin’ in your life and mine.

Fleeing with a Loud Cry

In the story, Jesus tells the unclean spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of him.” The spirit convulses and comes out with a loud cry. It didn’t go quietly. They never do. They scream out, “I don’t want to change! I don’t want to be kind! I don’t want to be hopeful! I don’t want to be grateful! It’s easier to be a grouch.”

They resist. We resist and hold on to those spirits.

But today, I believe Jesus has something to do with you. He has a meddling message. Let it go. Let it go. Be at peace. Be filled with joy. Live for something bigger and better. Let it go.

Conclusion: Astonished and Amazed

And when you do, everyone will be astonished and amazed at what Jesus can do in your life.

Diana Butler Bass reminds us, “Astonishment is the opposite of cynicism. And amazement re-orders the world.” Resisting change, holding on to negativity—these are the unclean spirits we all struggle with. But Jesus comes to disrupt that resistance, to ignite a new way of being within us. As Rachel Held Evans once said, “Jesus invites us into a story bigger than ourselves, a story where grace always wins.”

Let’s not be the man with the unclean spirit, clinging to the past, shouting back at the one who can heal us. Instead, let’s embrace the astonishment, the amazement, and let Jesus re-order our world.

So take a deep breath, and to all the unclean spirits out there, hear the word of the Lord: Be Silent. Come out. Exhale that spirit, and breathe in again, letting your heart hear the word of the Lord: “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”