I am up late praying for a little girl who is my son’s age. My heart and my prayers are with her and I pray that she is safe and unharmed.
If you know where she is, call the police. Just call 911 and tell them.
If you have her, leave her at a hospital or fire station. Just keep her safe and get her home quickly.
Please.
Some memories are picture clear. It is a day in late October and we are traveling in the van with my in laws to the Aransas wildlife refuge. I am attempting to school a known pedophile on the need for repentance.
We have reported the abuse. We lock doors at night to make the children feel safer. We are waiting and terribly broken.
The pedophile is merely annoyed. Sullen. We are discussing the human heart as though it were a house. A house Jesus could walk through, clean, excavate.
I remember this whenever I read
Mark 3:25-30 (NIV)
If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. [26] And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. [27] In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. [28] I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. [29] But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” [30] He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”
… because Charles is the one who taught me…about the strong man’s house.
This parable can and will go either way. Either the strong man is hell plundered by Jesus or He is the strong man robbed on the cross.
Which is it?
You can guess my opinion. I put my money on Jesus.
But for years I lived in that divided house, torn by my adopted children’s violence and anger.
Don’t wanna go back. Don’t wanna live that way no more.
Divided house; broken heart.
Mark 3:20-26 (NIV)
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. [21] When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” [22] And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub ! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” [23] So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. [26] And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
I deliberately break this story up. The next few verses are very important to me…
But…
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Mark 3:11-19,27 (NIV)
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” [12] But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. [13] Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. [14] He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach [15] and to have authority to drive out demons. [16] These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); [17] James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); [18] Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot [19] and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. [27] In fact, no one can enter a strong…
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We have lost our history of words. The word demon comes from Latin which comes from Greek which is linked to Hebrew concepts of spirits, messengers, idols, and gods.
Socrates wrote about having a guiding spirit which counseled him. Plato discussed these spirit entities with a secular focus.
We moderns are uncomfortable with the idea–an invisible world of possibly invasive personalities?
The English translation of the Bible draws clear lines between angels (malak messenger) and demon (daemon spirit, idol).
Do we think that in our material world these have dissipated like a primordial mist?
Or are they still there? Trapped unless we listen? Perhaps we need to revisit Socrates and look closely at the way evil moves in the world. And good as well, depending on the power of the voices in our heads?
Mark 3:10-12 (NIV)
For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. [11] Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” [12] But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
First we see people with problems just like ours pressing toward him. He can heal them. So far sounds good…
Then things get weird.
Whenever the evil spirits saw him? What evil spirits? Whose eyes? When Mark says,
they fell down before him
it seems clear they are inhabiting bodies. Huh. Already in Mark we see demons in church and at public events, now they pop up at flash mob.
How did they get where they were? Where were they headed? How did they feel about Jesus?
Jesus was the penicillin for their infection. They couldn’t have been fond of him, but their reaction is worth noting–they bowed and acknowledged his deity.
They did not have a choice. He was God.
There is a time in his story where they might have thought he had been beaten–the Cross.
But even then in the mystery of death spent for us, I think they knew. That he alone could not be beaten.
I remember being in shock. First I thought, I failed.
I failed to see the danger
Failed to protect my child
Later, still in shock, I looked at my child and acknowledged–she is a crime victim.
So hard to know what my beautiful girl had to face alone.
Mark 2:21-22 (NIV)
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. [22] And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”
Pretend you were in a secret club.
The rules weren’t secret.
The membership was deceptively open.
But it was still a secret club.
Because it was a club for losers, villains, fools and children….
And only the last group would make it, their faces smudged with joy and perhaps some finger paint.
They would come bursting through the gates of heaven
Laughing
Unconcerned about whether they had conquered Europe or won at scrabble
Never, never forget. This parable is a test. Always a test of love.
Carrying Light 