A guest post by Lenny Duncan
This
blog post will attempt to answer a few questions that arose out of one. The
original question I posed to Dr. Pahl (sitting Hagan History chair at LTSP) at
the beginning of this year was simple. Why was there no Lutheran rite of
Exorcism? What did that say about our incarnational theology if the
personification of evil was something we felt wasn’t worthy of being named,
confronted and transformed. So while I
played with the idea of approaching this from a systematic theologian’s point
of view, the history of evil, and its relationship to the church I felt was of
particular importance to this question. The question of what is evil is
something human beings have wrestled with since we first became aware that
things didn’t always go right (see Genesis 2-3), and since we became aware of
God. In the case of the Christian, evil makes a rather stunning appearance in
the very beginning of, and throughout, Christ’s ministry.
This
is the first thought experiment I explored.
It got me thinking about the importance of the theological statement the
ELCA was making by not having an exorcism rite in its liturgical order. Think
on the Gospel narrative for a second.
Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. He confronts Satan.
He emerges from this experience “battle hardened.” We then see throughout the gospels a Jesus
who is a man of power. He faces demonic forces on a regular basis, as we shall
see later. The Gospel writers are also
careful to delineate between mental illness, epilepsy, and demonic possession.
This was a separate category that Jesus was healing and ministering to. This is
an important part of my premise. According to the gospel writers, Jesus knew of
demonic possession as a separate thing from the normal post-enlightenment
thinking on the supernatural in scripture. One could, and I believe should,
face the fact that the Savior of the world by almost all accounts not only
believed whole heartily in demonic possession, but even understood the nuanced
differences in this unseen realm.
Without a liturgical rite to name, confront,
and transform and exorcise systemic evil and demonic forces of today we are
actually reinforcing our tepid and safe whiteness as a church. It also gives an
entry point as church for engagement with those communities we say we want to
join but often fail to connect with. In
relationship to the recent emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Moral
Mondays, and to a certain extent Occupy, the ELCA has largely been silent or
completely ineffectual (there are, of course, exceptions—churchwide has
articulated a bold stand, as have some leaders like myself and a few
others.) But the body politic of the
ELCA has not even wrestled with the fact that our Sunday School, Confirmation,
and VBS programs have created monsters like Dylan Roof—the young “Lutheran” who
killed nine in Charleston, and Dylan Klebod—a Lutheran who was one of the shooters
in Columbine high school, Colorado.
Christ’s special dispensation for the poor and
oppressed is a serious hermeneutic. Whether it is Black, Womanist, or Queer
theology the intersectionality of oppression can be met by the naming,
confronting, and transforming evil. What are the demons of today? What are satanic
forces in this American empire? How do we tie the central symbols of the Church
and solace they bring to millions, to the war for equality and the right of
personhood being waged on our national landscape and conscience?
Part One: Jesus as Exorcist
I
first looked at the encounters Christ had with the demonic in the Gospel texts.
[1]
While I have done an intentional
reading of all Christ’s encounters in all four Gospels in this paper will focus
on those that help point out my working premise. Then we will explore Jeffrey
Burton Russell’s history of Satan as “the personification of cosmic evil.” We will also look at other sources, but his
will be the main source for the historical section tracing the Church’s history
with evil and demons. Then we will explore James Cone’s stunning proclamation
of the heresy of not standing with the oppressed and systemic evil. We will
then lay out the liturgical rite of exorcism I propose.
So we see that Jesus’s encounters with this
world of the demonic are actually a rich part of the Gospel tradition, and the
note I have included excludes any instance where his disciples perform
exorcisms. So we know that Jesus believed this inauguration of God’s kingdom
was “happening” amongst the poor and the marginalized. We can also ascertain
that although systemic evil was present in the rulers of the day, Jesus’s work
with exorcisms tended to happen amongst the people. Very publically in fact.
While there are many instances I have noted previously let’s zero in on one or
two before we move on.
In the book of Matthew, we
see the Gospel writer has developed a rather clear pattern to how Jesus’s
ministry starts, is birthed, how he gathers the inner circle, then goes out to
the people. He then names, confronts, and transforms evil. This is all post baptism. This is very important for us liturgically
speaking since the renunciation acts are only found in our liturgy in the
baptismal rite. Also the rite I’m proposing for this work is based in the
baptism rite. So post baptism, this is the pattern we see leading up to the
verse I want to take a minute to focus on. Note this is most clear in the
Gospel of Matthew, but can be found in all of them.
Matthew 4:23-25-
3 Jesus[c] went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and
proclaiming the good news[d] of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness
among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to
him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains,
demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis,
Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.[2]
So here we have my first
point. The Gospel writers and by assumption Jesus knew the difference between
many different illnesses and saw “demoniacs” as a separate category at least in
some sense. Exorcism is portrayed as separate from other healing ministries.
There is a sense of invasion and otherness compared to other illnesses found
throughout the Gospel. Its treatment as something “other” can be found through
all four Gospels. This was also an incredibly nuanced world of the unseen
Christ was facing, naming, and casting out. So
this inauguration of the Kingdom, in part, meant naming, confronting, and
transforming these things.
Another great example of
this was the following verse. Right after the Transfiguration the disciples are
starting to see they are dealing with something otherworldly.
Matthew 17:14-20
14 When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before
him, 15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic
and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure
him.” 17 Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how
much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring
him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon,[d] and it[e] came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why
could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I
tell you, if you have faith the size of a[f] mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here
to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”[g] [3]
So here we
have a rather famous Jesus “saying”. But often as ELCA Lutherans we divorce it
totally from its context. The “mustard seed” saying in Matthew, at least, comes
in relation to an attempted exorcism by the disciples that fails. Jesus steps
in and admonishes their faith. He uses his confrontation of evil to point
towards real faith.
Let’s look
at few more instances that point to a reality that is full of mystery and
nuance that we have in the ELCA divorced ourselves from to be “modern” and in
my opinion and intellectually comforted.
The evidence is throughout the Gospel from Jesus’s stunning proclamation
to Herod “Go tell that fox,” which connects evil with Empire, to where he ties
his messianic claim and proclamation of his resurrection with the casting out
of demons (Luke 13:32). This Lukan motif is throughout the gospel. My point
simply is that Jesus perceived himself as many things, one of which being an
exorcist. It is a title he felt pointed to his messianic title as clearly as
anything else. That it was central to his identity. This should make it a
central symbol of our incarnational theology.
Part two-
Jeffrey Burton-Russell and The Prince of Darkness
Jeffery
Burton Russell in his work “The Prince of Darkness” traces the sordid history of
the personification of evil. While I’m not for our purposes going to take us
through the battle of monism versus dualism, or belabor points about the
medieval Church and its use of Satan and Hell, I will raise up a few points he
makes. On the topic of systemic evil and Luther’s view he states-
“Luther felt this struggle intensely within his
own soul. His diabology was based on personal experience as well as scripture
and tradition. As Hieko Oberman put it, Luther’s whole life was a war against
Satan. Like the desert fathers and the medieval contemplatives, Luther felt
that the Devil attacks more intensely as one advances in faith. Satan attempted
to deter him from God’s work through temptations, distractions, and even
physical manifestations. He rattled around behind Luther’s stove, at the Warburg
castle he pelted nuts at the roof and rolled casks down the stairwell; he
grunted audibly like a pig; he disputed with Luther like scholastic, he
sometimes lodged in Luther’s bowels [4]
Now that
may all seem silly, and it’s easy to dismiss it. But what it makes clear is that to Luther,
Satan, the personification of evil, was a real thing that the Christian had to
name, face, and exorcise. One could dismiss this as 16th century
metaphysical mumbo jumbo, but what are you then saying about the Eucharist and
Luther’s view on that? Again, I’m not asking the reader to accept that Luther’s
stove was possessed. But it is necessary
to accept that he believed that evil was a real and living force that the
Christian would have to face repeatedly. Emphasis on living force. It wasn’t
just human capacity for evil, though that certainly is a part of the picture.
No, Luther names the otherness: the
invader; the thing that doesn’t belong in God’s creation and is disrupting our
union with the Triune God. Just look at
the verse’s to “A Mighty Fortress.”
1 A mighty
fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
2 Did we
in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God's own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same;
and he must win the battle.
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God's own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same;
and he must win the battle.
3 And
though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
4 That
Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever! [5]
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever! [5]
Burton
goes further.
Yet Satan’s power over us shattered by the Incarnation of
Jesus Christ. Christ has struck Satan blow after telling blow in his miracles,
in his preaching, and in his passion. The Devil plotted the Passion in
unthinking rage against Christ, and God used it to overthrow him, the proof
being the resurrection. The world, the flesh, and the Devil still tempt us but
one little word -in the name of the Savior-can crush them.
The Devil still has power in the world, however, because so
many choose to follow him. Some make deliberate Pacts with him: Luther was no
skeptic about witchcraft[6]
So we have
established that naming, confronting, and transforming evil is “Lutheran.”
Luther believed the power of evil, which he called Satan, was disrupted by the
Incarnation of Jesus, and was dealt a crushing blow in the resurrection.
Furthermore, he believed the only reason Satan still had power was so many
chose to follow him. This is a key point to my entire argument.
In our
noble attempt to do away with 1800 years of troubling history of the abuse and
misuse of exorcisms in the Church we have lost a key symbol for facing evil.
Evil is still a real living force at work in the heart of humanity. Systemic
racism. The “othering” of the Islamic community. The predatory nature of corporate
America. The military industrial complex. The prison industrial complex.
Genocide. What are these things other than the personification of evil on
earth?
Satan is
alive and well in America. One could almost reasonably propose he is running
for President this year. “The Devil still
has power in the world, however, because so many choose to follow him.”
Beelzebub is no longer Satan’s chief captain. Or at least that not his name. It
is likely Haliburton. Or Darren Wilson. Or Zimmerman. Or at one time
Adolf. Or possessing our government in
all its demonic power as Cointelpro and the agents who pushed that agenda on
behalf of J Edgar, another man possessed by the power of Satan. Satan is
systemic evil in the hands of the privileged and powerful. Luther saw it in
others even if he missed it in his own theology which we will touch on later.
But as long as there are those willingly serving evil in this world, Satan has
power. When we willingly or unwittingly serve oppression Satan has power. That
is evil.
I want to
take a moment to pause and explicitly say what I’m doing here. I’m saying our
world and its ruler have become possessed by the agents of Satan commonly
called demons. I’m saying the officers in Satan’s army are what we could call
the banality of evil today. The little
evils that walk our world and do so much harm:
those who are willing to short millions of people’s retirements for a
profit. The cop who shoots at the faceless young black male that has become his
“enemy.” I’m calling for a rite to name, confront, and transform this evil. To
be used as a form of incarnational protest and in communities facing this
oppression. So while I applaud Luther for keeping evil and its personification
as part of the Church, as we shall see, he fell laughably short of achieving a
working theology to confront it. For more on that we will turn to James Cone.
Part Three
If God is with the Oppressed, who is the
Oppressor? A Dialogue with James Cone.
James Cone
actually has a scathing criticism of Luther’s position, and of the reformers in
general, in fact. So we have established that Christ saw the importance to face
systemic evil and oppression, and that Luther thought evil was real. While
James Cone speaks to this rather explicitly in all his works, I will focus on
what I believe to be James seminal work “God of the Oppressed.”
In that work, Cone writes:
“ We cannot say that Luther, Calvin, Wesley
and other prominent representatives of the Churches tradition were limited by
their time, as if their ethical judgments on oppression did not effect the
essential truth of their theologies. They were wrong ethically because they
were wrong theologically. They were wrong theologically because they failed to
listen to the bible- with sufficient openness and through the eyes of the
victims of political oppression.” [7]
If we are
to be theologians of the cross, and if we are to be the incarnational community
of Christ that celebrates the in-breaking of his kingdom on Earth until his
return--if we are really all these things, we have to takes Cone’s criticism
seriously. Lutheranism has traditionally been on the side of governments,
rulers and systems (for example, in Germany). I repeat, we have sided with
oppressive power almost continuously since Luther’s time. Luther’s well
documented response to the peasant revolts and his treatise on the Jews are
just two stark examples. Other than the occasional lone voice (for example,
Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran Church of Scandinavia) our history is one of
reformation and accidental revolution.
We have tried desperately to marry ourselves to one system or another.
If Cone is right than we have been heretical in our lack of standing with the
oppressed.
So we need
a working theology that faces evil in its systemic exclusion of the oppressed (in
all forms) and exorcises it. What I mean
by a “working theology” is something the average congregation can do: the everyday activist, such as a parish
pastor. But we can’t go out into the world to face evil if we aren’t willing to
face our own. “What we have done, and left undone” is a key phrase from our
Confession of Sin. To lean into this, we have to take a liberation or Lukan
hermeneutic from the Gospel. Cone’s work
is the blueprint for most models of liberation theology in North America and
that’s why we are spending time exploring segments of it. Jesus Christ is the
centerpiece. The foundation of liberation theology. Cone states-
“Because human liberation is God’s work of
salvation in Jesus Christ, it’s source and meaning cannot be separated from
Christology’s sources (Scripture, tradition, and social existence) and content
(Jesus in the past, present, and future). Jesus Christ, therefore, in his
humanity and divinity, is the point of departure for a black theologian’s
analysis of the meaning of liberation. There is no liberation independent of
Jesus’s past, present, or future coming. He is the ground of our present
freedom to struggle and the source of our hope that the vision disclosed in our
historical fight against oppression will be fully realized in God’s future.”
Cone is
stating, which to me as a marginalized person of color in America has been
obvious since I first encountered Jesus in the present, that Jesus appears as
liberator. If we are to take these parts of his messianic title seriously—that
Jesus was an exorcist, then we have to listen to Christ carefully. Where he
declares “freedom to the captives,” and says “blessed are the poor,” then a
call for the joining of the two isn’t so outlandish. Jesus is liberator and
exorcist amongst the people, and if we claim to follow Jesus, we must make this
clear in word and deed.
We in the
ELCA are a liturgical church in many ways. The joining of these two things
–liberation and liturgy, makes perfect sense for us. We have stated we believe
in a Christ who brings good news to the oppressed, and we believe we experience
him more fully in community than in individual piety. We tell God’s story in
worship and in community through the liturgy: through Word and Sacrament. It
has recently been argued, to good effect I might add, by a liturgy professor here
at the seminary that the two functions of clergy are to bless and curse. In Dr.
Moroney’s estimation to curse is the withholding of the blessing of any
sacrament. I’m taking that one step further by making the argument we are to
name, confront, and transform evil in our communities and in our contexts.
Jesus was
present when Michael Brown was shot. He stood there, then walked in the middle
of the street, in that moment. He was in the back of the van with Freddie Grey.
He held tight with every turn and braced himself every time the van slammed to
a stop. He bought a “loosie” from Eric Garner. He stands ready at these moments
for us to reach into the deep well of his strength to face Satan--Satan who is
clothed in privilege, power, and the trappings of “acceptable” systemic racism.
Systemic evil, Satan, wears this all like the high priestly robes and armor of
Caiphas and Pilate. I’m tired of washing our hands and saying these deaths are not on us.
We need to
resist Satan and his army. As Church. We need to be the incarnation at work. We
need to exorcise these demons from our communities. We need the faith of a
mustard seed.
Part four-
A Liturgy of Exorcism for Systemic Evil
We will
now turn our attention to the rite itself. This is open to crowd sourcing and
is a framework. It is scaffolding that I hope we can use to build an
“Incarnational Act of Protest.”
Gathering
Leader- God of the
oppressed, who calls us in Baptism and through scripture to stand with
marginalized. Who demonstrated through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ his
dispensation for the poor, the outcast, the unwanted. This Jesus whose name we
gather in, was murdered by being railroaded in court. Was a victim of state
sponsored execution. This Jesus was never with the powerful but stood with the
powerless. He gave voice to the widow, solace to the prisoner, and liberation
to the oppressed. He is the God of orphans. He arose on the third day and
crowned the in-breaking of God’s kingdom with a stunning new vision of life.
Like the Easter event we are gathered
here to disrupt the systemic evil that stands in front of us. We face
you Satan and your forces today. We no longer look away in willful ignorance to
the suffering around us. We name you ________________ as the evil this
community has become infected by. We have gathered as the incarnational
community of Christ to cast this out. We are here to purge this atrocity and
affront to God’s creation from this place and to walk alongside this community
on the long road to healing.
Gathering-
AMEN!
Scripture Reading
(This of
course is reflective of the need and situation.)
Renunciation and Casting Out
Leader-People of
God, people of justice, body of Christ, I present to you the demonic force of
____________________. I name it. Will you be witnesses to this act?
Congregation-Yes, and we ask God to strengthen our witness.
Leader-People of God, victims of this oppression, Christ incarnate, I stand ready to face this evil of ____________________along side you. Can this Church have your permission to stand with you?
Congregation-Yes, and we ask God to send a Church and leaders
who will stand alongside us
Leader-People of
God, voices of the unheard, vision of the Kingdom to come, I stand ready with
your help to cast out the systemic evil of __________________. Will you help me
to confront and cast this out of this community?
Congregation-Yes, we call on the name of Jesus to disrupt,
cast out, and to abolish this evil with the power of the Cross. Amen
(Hymn) We
ask that the hymn, or appropriate song, whether gospel, hip hop, or praise song
speak to the problem at hand, or vision of God’s in-breaking into the
situation. Please don’t be attached to stanzas or time lengths. We are using
music to invite those gathered into sacred space and holy reflection. Be
mindful of the Spirit, not ordo.
Leader-Faithful
people of God I ask that you reject this personification of evil in the
community. Do you
renounce the devil and his forces in the form of___________________?
Gathering- We Renounce _______________ and with
Christ’s help cast it out
Leader- Prophetic
voice of the Body of Christ do you renounce the powers of this world that
perpetuate this evil of _____________ and defy God?
Gathering- We renounce ______________ and with
the power of the Holy Spirit will resist, disrupt, and abolish all the powers
of the world that perpetuate it.
Leader-Do you
renounce the ways of sin in your own life that have kept you from fighting this
evil with all of your gifts, energy, and talents?
Gathering-We renounce all the ways we haven’t
stood with Christ in his battle with the princes and principalities of this
broken world.
Leader-
___________________
We cast you out in the name of the Father +
__________________
We cast you out in the name of the Son +
__________________
We cast you out in the name of the Holy Spirit +
We cast
you out of this community because you are a stain on its soul. You have no power
here. You have the trappings of this world and stand in defiance of all that is
Holy. As a called and ordained (or emerging) leader of this gathering and community
I declare to you now and forever ______________ is cast out. We have named you
_________ We have confronted you, and we say in the name of the Triune God get
behind us.
(Lighting
of Paschal Candle and the passing of that light to those gathered this can be
set to another hymn or song to set the tone)
Reflection, Homily, Or Words from Community
Leaders
Prayers of intercession for the Community
Leader –In the now
multiplying light of Christ, we know as Church there are still real concerns
that this community has going forward. Gathered together here we will hear the
concerns of community lifted up in prayer to a God who has come down amongst
us.
Leader-(Prayer
for any victims or families that were the most directly affected,
communities, name those who have been
attacked by this systemic evil. God of Justice!
Gathering-Hear our cries!
Leader-(Prayer
that asks for a specific need to see real change in light of the event or
protest or community action. Example a grand jury decision etc) God of the
Oppressed!
Gathering-Hear our cries!
Leader-(Prayer
for courage for the workers and activists who are on the ground day to day and
often will be more engaged and active than the Church) God of
Mercy!
Gathering-Hear our cries!
Leader-(Now
clergy person its time to listen and be silent! Maybe have a few plants in the
crowd to stir up the Spirit. Explain how to end the petition and the reply then
ask…) For what else does this community cry out for……?
Gathering-Hear our cries!
Leader-Gathered
together as a community seeking your mercy, your grace and your justice, God we
commend all these prayers into your hands trusting in your promise to proclaim
good news to the poor and oppressed and release to the captives.
All: AMEN!
Sending and blessing
Leader-We know
peace can be a word that is sanitized by rulers. It can mean being pacified and
asleep dreaming we are awake..We are gathered to take back the term peace and
use it the way our Lord and Savior meant it. He did not come to bring peace but
to be a sword. Disrupt. Resist. Abolish. Cast out. May that peace of Christ be
with you!
Gathering-And also with you!
Dismissal
Leader- As we
disperse and share this peace with
one another remember to serve the oppressed!
Part 5
Closing thoughts
Some parting thoughts and reflections on this work and the
rite. I tried to build what I believe to
be a compelling theological case for why a public rite like the one I have
started in this paper is needed in the times we live. I think my work has fallen woefully short.
This is mostly due to my contextual bias and personal connection to this kind of
work. I realize that there are much fuller and richer ways I could have
portrayed Luther. But being in a mostly white Church in a mostly white
(theologically) seminary I wanted to give the reader and idea how he presents to me. Simply put he has all
the pomp and circumstance of the very same institutions of power and privilege
that used hermeneutics to justify slavery or tell my parents that their
inter-racial marriage was an abomination. He is a caricature as he portrayed at
times in the ELCA, and when I hear a peer declare I should “sin boldly” I
wonder if they would have said the same in a Church discussing the slave trade
a few hundred years ago.
I also realize that I could have given better treatment to
Cone but I’m going on the assumption that the reader has started to accept some
of the basic premises of his work as it is being finally disseminated out,
albeit much more sanitized, in other work being done in the universal
church.
But my sincere hope is that this rite, or the very basic
concepts of it become something we see in our communities as visible signs of
Jesus at work. In our hearts, in our communities, in our church, and in our
theology.
Also this is an early draft of this work. There will be much
revision. Please check out my other work on Formerlyunchurched and the
work I’m doing with the #decolonizelutheranism movement at #decolonizelutheranism
Jesus’s
Encounters with the Demonic: Jesus was
an Exorcist I
Jesus heals and frees 1.
Jesus announces the coming of God’s Kingdom, heals and frees from evil spirits.
Mt 4,
23-25, Lk 6, 17-192. Jesus heals many possessed. This has a
mass and public character.
Mt 8, 16 , Mk 1, 32-39 3. The cast out spirits have knowledge of
Jesus. Lk 4,
33-37, Mk 1, 23-28 4. Jesus frees the possessed and forces the
evil spirits to enter into pigs. Possessions can have a multiple character –
several evil spirits can reside in man. Mt 8, 28-34, Mk 5, 1-20, Lk 8, 26-39 5. Jesus cast out seven evil spirits from
Mary Magdalene. Mk 16, 9 6. Jesus casts out an evil spirit from a
pagan woman’s daughter from a large distance. Mk 7, 24-30, Mt 15, 21-28 7. Jesus exorcises on Shabbat – he casts out
the spirit of faintness. Lk 13, 10-13 8. Jesus continues healing and freeing,
despite the threat of death. Lk 13, 31-32 9. Jesus casts out an evil spirit from a
mute, who then regains speech. The Pharisees accuse Him of achieving that
through the power of Beelzebub. Mt 9, 32-38, Mk 3, 20-27. 10. Jesus casts out an evil spirit, who is
the cause of blindness and muteness. He says that evil spirits are being cast
out through the power of God’s Spirit. Mt 12, 22-30 11. The casting out of evil spirits is the
sign of the coming of the kingdom of God. Lk 11, 14-20, Lk 7,18-23
[2] Holy Bible: NRSV, New Revised Standard Version. New York: Harper
Bibles, 2007. Print.
[3] Holy Bible: NRSV, New Revised Standard Version. New York: Harper
Bibles, 2007. Print.
[4] Russell,
Jeffrey Burton. The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good
in History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1988. Print.
[5]
Evangelical Lutheran
Worship.
Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2006.
[6]
Russell, Jeffrey
Burton. The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in
History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1988. Print.
[7] Cone, James H. God of the Oppressed. New York:
Seabury, 1975. Print
