a vivid story

full disclosure: i'm not a huge fan of the "tell a bible story in vivid detail then jump immediately into the sermon!" technique. it jars my overactive & photographic imagination when we dart between true & untrue or past & present. but i will admit: it's effective when used well, as demonstrated in this sermon. and inspired, my mind the next day was fully engaged when reading Luke 4: 31-37. 


"And he went down to Capernaum a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath."

I was sitting in the synagogue, yawn, yawn. After the second or third rabbi, my girlfriends and I gave up listening in detail, instead entertaining ourselves by drawing marks on the floor with our toes to talk about guys. My matchmaker was coming this week, and I needed some ideas for her--no chance letting her suggest men!


Then this new guy got up to preach. I wasn't paying attention until Rachel jabbed her elbow in my side. "New!" was the furtive whisper as she leaned toward me, trying to get a better view. And indeed, he was new! Not too much better looking than Eli or Jacob, but tolerable. Once I tuned in, though, I was captivated. This man spoke like no other rabbi--he was passionate about what he was saying!


"And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,"

Whoa! Old Zeke is shouting at the new rabbi! Something must have gotten him riled up, usually he doesn't even come to the synagogue and now he's in here shouting? Everyone says he's demon-possessed...maybe he really is. He doesn't seem to like this guy...


"Ha! 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."

Silence. This is...awkward.


But Jesus rebuked him, saying "Be silent and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him having done him no harm.

I didn't understand how everyone could be talking so rapidly and so loudly. Hadn't they just seen what I'd seen? Were they not speechless? Rachel jabbered at me, the crowd was standing, but this man calmly took a seat, indicating that the next speaker should begin. 

And they were all amazed and said to one another "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"


There was no next speaker. The service was so totally derailed by the demon-casting that the head rabbi dismissed us, after a brief and barely-comprehended chiding about respecting the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. 


And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

The spectacular event was on everyone's lips for the next week--one couldn't visit the market, the well, the cafe without hearing about it. Some claimed they'd seen three men have demons cast out; some claimed that it was all staged. Relatives from nearby towns came to visit, hoping to see the healed man, as well as this miracle-working rabbi! The one sound I will never forget is that crazed, demon-possessed man, spitting out with such vehemency the phrase "the Holy One of God!" 


Do demons ever tell the truth?