By Rollin Grams, Bible and Mission.
I wonder if Fyodor Dostoevsky’s tale about Jesus’ return might have been inspired by an actual story of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum. In The Brothers Karamazov, the character Ivan Karamazov tells the tale of a Grand Inquisitor who puts Jesus on trial upon His return to earth. The Inquisitor claims that the Church has improved upon Jesus’ work and no longer needs Him. This Church, whatever it is, does not need Jesus, does not want Him. The shocking story Ivan tells is shocking mostly for how true it is in so many contexts, denominations, and local churches.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus attends the synagogue of His adopted home in Capernaum and immediately encounters a man possessed by an unclean spirit. The man—or the unclean spirit in him—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’ (Mark 1.23-24).
Beyond the connection in these stories of a religious establishment that not only has no need for Jesus but also sees Him to be the opposition to it is the additional piece in Mark that, immediately in the synagogue Jesus encounters the man with an unclean spirit. Jesus did not only encounter unclean spirits outside religious establishments but also inside them. Let’s put it this way, just because someone is in a church, perhaps even regularly attending a church, even the minister of a church, does not mean that he or she cannot be demon possessed. Of course, anyone demon possessed is not a Christian, but that does not mean he or she cannot be in the church, even lead it. One might think that demons would not ‘attend church’. I am of the opinion that unclean spirits have a fondness for church, rather like the cynical person who enjoys heckling a speaker.
I remember after speaking in an Evangelical church in Ethiopia one Sunday encountering a man after most people had departed who was eager to speak with me. His English was very good—on reflection, troublingly so—and he spoke very fast. Yet what truly surprised me was his knowledge of Scripture. He quoted passage after passage, weaving them together, but twisting their meanings and attempting to make some argument against the faith. A more seasoned missionary managed to bring the encounter to an end, but I left feeling that I may well have encountered someone demon-possessed.