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This sermon blog post is a guest post from The Rev. Marion E. Kanour preached at Emmanuel on September 1, 2024
“For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come...” --an excerpt from Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Today’s gospel raises the question: Is there a spiritually evil force the faithful must oppose; or, need we only concern ourselves with evil deeds, emanating from the human heart? If this evil force exists, are we meant to seek it out to destroy it if possible? The stakes are far greater and the battle somewhat different if the Evil One is real. Far better for the battle to be against evil human deeds arising from corrupted free will. That battle, while difficult, is easier to wage. Deeds are quantifiable and visible to all. An evil force lurking in the dark is another matter. A force must be discerned; and discernment can be misguided or manipulated. Interestingly, evil deeds are often committed in the name of eradicating an evil force. The Salem witch trials come to mind. Do we abdicate responsibility for our evil deeds by blaming the Devil; or does the Devil really make us do it? And what about our God of Love? Is that God less powerful than the Evil One; or is that God engaged in a cosmic battle of Good versus Evil, waged, in part, in the human realm? If we look to Scripture for an answer, we see Scripture is conflicted on the subject. No definitive answer can be found there. Not surprisingly, the Christian tradition has never spoken with one voice on this matter, either. These questions aren’t original to Christianity, though. They pre-date Christ by many, many thousands of years. These questions are human questions that have been speculated about in all cultures through time. Every major world religion asks: Is there a God? Is that God active in our world? Does God care what happens to us; or, is God merely an observer? Is the Creator Good or Evil or both? Or, are Good and Evil humanly-conceived categories having nothing to do with objective truth? How shall we go about answering these questions? We begin asking these questions early in life, though we might not use those words. I can remember being afraid of the dark as a child. There was no childhood trauma associated with the dark that could account for that fear, and surely no reason I should have believed the boogey man was in the closet or under the bed. But I did. Back then, I knew the Evil One was real. He was seemingly invincible in the dark, with powers limited only by my very active imagination. The night my father first plugged in my nightlight, he told me the boogey man wouldn’t be back. I was certain he was unaware of who the boogey man was. How could a power so immense be afraid of a 20-watt nightlight? But it was. The boogey man never came back. The next Sunday I’m told I reported this victory over evil to my 4-year-old contemporaries in Sunday School. When the teacher suggested that God could send the Devil running if we prayed, I apparently announced, with the authority born of experience, that a nightlight was better than God. When this was reported to my parents after church, so that they might help reinforce proper thought, my father laughed, saying, “There’s nothing wrong with her thinking. She prayed and nothing happened. She turned on the nightlight and got action.” That story was told and retold many times during my growing up. When mother told the story, it was usually included in a litany of proof of my religious decline, as encouraged by my father and grandfather. The litany also included my questioning of the virgin birth in the middle of one year’s Christmas pageant performance. When my father told the story, it was to illustrate that the cause of evil, or even the existence of it, was often a matter of perspective. It had been awhile since I’d thought of that family story when mother called that summer evening. I was in Connecticut taking Hebrew in summer school at the time. My father was in the final stages of his battle with a brain tumor and lung cancer. Mother called to ask that I come home to console my father. He seemed terrified she said. Medication wasn’t helping. Maybe I could do something. I was unaccustomed to seeing my father’s fear. But that June afternoon when I walked into their bedroom and looked into his terror-filled eyes, I at once remembered the boogey man. It was a child’s fear that I saw in his face and the child in me responded, reminding me of the night a four-year-old was presented with a light that conquered evil. I sat next to his bed and took his hand and told him I loved him. My father gripped my hand and pulled me toward him and whispered his desperate plight, saying, “He’s back. What should I do?” I knew immediately who was back, but I didn’t know how to make him go away this time. “Where is he?” I asked, hoping for the closet or some other easily cleansed area. But my father tapped his finger to his head, indicating the Evil One had made it into the inner sanctum. For some reason that amused me and I laughed, saying, “Dad, it’s not him; it’s the brain tumor. You’re safe from him.” And then came the question I’ll forever remember. My father looked at me with a child’s innocent trust and asked, “Are you sure?” Holding his hand in mine, I said, “Do you remember the nightlight and the boogey man?” He nodded. Putting my face close to his, I asked, “Daddy, was the boogey man real?” And immediately the terror left my father’s eyes. He smiled. A big, broad smile. And then he laughed, so heartily that mother came into the room to see her husband’s joy. In six months’ time, my father was dead. But during those six months, the boogey man never returned. Surely there are evil deeds. Surely human beings can incarnate unconscionable evil. But what about the Evil One? Could evil exist in the world if the Creation didn’t serve as its conduit? Could love exist in the world without the Creation to give it form? Is it arrogant or narcissistic to think it’s all up to us? What is the message of today’s gospel and of our baptismal vows? Our vows ask us if we will persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to God. They ask if we’ll proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, will we seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and will we strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. The answer the Prayer Book gives to us to say is, “I will, with God’s help.” May we live into these vows as fully as we’re able, that we might turn on the nightlight for one another and give Love voice and form in our world. |
AuthorThe Rev. John Thomas is Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood Archives
October 2024
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