Dealing with Evil.
Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34; Hebrews 5: 5 – 10; John 12: 20 – 33
The Christian life drives out evil with goodness.
This sermon has been a hard one to compose. It has been difficult because it is a sermon that tells us where we stand and not how to practice the faith. But it has pure gold in it.
How do we fight evil: violence, abuse, exploitation, injustice, corruption etc.? Just how do we? Our normal reaction is to respond to evil in its many forms with something comparable. For example, violence is met with violence. In fact violence in response to any form of violence at best causes a cessation of the violence, but in the long run violence emerges again and escalates.
We can write laws and prosecute the perpetrators, but that doesn’t solve the problem. Policing our laws that ensure good behaviour is important. However we have a tendency to build more prisons, in spite of the facts that where governments have provided greater social services there has been a reduction in prison occupancy. Punitive regimes may curb the number of crimes, but not stop them. Which supports the deeper issue I am raising today, which is, how do we deal with the inherent evil in the world?
I speak of evil because wrongdoing reaches proportions that are evil. We might not believe in the devil or evil spirits wandering around trying to get into our lives, but we can’t deny the spirit of evil. Let me try and explain. A society will create a legal system that feeds into our fears and prejudices. That system may even appear reasonable. The combination of the laws with our fears and prejudices creates something larger than the law itself. The white South African government developed the policy of ‘apartheid’ or ‘separate development’. It was quite a reasonable policy on paper. But the laws that supported the policy created an evil system of racism. The spirit of that system was larger than any individual or law and it invaded our lives causing disrespect for others, injustice, and the separation of families. Apartheid left no household, black or white, untouched. Racism was given permission to exist. It was evil.
Enforcing obedience to the law has a limited success. Strong policing will curb crime but not eliminate crime. It is no wonder that the prophet, Jeremiah, came to understand that God would one day write God’s law on our hearts. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. [Jer 31:33-34] We need a change of heart that leads to the spring of love bubbling up within us. This is why St Augustine could say; ‘Love God and do what you like’. To be in love with God is to be in God’s love. But cannot change our hearts on our own.
As I have attempted with my ordinary words to describe the enormity of evil. You cannot dismiss evil; you must drive it out by a greater power. You will find examples of what I am talking about in many places. Even institutions with good purposes develop a power of their own which can become sinister to some degree or other. Ponder the Church as an institution and then our banking systems. The list does not diminish. An institution’s way of being can possess us. The thing we serve possesses us and that is what demonic is.
Jesus experienced evil in his day. I have become very aware in recent times that Jesus began his ministry and immediately the demons emerged. From the very beginning Jesus had to deal with evil in its different faces. Those forces strove to quieten him and extinguish the flame of his compassion and truth. Those forces of evil had to be driven out. Jesus knew this.
So it is not surprising to hear Jesus say; Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. [Jn 12:31] Jesus’ strife with the religious authorities had come to a head. The authorities found Jesus a threat to their control and power. The authorities were going to use any means to ensure they didn’t lose control. Jesus was confronting their power in what he said and did. He demonstrated that the religious orders didn’t have the power to forgive, that God’s power was with him and he controlled the powers of evil by exorcising demons. Along with that Jesus broke laws controlling community relations. He allowed women to touch him, he touched the unclean and implied where he was God was present.
So how does Jesus destroy the powers of evil? Jesus destroys the power of evil the only way one can. He confronted the evil with truth and love. You can’t overcome evil by using the tools of evil. When we fight evil on evil’s terms evil wins.
What that tells us is that we do not have the capacity to confront evil with truth and love because we do not have in ourselves the quality of love and compassion to overcome evil. Neither do we have the measure of truth in ourselves to combat the lie. Why? Because we are already tainted with unlove and untruth. We are sinners as the Bible says. Listen to your heart and mind. We are too ready to punish and embrace anger than forgive and build relationships. The only way that we can combat the evil is with pure compassionate love and truth. And we can’t do it.
Neither could the disciples. We have a perfect of example of this at Gethsemane. The squad of priests and guards come to arrest Jesus. They are armed naturally. The disciples respond bravely. They put their hand to their swords. Some evidently had them. Peter even attacks striking off the ear of a servant. Jesus immediately stops Peter and prohibits any fighting. He heals the servant. Here we see ourselves. Brave yes, ready to fight yes, but lacking in understanding as to what will destroy evil. All the disciples can do now is run away. They have no other weapons, because are like those who come for Jesus with violence. They are just on the other side and will use violence to defend Jesus. But that is not Jesus’ way.
Jesus’ way is love and truth. These are his weapons. Jesus met the evil with truth and love. He had pure love and truth in him. That’s what the creeds mean when they say that Jesus was without sin.
Jesus stood against evil. Jesus did it for us. Jesus is our substitute. When we talk of Jesus dying for our sin we usually explain that in terms of paying the penalty for sin. That concept appears in our songs of faith, our writings and it appears in the Bible. I want suggest that there is something far deeper. Jesus had to confront and destroy the power of evil – untruth and unlove. He answers with truth and refuses to use any tool of evil, for that would continue the cycle of evil. Love will uncover the untruth and unlove of violence. Love reveals its ugliness. Love & Truth ultimately prevail.
Robin Mann captures this sense of Jesus action in his song, “How the world was won” in v.3.
Though this child was helpless,
Satan’s kingdom fell.
Weakness was the weapon
that defeated hell.
Feeble flesh, so human,
just like mine and yours,
brought the world to safety,
opened heaven’s door.
As I have said before. The authorities killed Jesus and scattered his followers. They thought they had won. Indeed it looked like it. But those followers took up the battle using the weapons of truth and love following their Resurrected Lord and won over the empire. 300 years later Roman authorities recognised something of the truth and love of King Jesus and Christianity became a faith of the Roman Empire.
What does this say to us today? It tells us that all our actions of compassion, justice and truth seeking are grounded in Jesus self-giving act of love and truth on our behalf. When we stand with Christ Jesus we stand in the power of God’s life changing power of love & truth. We then become life-changers and stand in the tradition of the great peacemakers. We are able because Jesus has done it for us: our substitute has won the victory over evil.
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 18/03/2018
