Gleanings – Jesus Who?

Mark 3:7-19a

“You are the Son of God.”

Whenever Jesus crossed the path of unclean spirits, he was recognized by them. They “beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out” we are told. Why is it that the unclean spirits readily see what we do not?

Could it be that they, the unclean spirits, are spiritual and we are not?

Have we reasoned our way out of this dimension? In the span of a century we moved from astrology to astronomy, from bloodletting to noninvasive surgery, from candle light to light in a pen powerful enough to blind a hockey player. In our intelligence, in an age of hyper-rationalism, have we talked ourselves out of the spiritual realm and embraced what you see is what you get, that is that life consists of what we can hold, study and verify? We cannot hold Jesus so we embrace the historical Gandhi-like Jesus but we don’t see the one who sits at the right hand of the Father? We would miss him if he walked right by us because we have eliminated the dimension in which he lives.

Or is the issue one of distraction, we believe in the dimension but we run the rat race set before us and are consumed by things material? Not long ago I wrote about the time and energy necessary to sustain the things I own. These are things with no eternal value are things which moths will eat and rust will consume. When you add to that task the job necessary to acquire the things and the time spent taking them to the trash when their day is done, could there be time for Jesus or another dimension?

These are not inconsequential questions. For as much as Jesus is the nemesis of the unclean spirits, he is our savior and transformer. He is key to their demise. He is key to our life. When was the last time you beheld him, fell at his feet and cried out?


Leave a Reply