Scripture: Mark 1:21-28
Article: "Self Immolation is on the Rise in the Arab World"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/world/africa/self-immolation-on-the-rise-in-the-arab-world.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/world/africa/self-immolation-on-the-rise-in-the-arab-world.html
I’ve been struggling with this story in the Gospel according to Mark. There is, of course, the obvious problem: The man that the storyteller Mark describes as “one with an unclean spirit” would probably be described as someone with mental illness by many of us today, not necessarily possessed by an unclean spirit, or demon. Beyond this tension between the world and cultural understanding of ancient Palestine and that of ours, however, I think there remains an even larger problem: It’s stories like these, stories about dramatic healings of the most unlikely people, that make the Christian faith sound too romantic and naïve at best and harmful at worst. They are stories whose endings elicit responses such as: “REALLY?! Please tell me you are joking. Seriously. How ridiculous. You truly BELIEVE this nonsense?”
The above response is, ironically, quite similar to the question the man with the unclean spirit poses to Jesus in this story: “What have you TO DO WITH US, Jesus of Nazareth?” His question is the question of a world captured by demons of many stripes….Demons in the form of greed, demons in the form of anxiety and depression, demons in the form of mean spiritedness and ill will, demons in the form of apathy and hopelessness. These unclean spirits say: What have YOU to do with US? Do you actually have anything to say to us? Please, show us how you are going to change anything.
While reading this passage I found myself envisioning the various people I’ve worked with (mostly through my internship at a Poverty Rights center in Atlanta) who live with schizophrenia. They are arguably some of most tortured people on earth. Have you ever seen someone running down the street, hands clasping the ears, screaming for no apparent reason? This is probably a person suffering from schizophrenia. Schizophrenics live their lives in a kind of altered reality, haunted by very real voices that command them to do things as simple as brushing their teeth to violent acts against themselves and others. Many of the people we encounter in scripture (and especially in the Gospel stories) that are possessed by unclean spirits or demons would probably be diagnosed as Paranoid Schizophrenics today. I find it of no coincidence that the first recorded “healing” or “miracle” proclaimed in Mark’s Gospel describes Jesus casting out a spirit responsible for making one man’s life a kind of living hell. In casting out the unclean spirit, Jesus not only delivers the man from the prison that exists in his own mind and body, but he also delivers those around the man—those in his family and community—from the constant fear that he may lash out uncontrollably and perhaps violently. In casting out the unclean spirit, Jesus is delivering both an individual and a community from fear and pain. And like I hinted at above, he is also beginning his ministry by healing a man whose pain and feeling of enslavement is arguably much more acute than those around him. The gospel writer’s choice to place this story at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry not only testifies to Jesus’ special “preference” for those who suffer most and are shunned by others, but it also serves as a magnifying glass for humanity: If Jesus, and the way of Jesus, can deliver people suffering from the most visible and seemingly endless torture, surely he can deliver the rest of us from the “milder” forces that keep us from living abundant lives: anxiety, depression, pride, low self-esteem, anger.
Last Sunday, Nada Bakri reported on a disturbing trend in the Arab World: Well over a year has passed since Mohamad Bouazizi set himself on fire and sparked the revolutions in Tunisia and across the region, but despite the relative success of the movements, self-immolation is on the rise.
It’s hard for most of us to even imagine feeling so trapped and hopeless that we set ourselves on fire as an act of painful self-destruction and/or protest. It may be just as hard for a theologian to insist that God is truly at work delivering people from the spiritual and mental torture that causes something as awful as self-immolation, especially when the statistics point to the contrary. And yet this is the truth that Christians believe has been revealed. When Jesus stood up in the synagogue to teach, the people were “astonished” because he was not only teaching something new but he was also an unlikely teacher; His teaching and his action on behalf of the suffering man flew in the face of the man’s question: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”
The same teaching and action continues to confront that agonized question today: “What have you do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” And although most of us who try to follow Jesus don’t consider “casting out unclean spirits” part of our skill set (at least in the literal sense!), we are called to proclaim hope in even the most desperate places and situations, because that’s where Jesus started and that’s where he ended and continues to work. Resting in that knowledge, we should be emboldened to compassionately follow Jesus, casting out the unclean spirits that live in all of us, and casting out the “societal” unclean spirits that lead to tragedies like Self-Immolation. This is what Jesus has to do with us.
Great post! It is helpful to be reminded that ancient authors made purposeful choices about where to place the stories they had inherited.
ReplyDeleteYou describe self-immolation as tragedy. I wonder though, if self-immolation might (in some contexts) be analogous to cross-bearing, which Jesus calls for later on in Mark. The Romans knew that a dead body was a powerful symbol. So, I could see someone arguing for the validity of self-immolations for its potential shock value; one that might invite (incite?) reform.
I too would love a world where people weren't faced with injustices that LED to thoughts of self-immolation. And truthfully, I think its accurate to describe such a thing as tragedy. But do you think God can use these tragedies of self-sacrifice to further the Kingdom?
Hey Ross! Thanks for your reply. I was actually hoping someone would point this out, and I shouldn't be surprised it was you. :)
ReplyDeleteAs Christians, I don't think we can faithfully come down 100% on either side of this issue: self-immolation as tragedy or self-immolation as worthy self-sacrifice for the common good. The first suggests that, as you said, following Jesus has nothing to do with cross-bearing (when in reality it has everything to do with following Jesus), but I worry that the second runs the risk of glorifying immense suffering in people who have "simply" been pushed too far.
As religious leaders, I think it's especially important to try distinguishing between the kind of self-sacrifice, born of freedom, that involves stepping in front of a bullet so it doesn't hit a child, and the kind of self-sacrifice that is the result of misplaced pride or desperation. I think part of my discomfort in "validating" self-immolation lies in the knowledge that in an effort to follow their leaders' call for self-sacrifice, many devoutly religious people (including Christians) have committed suicide and even killed other people while doing it. How do we (as religious leaders) protect people in desperate situations from (arguably) unnecessary violence towards themselves while not "watering down" the Gospel? I believe that knowing oneself as saved involves freedom from fear of death, and that kind of faith has real, tangible consequences in this life. I think that kind of freedom is perfectly embodied in Jesus, who slowly and deliberately made his way to the cross. But I'm also uncomfortable with the idea that God calls other people (people he hasn't chosen to become incarnate in!) to the kind of brutal, power-shaking sacrifice that Jesus made. Perhaps my discomfort is simply that...discomfort. I suppose this is one of those questions we must constantly grapple with.
Despite my reservations about Self-Immolation as worthy sacrifice, I do think the Holy Spirit has worked through (though not caused) its most recent example.
I think your discomfort (which I share) is well well placed; I'd also agree that Jesus' sacrifice is of a wholly different nature than others'. I think there are some cultural differences to think about too. Eastern cultures seem to be much more comfortable with the idea of self-sacrifice (e.g. seppuku in Japan).
ReplyDelete