Good morning. It is good to be back in worship. This past month, I have battled a severe case of the flu that was very difficult to get over and this past Friday was the tenth anniversary of my mother’s death from inflammatory breast cancer, which has hit me pretty hard. As a young man, I have learned what I am sure many of us have learned throughout out lives, that grief never really goes away and at various times in our lives it can come cascading back to us – particularly around milestone anniversaries. I am thankful to be back from the sickness and grief and in worship, where we recognize that Christ calls us to abundant life of health and strength.

It is such a call to life, health, and strength that comes from Christ that actually brings us to our Gospel passage this morning. To begin to make some sense of it for our time period today, I would like to begin with a scene from a film. Many of you have heard some of my sermons before in the past and you know that I often find Christian theology in a lot of cinema. The specific film in question is one that I suspect many may find quite controversial and it certainly is not one that everyone will be able to watch.

It was considered so controversial when it was released in 1973 that it was even swiftly condemned by Catholic bishops in the United States. Some of you who know your film history or know your horror films, may already know which film I am talking about. Notwithstanding, the film centers around a young girl in Washington, D.C. who appears to become psychologically disturbed. Throughout the movie, this young girl’s supposed illness gets more and more severe.

Doctors, psychologists, and medical experts try everything to no avail. Finally, the mother of the daughter turns to religion to find a cure for her daughter. She learns that exorcism is a spiritual practice carried out by the Catholic Church and she meets with a priest to discuss one such exorcism for her daughter. The priest in question is himself skeptical and suggests that in Catholicism, the practice of exorcism is so rare, that it has all but been abandoned. Yet, he agrees to examine the mother’s daughter and upon such an examination he comes to believe that perhaps an exorcism could be warranted in the case.

He speaks with his superior in the Church and it is suggested that another priest who has performed such exorcisms throughout he world should assist him in the matter. Both priests then work together to perform a spiritual exorcism on the child and during the exorcism one of the most profound religious statements in any film ever made is declared: “The power of Christ compels you.” If you do not know by now what film I am referring to, it is the 1973 film titled The Exorcist. I must stress again, this is not a film that everyone can watch and it certainly is not for children. I will state, however, that the film is actually one of my favorite films and it is because I believe the film to actually be a powerful affirmation of the role of religion and spirituality in our lives and in world. And to be humorous for a moment: I am delighted that I actually get to use the words from the film – “The power of Christ compels you” – as a sermon title.

When we look at our Gospel lesson, it seems that it really is the power of Christ that compels us. The text in question taken from the Gospel of Mark depicts an actual exorcism that Jesus is stated to have performed in the synagogue. The man who was exorcised basically screams at Jesus in the synagogue and raises a question that implies that Jesus has come to destroy people, to essentially bring death. Jesus then – with power – speaks to this man with an unclean spirit and calls for him to be silent and for the evil spirit to come out of him. In a nutshell, it was the power of Christ that compelled the spirit of death to come out of the man.

Now, we do not live in a world where actual exorcisms as depicted in the film The Exorcist are performed on a regular basis. Modern science has revealed that much of what the Church believed as needing to be exorcised have actually been things that can be cured medically. Notwithstanding, I believe that when we think about exorcism in terms of prophetically calling ourselves and the world away from death and toward life, then we can see that there is so much in our world that needs to be exorcized.

One of the Biblical commentaries on this Gospel text puts it powerfully: “Satan’s power is being broken up because the Lord has come to redeem the people. Therefore, the exorcism indicates what it means for the Kingdom of God to draw near. The kingdom cannot be separated from the person of Jesus, who embodies God’s power.”

What is some of the death in our world that needs the power of the Christian message to compel it back to life? We could look at the rate of alcoholism and opioid addiction in our nation – people dying from so-called deaths from despair. We could look at rising income inequalities. We can see all of the political strife we are stuck in. Across the globe in Israel and Palestine, we can see what is happening in Gaza, where the United Nations is projecting that 500,000 Palestinians could potentially starve. We can see it in the rising antisemitism in our society. We can see it in the fact that today, it is still an epidemic that many LGBTQ children are still thrown out on the streets. We can see it in the apathy that seems to grip many in our own communities to even try to do anything positive and life giving at all. Death and despair abound all around us.

Now, there are some voices in our 21^st century world today who believe that religion has no use for humanity. They are wrong. When we begin to understand that the message of Christ is a call toward life, then we know that it is more relevant than ever, in this very world where so much death and despair is rife. Just as the power of Christ compelled that young man in the synagogue to life in the first century, the power of Christ compels us to life in our modern world. And for those of us called Christians, we are called to model Christ. We must therefore call ourselves and our world toward that life that Christ compels us toward. As we go forth in our lives, may we thus be the instruments that God can use to compel life in all that is around us. It is the power of Christ that compels us.