My Apocalyptic Epiphany

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 

“Be silent, and come out of him!” 

And the unclean spirit, 

convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, 

came out of him." 

(from Mark 1:21-28)

I understand “Apocalypse” to mean:

A. God destroying the powers of evil and raising the righteous to life in God’s kingdom.

B. an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale, such as 911

My struggle begins with a mini-apocalypse as Jesus’ identity is revealed with the heavens torn open, the Spirit driving Jesus into a desert, being tempted by Satan, accompanied by servant angels, and wild beasts.

This is a scene of gigantic spiritual threats.

From his desert experience, Jesus preaches the apocalyptic idea of God’s Kingdom which is the core of Mark’s gospel 1:15: “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”.

After preaching Jesus calls four fishermen who immediately leave their nets and follow him.

My apocalyptic struggle continues with Jesus’ exorcism in a synagogue where he commands and casts out a demon from a man.

This exorcism identifies Jesus’ purpose and power of destroying evil as the Holy one of God”.

My apocalyptic epiphany begins by asking what does this have to do with us as we face broken or demonic systems today?

A beginning epiphany, suggested by a biblical scholar, is to focus on steadfast resistance as we confront the demons around us in the light of Jesus divine authority.

A second epiphany is that by focusing on the cross and our discipleship, an apocalypse means naming the world’s pain and suffering along with its promise of correction.

A final epiphany is that Jesus is on his own steadfast way to the cross and that the exorcism in the Synagogue is for real people, spoken by Jesus.

Think about it: How does Jesus’ divine authority help us reflect on the nature of today’s broken or demonic systems (Mark 1:22, 27)