Silence is [Not] Golden

14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. (Luke 11:14 NIV)

Near the end of the movie Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams is not allowed to see his children without supervision after his disguise as a nanny is uncovered. The judge presiding over the custody battle makes the unfair (based on what is really true) assumption that Robin Williams' is unstable after appearing before his children in drag. His estranged wife (Sally Field) knew the truth but remained silent at the hearing because of her anger at being deceived by her husband's act. An unfair decision was made because someone who knew the truth remained silent.

I remember being in church when I was little and hearing the preacher talk about sins of omission. After church I asked my mom what that meant. She said it was when we made God unhappy because we didn't do what we should have done. My mom's explanation has haunted me many times when I missed a chance to do the right thing and remained silent or withheld action because I made an unfair decision about someone or a situation. 

Stories about demons and exorcisms are tricky because they create handy loopholes for 21st century, post-enlightenment Christians. To be sure the world was understood very differently 20 centuries ago. The earth was flat and many medical and probably all emotional and mental disorders were attributed to demonic possession. While it's fairly safe to assume that many of the seizures that were blamed on demons might very well have resulted from epilepsy or other related conditions, it's unsafe to dismiss the evil in all of us and its potential to harm others, particularly when the evil stifles an urge to speak out against injustice against a person or a group of people. 

The verse above says that the demon had rendered the man mute and when Jesus cast it out the man spoke. If we can open ourselves up to the spirit-rich world of the first century and bring that forward into our contemporary perspective, maybe we can allow for the possibility that evil does visit us (if not takes up residence). And while that evil often manifests as dangerous, hurtful words spewing forth like foul water from a tainted spring, it can also manifest as a spring that has simply dried up and offers no sweet, living water.

As we continue on our journey perhaps we should carefully consider sudden opportunities to take a detour to be Jesus, the advocate, in the lives of people whom we know are being unfairly judged. We risk the possibility of catching an arrow meant for the person next to us, but at least if water comes out the hole the arrow makes, it will be the living water Jesus wants us to offer and not the brackish swill that is far too abundant. Or, and maybe even worse, no water comes out and we wind up like an annoying broken faucet that offers nothing at all.  

Blessings,
Larry