Unclean Spirits

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. 

He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known. (Mark 3:7-12)

Unclean spirits fell down before Jesus.  If only the same would occur for us!  Hate, anger, and envy, to name a few of those spirits, make us unclean. We are all part of a large number of people who follow Jesus, and being so close to the sea, we can imagine him withdrawing to a boat perhaps off Mashpee in shallow waters, just before he put off into the deep of Vineyard Sound.  

What we need is a flotilla of boats to accompany him into the deep.  The waters likely will be rough, but he has a way with waves.  He stills the waters, and he tries to still us when we churn inside.  He is the Son of God, and we defy him by making it known.  That’s our obligation - to make ourselves clean.

Deacon David Pierce