Jesus has entered the temple and was teaching. A man with an unclean spirit came in the temple, and Jesus banishes the unclean spirit, healing the man. Up to this point in the Gospel of Mark, we’ve heard about John baptizing Jesus, and Jesus has called his disciples. His first acts of ministry are the teaching in the synagogue and the healing of this man.
The man has unclean spirits, who speak to Jesus in the first person, plural. We know who you are, Jesus of Nazareth. Living with someone with voices, these stories always strike a chord with me.
I recently read a study about the voices that people with auditory hallucinations have. Basically, there’s something called subvocalizations, and we all have them. If you’ve ever found yourself concentrating hard on something, and you find yourself muttering to yourself, that’s what happens when those sub (or below) vocalizations, rise to the level of actual vocalizations. And you might not even know you had them. They’re different from thoughts, but very related. We have thoughts in our brain, but when we’re really concentrating, our brain lights up in the areas of speech, in addition to thought. Our vocal chords are primed and might even be moving without the prerequisite air to actually make sound. Subvocalization.
With people with auditory hallucinations, they have these too. And like me, they don’t register that they’re having these parts of their brain lighting up, before actually speaking. Unlike me, when they recognize the subvocalizations but don’t recognize that they’re from their own thoughts. The connection between thought and subvocalization is missing, and therefore the voices are attributed to something or someone else. The brain is a wonderful storyteller and will try to make sense of things by filling in missing bits. Therefore, if someone recognizes words in their head but don’t recognize them as their own, clearly the words must be from an alien, or an FBI chip, or God. These are the stories told by paranoid brains that recognize subvocalizations, but don’t recognize them as their own thoughts. Without the paranoia, the voices are attributed to loving companions, or invisible friends.
It could be argued that people with auditory hallucinations are not less aware than those without, but perhaps more aware. They recognize those pre-words before we do. There are places in the world that treat people with diseases that involve auditory hallucinations, such as bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia more as revered special people, with brains that understand things we do not. I’m not suggesting that this should be universally implemented, but I do think there is something to be said for a more generous acceptance of people with auditory hallucinations.
Back to the Scripture. After the man and his voices talk to Jesus, the man acknowledges that he knows who Jesus is – the Holy One of God. This is the first acknowledgment of Jesus’ divinity, and it comes from this man with either hallucinations, or an unclean spirit. Jesus was, by all visible accounts, a young Jewish teacher in the synagogue. He had not broken into his public ministry. He probably didn’t have a golden halo or special aura about him. But the Divine was recognized in this humble man.
If we believe that the Holy Spirit indwells in all of us, we all have a bit of the Divine in us. If I believe that, than doesn’t that mean that we should be able to recognize or at least acknowledge the Divine in each other?
This morning, I’m thinking about whether I’d be able to recognize the Holy in another. Whether I’d see it in the street person, mumbling to herself. In the angry protester. The apathetic businessman. I want to be able to see the Holy One of God in each person I meet. I do think it’s hard to see that trait in each other, especially when the fully-human parts of ourselves shine through in all our self-absorbedness, greed, and illness. Regardless, it’s there. The Holy is there in every person I meet.
Perhaps I just need to have faith that it’s there, and then act like it’s there. And once you believe it, and act on it, then you see it. Today, I’ll start with believing it.
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