go and do likewise

Saturday February 4th, Mark 1: 25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." Jesus didn’t kick the evil man out of the synagogue; he kicked the evil spirit out of the man and welcomed the man into the community of faith. His concern was for who the person was, a child of God, not who he seemed to be, an evil possessed person. The small healing that day was the demon possessed man. The larger healing was the community who had labeled his as such. Perhaps our calling is to do the same in our congregations and in the world around us. In another place Jesus told us to love our enemies. Go and do likewise.