4th Sunday of Lent: St. John of the Ladder
Scripture: Mark 9:17-31
Oops!
If you’re like me, you probably think of yourself as a modern, contemporary person. What do I mean by that.
I mean that I consider myself enlightened about the world, its history, its politics, and how the world works. Not just on a social level, but also how it works scientifically—after all, in high school, I took biology, anatomy, physics, chemistry, calculus, trigonometry, and geometry (I don’t think I’m leaving any of them off the list …).
In college, I focused more in history, language, and ancient literature, but I was an archaeology major, which incorporates scientific methods to analyze the past so that we can figure out how people once lived.
So, with this sort of background, when I hear today’s Gospel about Jesus cleansing a boy who has a deaf and dumb spirit, I’m a bit skeptical–even as a priest.
In all my science and math courses, with their stress on the scientific method and testing hypotheses, I don’t recall anything about spirits possessing anyone and trying to burn them in a fire, or drown them in a tub of water.
Additionally, the explanation of how to exorcise these demons—with prayer and fasting—seems just as absurd. Even if we try to enter the world of the New Testament, how, exactly, does depriving ourselves of food take care of demons? Imagine if the new Ghostbusters movie took care of the ghosts by calling for a great fast instead of using their proton packs (just remember not to cross the streams!).
Ugh!
How is any of this Good News for us today? I agree with thesis of scripture: our world is broken, fallen as the theologians might say. But, it seems broken in ways that scripture is blind to, or at least doesn’t have answers for how to fix.
Take an example from my week. On Tuesday, we had a Syndesmos meeting—our clergy brotherhood—in which we had an eye opening presentation by Dr. Randa Anderson, who is a clinical psychologist.
Dr. Anderson told us about social media and its effects on our mental health, especially the mental health of teenagers. Unfortunately, it isn’t good news. She told us that social media use by our children has led to a rise in
- poor sleep habits,
- anxiety related to fear of missing out and social comparisons,
- pornography exposure,
- threat of bullying and harm,
- relationship conflicts,
- poor attention and focus,
- less empathy for others (more of a focus on the self),
- legal troubles,
- less creativity,
- and it’s disrupted their capacity for inner peace and prayer.
In fact, it’s so bad, and its effects so devastating, that the Surgeon General of the United States issued an advisory just last year (see here). Now, we typically think of these advisories as warnings against the use of tobacco, drugs, or alcohol. Now, they’re about the negative effects of social media use.
With such bad news, how can today’s reading be Good News?
Aha!
Well, I think to see how Jesus speaks to us still today, we have to consider what he means on a deeper level. We may have to reorient our thinking about some basic terms, including fasting.
Typically, when we think of fasting, we think of things we cannot do, such as eat meat, wine, dairy, or olive oil.
In other words, we think of fasting as being restrictive: a big “no.”
However, the gist of today’s Gospel is that the boy was freed from the demon, a freedom that Christ says can only come from prayer and fasting.
So, let’s change our definition. Fasting isn’t to be defined as something restrictive, but rather, as something liberating.
I wonder if that speaks to our social media problem?
Whee!
In the presentation on Tuesday, one thing we didn’t discuss—we were limited on time—is why social media is having all these affects on our children.
It seems to me that one possible reason goes back to what we’ve been learning in our book study, Face to Face by Fr. Stephen Freeman (purchase here). In other words, I think that social media is a breeding ground for envy and shame.
Fr. Stephen defines envy as how we feel about the good fortune of others, and it includes a strong sense of malice.
As we all know, we rarely post our bad moments on social media. Instead, we post joyous moments—that new promotion, a new baby in the family, an expensive and delicious meal—and, if we post selfies, we make sure that they portray us in the best light possible, both literally and figuratively.
Everyone else does this as well.
So, as we see other’s posts, we compare our lives to theirs, or at least to their posted, public lives. In turn, envy creeps in, which causes a sense of inadequacy or failure, that is shame. We think we don’t measure up, and we see our weaknesses. This increases our pain. And, I think, it leads to all the negative effects of social media that I listed earlier.
In short, because of social media, we’ve become crippled by the passions of envy and shame. We’ve become enslaved, just like the boy in today’s reading was enslaved by his demons.
Now, remember what I said about fasting? Remember how I said this spiritual tool is meant to be liberating?
Well, consider this: What if used this tool, not just for food, but as a wholistic spiritual discipline? What if we fasted from those things that cause us to be enslaved? In other words, what if we fasted from social media?
Yeah!
In fact, this is what Dr. Anderson proposed. She suggested a modern fast, if you will, that included:
- no smart phones until high school,
- no social media until age 16,
- and no phones allowed on school property.
In place of this fast, she suggested that children and teenagers fill their extra time with more free play, much like I had when I was growing up.
To me this sounds a lot like the fast the Church prescribes. As we fast from food, which, historically, meant spending less money on groceries, we are to use our extra money to give alms. And, we are also fill our time during a fast with more prayer.
So, it seems, Jesus was right. Fasting can be liberating. In the case of social media; it can give our children back their lives.
But, this is just one example. There are many passions that enslave us. Each of us struggle with one or another. Perhaps, there is a fast we can undertake to find our own liberation, to find our own lives again, to deepen our spirituality, and to find ourselves in Christ.
As we complete the Great Fast this year, I pray that all of us find our liberation so that we can be there at Pascha to greet the risen Christ as Lord.
Amen.