Driven

Spirit/Wind-Driven

Man of Action

The sky was torn[i] open at the Baptism of Jesus, after which the Spirit drove[ii] him into the desert where Satan tested him. Then Jesus returned from the desert proclaiming that the kingdom of God was arriving and that people had better repent and believe it.[iii]

Jesus went on to expel unclean spirits that were disturbed “whenever they saw him.”[iv] He healed people who crowded around him.[v] He claimed the right to forgive sins and proved it.[vi] The religious leaders claimed the prince of devils possessed him[vii] and his family came to collect him thinking he was mad.[viii]

Early in the piece, Jesus called people to follow him. Following his example, groups of men were sent ahead of him and did much the same things by using the authority of his name.[ix] When one group returned, Jesus showed them the source of his authority, it was his relationship with his heavenly Father[x]. There was nothing magical about his authority.

Possessed

Jesus acted like a man possessed and he was. The Gospel makes this clear:

• After his baptism by John, the Spirit expelled Jesus into the desert[xi]

• Jesus was wind-borne; he moved in the direction that the Spirit moved in.[xii]

• He did not deny the accusation of spirit-possession; but he made his most withering rebuttal concerning which spirit was possessing him.[xiii]

• Jesus was so possessed by the Spirit that his heart would become a source of the Spirit for others, after his glorification.[xiv]

We get a picture of how Jesus was driven by the Spirit by looking to the prophets of the Old Testament. Each of them at some point in their lives ‘received an irresistible divine call’ [xv] though they could fight against it, as the story of Jonah shows.[xvi] They were not automatons as the demon-possessed might be. When they spoke, they knew the words came from God and that they were to pass them on whatever the consequences. The source of their conviction was an experience of direct contact with God, of being ‘raised to a supra-normal psychological state by this divine intervention’.[xvii] They acted on God’s directions according to their distinctive personalities and according to their circumstances, often in rather creative ways.

Torn

The image of the heavens being torn apart connotes direct divine intervention. It also sets the tone for relating with Jesus once he became Spirit-driven. He is no longer the baby in the manger. Nor is he only the wonder-worker or the suffering servant.

Jesus’ own compassion[xviii] for the crowd was gut-wrenching. As one author wrote:

‘To say that Jesus had pity on the people – that he felt splagchnizomai – is really to say that he had a feeling deep in his gut, the deepest of all human emotions, that kind of feeling that is physical as much as intellectual. Jesus felt so deeply connected to these people, and he felt so deeply disturbed by where they were being led, that he had to do something.’ [xix]

In his public ministry, contact with Jesus was divisive. He warned that the division would split families.[xx] And in her own heart his mother would have a soul-piercing experience, seeing her son as ‘a sign that would be rejected’.[xxi]

Across the ages, contemplation of Jesus’ suffering, especially the piercing of his heart, has, does and will cause great mourning.[xxii]

Questions:

So what does this mean for us? When we operate in the name of the Spirit-driven Jesus, i.e., the Christ, we can expect things to get torn apart. As the saying goes: “You can’t make omelettes without cracking eggs.”

John promised that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit, so how Spirit-driven are we?

[i] ‘Torn’ in Greek => schizo skhid’-zo: to split or sever -- break, divide, open, rend, make a rent. http://scripturetext.com/mark/1-10.htm

[ii] ‘Drive’ => εκβαλλει verb - ekballo ek-bal'-lo: to eject -- bring forth, cast (forth, out), drive (out), expel, leave, pluck (pull, take, thrust) out, put forth (out), send away (forth, out). Vulgate: et statim Spiritus expellit eum in desertum http://scripturetext.com/mark/1-12.htm

[iii] See Mark 1:14-15 ‘…repent and believe…’

[iv] Mark 3:11

[v] See Mark 3:9-10

[vi] See Mark 2:10 ‘…authority to forgive sins on earth…’

[vii] See Mark 3:22

[viii] See Mark 3:21

[ix] See Luke 9:1 & Para; also Luke 10:1 ff

[x] See Luke 10: 22 ‘Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father…’

[xi] See Mark 1:12 ‘At once the Spirit expelled him into the desert.’

[xii] See John 3:8 ‘The wind blows where it pleases …everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

[xiii] See Mark 3:28-30

[xiv] See John 7:37-39 ‘…from his heart shall flow streams of living water…the Spirit…’

[xv] New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) ISBN 0-385-14264-6, page 1158

[xvi] See Jonah 1 “…running away from Yahweh…” See also Jeremiah 20:7-10 “You have seduced me…I will not speak in his name any longer…” and Mark 14:36-37 “…take this cup away…”

[xvii] NJB, op.cit, page 1159

[xviii] See Matthew 9:36

[xix] The original word is splagchnizomai – it’s such a great word, much better than “pity.” Splagchnizomai comes from the Greek word for entrails, the vital inner organs of a person—the stomach, heart, lungs, spleen, liver, and kidneys. http://perpetualpriest.blogspot.com/2008/06/splagchnizomai.html Fr. Eric Augenstein

New Albany, IN, United States

[xx] See Luke 12:51 ‘…but rather division.’

[xxi] See Luke 2:35 ‘…pierce your own soul too…’

[xxii] See John 19: 37 ‘…who they have pierced…’ also Revelation 1:7 ‘…the earth will wail over him.’ And Zechariah 12:10 ‘…as though for an only child…’