The Ultimate Ghostbuster ...

In a season of Halloween, Americans like to get caught up in costume parties, spooky decorations, and making sure there is enough candy to hand out to the children who will come knocking at night.  This like many other holidays in our modern culture tends to be a Christianized alteration of an older pagan tradition.  The Celtic festival of Samhain was about wearing costumes to ward off ghosts or spirits at the end of summer.  The original Christian alteration was to use this time to remember the saints and martyrs of the past, perhaps lighting a candle in memory of them, and eating a vegetarian diet on the All Hallows Eve.  Other cultures have made further variations on the theme of honoring the dead, in Mexico the colors and festivities are particularly lively.  Often, it is the unknown that frightens us.  Since no living person has any frame of reference to discuss matters beyond the grave, the idea that a departed one might somehow find his/her way back to the land of the living inspires fear before anything else.  Hollywood has done much to capitalize on this notion as nearly every horror film is based on the idea of some supernatural being (generally immune to a real death) wreaking havoc on “normal” people.

And again, as throughout history since the ascension of Christ, Christians tend to take a pagan concept or tradition and alter it for their own purposes.  The popular Christian belief, that hell continues to exist in our present day, and is a destination for those souls who refuse the gospel, immediately upon death makes the idea of ghosts quite reasonable.  A departed soul coming back from heaven to give guidance to the living, becomes a less-scary proposition to those who believe that “good people” go immediately to heaven in spirit form upon death.  The idea that our souls are immortal supports the argument Satan used with Eve in the garden based upon his lie that eating the fruit would NOT result in death.  If Adam and Eve, and every departed soul since, continues to live on in spirit form, then the serpent was not lying and in fact God was.  But every Christian should know this not to be true.  Yet since it’s first telling in Eden, the idea that some sort of existence is possible beyond the grave has persisted in every pagan culture from Eden to America. 

Under this thinking, it is perhaps logical that should a ghost appear, it is likely motivated by an attempt to escape hell, rather than be dragged out of paradise.  So perhaps Hollywood has a point in portraying any supernatural being (immune to the idea of a real death), as being menacing rather than saintly.  And when you consider that the author of this original lie was Satan, any evidence he could manufacture to support this notion would ultimately be based in a desire to inflict as much damage on the objects of God’s love as possible.  It further stands to reason that havoc would follow any supernatural display.  The mission of demons impersonating the dead would be far from anything resembling salvation, or restoration to loving others like Christ loves them.  Instead, the imposters would be bent on giving advice designed to lead mankind in exactly the opposite direction.  If a person is open to the idea of life in spirit form beyond the grave, then they should be susceptible to the ideas of demons who closely resemble the form of departed loved ones purporting to be angels of light, when in fact they are anything but.

The other interesting phenomenon that accompanies Hollywood’s depiction of ghosts, spirits, and beings immune to death … is the notion they are always combated by human strength.  In the war against the supernatural, it is always mankind standing alone, against the powers of darkness.  In some cases, a less evil version of the supernatural, works alongside mankind, against the much darker powers.  But in nearly no cases, does mankind ever rely upon the power of our God to combat evil supernatural beings on our behalf in the Hollywood movies.  Often when priests call on God, they are immediately killed by the much “stronger” evil beings for daring to make such a prayer.  The idea that mankind must battle the supernatural forces of evil alone (without God), is one that only one side of the great conflict would benefit from (that of Satan).  How interesting that Satan is only leveraging the same idea he inserts into most Christian churches of the day as it relates to your own salvation – namely that you alone must fight and conquer your desire to sin to be saved.

But if Hollywood were to make a movie where the true power of Jesus Christ were put against the demons in the darkness, it would have to contend with the scriptural account of what happened EVERY time this conflict came about … Jesus wins instantly.  That does not make for a hit movie.  Instead that makes for a “boring” plot, where evil has no chance of winning, mankind does not have to fight at all, and there is really no danger from supernatural beings because Jesus rules the supernatural world beyond our sight, as much as he rules the one we can see.  Instead of Bill Murray, or Dan Aykroyd busting ghosts based on scientific acumen and a jovial nature; Jesus Christ busts ghosts, and spirits, and even the idea that such things exist 100% of the time.  For in reality, it is the power of Christ that sends demons running, and the doctrine of Christ, that shatters the ignorance that allows a ghost or spirit to exist in our minds in the first place.

Peter recalled to John Mark, an account where just such fear and ignorance were busted by Christ.  In Mark’s Gospel chapter six he began transcribing the story beginning in verse 45 saying … “And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. [verse 46] And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.”  Like any good ghost story, this one begins at the end of the day as nightfall is approaching.  The disciples are very tired as they were exhausted from the drain of the people before this day had begun, and during it, there was no rest, only the miraculous imparting of strength from Jesus to meet the needs of the people.  5,000 men and all their families had been fed in the late afternoon, and disciples had witnessed 12 baskets of extra food be gathered when everyone was full.  All of this came from only 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fishes, but replicated in the hands of Jesus, there was more than enough.  At the conclusion of these supernatural events is when our ghost story begins.  The disciples are tired once again, spent from the day’s activities.  So Jesus does, what Jesus ALWAYS does, He puts the needs of His disciples ahead of His own, and commissions them to go across the lake to get some rest.

You will note the disciples, despite their exhaustion did not want to leave Him unattended, or without transportation.  Peter uses the words “he constrained his disciples” meaning He put them in this boat with the target destination over their objections and desire to stay with Him.  Jesus knew these men would need the rest.  He knew if they stayed with Him, they would prevent Him from getting the rest He needed in the intimate communication of prayer He was intending to conduct with His Father.  So Jesus puts His very tired disciples into the boat, and He Himself departs into the stone stadium to pray.  Whether he spent the time hiking up the mountain, or was transported there in an instant (to avoid the desire of the crowd to crown Him our earthly king) is less important.  What was most important to Christ was to get precious time alone with His Father to talk through the mechanism of prayer.

Jesus had to be beyond tired.  The story of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000+ families does not pause to record where Jesus Himself got some food or rest.  Instead He was spending His time, serving and creating the food for all these people to eat.  This followed a long day of preaching and teaching.  Jesus had to be hungry, and tired, perhaps thirsty as this was conducted in a stone stadium, in a desert meant for isolation not a social gathering.  But Jesus does not look for the closest Olive Garden restaurant (pardon the pun) to eat and revive Himself with breadsticks and salad.  Instead He longs for only one thing, a close communion with His Father.  A close proximity with the Author of Life, has the side benefit of meeting every physical need we think we have.  It was so then, it is so now.  And after His prayers are concluded for the evening, Jesus is ready to rejoin His tired crew.

Peter continues in verse 47 saying … “And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. [verse 48] And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.”  As Jesus reaches the sea shore, He sees that His disciples have not reached the other side of the Sea of Galilee yet.  The winds are blowing against their boat, so exhausted as they are, they have to row, instead of sail to reach the other side.  After the renewing time He spent with His Father, Christ decides not to bother His disciples to come back for Him and pick Him up.  Instead He decides to walk across the Sea, enjoy the head wind on his skin, and simply meet them on the other side when they arrive.  Perhaps He elected to walk across this Sea tonight, just because He enjoyed the breeze.  On many other occasions (mostly when the crowds were trying to crown Him our earthly king) He would teleport Himself away to the destination of His choice.  But on this occasion, He elected to walk instead.

Perhaps the moon was full, perhaps it was just a very clear night, and the stars were providing an unusual bright light against the water, but His walk did not go unnoticed.  John Mark continues transcribing in verse 49 saying … “But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:”  The disciples completely without the influence of Hollywood horror films in any way, began screaming when they saw Him walking across the water.  Their first impulse when encountering something supernatural was that it must be a demon, or a ghost, or a spirit.  But demons they had recently been casting out, so it is less likely they would have feared one of them.  Spirits or ghosts on the other hand would have presented a different problem for them.  If the disciples had adopted a tradition that our souls continue to exist after death, then what presents itself on the water may not be a demon susceptible to being cast away.  Instead it may be a dead person in spirit form (immune from their commands to leave them alone).  Yet despite the 50/50 chance that this departed spirit may be a saint, instead of a demon, the reaction is not one of curiosity or engagement, it is one of fear.  It is in our nature to fear what instinctively we know will not be a positive encounter.  It was the ignorance of the disciples that allowed them to believe that a spirit could exist.  And so their ignorance gave rise to their fear, and logic was abandoned.

John Mark continues in verse 50 saying … “For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.”  And so the ultimate Ghostbuster does what no other can do, Jesus destroys their fear.  They were all troubled, for they all saw Him walking on water.  They were all afraid.  But they were all comforted directly by Christ.  The first thing Jesus does in this situation is alleviate their fear.  He does not begin preaching, or teaching, or scolding them for their ignorance.  He does not use logic to help them understand how foolish their assumption was.  He does not chastise them for STILL thinking in the limiting terms their humanity has conditioned them to think in, even though each of them have been healing people, casting out demons, and performing miracles that defy explanation.  They just left a scene where they helped feed 5,000 families with food that did not exist.  Yet hours or minutes later, they immediately jump to the most negative assumption possible.  But Jesus busts myths, fears, and ignorance, as only He can do.  He does not scold them, He comforts them.

Jesus follows His warm greeting as John Mark records in verse 51 saying … “And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. [verse 52] For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”  These men were going through Israel teaching others that the Messiah had arrived.  They had no other doctrine to relay.  They were not reading scriptures, but preaching the witness they had seen as to the identity of the very Son of God.  Yet, when confronted with another miracle, they were still “sore amazed”.  The impact of this event was “beyond measure”.  And it caused them to wonder.  If the account had ended there, this would be a happy ghost story, where Jesus busted the myth, killed the fear, and saved the day once again.  But the story does not end in verse 51, it continues in verse 52.

The disciples forgot the miracle of service they had participated in, in the feeding of the 5,000 families.  Instead, greed hardened their hearts, and they began to think only of what position each of them might have in the new kingdom Christ was sure to establish here on earth.  How like us.  Our God conducts a miracle in our lives, ending pain we could not end, providing healing to diseases we do not even know we had.  And our first response is to turn His gifts inward.  He ends our fears, and instead of using the freedom He provides to love others, we use it to love only ourselves.  No longer in fear of hell, we do not choose to deepen our love to others, instead we use it to excuse our own self-love.  We need not fear the sleep of death, where we will know not anything.  We need not fear the idea of ghosts, or spirits, for there are none immune to the idea of real death.  Even Satan and his demonic hoards will one day face the death of non-existence.  But our freedom from the fear of punishment, is not meant to be used as an excuse to deepen in our own sins.  It is meant to free us from them.

Because Jesus can defeat demons, obliterate the idea of ghosts, and intends to recreate us both physically and mentally is meant to break the chains of our fear.  Jesus has busted every ghost.  Jesus has defeated every demon.  We are not to suffer from the fears of ignorance.  But we are not meant to use our freedom from fear to embrace an even deeper level of self-love.  Rather we should do, what our disciples forefathers forgot to do, we should remember the priority remains on serving others.  This was not supposed to be a change in direction, of focusing on self, instead of focusing on others.  Jesus was not attempting to show His power, for self-glorification.  He intended only to meet His disciples on the other side of the Sea, not requiring them to come pick Him up and work harder to reach the destination.  He was showing concern for their needs ahead of His own, like always.  But the disciples see His power, and think only what it can for them personally.  Let it not be so with us.  Let us see His love and power, and think only how we can reflect it others both now and forever.  Let us not use our freedom from fear to escape service but to embrace it.