Mark 1:21-28 “Dealing with hecklers: How to respond to people who react negatively to your Christian witness and lifestyle.”

Do people sometimes have a go at you for your faith in Jesus?  In today’s Gospel we see Jesus responding to a demonic heckler with authority and grace.  There are lessons from this for us too.  It’s helpful to think a little more deeply about what is going on at a spiritual level when people criticize you or put you down for following Jesus.  Try to understand what’s prompting the heckling.  Often it comes from a fear of being exposed and/or judged.  Rather than destroying him (as he feared), Jesus spoke words of liberation and healing over the man with the unclean spirit.  We too need to be people of grace and healing, of acceptance and compassion.  Sadly, too many Christians have a reputation for being judgmental and rejecting.  St Paul in Romans 12 has come helpful advice for us when facing opposition: “Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.”

Pastor Richard Haar