Signal Caller || 06.11.2022

Mark 1:25-26 says this: “’ Silence!’ Jesus said, speaking harshly to the evil spirit. ‘Come out of him!’ The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out.”

That’s right! We just heard about Jesus casting an evil spirit out of someone. This person barged in while Jesus was teaching. Rude, am I right? The evil spirit ran into the church and screamed, asking what Jesus was doing here. Then, Jesus uses his power to get rid of this unclean spirit. That is some crazy power, so it got me thinking.

I was thinking about the amount of power a baseball uses throughout a game. You have the fastballs that the pitcher throws down the plate to blow the batter away. You have the curveballs that confuse the batter. You have the power throws from the infielders to get the runner out or some easy throws to create the double play. You have the power throws from the outfielder trying to get the runner out at home. Overall, baseballs have a variety of power levels from various people in a variety of ways.

Jesus had that same kind of power structure. He has the power to heal the sick and feed the hungry people and preach to a huge crowd. He also has the power to cast out demons and raise the dead. That’s a HUGE power range. We have the power as well. Maybe not Jesus’ power level, but each of us has the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

We have the baseball of our lives, which represents our actions. If we get up and see that we’re getting to pitch, maybe the catcher calls us to throw the fastball and blow someone away with a random act of kindness, like cooking a meal for someone or shoveling someone’s driveway for them. Maybe the catcher needs to call the curveball so we can throw a curve into someone’s bad day, like paying for a meal or holding the door for someone. That curveball can confuse someone and throw them out of the mindset that they were stuck in.

Each pitch requires a different grip and a different power level, but so do our actions. Holding the door open for someone doesn’t require much power and is simple, but it also requires us to use our time and patience intentionally. Cooking a meal for someone requires much power to buy the ingredients, get the recipe, do the actual cooking, find a time to deliver the meal, and more. It requires us to use our time, resources, and energy. However, all these actions show Jesus’ one true power: to care for and love one another.