Some people are exceptional. I am exception-aware.

Exceptional means out-of-the-ordinary. I notice the misapplication of ordinary.

For example, when people talk about the Church being a particular way, I wonder which church? Are the actions of this group in this country with this governing body representative of all groups? Or is it possible that this group is actually an exception (and not necessarily in an exceptional way)?

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Yesterday, I focused on the man, captured by an impure spirit, being set free. It is what Jesus said he came for, to set captives free.

Jesus went across the lake to where the man was. When Jesus got out of the boat, the man came to meet him. Jesus converses first with the spirit who has the man captive, then with the man after he is free. The spirit is sent out of the man. And the spirit leaves. When the man wants to follow Jesus, Jesus says to stay in his geography, to tell people what the Lord has done for him. And the man stays.

We often move from Jesus did this for this person, to Jesus does this for all people, to why isn’t Jesus doing this for me? We (preachers, teachers, our broken hearts) create an ordinary, and are disappointed when Jesus doesn’t measure up.

But perhaps, the story is this. Jesus came to proclaim freedom to the captives. Sometimes it looks this way, sometimes that, but always there is a freedom. For this man, it was freedom from the captivity of Legion. And when he was free, he was given the work of talking about it. And that same Jesus in different ways is still proclaiming freedom to the captives. But don’t expect it to look the same for each of us. Because we’re each exceptional, at least from the ordinary we keep creating.

And, if the Lord does something, the ordinary is not the something. Not at all. The ordinary is the Lord. Who is anything but ordinary.

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Catch up on Mark in 2022.