Only Nixon Could Go to China

US President Richard Nixon was an anti-Communist. When he visited China in 1972 and met with the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, journalists formed the phrase “only Nixon could go to China” or “it took a Nixon to go to China.” Spock, in Star Trek, quoted it as a Vulcan proverb as he challenged Captain James T. Kirk to visit the Klingons, whom he saw as his enemies for killing his son. One dictionary defines the meaning of this phrase as “a political leader’s unique ability to accomplish something particularly daunting or taboo.”

When Jesus healed people in the comfort of Simon’s home and their fame increased, the disciples wanted to stay in Capernaum, but not Jesus.

“Getting up early in the morning, Jesus went to a deserted place and prayed there. Simon and those with him searched for him. Finding him, they said: Everyone is seeking you. He told them: We must go elsewhere – to other villages – so I may preach there. I have come for this purpose. And he went preaching in their synagogues, in the entire Galilee, casting demons.” (Mark 1:35–39)

He could have comfortably stayed in one place where the people accepted and wanted him. Instead, he went to every village in Galilee, teaching in every one of their synagogues and showing his dominance over demons. Only Jesus could go to Galilee and preach as one with authority, that was, to cast his enemies out.

The word daimonion is more than “demons,” i.e., demons or minions of Satan – as we usually envision. It referred to a variety of beings. The law, for example, defined daimonion as “those that are not the God,” “the gods that can be seen, new, modern, or newbie,” and “gods which Hebrew ancestors did not worship” (Deut 32:17). Psalmists referred to pestilences in the dark, plagues in the days, and gods of the nations as daimonion (Ps 90:6; 95:5). Isaiah associated daimonion with wild jackals, owls, and hyenas (Isa 13:21; 34:14). Whatever they were, they took over the bodies and minds of humans and oppressed them. Jesus came to preach, not in words but in power – by freeing the people of their oppressions by these mysterious daimonion.

He delivered people of these oppressors as he proclaimed the “message.” Just as “gospel” was a technical term in those days, so was “message” or kerygma in Greek. C. H. Dodd, a famous NT scholar, traced these kerygma messages in the four Gospels and succinctly summarized them into seven statements.

· The prophecies are fulfilled; the new age is inaugurated by the coming of Christ.

· He was born of the seed of David.

· He died according to the Scriptures to deliver us from the present evil age.

· He was buried.

· He rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

· He is exalted at the right hand of God, as Son of God and Lord of [living] and dead.

· He will come again as Judge and Savior of [people].

Jesus’s early message was: “The time has been fulfilled, and God’s rule is near” (Mark 1:15a). It went along the kerygma message. Jesus visibly demonstrated the arrival of God’s rule by chasing away evil daimonion from people.

Even today, our missionary call is this – to show people that God, through Christ, can deliver them of whatever oppresses them. But it begins with us being convinced that we are free in Christ, delivered from any daimonion that oppresses us.