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Pentecost 3, June 20, 2004 |
This story has always struck me as one of the best antidotes to the kinds of sloppy agape pictures of the Lord Jesus prevalent in today’s church. As with the story of his cleansing of the Temple where he drives out those doing business, the Lord Jesus isn’t considered good company by the Gerasene pig owners. In short there is no handholding and Kumbaya singing going on here. What is going on is an exorcism. The Absentee Landlord’s only begotten Son is taking back what belongs to him by casting the demons out. He allows the demons to take possession of the swine, which promptly commit suicide, and the poor possessed man is left in his right mind while the pig owners are left pig-less. No wonder the natives suggested it was time for Jesus to take his ministry on the road. So the Gerasenes didn’t think they had a friend in Jesus, and that should serve as a corrective to those whose Jesus is always sweet, mild, and not offensive. But what are we to make of this story? After all we preachers are told incessantly that we live in a post-modern world in which the hearers have no authorities and accept nothing on face value. Well…I’ve got a word for the post-modern Christian. Get over it. You aren’t the first hearer to have a problem with parts of the Jesus story. You aren’t the first hearer to have authority problems in general. You aren’t the first hearer to treat Christianity as if you were ordering in a cafeteria line. In short, if you want to be a Christian, you are going to have to face up to the fact that you aren’t in charge. If you want to remake Christianity into something you can live with, there’s a word for that. It’s called idolatry. It’s not the Christian story. So if you don’t believe there’s such a thing as demons, you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on around you in the world. And you haven’t been listening to your life either. Let me be blunt. An old friend, a former pastor who’s been working the Alcoholics Anonymous program since 1981, used to say to me, “Most of the demons are inside.” Memories of parental neglect or abuse of some sort are inside. Memories of childhood taunts and humiliations are inside. Living with the road not taken whether career choices, romantic choices, or some other what-ifs are inside. Knowledge of one’s failures and imperfections are inside. Stinking thinking (toxic thinking) is inside. All of these things (not an exclusive list) can become demons that possess and even destroy. But not all of the demons come from inside. There is a malevolent spirit that is external. It seizes both individuals and groups of people. I think of those stories in the news about soldiers abusing prisoners. I think of stories told about pedophiles that want to liberate “confused” teens. I think about stories of what others have labeled “alligators” or clergy-killers. Demons are not a cute name for anti-social behavior. Demons are those malevolent forces that are deceptive, destructive, and diametrically opposed to the good and gracious will of God. They must go, and yet so often they don’t. I have witnessed time and again very reasonable, talented, and affable people seized by demons. I am speaking not only of suicide attempts. I am speaking of a common fear or a common hurt (though the details among them are not identical) that can possess even church people and drive them to behavior that is, in a word, destructive. Rabbi Edwin Friedman, the great family-systems guru, pointed out some people try to get close through conflict. But there are those that bond together not to get close but to project their demons onto the “Gerasene swine” of their own imagining. If only they can run the preacher off (or whomever), then they will, at last, have peace…until the next time...always only until the next time. For the problem is finally that no one can exorcise her or his own demons – especially by projecting them onto an authority figure in her or his life. You need someone to save you from yourself! At this point, some of my favorite Lutheran preacher people interject Christ-on-the-cross as a kind of deus ex machina. They announce that Christ died for alcoholics, pedophiles, “clergy killers”, et cetera. The preachers announce the benefits of his death. All of which is entirely true to the Christian story. But its formulaic introduction comes across as a non sequitur when demons need to be exorcised. In short, the alcoholic, the pedophile, the “clergy killers”, et cetera, need the living presence of the Lord Jesus. They need Jesus to exorcise them – not just the announcement of Christ’s benefits. Demons don’t need forgiveness. They need to be cast out, and only Jesus can do that! Yes, we announce that Christ Jesus died for the ungodly while we were yet sinners. Yes, we announce the love of God in Jesus Christ as a free, unmerited and undeserved gift. Yes, we show Christ Jesus lifted up on the cross and now drawing all people unto himself. And we declare that Christ Jesus himself is truly present always and everywhere through Word and Sacrament – not just his benefits. So that when the demon-possessed are despairing of themselves. Or when the demon-possessed have finally been confronted with the truth that their demons must go. Who will deliver the possessed from these bodies of death? Only Christ Jesus, fully present, can cast the demons out! Yes, Jesus must cast all of our demons into the waters of Holy Baptism. He must cast them there to be drowned daily. An honest naming of the demons – confession before another (whether pastor, Christian therapist, or spiritual director) – is initially (and sometimes repeatedly) part of the process with certain demons. The Living Lord Jesus makes himself known through the external Word of God – the Word that comes from outside of us. If you do not wear his cross all the time, then start! As British novelist Susan Howatch’s priests faithfully declare: “No demon can withstand the presence of Christ!” We need to be able to grasp the cross that declares Christ’s victory over evil. Yes, Jesus must cast all of our demons into the waters of Holy Baptism. He must cast them there to be drowned daily. And so prayerful listening to the Word of God daily is for our well being. (I suggest again the wonderful four-volume resource, For All The Saints, published by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau). Listening to the daily lectionary and praying the traditional prayer offices of the Church – these are ways in which the Living Lord Jesus keeps casting the demons into the waters of Baptism. Finally, when we gather at least weekly to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we receive more than Christ’s benefits. We receive the Living Lord Jesus in the bread and the wine by his word of promise (“This, my body! This, my blood!) He comes to take the place of the demons. He comes to make us new. As you hear his promise and trust it, you will find your wimpy post-modern faith was never going to be enough for you. Why would you settle for anything less than the Living Lord Jesus? The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Zumwalt |
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