Once upon a time, in the days when you actually might send a child to the grocery store by herself, Betty took much too long returning from the store. “What on earth took you so long?” asked her mother.
“I was watching the funeral of the devil,” Betty replied.
“What do you mean…the funeral of the devil?” demanded her mother.
“Well, I was watching the cars in a funeral going by. A man standing next to me said: ‘The poor devil was sick only about a week.’”
We don’t have too many times during the year when the devil plays a large part in the Gospel for the day. Today’s Gospel doesn’t feature the devil, but it does feature demons. Jesus encounters a man possessed by demons. The man lives all alone, naked, among the tombs.
Remember that throughout his earthly ministry the disciples never seem to get the fact that Jesus is divine, but the demons know immediately that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.
We live in a time when there’s not a great deal of belief in things spiritual, whether we’re talking about good or evil things spiritual, about God and the angels or Satan and demons. But the ancient world was far different. With respect to things evil, it was believed that the air was so full of evil spirits that it wasn’t possible to insert into it the point of a needle without coming against one. William Barkley says that “there were 10,000 of them on a person’s right hand and 10,000 on the left; and all waiting to work harm. They were the spiritual equivalent of germs.
They lived in unclean places such as tombs, and places where no cleansing water was to be found. They lived in the deserts where their howling could be heard. They were especially dangerous in the midday heat, and between sunset and sunrise. The male demons were called shedim and the female lilin, after Lilith, a dangerous demon who was well known in Jewish mythology and throughout Mesopotamia. Do you remember Lilith in the TV comedy Cheers? They must have had that female demon in mind when they chose that name.
We don’t know if Jesus intended to ask the man his name or if he wanted to know the demons’ name, but when he asked, “What is your name?” the demons answered, “Legion.”
In that day, a Roman legion consisted of as many as 6000 men. So, this man was possessed by a multitude of demons. The demons beg Jesus not to cast them into the abyss, and so Jesus allows them to enter a herd of swine, which then rush down a steep bank and into the lake, where they drowned. This violent scene creates such a ruckus that the town’s people rush out to see what’s happened, and they find Jesus speaking with the man who had been possessed, now fully clothed and speaking calmly and rationally. Rather than rejoicing that such a miracle has occurred, they’re fearful and want Jesus to leave.
What are we to make of this story? Most people don’t believe that this world is with devils filled. Most non-Christians would view this story as a remnant of a superstitious age, and many Christians would like to psychologize it and metaphorize it, but it’s hard to metaphorize the casting of demons into a herd of swine.
While no doubt there were things ascribed to demons in that day that today would be seen as a result of physical or mental disease, Jesus was clearly dealing in this case with demonic possession. Do we Episcopalians believe in such a thing? The first question we ask when a person is about to be baptized is, “Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?” Yes, we believe in such a thing!
The Episcopal Church believes that the authority to drive out evil spirits is derived from Christ. The New Testament records exorcisms performed by Jesus and by the apostles. The Book of Occasional Services, an official liturgical book used by Episcopal clergy, doesn’t provide a rite of exorcism, but it gives these guidelines: “Those who find themselves in need of such a ministry should make the fact known to the bishop, through their parish priest, in order that the bishop may determine whether exorcism is needed, who is to perform the rite, and what prayers or other formularies are to be used.” Since I have been at Redeemer that’s happened only once, but it has happened once!
Liturgies of the Episcopal Church retain elements of exorcism. Several prayers for those preparing for baptism call for release from the powers of evil. More commonly, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, spiritual cleansing and deliverance is what we seek when we pray, “Deliver us from evil.”
How many of you have been to a house blessing? Did you know that every house blessing contains an exorcism? “Let the mighty power of the Holy God be present in this place to banish from it every unclean spirit, to cleanse it from every residue of evil, and to make it a secure habitation for those who dwell in it…”
- S. Lewis said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
This story about Jesus curing the man possessed reminds us that Jesus is Lord of all creation, things both visible and invisible, and that there is nothing in your life and mine that he cannot heal.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure. One little Word shall fell him.
What’s that Word? Jesus.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
23 June 2019