Spiritual Warfare: A Sermon for 2 Pentecost/Proper 7
Fear is at the heart of today’s gospel lesson. The Gerasene townsfolk were afraid of the demon-possessed man. The demons were afraid of Jesus, and as it turns out, so were the townsfolk once they learned that it was Jesus who healed the man.
Power and control are also at the heart of today’s gospel lesson. The demons had power and control over the man they inhabited. The townsfolk tried to assert their power and control over the man by chaining him up outside of town among the tombs. Jesus showed his power and control over the demons – he showed the power of Good over Evil.
What immediately precedes today’s story in Luke’s gospel is the story of Jesus calming the storm when he and his disciples were in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. That too was a story about fear, power, and control.
Seized by their fear, the disciples woke up Jesus from his nap and exclaimed, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And Luke tells us that Jesus “woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was calm.” Jesus showed his fearful disciples that he had power over the forces of nature. After this remarkable event, his disciples wondered aloud to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
Immediately after this memorable boat ride, Jesus and his disciples land on shore and find themselves in Gentile territory – the country of the Gerasenes. Notably, this is the only time in Luke’s gospel when Jesus is ministering in territory that is primarily inhabited by Gentiles. So, in hearing today’s story, before Jesus and his disciples are confronted by the demon-possessed man, our radars should have been beeping the moment we learned that they were in Gentile territory. Something out of the ordinary was bound to happen.
And sure enough it does. A deranged man approached Jesus, dropped to his knees, and began shouting at the top of his lungs – “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” There is so much that can be said about this encounter – how did this Gentile know who Jesus was? How and why did he proclaim him to be the Son of the Most High God – something his own disciples had not yet done?
Soon we discover that it was the legion of demons who possessed this man who knew and were afraid of Jesus. This is the moment that we are clued into the fact that we are witnessing spiritual warfare – a battle between cosmic Good and cosmic Evil. And in the midst of this cosmic battle, fear abounds. I imagine that the disciples were afraid, though the story doesn’t say that. The demons were most definitely afraid of the superior power of Jesus. They were afraid of being sent out of the man they inhabited and back into the abyss – the bottomless pit reserved for God’s enemies that we hear about in the book of Revelation. Traditional lore says that demons are destroyed by drowning. So, in this strange encounter, we learn that the demons would prefer to be destroyed by drowning than to reside in the bottomless pit of the abyss.
Fear is what landed the Gerasene demoniac in the outskirts of town, shackled and living among the dead, in a place of graves and tombs. The townsfolk were afraid of this deranged, unruly, naked man. One could hardly blame them. So, they did what people do when they believe someone isn’t safe or useful to have around – they put them away and sometimes even lock them up. The townsfolk were able to at least control and contain the evil that resided in this man. They knew where the evil was located, and though they had no power over evil, they felt like they could at least keep it away from them and contained.
And this is how communities through the centuries have learned to deal with evil forces – we seek to isolate and control evil, so that we don’t have to confront it on a regular basis. And by focusing on isolating and controlling the demon-possessed man, the Gerasene people would know that they were safe because evil was elsewhere - residing in that man on the outskirts of town, amid the graves and tombs.
When we put what we perceive to be evil “away” – whether it be in prisons, mental hospitals, the other side of the tracks, the outskirts of town – we feel safer. That is simply our human nature.
We also tend to deflect evil by recognizing it in others – whether it be the Russians, Iranians, gun owners, gun control advocates, pro-life advocates, pro-choice advocates, Republicans, Democrats…the list goes on. Those other people have evil within them. If we can just identify them, we’ll more likely be able to isolate and control them; and though evil will still exist – it will exist elsewhere and within others. Not in our neighborhoods and not within ourselves or our tribe. We can at least be a little bit safer and happier here in our safe, homogenous, evil-free bubble.
But this story reveals something even deeper about our human tendencies. Not only are we afraid of Evil, but we are also afraid of Good. Who can blame the Gerasene townsfolk for being afraid of the deranged, naked, demon-possessed man? But when they “came out to see what happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.” I can understand if they had been angry – after all, they were pig farmers, and they just lost a few thousand of their pigs because of Jesus. But the gospel tells us that they were afraid.
It appears that this power that Jesus displayed was completely unsettling for them. Their identified patient; their scapegoat; the village lunatic had been healed. Good had triumphed over Evil. Now what? Upon whom will our negative attention be focused? Who will we blame? Who will we cast out? Jesus’ miraculous display of power – the Power of Good no less – was too unsettling for the Gerasene townsfolk. So, they “asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.” Rather than asking Jesus the healer, Jesus the force for Good, Jesus, the Son of the Most High God to remain with them, rather than sitting at his feet alongside the healed man, they asked him to leave.
Dare I say that we are as afraid of Good as we are Evil? Dare I say that since we know that we cannot control ultimate Good or ultimate Evil, that we’d just assume keep both away from us so we can maintain our sense of control? Are we afraid to join Jesus in the battle against Evil, because he – not we – would be the Commander-in-Chief? As our Commander-in-Chief, wouldn’t Jesus ask us to go places, do things, and be around people who make us afraid? Might the battle he asks us to fight not be the type of battle we’re looking for?
Just this past week, we were thrown into a fit of grief, horror, confusion, and yes - fear – as we heard the horrific news of a shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham. Three beloved St. Stephen’s parishioners – Bart Rainey, Sarah Yeager, and Jane Pounds - were shot and killed at a “Boomer Potluck” in their parish hall. In the realm of spiritual warfare, Evil seemed to have had its way last Thursday evening. Nobody can explain why this happened. No motive has been discovered. The man who committed this crime is 70 years old and had attended St. Stephen’s in the past. At this point, we can’t call it a hate crime, or a crime motivated by some specific axe to grind with people or mission of St. Stephen’s.
When abortion clinics are attacked by Pro-Life advocates, we understand the motive. When mosques or synagogues or churches are attacked by extremists of other religions, we understand the motive. When blacks are killed by white supremacists, we understand the motive. And when these sorts of horrific crimes happen, particularly if an assault rifle or some illegal weapon is used, the grief quickly shifts to mobilization amongst the political and publics spheres to try to pass laws and raise awareness related to the issue. We can channel our fear and anger towards doing something to try to fix the problem – pass a law, elect someone, blame someone...anything and anyone that will assuage our fear and make us feel safer. Anything to help us feel like we can control the source of our fear.
But this tragedy at St. Stephen’s – at least until we have more information – doesn’t fit into any of those boxes. So, all we have left to blame is pure, unadulterated Evil, and its effect on the man who murdered our sisters and brother in Christ. Yes, like the Gerasene townsfolk in our Gospel lesson today, we will put this man away so that he cannot harm anyone else. And that is a necessary thing. But when the legal justice system puts him away, we are still left with first and foremost, our deep, profound grief. His being in prison will not heal the grief of those who have been devastated by this senseless tragedy. The immediate and extended community of St. Stephen’s will undergo the long, sacred journey of healing together. And the Good Lord will be their shepherd every step of the way.
We must remember that the perpetrator being locked up in prison will not fix the problem of Evil. Only Jesus, Son of the Most High God has the power to conquer Evil. And that of course is the Good News we proclaim as Christians – that in the resurrection cosmic Good has shown that it is more powerful than cosmic Evil. We know Who has Ultimate Power and Ultimate Control, and that is what allows our waiting for Christ to come again to be grounded in hope, not despair.
As Christians, our grief is grounded in hope. Our anger is grounded in hope. Our fear is grounded in hope. But we can’t manufacture hope. Hope is a gift given to us by God, even when all evidence in the present moment may seem to point to a lack of hope. The blessing of Christian community is that we hope for one another; we are not left to try to hope on our own.
And as we await the ultimate consummation of creation, when Evil will be vanquished once and for all, we do so trusting and believing that the God who “commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him,” is the one who has ultimate power and control. The God who casts out demons, and the God who was raised Jesus from the dead is the one who has ultimate power and control. And this God of ultimate power and control is the same God who will cast away our grief, anger, and fear and enfold us in the embrace of his never-ending, ever-present love.