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“Demons”
The Very Reverend Harry H. Pritchett, Jr.
The Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA
Sermon: June 24, 2007
Proper 7C
The story of the Gerasene demoniac in the Gospel for today does not make for light summer reading. It’s dark and strange and puzzling, which does not make for light summer preaching either! Hence most preachers prefer to deal with another one of the lectionary selections for today as I have done for many years myself. But here it is in Luke’s gospel, so I want to at least shed a little light on it if I can.
I’m never quite sure as to what to make of the Biblical stories concerning demons, and the fact that there are many references to them in the Bible doesn’t ease my uncertainty. With my post Copernican, post modern, scientific sensibilities, I simply find it impossible to take literally the existence of demons. However that does not mean that I give no credence to their reality.
Biblical scholars provide us some idea as to the picture, the image that first century folks had in their minds of what demons were. In the first century, the word “demon” called to mind a little separate creature that got inside you and just messed you up. When Jesus cast out demons they were thought of as these little creatures. By the Middle Ages they haven’t changed much. They are still little creatures, but now they are pictured as having grown tails. I was preaching in another church last Sunday and one of the beautiful stained glass windows depicted little creatures with tales, but no pitch forks. That must have come later.
C. S. Lewis the great Anglican theologian of the last century says that there are two equal and opposite errors about demons that we can fall into in our modern times. One is to not believe in their existence at all and the other is literally to believe in them in an excessive and unhealthy way.
Well, I do not believe in little creatures that get inside you or me, except in the sense of viruses and germs, which indeed can have their demonic effect. But I do believe strongly in demons in some other ways. To share those ways with you I will have to be very general, somewhat synoptic, and maybe even a little simplistic. I have to ask what is behind the use of that word…what is the meaning that the picture is trying to get at, to communicate what is the “spirit of” the abstraction of the use of the image of demon.
To do that I had to ask myself the functional question. In other words, what did these first century folks think that demons did? When Luke says a guy in Gerasene is possessed by demons, what is that guy like, what has happened to him, how is he being experienced by others? These are tough questions, but if we really take the Bible seriously as the word of God for our times, we are compelled to ask them. And so once again, what did demons do?
I’ve wrestled with that questions for a while, and my reflections have led me to three things. A demon is that which possesses me or my surroundings. That is to say, it is something that takes away the fullness of my life, so that I fool myself into believing that it really is not me doing destructive things… it is not my people behaving this evil way, but rather it is always those other folks. Therefore a demon ultimately destroys relationships and limits relationships with others. So simply put, demons possess me; demons take away my life; and demons destroy community.
Now the poor fellow in Gerasene certainly showed all three of these functions of demonic possession, peculiarly not himself, screaming all alone amidst the tombs, naked and destructive. To put it mildly he was completely unable to get a hold on himself or his life and was totally separated from community.
With this in mind I believe we can see demon possession with all sorts of relevant images, in all sorts of ways, not simply as first century little creatures. I would suggest that the demon’s name is in fact “Legion.” They are the many powers that seem greater than ourselves, that seem to invade the soil of our contemporary souls and seek to rob us from genuine life, taking away our spiritual freedom?
And, yes, their name is legion! They go by many names: Consumerism, for example. “Getting and spending we lay waste our powers”, the poet declared years ago. Another demon is the lure of wealth and luxury that can possess us and control us. Or the rampant individualism which tends to put personal needs before the common good can become a demon. I even wonder if the proliferation of addictions in our culture, from alcohol and drugs to shopping to sex, represent our being possessed by demonic powers? Any of you who have dealt with alcoholism in yourself or with a family member has encountered the demons head on!
Another possible contemporary image for demons that I think is faithful to the Biblical image has served me well in the past. It has been helpful to understand the demonic in my life as illusion. Not delusion. Not mental illness. But illusion, little stories, little lies I am telling myself about myself and about my world that simply are not true. Because of being possessed by the demons of classism and racism and heterosexism and a legion of other “isms,” I have told myself and allowed others to tell themselves little lies. Here is a sampling of demonic illusions:
“We have good relations with our Black neighbors if outsiders wouldn’t stir them up.”
“Our kind of family is special and just deserving of our prominence.”
“With hard work you can get anything you set your heart on.”
“Our country is always right and on God’s side.”
“Homosexuals are perverted people and are mostly predators.”
Now, I did not know these were lies at the time. They were simply assumptions. What everybody assumed without saying it. No one ever told me these lies. If someone had asked I would have said that they were true. I certainly believed that they were the truth. But these stories just don’t correspond with truth at all. And because I am telling myself these stories, I have a set of blinders on. I don’t have eyes to see. I am not free to perceive things the way they really are. I’ m living in the tombs. I am possessed. I have my life taken away from me. The possibility of wide and deep and loving community is destroyed.
And then somewhere, somehow the Spirit of Truth comes barreling down into my life like in Galatians, the lesson for today. “There is no longer Jew nor Greek; there is no longer slave not free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” And I am struck again by judgment and by grace, and I know the freedom which is God’s liberating gift! And Jesus said, “I am the truth and the truth will set you free.” The illusions, the little lies, the demons be damned “back into the abyss.”
So the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth as Jesus called her, has awesome power to exorcise demons, to heal and to free. Think about how much deception and mendacity there is in life today. Whether it be in advertising, or print and broadcast media, or in government, from top to bottom demonic illusions are rampart. The truth can be disarming and the results of truth can bring fear and trembling as it did in today’s Gospel story. Yet Jesus, with courage, approaches and heals someone who was absolutely possessed. He confronts and evicts the demons that control the life of the poor guy from Garasene. And as always it is an amazing thing to see the truth and the power of Christ bring calming change to a disillusioned life. Telling the truth to ourselves and to others then becomes the doorway through which this freeing change walks.
So take heart then, my sisters and brothers, from this less than light summer story, and remember that the truth is not to be feared because there is freedom beyond the shattered illusions. God sets us free from the demons. Therefore our prayer as always is “Come Holy Spirit, Come. Come Spirit of Truth, Come.” As Jesus said to his new friend from Garasene, and I say to you today, “Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you!” Amen
The Very Reverend Harry Pritchett
Comments? Contact Dean Pritchett at: hpritchett@stphilipscathedral.org