Today we are confronted with the Gospel of the Gergesene demoniacs. I say, “confronted,”
because it’s very rare that we even hear anymore that there is such a thing as demonic possession. This is ironic because there are so many examples in our world today of diabolic violence and murder, of the defaming of the image of God, of blatant disrespect for human life, of cruelty on such a demonic scale—enough to rival any age in world history: the atrocities in the Middle East come ready to mind but so do many of the senseless and otherwise unexplainable acts of violence and murder we see happening here.
The secular and humanistic world around us has no explanation to offer for such inexplicable hatred and violence, except to offer up humanistic ‘solutions’ (like more education or better jobs) instead of recognizing the need for conversion and liberation from the diabolical whiles of the evil one. Such inane explanations for the otherwise unexplainable and unimaginable inhumanity can only be understood in the context of the evil worked by Satan and his demonic minions, whom Christ calls “the father of lies”.
The one who planted the seeds of fratricide in Cain’s heart when he murdered his brother Abel is still active in our world today, bent on mankind’s destruction and defacing. So, it follows that those who give themselves over to such dehumanizing murderous acts, are clearly, from a Christian understanding, demonically possessed or, at the very least, under demonic influence.
In His own day, Jesus Christ had numerous encounters with the possessed (indwelt) by the demons, whom the demons torment and control, forcing them to do their bidding and destroying themselves and others, ultimately leading to their death, both spiritual and physical. Today’s Gospel is one such historic account.
The two men, the Gergesene demoniacs, are possessed by a whole legion of demons who torment them. We read, that the men are violent, “exceedingly fierce,” so that no one could “pass that way.” Appropriately, these men live among the tombs because they are truly among the ‘living dead.’ They are enslaved by the demons and their God-given faculties, the beautiful nous (eye of the soul) that God placed in them, having created them in His image and likeness, has been darkened, obscured by the demonic confusion and paralysis that surrounds them.
We don’t know how they came to be possessed. There are certainly many sins and practices, like taking drugs, that can give the devil a foothold. All of us can come under demonic influence. But some people who turn away from God actually come to be possessed by the demons if they do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them instead.
Likewise, certain sinful practices can make a foothold for demonic influence as well: pornography, drugs, even video games when played to excess can altar one’s reality and become an entry point for demonic activity.
With regard to demonic possession, we have no reason to believe that it does not continue in our own day; in fact, we can be sure that it does. The same demons active in Christ’s day, are still active today and will be until the Second Coming of Christ—this we are assured of by our faith and this we observe in the world around us.
Holy Tradition clearly teaches us that Satan and his demons are a spiritual force to be reckoned with, to fight and struggle against. St. Paul reminds us of this when he says, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
And while medical science may treat the symptoms of demonic possession—some of which may be mistakenly labeled under the generic title of “mental illness,” it cannot cure that possession or influence with drugs. The only true healing is that offered through Christ Jesus and the new life found only in Him, the exorcism of the demons, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as well as our continued “Yes” to God’s healing work in our own lives through active repentance.
Exorcism is the first part of the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and a necessary precursor to putting on Christ. We expel the demons and their influence from the neophyte (the one to be newly illumined) so that Christ may come and make His abode with him through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at Chrismation.
Christ came that we may be free of demonic possession, free of their control and influence, that we may not be enslaved by them. This freedom is given us by virtue of our choosing life with Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life over the living death that Satan and his minions give those whom they enslave. Christ came to equip us by the Holy Spirit to do battle against those spiritual forces of wickedness so that we may overcome our passions and their temptations that wage war against our life, our communion with God.
As Orthodox, we need not fear the demons: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (I Jn. 4:4), St. John assures us. At the same time, as Orthodox we don’t downplay the reality of the evil we are fighting against nor do we stand perplexed when we see evil perpetrated around us in the world.
As for the Gergesene demoniacs, Christ cast out those demons and sent them into a herd of swine and they drowned at sea. The men went their way, freed of their demonic enslavement and proclaimed through the whole city what great things Jesus had done for them.
Some people ask why God would be willing to allow the swine to be destroyed. What the destruction of the herd of swine shows us is the incomparable value of human life, whose salvation, as the Orthodox Study Bible puts it, “is worth every sacrifice” as in this case is the herd of swine and as is the case with the gift of Christ Himself, who gave Himself to die on the cross to defeat sin and death on our behalf.
We, who are called to witness to the Truth and Light of Christ is this culture by virtue of our baptism cannot afford to look the other way when we see evil at work. Instead, we’re called to be brave and bold in our love for our fellow man and our desire to see everyone freed from the enemy’s grasp and saved by new life in Christ through His holy Church. The more we’re willing to stand for the truth in an uncompromising and loving way, the more we’re willing to bring Christ and the Church to bear more on our own daily lives, the more those around us will have the opportunity to see an alternative to life without God and find freedom in Christ from the ravages of the evil one and his minions. Through our own witness we represent a liberating alternative to the hedonism in our culture as well.
This is the good news inherent in today’s Gospel: There’s nothing in this world or of this world that can destroy us, our souls, if we avail ourselves of our God-given life in Christ, struggling for healing from our passions, actively repenting of our sins, and learning to recognize the dangers of those habits and practices so often accepted or even encouraged in our culture today. We keep our focus on Christ, who calls us to holiness, to transformation into His likeness—the likeness in which we were created. This is the journey of deification, of salvation from this world and the prince of this world that Christ God offers us. The battle against the forces of evil is real, but remember: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission
Sunday, 24 July 2016
Epistle: Romans 10:1-10
Gospel: Matt. 8:28-9:1
