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The problem I faced in preparing this sermon, was how to address, or explain, those demons that Jesus cast out. How can you and I, living in the scientific age of the 21st century, take these actions of Jesus seriously? After much wrestling with this question, I decided simply to begin with what I don't know. I don't know whether there are spiritual forces of evil, independent of human beings. I am inclined to think the idea of demons is a projection by human beings of our own evil inclinations, out into the world. What I do know, is that we humans do have all kinds of evil inclinations, and evil actions. We also have a great variety of ways we can be hurt, wounded, and driven to despair. So my proposal today, is that many, if not all, of the demons Jesus cast out, were wreakage and destruction in the human heart, which manifested itself in apparently bizarre behavior. Let me suggest some of the behaviors and choices which begin in a simple small way, and build up to become "demonic". First is the demon of unrestrained desire, which in most people, becomes an addiction that eats up a soul first, and only sometimes the body as well. The second demon is spite, anger or revenge that is overtly expressed in choosing to inflict an injury. A person with this demon knows it is wrong, yet some perversity within overwhelms that knowledge. The third demon is just the reverse--it is the deeply painful wound caused by betrayal, or rejection, or abuse or injustice. The fourth demon is the prison that we have chosen for ourselves. By this I mean such choices as a career that will please one's parents, entering a marriage without love, a decision not to go to graduate school, remaining in an abusive working relationship, living in a racist community, and acting contrary to one's deepest values. Finally, fifth, there are the rules that other people make and we accept, which over time can become demonic. I am thinking of such rules as "you must never leave home" and "you are not smart enough to manage on your own", and "you must never ask for help", and "do not impose your own need on someone else", and "you don't deserve it". Do you recognize any of those rules? Very often they were given to us in childhood, and have become unconscious. The first three of these conditions, unrestrained desire, and anger and a deep wound to the soul, which appear to be demonic, would have been much the same in first century Palestine, as in 21st century California. The fourth demon would have been similar--the prisons chosen by first century Jews might also have included cooperation with the Roman oppressor, and the refusal of friendship and education with Gentiles. The 5th condition of accepting rules that become demonic, would have been especially significant for the Jews around Jesus: from "you can never be righteous in the eyes of God" to "you will always be unclean because of your withered arm" to "your own sins have brought this sickness upon you as a punishment". Today, I propose to you that most of the demons Jesus cast out from people, were these demons of behavior, choices and rules that damaged the soul. Jesus was able to heal those demons because he was able to see past the erratic behavior to the wounded soul. Once he connected with that soul, the healing power of his love went directly into their hearts. This is the reason he could heal the paralyzed man by saying "your sins are forgiven" and could command the so-called demons to come out of the Gerasene demoniac. Jesus liberated people from the prisons they had chosen, and from the rules they had accepted. Jesus released people from their addictions and their anger; and he healed the wounds they had received from others. The Gospel is good news to all of us who are suffering from such behaviors and such prisons. The good news is both forgiveness for sinners, and also release for captives. The good news is both freedom from and freedom for --- freedom for a new life in which you and I have been called to contribute to the building of God's kingdom. One of the most extraordinary ways the many of us can contribute, is by allowing that healing power of Jesus' love, to pass through us to another person. I cannot tell you how it works, but I can tell you that it does work, today. Through his church, through the members of the Body of Christ, Jesus continues to heal wounded souls, and we are his instruments, his messengers, his deputies. Sometimes we know that he is working through us: when we pray for someone, when we give support and encouragement to someone. But there are other times when his healing power flows through our welcome of a stranger, and our feeding of a hungry person, and we only know that we are following his example. The healing that Jesus gives, is quite specifically a making-whole of the self or the soul that is wounded. Whether we have wounded our own selves, or been wounded by others, his love restores and revitalizes our souls, recovering the image of God within us, and strengthening us to face the circumstances in which we live. A mystical way to say the same thing is, the living flame of the Holy Spirit is re-ignited within us, enabling us to do extraordinary things. Today, I want to lift up two examples of how this has worked in our lifetimes. Both examples are men whose souls were healed, despite their imprisonment. The first is Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned in South Africa for 27 years, enough time to break the heart and embitter the soul of anyone. But Mandela was neither broken nor embittered, perhaps because people all over the world prayed for him during those 27 years. he continued to trust God, to hope for release, and to pray for his enemies. He studied the history of the Dutch settlers in South Africa, so that when he was released, he understood what their descendants were facing as apartheird was gradually dismantled. His soul was not wounded by those 27 years because of the healing power of Jesus' love. I was fascinated to discover that one of the book Mandela read in prison, was Eberhard Bethge's biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I was deeply influenced by Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison in college, and was thrilled when the Episcopal Church put him on our calendar (April 9). Bonhoeffer, who was born 100 years ago yesterday, was a pastor and theologian in Germany, who joined 20 other pastors to form the Confessing Church in the late 1930's to resist Nazism. Later he joined the political resistance to Hitler, and was arrested in 1943. During his two years in prison before his execution, Bonhoeffer reflected on what authentic discipleship is. He believed "the disciple of Jesus walks with a God who experiences pain and suffering, and then engages it". We are called to participate with God in the world. Bonhoeffer says, "I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes, failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing, we throw ouselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world--watching with Christ in Gethsemane." He thought we should not be too concerned either with the state of the church, or the state of our individual souls, but rather we should focus on being with each other in community, and helping those in need. You may be thinking, just now, that I have wandered away from my intention to explain the demons. But in fact, I deliberately chose to lift up two men who might have been wounded and destroyed by their bodily imprisonment, in order to say that the fate of the body, may be quite different from the wholeness, or the holiness of the soul. In the midst of suffering and disaster, the soul that has been healed by Jesus is indeed, safe at home! Bonhoeffer expressed this in a poem/prayer he wrote at the end of 1944, just a few months before he was hanged: "With every power for good to stay and guide me,
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