Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year B, 2012
Reverend Gregg Wood
Today’s Gospel is about unclean spirits. Here’s a joke question: what is a picket line of unclean spirits called? Answer: a DEMONstration!
Apparently this is what Jesus ran into in the synagogue at Capernaum. A man with an unclean spirit comes into the synagogue, and Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the man. But as he does so, he reveals Jesus’ identity, or as we might say, he “outs” Jesus. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth.? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
So it was a little picket line against Jesus – a picket line of one. One demon against Jesus. Jesus does succeed in casting out this demon and restoring the afflicted man to his normal state of mind.
The Gospel suggests that today is an appropriate time to reflect upon unclean spirits and demons. I think it is especially important to think about something we might call spiritual bondage – enslavement to some spiritual power or force. The man possessed by an unclean spirit was in a state of spiritual bondage. As we shall see, that’s not just a peculiar thing that happened back in Bible times. There’s still a lot of that going around.
First of all, it might surprise some people to hear the word “spirit” connected with a word like “unclean” or “evil.” We hear so much talk about spirituality, and about how it is so much better to be a spiritual person than not.
Notice, however, that Jesus and the unclean spirit, however different they may be in other ways, in one way are very much alike: they are both spiritual. In fact we might almost say that in the spiritual realm, it takes one to know one. The unclean spirit recognizes Jesus immediately, and he says so: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Likewise, Jesus recognizes the unclean spirit; he rebukes him and commands him to leave the possessed man. Both are spiritual beings; it takes one to know one.
There are many references to unclean spirits and demons in the Bible. In Ephesians 6, St. Paul tells us, “Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Paul is clearly telling us that there are spiritual forces at work, that some of them are up to no good, and that there is a struggle going on between the forces of good and the forces of evil.
In the Baptismal service, the very first question that is addressed to the candidate is, “Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?”
The English theologian CS Lewis makes the point that the word “spiritual” does not necessarily mean “good.” He says that both St. Francis and Adolf Hitler were spiritual men. He also points out that the more spiritual a person is, the greater power and influence he has, either for good or for evil.
So there are evil spirits or spiritual forces, just as there are good spirits. The next logical question is, what do they want? What is their purpose? More specifically, what do they want of us?
Let’s ask first about the good spirits. Let’s ask about God. What does God want from us, and what does he actually give us?
Again, I turn to the Baptismal promises for an answer. Another question that is asked of the candidates for baptism is this: Do you promise to follow and obey Jesus Christ as your Lord? God asks for our obedience, our service. We are expected to obey the commandments, including the commandments to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Some commit themselves more particularly to the service of God and seek a plan and direction for their lives. Obedience, or service, is a key element in our relationship with God.
What does God actually give us, if we follow and obey him? The answer may surprise you: freedom. If we follow Jesus, or God, along the path of obedience, it leads ultimately to greater freedom.
A good example of this is fasting. We are encouraged to fast, that is, to eat less food as a matter of spiritual discipline, if not all the time, at least occasionally. Now fasting is real obedience. Most of us love food, and even the thought of eating less than we are used to is unpleasant. But what happens when you actually fast? You get used to less food, You discover you can do without. You can take it or leave it. You have more choice in the matter. You achieve more freedom --- in this case, freedom from bondage to food.
So God, and the good spirits, ask for obedience but in the end give us freedom. There is a famous prayer which says that “God’s service is perfect freedom,” and if we follow the path of obedience we find that to be true.
So much for the good spirits. What about the evil spirits? They do exactly the opposite of the good spirits. They promise freedom, but what they deliver is slavery, or bondage.
A good example of this is alcoholism, or any form of addiction. (Addictions are now widely recognized as being spiritual diseases.) Initially, alcohol consumption seems to promise greater sociability, greater charm, a sense of exhilaration, a feeling of power – in a word, freedom. And it delivers on that promise, momentarily, briefly. But as a person gets deeper into alcohol addiction, he finds that alcohol becomes increasingly the center of his life, displacing other loves and concerns. Soon he becomes its slave. He is in a state of spiritual bondage.
In the Gospels, when people are described as having unclean spirits, they are usually not in control of their movements. The demons control them, sometimes causing convulsions or loud cries, and sometimes making them do things that are harmful to themselves, such as jumping into a fire. Evil spirits promise freedom but deliver bondage.
Some people may be skeptical of evil spirits. They may say that evil spirits are just an excuse. You can do something bad and blame the spirit. Remember the comedian Flip Wilson? When he was caught doing something wrong, he always said, “The devil made me do it.” So are we always responsible for our actions? Is spiritual bondage just a convenient excuse? I think the answer is not a simple “either or.” At the beginning of a relationship with spiritual forces, we are in control. We have the power to ignore the spirit. But as the relationship with the spirit deepens, control gradually shifts from ourselves to the spiritual force until, in the end, we are in bondage.
What can we do about unclean or evil spirits, or spiritual forces? Today’s Gospel gives us the answer. What happens to the man who is possessed? Jesus rebuked the spirit within the man, and he came out of him. Just as it takes one to know one, just as it takes a spirit to know a spirit, so too it takes a spirit to overpower another spirit. A more powerful spirit. What do the witnesses in the synagogue say about Jesus? “He* commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” Jesus has power over the unclean spirits --- not only those in his own time but those of today.
The Church should take spiritual evil more seriously than it sometimes does. Years ago I was friendly with a fellow priest who was a kind of specialist in demons and evil spirits. This was on Long Island, and at that time there was a minor epidemic of Satanism, and Satan worship, in many of the Island’s high schools. There was a lot of weird misconduct that grew out of this spiritual influence. My friend would attend conferences on Satanism and how to handle it. He said the people who attended these conferences were teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators from the public schools – but not clergy or church people. He was usually the only clergyman present.
Unclean spirits and spiritual forces take many forms. Occasionally they come in traditional form, such as the demon possession we see in the Gospels, or the Satanism that was infecting the schools. More often these spirits take more conventional forms. The spirit of addiction says, “I’m entitled to feel good.” The spirit of greed says, “Everybody else is doing it, why shouldn’t I get my piece of the action?”
The only power that can overcome an evil spirit is a stronger spirit. That is why one of the 12 steps of the AA program asks the alcoholic to turn his life over to a higher power. It is only that higher power, which we call Jesus or the Holy Spirit, that can deliver us from spirits that would harm and enslave us. This power of deliverance is so important for us that Jesus himself taught us to pray for it, for every time we say the Lord’s prayer, we say, “Lead us not into temptation, But DELIVER US FROM EVIL.”
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