By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
25″Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. [Read: Mark 1:21-28]
This is the fourth Sunday in Epiphany. I believe this piece saw print in this paper fifteen years ago. With slight edit I am sharing it again in this corner.
There was a movie in 2006 about a person possessed by the devil and the church’s practice of exorcism. The movie entitled The Exorcism of Emilyrose succinctly put forward the issue of the existence or non-existence and the influence of the devil to people in this modern world which is fixated with scientific evidence and logic explanation. The movie tells about a young woman who claimed to be seeing horrible things and exhibits unnatural and unearthly human behavior (speaking in strange language, levitation, eating spiders and cockroaches, etc.). The woman died during exorcism rites performed by her Parish Priest. To cut the story short, the priest was charged with manslaughter due to negligence. During the trial, the defense and the defendant of the case crossed their mettle on legalese and about religious belief about the existence of the devil and its works like taking possession of the human mind and body.
I am very sure that we have the same partisan view about the subject: demon, or demon possession. Most of us tend to think that such kind of thing only happened in the early centuries.
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After Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, He stayed in the wilderness for forty days. We can only surmise that he went there to meditate on the direction of his ministry after his baptism wherewith he receive his ordination from the Father as the Chosen One, the Messiah. After that he went on to recruit the first disciples which our Gospel text tells us last Sunday. This is the backdrop of our Gospel lesson this Sunday.
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Our Gospel this Sunday narrates that Jesus went to the town of Capernaum and there he taught in the Synagogue. While teaching, a man with an evil spirit came and caused uproar. And Jesus ordered the evil spirit to come out of the man. And it was done. Have you ever seen a demon-possession? Do you believe in exorcism? Just like the movie mentioned earlier many of us doubts about such thing. With the computers, modern gadgets of communications, and other quantum leaps in science and technology, many of us suppose that demons only exist in the imagination, in the movies, or were only true during the ancient times.
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People in Jesus time believes of the existence of demons and evil spirits. According to Jewish belief, demons could eat, drink, and have children. Demons were considered to be everywhere. It was said that every person had had several demons surrounding them. They live in dark places and where there was no cleansing water. These were the belief in Jesus time. But they also believed that when the Messiah came, demons and other forces of darkness will be obliterated. The fact that Jesus cast the demon out of the man with the unclean spirit pointed out to everyone that Jesus is the Messiah.
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I believe that demons are alive and well today. Aside from the popular image that a demon is a horned, tailed and carrying a pitchfork, a demon is something that steals joy, takes away hope, and drains our strength. Demons are those things that turn our lives into a burden and make life miserable. If those are the characteristics of demons, then we can agree that our world is constantly being challenged by demons. And demons are indeed constantly surrounding and challenging us.
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The message that is being driven home in our story this week is that Jesus Christ has the power to drive away our demons those in and with us. Everyones demon is varied. What is it that takes away happiness and drains your energy enthusiasm? What is it that has the power and ability to separate you from God? Alcohol? Drugs? Depression? Gambling? Cancer? Self-righteousness and pride? Name your demon. This is the lesson of our gospel story this Sunday: Jesus has the power to drive away the demons and makes your life better. Jesus came to face evil squarely in the eye and He did not blink. Jesus came to drive away the demons that get in the way of our relationship with our God and keep us from being the person that God intends us to be, the person we desire to be.
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Having our demons driven out is not easy. It takes great effort, which is why so many demons are alive and well in our world today. It is not easy to change. It takes great faith and courage, persistence and commitment. Ultimately, it requires our acknowledgement that we cannot do it on our own, only God can. It takes faith to believe that Jesus Christ can indeed drive away the demons.
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There was once a parable about a little boy who fled from a witch who had turned herself into a cat. As the boy ran, he kept glancing fearfully over his shoulder. The first time he looked back, the cat was the size of a calf. The next time he looked, it had grown to the dimensions of an elephant. Then the boy fell, and was unable to go farther. Resolutely he got up and faced the pursuing horror. It stopped. So he took a step toward it. It backed away. As he continued to advance toward it, it began to shrink in size as it retreated from him. Finally it changed into a mouse and ran under the door of the witch’s cottage to be seen no more.
The moral is clear: it pays to face up to your fears. But sometimes that is hard to do. That is when we need to turn to Christ. He can help us stand up to our fears and conquer them. He can cast out demons. (eSermons.com)
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen, (ECP-BCP Epiphany 4 Collect)**
