CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: Let's All Be Exorcists
Pentecost 2, Proper 7 | June 23, 2019
By the Rev. Carmen Germino
Sign up to receive CAMINANDO WITH JESUS in your inbox each Wednesday.
Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me" -- for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
- Luke 8:26-39
We modern readers don’t really know what to do with exorcism when we encounter it in scripture. We often want to put it over to the side in a box with polygamy, animal sacrifice and other stuff from the Bible that doesn’t make much sense to us nowadays. We sometimes try to explain demon possession in scripture as mental illness, but that’s not really a satisfactory explanation because, in the ancient world, demons were not considered a medical issue but rather a spiritual one. They were, quite simply, evil—the sort of evil that could possess someone and take over their life. When this happened to a Gentile man on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, it was devastating. His life was reduced to living naked among the tombs. Symbolically, he was as good as dead to the rest of his community.
When Jesus frees this man of his unclean spirits, the demons ask to receive safe harbor in swine rather than be sent into the abyss. Jesus complies, and the pigs promptly drown. Evil, it seems, is naturally self-destructive, as Jesus knew all too well. Meanwhile, the man has been set free and is therefore eager to follow his newfound Savior. But Jesus tells him to stay put. There is more healing and reconciliation to do in his own community, and Jesus invites him to go home and share his personal story of triumph over evil.
In telling the man to stay and share his testimony, what Jesus ultimately wants to get across is that there is evil in this world, and our task as followers of Christ is, to quote the Baptism Covenant, to “persevere in resisting evil” right where we are. And that’s why this story of Jesus sending the demons into the swine is so powerful—because it invites us to become exorcists too! If exorcism is, in the most basic sense, the act of tapping into divine power to eliminate demonic possession, and if demons are, in the most basic sense, the presence of evil within us, then in reality exorcism is simply the act of praying for the removal of evil in this world, which is something every Christian ought to be doing every day.
Today, I want to challenge each of us to become an exorcist like Jesus. No, really! I can already imagine the gossip across the Diocese: “Did you hear what that new rector at St. Alban’s, Davidson said? She said everyone should go be exorcists!” But, truly, I invite you to give some thought to how you are working against evil in this world, for that is part of the ministry of every Christian. Remember, I didn’t make that up. It’s in the Baptismal Covenant.
There are a lot of ways to be an exorcist. You can fight evil through your prayers. You can fight evil through acts of service for others or by working to dismantle unjust systems and structures in our society. You can fight evil by participating in the life of your faith community and the Diocese of North Carolina.
Our country is so deeply divided right now we hardly even hear each other. But the Church can, and should, and must be different. The Church must be a place where we come together to pray, serve and work for a common vision, a vision of a world where love wins and evil is vanquished. That vision is none other than the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s what being an exorcist really is: it is the task of transforming this broken world into the world God intends it to be. So let’s be exorcists together, working with Jesus to overcome evil whenever we encounter it!
The Rev. Carmen Germino is the rector of St. Alban's, Davidson.
Tags: Caminando with Jesus
