Fr Peter Helman

“Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

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Beloved,

I’m taken by thereading from the gospel of Luke appointed for Morning Prayer today.

It is familiar and wondrous: the account of the Garasene demoniac, a long-tormented man, waylaid habitant of hillside tombs, captive of an unclean spirit. We read that many times the spirit seized the man, such that he “was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but [the man] would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.”

The account begins at their arrival, after Jesus and the disciples sailed eastward from the region of Galilee, across the Sea of Tiberius. At dock Jesus steps out on land and is met by the man—a citizen once, friend and neighbor, now by fear of contagion and calamity cast by kindred into outer darkness.

When the man sees Jesus, he falls down before him and shouts 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.

The demon’s name, we learn, is Legion because many spirits had entered the man. The narrative is curious in this way: Legion speaks with the voice of authority on behalf of the myriad unclean spirits indwelling the man. They know Jesus and fear him: they beg him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

There is a herd of swine feeding nearby, and the spirits beg Jesus to cast them into these. Jesus permits them: they come out of the man, enter the swine, and the herd careen headlong down the steep bank into the lake and are drowned.

How do we make meaning of Luke’s account? Modern sensibilities might pick apart the plausibility of demons and demon possession and derive meaning in metaphor. I wager that’s not an unhelpful approach. I’m also struck that those who witnessed the exorcism and later told of it in fact saw a man, beset and hostage, freed from the pangs of an incomprehensible power.

Luke’s account brings to mind two of the more challenging questions from the Examination of baptismal candidates in theBook of Common Prayer:

QuestionDo you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?AnswerI renounce them. QuestionDo you renounce the evil powers of this world
which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?AnswerI renounce them.

I will be the first to admit it is difficult to self-identify with the Garasene demoniac. Part of me, though, suggests it’s an important exercise. Would you believe me if I told you that the sacrament of Holy Baptism is an exorcism? Something profound and mystical occurs at Holy Baptism. The baptized receive the indwelling Holy Spirit and are marked as Christ’s own forever. The baptized are forever freed from the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God and receive power to become children of God, strengthened by grace and love to strive against every evil with the assurance that no weapon fashioned against God will prosper.

Beloved, Jesus frees us from captivity. The grace of God given us at Holy Baptism always precedes and follows us. At the risk of sidestepping the question of demons and demon possessions (we'll leave that for another fireside chat!), perhaps the simple question to ponder this morning is this: from what have you been freed by grace? How has God loved you and cast far from you the power of sin?

Even now we are being loved by God into the people he intended us to be from the foundation of the world.

Let us give thanks and rejoice.


Yours in Christ,
Peter+