I dislike shopping for cars. I dislike the aggressive salesman whom I fear is going to get the best of me.
From the minute I walk into the showroom, I feel like I am at war. The first thing a salesman wants from me is my name. He doesn’t want to know my name because he wants to be my friend but because he wants to make a sale. When he knows my name, he can control me in ways he could not do if I remained anonymous. That is his ultimate objective: to be in control in such a way that I think I am in control and getting a good deal when in fact he is control and getting a good deal. The only thing I can do to hold him off is not tell him my name.
There is a similar struggle in today’s Gospel. Here the struggle is not between the aggressive salesman and the suspicious customer but between Jesus and “an unclean spirit,” a demon. Jesus wins the struggle and frees a man from his demonic possession.
Jesus is an exorcist.
What is demonic possession?
Some have suggested that this demonic possession was a psychological disorder that caused the man to be “beside himself.” When someone is “beside himself,” he behaves abnormally. He is out of control, possessed by something stronger than him. Therefore, Jesus’ exorcism was nothing more than the good counseling a patient might receive from a therapist. The man needed to be freed from his hang-ups and obsessions more than the Devil.
However, the Devil cannot be so easily dismissed as an old-fashioned superstition of a less enlightened age. Evil, the Devil and demonic possession are not mere psychological disorders. C.S. Lewis thought that the greatest triumph of the Devil in our modern world has been his ability to convince so many that he no longer exists. The monstrous crimes that humanity has inflicted on itself in the course of history ought to be evidence enough of the reality of the Devil and his demons.
So, if the Devil is real, how can we recognize him? The creative imaginations of Hollywood filmmakers have misled us. Their vivid and grotesque portrayals of the Devil in horror movies and the like are misleading. The Devil is not so dumb as to be so obvious.
One thing the Scriptures make clear. The Evil One is not always recognized in the ugly and horrible. The Evil One is most often recognized by what he says! That is what makes the Evil One so dangerous. He doesn’t show up as some hideous monster in the darkness of the night but in the voices and words of those whom we would least expect. He often takes what is good and righteous and twists it into something evil and destructive. The Evil One is “the Father of Lies.” It is through such lies and deceptions, that he exposes himself for what he is: an enemy of God and all things good.
We see that lie portrayed in today’s Gospel. Mark does not tell us what the demonic possession looks like. The demon reveals himself . . . when he speaks. However, what he says hardly seems demonic. It seems to be wonderfully orthodox, good and true. Jesus is “the Holy One of God.” Jesus should have applauded the “unclean spirit” for his accuracy!
What is wrong here? How could this be a lie?
The ancient world believed that if you knew the name of a god you could control it. It’s like that auto salesman who always wants to know your name the minute you walk into the showroom. It’s like being able to know the secret password so that you can break into someone’s computer. It’s like being able to utter the magical phrase, the “abracadabra,” or “hocus pocus,” and you are in control. That is what the demon was trying to do when he said “the Holy One of God.” The demon saw Jesus as an enemy. He wanted to control and manipulate Jesus, to thwart his love, and keep this poor man in the grip of his power.
Always remember this about the Devil. Even the Devil believes that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Even the Devil believes orthodox doctrine. Even the Devil believes in the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus. However, what the Devil will never believe is God’s love for him, for the world and FOR US.
Therefore, even a truly correct and orthodox confession by the Devil, “you are the Holy One of God,” is a lie. Why? Because when the Devil speaks, he only sees an enemy out to destroy him. It is true. Jesus, “The Holy One of God,” is intent on destroying the Devil . . . BUT NOT this poor man possessed by the demon! And that is exactly the lie that the Devil wants this poor fellow to believe: God cannot be trusted. God despises him because he is unclean and unworthy. Therefore, God wants to destroy him.
That same lie the Devil perpetuates among us today. The Devil may appear in the ugly and ghoulish. But more often than not, it will be in the good, the righteous and the beautiful.
The lie is this: God does not love you! You cannot trust God. You do not really matter to God. God is your enemy. Therefore, you must prove yourself. Take your life in your own hands. Eat of the forbidden fruit. Keep all the rules. You MUST do something to win God’s approval or show God that you do not need Him.
A teenager looks forward to that day when he can afford to have his own car and truly be free to go wherever he wants. But the teenager spends all of his free time working a job, first to buy the car and then to pay for the insurance, the license and the repairs. He followed all the rules. He did what is expected. He thought that his car would mean freedom. But the car has become a burden. It has consumed his time and possessed his life to the point where he feels it is out of control. He is beside himself. He is possessed. Something good has become a monstrous idol, an enslaving demon. It began when he believed the lie . . . . that having this car was more important than anything else. It would make him into somebody. It could give him what God would not or could not. Of course, once he believed the lie, he was possessed. The Devil could not be any happier.
We all are vulnerable to such demonic possession. We can be possessed by the very things that promised so much freedom: a career, a new home in the suburbs, a thinner waistline, a relaxing cocktail after a stressful day, the money which never seems to be enough. When they possess us and become our consuming passion in life, an “unclean spirit” controls our lives. When they let us down, the Devil smiles while we writhe in the dust of our disintegrating lives!
But then Jesus shows up and performs an EXORCISM! He cries out, “Shut up and get out!” The lie must end. The Devil must go. Yes, Jesus is an enemy. However, he is an enemy of the Devil and his lies and not of those whom the Devil has possessed. Jesus loves the victims, losers and the possessed. Jesus wants to set them free. He does it, not by giving up on those whom the world deems “unclean” but by going all the way to the cross, chasing the devil all the way into the depths of Hell, shouting every step of the way, “Be silent! Shut up your lies! I love these people.” And on the third day when Jesus rises from the dead, the exorcism is complete. He has silenced the Devil and muzzled his lies. Not even death can thwart God’s love for us.
The exorcism continues. Jesus assures us that, even when we have been possessed by the lie and betrayed by the world, God is for us. God picks us up when everyone else has dumped us. Even when the Devil reminds us that we are not worthy of God, Jesus goes to the cross to make us worthy. We can be dirty, unworthy, confused and writhing in the pain of our disappointments, faithless and doubting, possessed by demons we did not think existed. Yet, God does not give up on us. Christ keeps insisting, promising and comforting. “You are the apple of my eye, my beloved sons and daughters, always and forever.”
The exorcism continues. There is a quaint old tradition in the church that says when a baby cries during its baptism, we ought not to be embarrassed or even try to silence it. The cries are a glorious sign that in this Baptism Christ is driving out the devil. The exorcism is working. In spite of the lies that this child will hear for the rest of her life, she will always and forever be beloved of God.
Today many of you are commemorating the day you were baptized, when Jesus did the same thing for you he did day at Capernaum. You may not have convulsed, writhed in the dirt and cried out, but Jesus did silence the lie, drive out the Liar and God’s judgment. The fact of your Baptism provides you with the irrevocable assurance that the Devil and his demons will never be able to possess you and separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
The exorcism continues. When we leave this place and return to the world, we too “get to” silence the lies of the Evil One. We too can and tell the truth of God’s love in Christ. We too can drive out the demons as we care for others, loving our neighbors, the strangers and the “unclean” with the love of Christ. We too get to be . . . exorcists.
Christ Church, the Lutheran Church of Zionsville
Rev. Dr. Steven E. Albertin (Click to E-mail)
