We experience many conditions that disable us, and it is tempting to ascribe them to demons. It is much more appealing to ascribe them to something apart from ourselves than to ourselves. One of the most demon-like conditions that many of us experience is the problem of addiction. If you have faced a substance-abuse problem, you know exactly what I am talking about. An addiction can derail life and completely prevent us from living into our God-given gifts. In the worst scenario, one can end up just as outcast as the demoniac in today’s Gospel, without livelihood, food, or even proper clothing.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, I don’t have a drug or alcohol problem, so I don’t need to listen to this part of the sermon.” Addictions are not limited to drugs or alcohol. It is likely that almost every person here suffers from some kind of addiction. One addiction that is prevalent among regular church goers is the activity addiction. We have hands that don’t know how to stay down when anyone asks for volunteers and lips that don’t know how to say, “No.” Volunteering can have good motives; we preach that we should all respond to human need. But let’s be honest. Excessive activities can also stem from an ego that demands more and more and more ways to feel needed and useful. I know this, because I read about it once in a book! Activity addiction can lead to exhaustion that is completely disabling and prevents the expression of our gifts just as perniciously as any abused drug. It can be very demon-like. And activities are not the only source of disabling addiction. We can be addicted to eating, or to dieting, to buying toys, to playing with toys, or to coveting other people’s toys. None of these are evil of and by themselves. Eating isn’t evil; toys aren’t evil. But when they become our all-consuming focus, they can derail life. They can become very demon-like.
But there aren’t really demons, are there?
My dog Miriam is convinced that there are demons. What’s more, she knows what they look like. They all look like German Shepherds. Miriam was recovering from surgery and was wearing one of those Elizabethan collars that confine a dog from using its mouth. A German Shepherd escaped from its front door, and instinctively trying to defend its property, was quite vicious. Although this happened over 8 years ago, Miriam hasn’t forgotten her conclusion that all German Shepherds are demonic. A short while ago, she broke loose from her tether and ran across a very busy street, so that she could attack one, believing that the best defense is a good offense. That poor German Shepherd now believes in demons too. She, however, thinks that they all look like Golden Retrievers!!
Sadly, this story is not just about dogs. If it was, I wouldn’t bother telling it. We people fall prey to the same demon-like condition of prejudice. On the basis of a similarly isolated experience, or maybe no experience at all, we carry suppositions about others that can disable us and them. Our suppositions prevent us from really getting to know each other and one another’s gifts. That’s disabling. Old have assumptions about the young, the young about the old, men about women, women about men, and on and on and on. When such prejudices permeate society, they can poison whole groups of people. Look at the history between the Serbs and the Croatians or between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Examples abound. Prejudices are very demon-like.
But there aren’t really demons, are there? Today’s Gospel was not written to answer that question. It doesn’t seek to convince us that there are or are not demons. It tells us something much more important. Whether we face demons or only demon-like conditions, the author of Luke wants us to know this: Jesus has power over them. There is power in the name of Jesus. I am not talking about simply finishing a prayer with the standard phrase, “ … In Jesus’ name we pray,” as though that has some sort of “magic” abracadabra effect. In Biblical times, a name was more than simply a label. It housed the core identity of a person. There is power in Jesus’ core identity. As Jesus’ core identity occupies our hearts, neither demons nor demon-like conditions can exercise power there. The prayer of power borrows from this morning’s collect—may Jesus’ loving-kindness be ever more our foundation.
Now some of you may be saying to yourselves, “I’ve prayed that prayer or one very much like it, but life hasn’t changed as I had hoped. What gives?” Jesus has given us a wonderful image of what kind of answer we can expect to such prayers in this world, this side of heaven; and he did so in his own post-Resurrection appearances. They reveal to us what kind of new life is possible on this earth. Do you remember when Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room? He still bore his wounds. They had not disappeared. But he was able to bear them without suffering further pain. They no longer tormented him. We can hope for the same where our demon-like conditions are concerned. They may remain with us, but Jesus can strip them of their power to dominate our lives.
That same appearance also gives a beautiful image of how we can live into that hoped for answer to prayer. Jesus allowed another (Thomas) to touch his wounds. Society teaches us to hide our demon-like conditions. We don’t reveal them, fearing harsh judgment from others. Demon-like conditions grow worse in the dark. The powerful rule of an addiction or a prejudice cannot be broken until light is shed upon it, until it is named and acknowledged. God gave us the Church in part so that we would have a safe place in which to open our fists, reveal our wounds, and allow others to touch them. This is the path to healing. This is the path to stripping our demon-like conditions of power to hurt ourselves or others.
We may not become free of demons or demon-like conditions on this earth, but together we can say every more meaningfully with St. Paul, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” I can do all things through the One who strengthens me. I can do all things through Jesus. Amen.