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“Living in the Spirit: Return
to Your Home” |
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Do you believe in demons? I’m talking about evil spirits that possess people – like the one in William Blaty’s “The Exorcist?” While I was still in high school, my parents participated in a prayer group of people from our congregation. One night, at one of their meetings, a member of the group told my parents that they should take my youngest brother, Paul, to see a faith healer who had come to town. Paul has epilepsy, and is mentally retarded. This church member said that Paul’s illness was caused by a demon that possessed him, and that an exorcism would cure him. Having prayed for Paul’s healing for more than eight years, and having already tried just about everything else, my parents consented. Some of the members of the prayer group went with my parents and Paul to the meeting with the faith healer. The man shouted and spoke in tongues – and then he shouted some more. The healer, in the name of Jesus, called forth “demons” from Paul. The room was filled with the faithful, fervently praying for the sweet boy sitting before them. That night, no miracle happened – his epilepsy and mental retardation remained. That night, I personally decided that Paul did not have a demon in him – but rather was afflicted by a puzzling and debilitating disease. For a number of years, I didn’t think much about the belief of some Christians concerning demons and demon possession. Then, I met “Diana” who lived in the town where I was the pastor of a congregation. A short time later, she voluntarily admitted herself to the nearby state mental hospital. From my hospital visits, I could see that she was beginning to improve. One day, I received a phone call from her distraught husband. “Keith” asked me to come to the house to see “Diana.” An interdenominational prayer group in our small town had invited a “Bible teacher” and faith healer to come to one of their homes to cast demons out of the sick. A member of that group had talked “Diana” into checking herself out of the hospital and coming to that meeting so that she might be healed. They had set “Diana” on a chair in the center of the room, gathered around her, laid their hands on her, and began to pray enthusiastically in the name of Jesus for the demons that caused her mental illness to be exorcised from her. When it became apparent that no demons were going to be cast out of her, the group began to tell “Diana” that she didn’t want to get well, and her faith wasn’t strong enough. “Diana,” having been a failure at many things in her life, was then told that her inner torment and deep clinical depression was really the result of her lack of faith, and that demons had a hold on her, and it was her fault. At the conclusion of their prayer meeting, there had been no exorcism, and “Diana” was suicidal. I helped “Keith” accompany his wife back to the hospital – back into her doctor’s care – and she began a long and slow recovery from depths of human despair far worse than when the well-meaning Christians had decided to pray for her. “Diana” was not demon possessed. No evil spirits were inside of her, battling for her soul. When the Hebrew people of the Old Testament got sick, it was attributed to a spiritual impurity brought on by their own actions or thoughts. By the time the New Testament scriptures were written, the culture of Jesus understood illness to be the result of a spiritual battle for the soul. If the demons won, the result was illness. If the divine won, there was health. Neither the Hebrew people of the prophets, nor the Jews and Christians of the early church, knew about bacteria, or viruses, or white blood cells, or body hormonal imbalances, or brain waves, and how all are a part of a complex system that influences our health or our sickness. All they knew was that health was a spiritual matter involving God and Satan – and it is to that belief that they witness in the scriptures. Jesus made his way across the Sea of Galilee in a fishing boat. When he arrived on the western shore, at the foot of high, steep, desolate hills, he was in foreign territory. The people who inhabited the area weren’t even Jews. As Jesus moved up the rocky terrain, he saw caves used as tombs for the dead of the city of Gerasa. Living in the caves was a wild man: naked – homeless – crazy. We don’t know what was wrong with him, but if he was in America, be would be a prime candidate for a mental hospital. Luke’s diagnosis was demon possession. What a fascinating story Luke tells! The man recognized Jesus! How could that be? He’d never seen Jesus before! Luke’s answer was demon possession. Jesus asked him his name. “Legion.” A Roman legion of soldiers was around 1600 men. “Legion.” Many. Many demons. The demons recognized the power of Jesus to banish them back to the “abyss” – the prison of Satan – the dwelling place of spirit powers. In the story, the spirits would rather enter a herd of swine, living symbols of ritual impurity, than to return to that dark land of the dead. Luke had a little fun with the story. Jesus sent the demons into the swine, and then the swine immediately did what I sometimes used to tell my brothers or sister to do: “Go jump in a lake!” The irony of the story is that the Hebrew word for flood or watery deep is also abyss! And so, according to Luke, the demons ended up in the “abyss” after all! The point of the story is that Jesus, through God’s Spirit dwelling in him, has undeniable power over evil spiritual forces. The action of the exorcism clearly illustrates that. But what is to happen to a man who has been touched by the Spirit of God, and must live in that Spirit? The healed demoniac had a past – but now, for the first time, he was given a future. Did he have a family? Luke doesn’t say. Did he used to have a trade? Luke doesn’t say. Did he once or even still have a house in Gerasa? We don’t know. We know nothing about his past. We do know that his “present” had been filled with spiritual, emotional, and perhaps even physical torment. When he met Jesus, everything changed. God laid claim to him – and suddenly, the man had a future! Having been touched by the Holy Spirit of God, he just wanted to go with Jesus. He wanted to leave behind whatever ties there were to his hometown – his family – those he had hurt and those who had hurt him. He wanted to make a new start and be someone new! But Jesus would hear none of it. He said, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” Can you imagine? Return to your home? Did Jesus mean go to Gerasa? Surely he didn’t mean return to the tombs! Return to a family or friends that had rejected him – left him to wander crazily about the dead? Return to some he may have hurt with insane words or super human strength – those who had laughed at him – were afraid of him? Return to the situations and people who may have been contributing factors to his illness? That’s what Jesus said. “Return to your home.” If we “live in the Spirit,” what will happen to our way of life? I can tell you with confidence that the Holy Spirit will influence you to live differently. The Holy Spirit will push you to live a life of faith. The Holy Spirit will bring you personal healing. The Holy Spirit will fill your heart and your mouth with words that proclaim the greatness of God in your life. The Holy Spirit will proclaim God’s love through your behavior. When God’s Holy Spirit enters you – and when you begin to live in the Spirit – Jesus’ words to the healed demoniac indicate where this abundant living is to be: at home. You don’t have to go to seminary – just go to church! You don’t have to stand and preach on a city street corner – just gather your family around you and pray in your house. You don’t have to travel to mission fields on the other side of the globe – just be a Christian witness at your workplace, and love your neighbor! Return to your home! Has God given you the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Return to your home! Have you been delivered from some spiritual or physical ailment? Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. Return to your home – and live in the Spirit. Let us pray: O Creator, Christ, and Spirit – we have felt your power when your Spirit has made its presence known to us in the really difficult, and painful, and sick moments of our lives. Thank you for the strength – the comfort – the healing – that you give. Teach us now, how to live in your Spirit. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen. |