Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and someone in the congregation stands up and starts yelling. This person is possessed by an unclean spirit and Jesus says come out of him and the demon comes out..........
What does that have to do with us today??? Unless you like to watch movies like the Last Exorcist, we don’t hear about demons do we? After all, we are in the 21st century and we certainly know better than to believe that evil can possess someone. We have all kinds of tests, medications, psychology and we can take care of all these kinds of things scientifically. Educated people are not possessed by Demons in the 21st century. Are they??
Well after pondering this text, trying to put this into perceptive, I realized I have been part of some exorcisms. I have worked with people, trying to get a demon to leave. I have yelled come out of him! Maybe not in those words but just the same. Yelled, that they get help for their addiction. Screamed for the person, I once knew, to come back. Hoped, we could convince her to get help. Prayed, that I could see the person I knew, through the demon.
Today we have many demons, possessing people in the form of addictions. We have demons of alcohol, drugs, gambling... These demons take control of a person, and take over their body and their mind. These demons are real.
I don’t know if you ever sat with a person, who needed a drink or was coming down and wanted that next hit. They are not the person they use to be. The addiction, the demon, takes over their entire being. A person, possessed by an addiction, will do anything to get the money to buy drugs. They will do things they never thought they would including stealing from their family or friends.
A person with an addiction acts possessed. These addictions are the visible demons that live among us. We may not want to call them demons, but they act the same way, possessing people and making a person act differently than they would otherwise. It is not just alcohol and drugs. Face it we have society approved addictions, like work-aholism, greed, eating disorders to remain thin.
People possessed by demons walk into our church every Sunday. And I ask you how would we act if someone would start to yell Help Me!!! Our first thought might be - to yell back at the person - get out - we want nothing to do with you! But Jesus didn’t do that and neither should we. Jesus yelled, "come out of him" and it did. Now, I don’t know if we have the ability to immediately have the spirit come out of him but ... we do have the ability to help!
We have the power to help each other rid ourselves of demons. Not only drugs and alcohol, but demons of work alcoholism, greed and beauty. Through an intervention, sending a person to rehab, or helping them get to meetings, as a Faith Community we are here to help each other with and through our problems. To be here for each other. To support each other. To lean on each other.
Living our lives in today’s society today is not easy. It is easy to fall pray to the many demons that lurk in our midst. It can happen to anyone - even those we think of as strong or untouchable. I don’t think anyone is immune from addictions.
As a community we are here to help others through our tough times. Not just to say to come out of her, but to give support when that demon leaves. To be there for the person and their family. As a faith community we need to be here to welcome a person into our midst for the first time and to welcome them back. To take them by the hand and say join us we are here for you!
We don’t know what Jesus was preaching that day. But we do know he commanded the demon to leave the person - not the person to leave the synagogue. The demon left and the person remained in the faith community.
Jesus is still in the business of freeing us, from anything that distances us, from what God hopes and intends for us. Thanks be to God!
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