The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith
Destroyer of Demons
Jesus goes to the synagogue
and performs an exorcism. Others may still be unsure about the nature of Jesus,
his identity and ministry, but the demon knows. “What have you to do with us,
Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy
One of God.”
What do you think about
demons and possession? This is one of those issues that is often taken to the
extreme—extreme focus and concern about it or no concern at all. As I think
about it, I find myself in a very Episcopal mindset of being in the middle. I
don’t totally discount the idea of demonic possession but I also do not spend
much time thinking about it—until it comes up in the Gospel reading.
The topic of demonic
possession has seen its share of screen time. Who has not heard of the movie
the Exorcist? And how many sequels
have there been? People are interested.
Good verses evil. Priests are
the heroes—sort of the Indiana Jones version of the parish priest. People are fascinated with epic battles of
good verses evil.
People can become fascinated
with things spiritual and unusual but can miss the ways that God saves us
daily. Priests are the heroes in fighting the darkness only because they call
on Christ, and rely on Jesus, to fight what is demonic. It all seems a bit
extreme in the movies—and of course that is the point of drama—maybe so extreme
that we don’t see anything in the film that we believe could happen in our
lives.
I have had people come to me
and say that they sensed a demon present in their church or at their home. I do
not discount the power of evil. You have probably heard the saying that the
smartest thing the Devil ever did was to convince people that he does not
exist. I do not discount the power of evil.
Did you know that in the home
blessings that we do regularly, we call upon God to banish any evil spirit that
might be present? We pray: “Let the mighty power of the Holy God be present in
this place to banish from it every unclean spirit, to cleanse it from every
residue of evil, and to make it a secure habitation for those who dwell in it; in
the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord (The
Book of Occasional Services, New York: Church Publishing, 1994, p. 147).”
Did you know that in the
Episcopal Church’s Book of Occasional Services,
there is a section on Exorcism? You are probably thinking, “I hope that is
occasional service!”
We do not have an authorized
service for exorcisms; we are told in The
Book of Occasional service that if
you think an exorcism is called for, contact your bishop.
We are told concerning
exorcism:
The practice of expelling evil spirits by means of prayer and set
formulas derives its authority from the Lord himself who identified these acts
as signs of his messiahship. Very early in the life of the Church the
development and exercise of such rites were reserved to the bishop, at whose
discretion they might be delegated to selected presbyters [priests] and others
deemed competent.
In accordance with this established tradition, those who find
themselves in need of such a ministry should make the fact known to the bishop,
through their parish priest, in order that the bishop may determine whether
exorcism is needed, who is to perform the rite, and what prayers or other
formularies are to be used (Ibid, p. 174).
So you and I cannot decide on
our own to perform and exorcism. This is serious business. That’s why when once
someone wanted to perform an exorcism of the church because my desk drawer
would open by itself…I wasn’t supportive of the idea. Rather than calling the
bishop, I called Frank Scheder who came and fixed my desk drawer. By the way
Frank, it is starting to open by itself again.
While we do not discount the
possiblity of possession, there are far more common demons in our lives than
the sort that require the rite of exorcism. But these demons are pesky—sometimes
hard to identify and deal with.
For example:
to which we are actually called.
I’m sure you can name demons
that you have encountered in one way or another in this life: adiction, abuse,
selfishness, all the seven deadly sins—there have been a few movies on those
too.
Pesky demons that are common
often go unnoticed and unaddressed. And
sometimes those pesky issues start to dominate a church, or a family or an
individual. Demons don’t have to actually occupy a person’s body as in the movie the Exorcist
to do a lot of damage. People sometimes fear that the darkness in their hearts
or their lives or the world has the strength to control them.
When I told some people that
I was going to preach on demons and exorcism today, they said “that sounds
intense.” I replied that my main focus is the Good News! The darkness is never stronger
than the light. Once we bring our demons into the light their grip on us starts
to weaken. The truth will set you free from all darkness and all demons because
the darkness is overcome by the light – Jesus is the way the truth and the
life. When we bring the paschal candle into the dark church for the first
service of Easter during the Easter Vigil – the lights are dimmed and the light
of the candle’s flame pierces through the darkness into our souls and we sing
out: “The Light of Christ, Thanks be to God.”
They ask Jesus, “have you
come to destroy us?” Jesus has come to destroy the demons, in every form. Even
death is vanquished. Jesus comes to defeat all that limits us as people –
people created in the image of God – people created to live lives of hope and
joy that reflect the light of Christ to all.
Darkness in the world is
real.Sometimes we do feel overwhelmed, and the answer to that is turn to God
and do what we can given the situation. As Mother Theresa always said to those
who questioned how she would ever solve the problems of poverty, “one person at a time.” Do one good thing at a
time to spread the love and count on God to do the rest. Some issues will find
healing in God’s time, which may not be our time.
Count on the church to
support you and to witness to the power of God to conquer all demons. I’m happy to say, and you will be relived to
know, that I have not done one exorcism in my 8 years of being a priest. But
everyday, I believe that my ministry, the ministry of our church, all that you
do in the world, pushes back the dark and invites the power of God to vanquish
all that is demonic.
The work that we do together
– the ministry that God has given us— may not be dramatic but it is powerful
and is an outgrowth of Jesus’ ministry. The
healing ministry of our church is offered to anyone who desires it. Joining
together empowered by the Spirit, we continue Jesus healing ministry. The
sacraments offered by the church are here for you and for all—God’s gift of
grace—outward and visible signs of grace given.
We come to church to worship
God – it is our duty and our joy to be here. God does so much for us when we are
here. Sacraments strengthen us. When we confess our sins using the general
confession, time is given before we start to recite the set prayer, to bring to
mine our specific sins that we have committed since our last confession.We
bring these things to the light and we receive forgiveness and the power that
our demons have over us is weaken. As much as this is true for the general
confession, personal confession to a priest is also a way to be strengthened by
God. There is something about personal confession that is a truly powerful
experience of grace.
We come to receive communion,
and we are strengthened by it. We are united with Christ who casts out demons
of all sorts. We are reminded that God is with us – deep within us. I am
reminded of the words of St. Patrick’s breast plate:
Christ be with me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ beside me,
Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me…
The demons ask Jesus, “have you
come to destory us?” The answer is, “YES.” Amen.