Mar 24 2019 Mark 5: 1-20

And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.

This is from the story where Jesus meets the man from Gerasenes with the unclean spirit. The man has lived, among the tombs, “howling and bruising himself”, unable to be contained by chains or to subdued.

I’ve never been a fan of the occult, of thinking about evil spirits. When friends would bring out the ouija board, I went the other way. I figured that if it didn’t work, it was a waste of time. If it did work, I wanted nothing to do with summoning spirits. 

This story creeps me out a little. Jesus meets this man, and asks him his name. First of all, if there was someone that disconnected, that out of his mind, would I have the courage to go to him and ask him his name? I hope so. In any case, the man responds that his name is Legion, “for we are many”, referring to the demonic spirits within the man. Rather than attributing this story to the devil, some have written off his possession as mental illness, perhaps schizophrenia.

I’ve recently been reading up on that horrible illness, and I came across something startling. One woman was talking about her son, who has paranoid schizophrenia and he has strong hallucinations that are something right out of a nightmare. 

One particular morning, this woman’s son awoken to find the devil sitting on the end of his bed, telling him how bad of a person he was, how no one loved him and they were trying to hurt him. He should lash out and hurt the people who pretended to love him, before they hurt him. If this was your reality, how horrible would that be?!  We are Legion. 

The young man’s response to this terrifying vision? He talked back to the devil, laughed at him, told him he was nothing, and should leave. And... the devil left. 

Was there someone or something on his bed?  I’ll never know. Could there have been or was it just that the man was out of his mind? I’m increasingly believing that yes, there could have something legitimately there. Maybe with his brain that’s wired differently, he sees things I don’t. Creepy, right?

For the man who encountered Jesus, his unclean spirits left him at Jesus’ command. Maybe in my current day, there are such things as unclean spirits as demoniacs. Maybe it’s all cruel tricks of the brain. Maybe the two are the same. I don’t know, but it’s all horrible. 

What I do believe is that Love is a greater power. Love’s presence in me can give me the strength to go up to the modern-day demoniacs and ask their name. Love’s power through me can help them experience that greater power. Love’s grace for them and presence in them can break those terrifying bonds of fear and evil. Maybe it will be quite a struggle and take many years, but ultimately, Love wins.