Your Right Mind

Glory to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Last week, we read from Saint Luke’s Gospel the parable of the sower and the seed (Luke 8:4-15). Shortly after that conversation, the Lord took his twelve disciples, got into a boat, and sailed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Today we’ve skipped over the part where a storm boiled up while the Lord took a nap; the disciples woke him, “Master! We’re going to die!” and he rebuked the wind and it stopped and the sea became still. The twelve said to one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him” (Luke 8:22-25).

This is one of a series of miracles in which Jesus is teaching his twelve disciples that he is the Lord, the Master of the world. He wants them to begin to grasp that all authority is his in heaven and earth (Matthew 18:18). Today’s Gospel reading is another lesson for the Twelve on the same topic.

The Lord is not surprised to meet a demonized man; this was the reason he came here. And they don’t just happen to encounter this man; but “when he stepped out on the land, there met him a certain man from the city who had had demons for a long time – who wore no clothes, and did not live in a house but among the tombs.” (Luke 8:27). The shore of the Sea of Galilee here was a steep hillside leading up to the highland where they kept pigs (v.32-33). This demonized man has come down from the graveyard where he lived to meet the Lord. Jesus has come to this place with a plan to demonstrate the power and authority of God.

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Now we need to pause and define our terms.

In our day we know a few things about how the brain and body work. Some people that our ancient ancestors would have called demonized, we recognize as having disorders of brain function like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder – and sometimes they can be helped by making up with medicine the neurotransmitters their brain fails to make.

But some people really have got a demon.

Saint Mark tells us, “This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones” (Mark 5:3-5). When the Lord asks the name of the spirit in this man, the answer is “We are Legion” (Mark 5:9). There’s a whole army of us in here!

How did he get into such a state? What happened? How does a man go from normal human society to living in a graveyard naked, howling at the moon and attacking the people who try to restrain him? How does he get to such a place? I will tell you how he did not come into this state. It didn’t just happen one day. It’s not as if a healthy, normal man is just walking down the street, and suddenly BOOM he is full of demons, hallucinating, speaking in tongues, and living in a graveyard. That is not how it happens.

It happened little by little by little. He gave the deceiver a little room in his thoughts, and then he gave him some more, and then he gave him a little more. It was by steps, gradually, until eventually when the Lord asks the name, it is not the man who answers but the demon in him. The man has lost his identity, his family, his friends, the community of the village where he lives. He has lost it all. And it is because of a lack of watchfulness.

That’s how it is with us. It is never the case that one day in the life of a disciple, the devil will jump out of the bushes and compel you to burn down your house. Go gamble away the car, get drunk and beat your wife. That’s not going to happen out of the blue. No, instead, the deceiver suggests to you, “You’re tired. Don’t worry about your prayers. You’re busy. Don’t worry about church. You can go to the Liturgy next time. Don’t go see how your spouse is doing. It’s election season, you can read some angry internet posts, argue a little, and make room in your thoughts for a list of grievances. You deserve a break.”

Remember, the devil is a liar. He suggests, “You can do what you want. You’ve earned it. You deserve it. I mean who doesn’t have a few faults, right? This is just part of the way you are.” Little by little, by little. It is the death of a thousand cuts. And this is how his plan is realized for our life.

So: What is a demon?

They’re spiritual beings. Originally members of the angelic hosts, but they rejected their destiny and calling. They have will, but no love. So, they lust for control. Demons don’t even care about you; they just hate God, and destroying you strikes at someone God loves. 

Today when the Lord tells these spirits, “Get out,” the demons ask to be sent into the herd of pigs. And there they act out their drive to hurt, kill, and destroy. The Lord permits this so everyone can see his authority and power.

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To the church at Corinth, Saint Paul wrote about the Eucharist, which unites us to the living Christ:

The cup which we bless, is it not the communion [koinōnía] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion [koinōnía] of the body of Christ? … Are not those who eat of the sacrifices communicants [koinōnoì] of the altar? …But the things which the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to be communicants [koinōnoùs] with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot be a partaker of the Lord’s table and a partaker of the table of demons (1 Corinthians 10:16-21).

When we talk about being united to the life and nature of God in Christ, we use the word divinization or theosis. We not only get credit for the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; salvation in its fullest sense is when we become full participants in the life and nature and character of Christ our God. This begins in our sacramental union with him in baptism, and in the Communion of his living body and blood here at the altar.

Saint Paul is saying that we cannot be communicants of the altar of Christ and of the altar of demons. To participate in the life and character and acts of Christ our God is to be divinized; and to participate in the destructive character and acts of demons is to become a communicant in what they are – to be demonized.

When Judas and the soldiers come to arrest the Lord, he says: “The prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). The deceiver and destroyer comes to Christ – and there is not a square inch in Christ that the evil one can claim. “He has nothing in me.”

The enemy of our souls knows he can’t undo the saving work of Christ. He knows the Lord has called you to repentance, to the renewal of your mind and an inheritance with the saints in the Kingdom of God.

And the demons know they can’t tear you out of the Lord’s hand. So they want to wear you down, a step at a time, until by neglect you lose your first love for Christ and grow lukewarm (Revelation 2:4; 3:16).

In Matthew’s account of these events, the demon shouts, “What do you have to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29).

“Before the time.” The demons know there is a lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:42). Fire and destruction is prepared for them, but not for you. You have a destiny in Christ. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9).

But the demons know there is a day coming when they will go into everlasting destruction. And the devil, in his hate for God and for all that God loves, wants to take down as many people as he can with him on the way to Judgment. 

So, since the enemy of our souls can’t destroy us or pull us out of the hands of God, he uses the passions that are already in us. We struggle daily to turn our will and our thoughts away from cruel memories and destructive imaginations, and from compulsions of self-destruction. But if we can be convinced to listen to suggestions, to cut ourselves a little slack, to relax because death is a long way off and life can be pretty good here and now – then we can be convinced to cool our love for the Lord and make room in our thoughts and priorities for things that are destructive to us and to our relationships.

I’m talking about drunkenness, love of luxury, gambling, anger, resentment, impurity, envy, addiction to films or passionate immersion in fantasy worlds. I don’t mean that a glass of wine or an occasional novel will destroy you. But when anything rivals the Lord for our loyalty, for our time and attention – then that has become a passion, and it constitutes a danger to us.

What is the cure? How do we return from wandering in a far country and become again sons and daughters of the Kingdom?

By Grace – by the personal intervention of God – you and I are being saved from our sins through faithfulness (Ephesians 2:8). That faithfulness begins with the most elementary exercises of a disciple’s life. The Lord says, “This kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21).

That’s why in a few weeks the Church will begin walking together toward the Nativity of Christ at Bethlehem by undertaking the Nativity Fast.

This isn’t the strictest of fasts; there is fish at least half the time, and wine and oil often. That makes it a good place for us to begin fasting if we have not yet learned how. Fasting is not primarily about what you eat; the way we eat during fasts is a tactic in renewing our minds, giving power to our prayer and obedience.

So in these days before we start giving any thought to meat or dairy, right now we need to put into practice Saint John Chrysostom’s counsel. He says,

Do you fast?
Give me proof of it by your works.
If you see someone who is poor, take pity on that one.
If you see a friend being honored, do not be envious.
Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eyes, and the feet,
and the hands and all the member of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.
Let the ears fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism –
For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes,
but bite and devour our brothers and sisters?

Sum all that up in one word: Watchfulness. The Lord warns us, “If the master of the house had known in what hour of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into… For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night” (Matthew 24:43; 1 Thessalonians 5:2). So we practice wakefulness, alertness, keeping aware of the thoughts that we permit to live in our mind, and the words and actions we permit to come out. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… Keep your heart with all diligence, for everything you do flows from it” (Matthew 12:34; Proverbs 4:23).

This is spiritual warfare. Not some stupid flashy Hollywood special effects, but fighting to own our thoughts and actions. Your body is not your enemy, your body and its words actions are the territory you struggle to claim and enforce the Kingdom of God. So that “Thy kingdom come, right here in me, right now, let Thy will be done.”

For the weapons of our warfare are not according to the flesh, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4,5).

Our Gospel reading ends today: “ Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid” (Luke 8:35).

Where have we heard that phrase before? In Bethany, when Jesus visits the house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

A certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42).

What you hear at the feet of Jesus will not be taken away. If you grew up in Sunday school, then there are some verses you know by heart. But if not, then this is one you’ll want to commit it to memory so you can give it some time to work in you:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1,2).

At your baptism, as you came up out of the water, we said, “The servant of God is clothed with garments of righteousness in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

And it is the plan of God that you be clothed and in your right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus and being conformed to his likeness, now and forever.

To the glory of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.