The Gadarene Demoniac: Christ's Power and Our Weakness

We're struggling, we're beset by the passions, and in a

real sense, we're not in our right minds because of

our separation from God. But when we encounter Christ, that

is when we enter into this church, we begin a

process of not just putting aside our past sins, but

of being restored to what our human nature was intended

to be.

Welcome to Hill Country Homilies Weekly homilies from Holy Denunciation

Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an

old calendar Orthodox church sharing the faith of the Apostles

and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,

let's listen to this week's homily, iamb of.

The Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Gorge

in Jesus Christ. Please have a seat if you wish

beloved in Christ. This This week's gospel is Saint Luke's

account of the Gathering Demoniac. Now, this is a very

well known gospel account. It appears in all three of

the Synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and it appears

in basically the same form in each of the gospels,

although there are small differences in detail, which one would

expect from different authors. Recounting the same event. Today's gospel reading, though,

presents us with one of the most dramatic encounters of

Christ's earthly ministry, as our Lord meets a demon possessed

man in the region of the gatherings. Now, this unfortunate

soul has been tormented by a multitude of demons who

call themselves a legion. He lived naked and violently among

the tombs outside the city, which represented his complete desolation,

brings that evil brings to human life. He terrorizes the

town people with his demonically perverted behaviors. Yet in this

passage we witness the supreme authority of Christ over all

forces of darkness, as he commands the demons to depart,

permitting them to enter into a hurt of swine that

subsequently perishes in the lake. But the townspeople, especially those

who have made their living tending the swine, ask Jesus

to leave the region. While the healed man, now restored

to his right mind, begs to follow Christ, but Christ

denies this, and instead he commissions him to return home

and to proclaim God's mighty works. What does this gospel

tell us about the transformative power of Christ and our

own weakness before his glory. Let's start by understanding the

person of the demoniac. We know from the account that

the demon possessed man is in a very depraved and

frightening condition. We're told that he is naked, that he

lives out among the tombs in the graveyard, and that

he is separated from his community on the account of

his condition. And according to Blessed Theophilac, these are not

just descriptors of his physical condition, they also are indicators

of his spiritual state. He's naked because he stripped himself

of his baptismal robe. He's living not in his house

but among the tombs because he dwells outside the church,

having been separated by the demons. And the tombs represent

the dens of iniquity into which this man has fallen.

But despite his pitiable condition, after the man and his

demons encounter Christ, his corrupted human nature is restored. His

mind is returned to such sanity that he now not

only recognizes Christ, but he asks him to permit him

to follow him and to be with him now. In

a very real sense, this gospel account is a brief

and immediate encapsulation of what we would call the process

of theosis which each of us are seeking. We're struggling,

we're beset by the passions, and in a real sense,

we're not in our right minds because of our separation

from God. But when we encounter Christ, that is when

we enter into his church, we begin a process of

not just putting aside our past sense, but of being

restored to what our human nature was intended to be

face to face with Christ as the demoniac was, and

seeking to be with him at all times as this

man once he was healed and sought for us. This

process is a lifetime for this demoniac. The transformation was immediate,

but the power by which Christ healed this demoniac was

not just a display of Christ's healing power over men.

As with the man born blind or the leopards, the

healings that he offers are always spiritual as well as physical.

It's one thing to contend against illness or disability. Doctors

do that. In this account, however, Christ not only is

restoring the fallen man, he first must deal with the

demonic forces that have seized a hold of him. This

legion of demons had rule over the man, and when

they encounter Christ, they encounter him with with both impudence

and with fear. They're impudent, impedent, even dismissive as they shout,

what have I to do with thee? But they're also

afraid because they know who this THEE is? What have

I to do with THEE? Jesus, son of the Most

High God? They say, I beg you do not torment me.

And we hear that they begged him that he would

not command them to go out into the abyss, that is,

back into the pit of the hebrew one from whence

they came. And in this fear and impudence and pleading

a negotiation, or don't send us into the pit, let

us go into this swine. They are begging and pleading

because they know that Christ has complete power over them.

Christ is not in a battle with the demons. He's

won that battle. The demons are subject to him and

they know it. As the scripture says. The demons also

believe and tremble. Why does Christ permit them to remain

on the earth in the swine? What's not because he

offers them any mercy? Rather, the fathers tell us two things. First,

this is obvious the command of Christ for the demons

to depart, and is permitting them to enter the swine

is an affirmation of the power that he has. It's

an affirmation of the power that he has, so it

becomes a living depiction of that power. But also by

permitting them to remain, Christ provides for men, those of

us still on this earth, a means of struggle in contest,

which leads to what the scripture calls the crowns of victory.

When the scriptures speak of those who endure to the

end being saved or working out your salvation with fear

and trembling, that endurance that working out It's going to

look different for different people, but for each of us

it will involve transformation, it will involve overcoming, and it

will involve spiritual challenges. We must recognize that we struggle

against spiritual forces and trust in Christ's protection through prayer,

through fasting, through the mysteries which has provided for us.

But we must trust also in Christ's power, the power

revealed in today's Gospel. When facing spiritual warfare, we have

to invoke the name of Christ with confidence, knowing that

the demons are powerless compared to Christ. We don't have

any needing to fear them, which brings me to the

final point that I want to mention about today's reading,

because if there's one thing that ought to stand out

in today's reading, it's not so much Christ's vanquishing of

the demons. We know this, He's God. Rather, if there's

something that should shock our conscience, if there's one thing

that should call us to self examination, it's not so

much the encounter with a demoniac or his healing. Instead,

it is the incredible reaction of the townspeople. A man,

a brother, who is deemed lost, who terrorized them for ages,

has been healed and set before them in his right mind.

This should be a day of celebration, a day of thanksgiving.

It should have been a day where the man tells

of all the great things that God has done for him,

as Christ commanded him. But instead we read that when

the people come, and when they learn how the demons

were sent into the swine, who thundered themselves into the

lake and drown themselves, they react out of base fear

of Christ, and they beg him to depart. They didn't

fear the demons. They feared the man who conquered the demons.

They didn't make their request out of humility, thinking themselves

not worthy of his presence. They made it out of

distrust and out of fear. They feared that his continuing

presence would cause him further loss. They asked him to depart,

for they were seized with great fear, preferring their economic

security and the swine over the presence of the Savior.

People fear truth and honesty. They preferred darkness to light

many times, and this was the gatherings on this day.

They feared that Christ might inflict further punishment upon them,

and he begged. They begged him to leave them, and

Christ departs precisely as they wish. Saint Ambrose of Malan

says his fear of the townspeople may ultimately prove to

be their demise. Christ takes away the sins of the

people when the people desire to be healed, not when

they refuse to submit to the healing. He doesn't want

to cure the unwilling, and so he departs from these

people for whom it seems that his presence was a burden. So,

brothers and sisters, let us also examine our hearts and

be certain that we are neither fearing Christ nor seeing

his presence as a burden. To be sure, Following Christ

in this world can be hard. We are asked to

be transformed from the things of this world into the

things of Christ. Some people have even suffered economic consequences

for it, far worse than the gatherings and their whole

as swine. So let us take this timely moment to

examine our own hearts for similar tendencies to prioritize material

concerns or burdens on our time over our own spiritual growth.

Because when God's grace challenges comfortable patterns of life, our

first instinct may be like the Gatherings, to recoil from it.

But believers must embrace this burden, if you will. Rather

than asking Christ to depart, let us recognize that perfect

love will cast out that fear. And let us, at

all times, brothers and sisters, let us remember that in

this world we've been promised tribulation. Our promise from Christ

is for the next world, and it is for that

next world that we can test for these crowns of

victory that await us so beloved in Christ. As we

depart today, let us give thanks to God, who has

power over all things material and spiritual, and who desires

that we come before him face to face, and who

is preparing us for that great and dread day of judgment.

Let us beg to be in His presence always, that

we may at all times be partakers of this divine nature,

always now and ever for the ages of ages. Home in.

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