Luke 8 26 Demonic Fr. Lawrence Margitich

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. Glory

forever. We're wearing red today because today

is the feast day of the unmercenary saints, the

great healers. Who healed unmercenary means they

did not take money. No silver, it says. Most

of them were martyrs, and red is the color of

martyrdom. We have such a riches of themes to

speak of, but let us turn our attention to the

gospel, the first gospel we heard from Luke chapter

Luke 8 · chapter mention

8, 26. We heard it recently, I guess it was back

in July, we heard St. Matthew's version of this

same account, and I spoke of the demons there.

and of their powerlessness over us because Christ

is risen and he has destroyed the power of death,

the power of sin, and the demons are about as

useless as a $100 bill on the table sitting there

by itself. It can't do a thing. But of course,

the demons can tempt two men to fight over it

and one kill the other. But that's the power

that's there. But I want you to imagine a scene.

From the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 32, which

I heard a teaching on the other day, and I'm

excited about it, and I want to share that with

you too. Because I learned something new that

I didn't know. There's so much. This is why I

keep reading. Deuteronomy 32 tells us this. When

the Most High, so God, the Most High God, not

an angel, not some other kind of spirit, The

Old Testament calls some of these things gods,

lowercase g. The Most High God is the one who

created heaven and earth and all things. When

the Most High God apportioned the nations, when

he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries

of the peoples according to the number of the

gods, that is, the angels. Fix that in your mind,

that every nation has an angel. But we know,

if we read the Old Testament, if we have paid

attention to the gospel we just heard, there

were many angels who fell away. And they demanded

worship as if they were God. So, listen to this

Psalm verse, Psalm 81. God stood in the congregation

of the gods, and in the midst he shall judge

them. Who is God judging here? God is standing,

he's coming to this, what should be an angelic

council, what should be kind. discerning, loving,

protective angels for the nations and for people,

but they have fallen away and they have rebelled

against God. And God is now standing in their

midst. This is what the psalm says, Psalm 81.

God stood in the congregation of the gods and

he shall judge them. And the psalm continues.

How long will you judge unrighteously? God says

to them. And accept the sinners. He says to them,

judge for the orphan and the poor man. He says,

do justice to the humble and the pauper. Rescue

the poor man and the needy. From the hand of

the evil one, deliver that person. And this is

what he then says to these fallen angels as he

stands before them. They have not known nor understood

they walk in darkness. Let the foundations of

the earth be shaken. The story we just heard

of Christ coming to this land of the gatherings

where people were tending pigs. They were pagans.

They were Roman pagans. They used pigs for their

sacrifices. This was a sacrificial meal. That

man that was possessed by a legion, five, ten,

whoever knows, of demons, said to Jesus what?

Jesus, thou son of the most high God, don't send

us into the abyss before the time. Is it the

time of judgment? They knew this verse. They

saw it coming, but they didn't know exactly what

was going to happen. Psalm 81, are you starting

to recognize this song? We sing it on Holy Saturday.

Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken.

I said, ye are gods, false gods, fallen angels,

and all of you sons of the Most High, but like

men, ye die, and like one of the rulers, do ye

fall. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou

shalt have an inheritance among all the nations.

You recognize that now. Arise, I could ask these

guys to sing it for us maybe. On Holy Saturday,

we sing this prophecy of what Christ will do.

Jesus the Savior, the true God, the light of

light. Are you come, says the legion of demons

to Christ. Are you come to punish us before the

time? That is, after God will judge. They know

that God will bring justice and truth and new

life. Do justice to the humble. Judge for the

orphan and the poor man. Rescue the pauper and

the needy. This is what Christ has done. Arise,

O God, and judge the earth. Rise up, Lord. Having

risen from the dead, then... Jesus stands in

the midst of these demons to judge them. St.

Paul tells us very clearly, for our struggle

is not against flesh and blood, other people,

but against the rulers. These entities, these

spirits, against the authorities, against the

powers of the dark world, and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Let God

arise and let his enemies be scattered, we sing

at Pascha. The enemy is not people. It's not

the opposing political party or presidential

candidate. It's not the Muslims who are killing

Christians. It's not whatever enemy you might

decide. It's these powers that inflict temptation

and evil upon God's world. It's not communists

or anarchists or sinners, those who are different.

And we were all, before our baptism, enslaved.

Through death on the cross, Jesus destroyed him

that had the power of death, says St. Paul in

Hebrews. that is, the devil, and delivered those

who all their life were subject to bondage through

fear of death. Jesus says the thief comes to

steal and to kill and to destroy. And the devil

is a thief and a liar from the beginning. But

Jesus says, I am come that you might have life

and have it. more abundantly. He is our shepherd.

He is our protector. He is our guide. He is our

enlightener. He is the one who loves us, who

knows what we need. Some things we don't want

to bring to Christ, do we? We kind of divide

them off. We don't allow him to change us, to

sanctify us. Like the people in this village

who said, go away. They were afraid of him. This

man, this possessed man, was serving as an oracle

with demonic powers speaking through him. Let's

not imagine, however, that Christ is going to

steal something from you or from me. He doesn't

look for slaves. He says, you are my friends.

If we think he wants to take something away from

us besides sin and death and evil and ultimately

suffering in the life of the age to come, then

we misunderstand. Total obedience to Christ never

leads to regrets. It leads to freedom from sin

because we confess it and we're free of that

stain. which divides us from ourself and from

God and from one another. We are free from death

because he was crucified and died and rose from

the dead, and he promises us resurrection. And

we taste it every time we go to communion. And

he promises freedom from ourself, our constant

stream of confusion, like legion. Life and more

abundantly doesn't mean... I get the nicest car,

I'm going to live forever, I'll die a peaceful

death, everything's going to be great in my life.

No, it means God's life, which we partake of

most perfectly when we receive Holy Communion.

Let me just summarize here. In terms of our core

beliefs, The beliefs that shape the way a person

reacts emotionally and how we behave? What would

it mean to believe with all one's heart and with

all one's soul and with all one's might that

Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the one who stood

in the midst of these evil beings and judged

them? What does it mean that he is one essence

with the Heavenly Father, with power over things

visible and invisible? What does it mean? To

believe that, what it means is that we look at

the world, we look at ourself, we look at our

neighbor, and the person who might consider themselves

our enemy, through the lens of Christ's compassion

and his humility and his love. One writer says

this, a quote, this would mean striving to respond

as Christ would and rejoicing with the heavenly

joy every time his grace, by his grace, every

time we can. We would walk the extra mile and

that would help us to participate in the light

of light. And being called by Christ's name would

be honor beyond all honor. bestowing not just

human dignity and worth, but divine worth upon

us as a vessel of clay. It is not I who live,

but Christ who lives in me. And the life that

I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the

Son of God who gave himself and was delivered

up for me. We would believe that our soul would

always be oriented towards Christ as the ultimate

direction of our life and none other. What is

shaping our life, he is saying here? What is

the ultimate meaning of our existence? And what

is the ultimate goal of our time in this sorrowful

world? It was created by the Son of God, and

he is saving it and rescuing it. Believing all

this would change everything about our life.

This is what it means. as I keep saying week

after week, to be Christian on purpose. To our

Lord, the destroyer of sin and death and the

evil one, be glory now and ever to ages of ages.