God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Possession, Pistis and
Prayer. My focus is our gospel. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house
of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we
rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds
and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most
Holy Trinity. Amen.
The word possess
means to have and hold as property, or to have as an
attribute, such as knowledge or skill. It also means to seize and
take control. Its root is the Latin word possidere, most
likely a compound of potis, meaning powerful, and sedere,
meaning to sit.
Here, we’re not
talking about knowledge, skill or real estate, rather, we’re talking about
demonic possession. Of course, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod believes in
the existence of Satan and demonic beings, and individual pastors have
participated from time to time in rites of exorcism. Yet, the Synod has no
official position on demonic possession, nor does it subscribe officially to
any formal rite of exorcism.
There are no
Lutheran exorcists, however, there are a few accounts of Luther being involved
in exorcisms, apart from the exorcism found in Baptism. For example, in
his “Letter to Severin Schulze, June 1, 1545”, Luther simply advised the
exorcist to lay hands on the possessed, recite the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, a
Collect for Deliverance, and Mark 16:18.[1]
More recently,
Pastor Robert Bennett chronicled a fascinating first-hand account of the
spiritual warfare found within the Lutheran Church of Madagascar in I
Am Not Afraid. However, if we want to learn more about demonic
possession and exorcisms, we have to go beyond Lutheran circles and review more
universal literature, but for now, we will stick to our passage.
In today’s Gospel,
a father brings his son, possessed by an evil spirit, to Jesus that he may
expel it. This is not the first time Jesus encountered demons. He faced them in
the desert where he prayed and fasted for 40 days; and throughout his public
ministry, he drove demons from men and women, sons and daughters. Most demonic
encounters occurred in Mark, and while Matthew and Luke added similar or
parallel accounts, John recorded none.
We see how demonic
possession took over the personality of an individual, rendered him incapable
of voluntary action, and propelled him into bizarre, destructive behavior.[2] Jesus healed these
people using the same method for both individuals suffering from recognizable
illnesses and those possessed by demons: presence, touch, word and authority.
Today’s account
occurred immediately after Jesus and his three Transfiguration account
companions rejoined the other disciples embroiled in an argument with scribes
in the midst of a crowd. On catching sight of Jesus, the utterly amazed crowd
ran and greeted him. The father answered Jesus’ question about the argument. He
rightly expected the disciples to expel the demon since they had success after
Jesus delegated them to do so. We read in chapter six, “They went
out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many
demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”[3]
This case, however, proved to be too much for them.
Skipping ahead a
few verses, the boy’s symptoms suddenly worsen. He falls, rolls around and
foams at the mouth. Perhaps this was an attempt to dampen the fragile faith of
the bystanders, and clearly, the evil spirit intends to destroy the innocent
boy. After a brief discussion with the father, the crowd swelled and Jesus
commanded the spirit to leave the boy. While most thought him to be dead, Jesus
raised him up by the hand and returned him to his father.
Before I move to
my second point, I leave you with this question: Do you turn to Jesus to
conquer evil when you see its spirit possess not only innocent young people,
but also mature men and women, societies and institutions? Do you turn to him
when you find yourself powerless to rid your world and your life of gluttony,
addiction, anger, avarice and other such sins? Do you recognize him today as
the person with the power to conquer sin in your life, in your world? Have you
asked him for the power to overcome evil? Ponder that as I move to my second
point, pistis.
In Greek
mythology, Pistis was the personification of good faith, trust and reliability.
In Christianity and in the New Testament, pistis is the word for faith. Pistis’
Roman equivalent was Fides, a personified concept significant in Roman culture.
The Latin word for
faith means trust, confidence, reliance, credence or belief. In the early 14th century,
it meant assent of the mind to the truth of a statement for which there is
incomplete evidence, especially belief in religious matters. Faith is neither
the submission of reason, nor is it the acceptance, simply and absolutely upon
testimony, of what reason cannot reach. Faith is the ability to cleave to a
power of goodness appealing to our higher and real self, not to our lower and
apparent self.
Returning to our
Gospel passage, at the moment Jesus heard that his disciples were unable to
heal the boy, he exasperated, “O faithless generation, how long am I
to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
Even though they
witnessed many signs and miracles, these people lacked faith. He echoes the
words his Father spoke to Moses, “How long will this people despise
me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I
have done among them?”[4] And
while his words were aimed directly at his disciples, Jesus also included his
contemporaries and indeed all of humanity, that is, you and me, stubborn and
unbelieving in the face of God’s mercy.
At this point, his
disciples were indistinguishable from the unbelieving crowd. Recall the great
power Jesus displayed when the sea storm threatened to perish them. As soon as
he calmed the forces of nature and the danger passed, Jesus chided his
disciples for their feeble faith. “Why are you so afraid? Have you
still no faith?” Certainly, they turned to him in their moment of
terror and dismay; but they did not yet grasp who he really was: sovereign lord
over all creation. Here, in a less perilous moment, their lack of faith was a
concern for Jesus since his time was running short. The result of their lack of
faith and unbelief led to his sufferings.
I would hope that
we are more like the father than the crowd. Like us, he brought his son to
Jesus through his followers, that is, the Church, and said, “if you
can do anything, have compassion on us and help us,” to which
Jesus rhetorically retorts, “If you can!”
You see, we should
stand in the place of the father, who expressed a cautious, tentative hope that
Jesus might be able to help somehow. For there is no question that Jesus can
help. The accent here is not on what Jesus can do, but on the human capacity to
open the door to God’s mighty works through the boldness of faith. The question
is, what limiting barriers have you placed before Jesus when requesting his
assistance?
Upon hearing
Jesus’ reply, the man stretched his faith in Jesus by crying out, “I
believe; help my unbelief!”[5] The
man was humble enough to admit that he needed Jesus to reach into his heart and
transform him into a believer that bringing his son to Jesus meant that he
could heal him.
So, before I moved
from pistis to prayer, ponder this. How often do you bring people to Jesus
through prayer? Like a good doctor, do you inquire from the patient what the
root problem is? Do you bring the person to Jesus in prayer and fasting? Folks,
when you bring people to Jesus through prayer and fasting, whether or not they
are healed in body and in spirit, they experience the living presence and power
of Him in their hearts.
And now, my third
point, prayer. Our passage concludes by telling us that when Jesus entered the
house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it
out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by
anything but prayer.”[6]
To me, it makes no
sense that the disciples, already empowered with authority to cast out demons
and heal the sick, were ineffective this time. One Biblical scholar
wrote, “Jesus’ reply suggests that they must have lost sight of the
need to depend completely on God and have imperceptibly taken on an attitude of
self-reliance, as if exorcism were a mere formula. … Their ministry of healing
and deliverance will bear fruit only through a reliance on God as they bring
all the needs to the feet of Jesus in prayer. It is a lesson in humility in
preparation for their ministry in the Church.”[7]
Throughout his
life of ministry, Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray earnestly to the end.
Luke recorded that when Jesus was in the Mount of Olives, he was in agony but
prayed more earnestly. In Acts, when Peter was in prison, the church
prayed earnestly to God for him.
So, what is
prayer? Prayer is the necessary foundation of our work as church and
individuals. It is communal and personal. We pray in our sanctuaries and rooms.
To paraphrase one holy person, prayer is God looking at me, and me looking at
God. It is from the heart, but it is also vocal. We speak the Lord’s Prayer as
Jesus taught it to his disciples. Prayer also involves reading Scripture. By
now you know that my wife and I read aloud the Psalms and other Biblical
passages on a daily basis. Like you, we make time for prayer.
However, my
friends, we all take time away from prayer. This summer, many of us took time
away from work and home. We vacated our businesses and residences. We went on
vacation.
Unfortunately, for
some, vacation means time away from Word, Sacrament, public worship and private
prayer. We become spiritually lazy. Oswald Chambers once wrote, “We are
all capable of being spiritually lazy saints.” Another spiritual
leader once wrote Christians who do not pray are Christians at risk. So, let me
offer some advice to lessen your risk.[8]
There are two
aspects to our prayer life. The first one involves making our whole lives a
conversation with God. Daily, in a simple and familiar way, we should turn our
hearts and thoughts toward him often, believing that he is always looking at us
with love. Everything that is part of our lives can nourish this conversation:
beautiful things help us give him praise and thanks, difficulties help us to
ask for his aid, and even our faults help us ask him for forgiveness! Everything,
good and bad, can become an opportunity to talk to God and to draw closer to
him.
The second one
involves taking breaks to regularly spend time just with God—to disconnect
ourselves for a moment from the demands of our lives in order to be in his
presence. For example, we can start with just fifteen minutes a day, and then
periodically devote a longer amount of time. In these times, God can pour out
his grace upon us. He can bring us strength and hope, and in his presence, our
hearts can change.
To pray is not to
perform but to welcome God in our poverty, in our powerlessness. It is not
about being effective, about producing a result, but about being with God. God
does not need our works, but he thirsts for our love.
For prayer to
really make us touch God, and to allow ourselves to be touched by him, it only
needs to be faithful and persevering, a sincere act of faith and trust, and an
expression of our true desire to love.
Although prayer
does not have to lead to insight and wisdom, it sometimes does. I know God’s
enemies are active. Some are obvious and others subtle: evil powers and “good”
people promoting lifestyles contrary to the Gospel and God’s Law whether they
are the seven deadly sins compiled in Proverbs or vices in Paul’s Letter to the
Galatians. Some promote personal sins and others modern social sins
–trafficking drugs and humans, violating fundamental rights of human nature and
other sins.
As Jesus’
disciples, we must not only be aware of God’s enemies and the temptations they
sow among us, but also awaken society to them. Prayerful Christians take their
faith to the town square and the political sphere, to school and work, to
family gatherings and on vacation.
Finally, it is
important to remember that ultimately all creation is of God and in its origin
is a blessing. Sin, division, destructiveness and death are part of our lives,
and have their source in the devil. Yet, despite the sin we see in our lives
and world, we remain hopeful, knowing that we are nourished by what God gives
us: Word and Sacrament. We know that evil will ultimately be vanquished and
complete unity with God will be realized.[9]
Friends, prayer means
that you take your faith from these walls into the world. Place yourself at the
feet of Jesus, and ask Him to free you from whatever spirit possesses you and
prevents you from giving yourself totally to Him and the abundant life he
offers. Pray that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keeps your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] Did you bring your lucky charms
for the exorcism? Oh, never mind, you’re Lutheran. Posted
on November 22, 2010 by Pastor Joshua Scheer,
www.steadfastlutherans.org.
[2] Demonic Possession, The
HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Richard McBrien, ed. New York:
HarperCollins, 1995, pp. 407f.
[8] Jacques Philippe, “Prayer during
Times of Crisis,” The Word Among Us, September 2021, pp. 5ff.
[9] James A. Schmeiser, “Demons,
Demonics, Devils,” The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, Michael Downey
ed. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1993, pp. 259f.
