People Are Being Healed, and Demons Are Being Cast Out

Brad Sullivan

St. Mark’s, Bay City

July 3, 2016

Proper 9, Year C

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

“People Are Being Healed, and Demons Are Being Cast Out”

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."  These seem curious words to me, curious words for Jesus to leave with his disciples.  He had sent them out to prepare the way for his coming into cities and towns.  Seventy of his disciples, sent two by two, to stay with people, cure the sick, and to let them know that the kingdom of God had come near to them. 

Then, the disciples returned, overjoyed that they were able to cast out demons in Jesus’ name, and who wouldn’t be.  That was pretty awesome work they were doing.  To cast out a demon meant you had some pretty strong Spirit of God working through you, which might boost one’s feelings of importance, not to mention that you’d just been a major help to someone desperately in need.  So, I can guess there might have been some ego inflation going on and Jesus reminding them what was truly important.  He was coming.  Jesus was coming, and the kingdom of God would come not just near, but be fully among them once he arrived.  Jesus’ presence, Jesus’ healing and grace was why they should be rejoicing, and they got to have a part in bringing Jesus’ healing and grace to others.

Boy do we need Jesus’ grace, healing, and love nowadays.  Truth be told, we always do and always have, but there are times when that need is more apparent.  Folks are worried, wondering, and divided over Brexit.  Folks are worried, wondering, and divided over our upcoming presidential election, not to mention being worried and wondering over domestic and international terrorism, mass shootings, economic uncertainty, to name just a few, and people are divided over what to do about all of it. 

We’ve got demons in our world, don’t we?  Fear, anger, and hatred begetting ever more fear, anger, and hatred.  We fear the problems in the world which lead us to anger and hatred, and then that leads to more fear on the part of others and even more anger and hatred.  In the midst of all of this, Jesus reminds us, “I watched Satan fall from Heaven like a flash of lightning.”  Jesus has seen the great enemy fall and be completely conquered, and that fall didn’t occur through fear, anger, and hatred, nor through worry, wonder, and division.  Satan’s fall came through Jesus loving so completely, that he trusted God, put his life into humanity’s hands, allowing us to kill him, so that through his death, life, resurrection, restoration of all creation would come.  Hatred, anger, and rear did not cast down Satan.  Jesus’ love cast down Satan. 

As it is written in Proverbs 10:12 - Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.  The love of Jesus on the cross covers all offenses.  In the end, the resurrection of Jesus will make all things new, and all of the bad and evil that has been done throughout creation will be redeemed, transformed in the resurrection, and seen and understood forever as the good that was intended.

And in the meantime…?  The restoration of all creation has not happened fully yet, but Jesus’ church is here now to prepare the way.  As Jesus sent the 70 to prepare towns and villages for Jesus; coming, the church is here to let people know of Jesus’ resurrection and the restoration of all creation, and the church is here to heal and cast out demons.  We may think that we don’t see anything so dramatic as healing and casting out demons, but it is happening everyday in the church. 

In this world, our beliefs and our notions of being right divide us so that love that we might feel is often left lying on the side of the road, discarded by our rightness and our perceived righteousness. 

Then we see two men in the church, so deeply divided over the issue of homosexuality that even the words they use to describe their beliefs are abhorrent to each other.  They sit down to talk and listen to each other, continue to disagree, but also understand that they are both seeking what is right and good in Jesus.  They embrace, and leave as brothers who love each other.  People are being healed and demons are being cast out. 

Many people in our world and even in our city are left alone and isolated, not really belonging.  They turn to the places where they think they have found belonging, being lured into drugs, prostitution, murder, enslaved by those whom they thought loved them.

           

Then we see a few people who don’t quite fit in.  Some are new to the community, others desire something more than to wallow in the poor hand they’ve been dealt.  They find embrace in the church, a community that truly loves and welcomes them with no strings attached.  They are taken under the wings of a couple of particularly caring people who shepherd them further into this community built upon the grace and love of Jesus.  They find love, acceptance, belonging, a home.  People are being healed and demons are being cast out.

A man has skin cancer, but he has no insurance.  He knows, rightly or wrongly, that the systems intended to help people who fall through the cracks are broken, and there is no way he can get the seemingly simple operation he needs.

Then he asks help from the church where he eats breakfast every Friday.  He finds someone willing to help shepherd him through the process, be his advocate, pray with him, even help with some of the initial financial costs.  With the church’s help and guidance, he gets through the seemingly broken system and has the surgery.  People are being healed and demons are being cast out.

A long-standing family feud continues to bubble just beneath the surface.  The dance of avoidance and well-practiced politeness begins to grow tired, and then a misstep.  The dancers fall, the walls of politeness crumble, and the anger and resentments boil over, burning all involved.

Some in the family are reminded of the love and forgiveness of Jesus.  They remember that we are all broken and only break each other out of our own brokenness.  They hear the words of Jesus on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  Compassion begins to form.  Tears are shed not only for the self but also for the other.  A first apology is made, not the practiced dance of avoidance and politeness, but the initial faltering steps of descent towards the grace of Jesus and the long road toward to the new dance of reconciliation.  People are being healed and demons are being cast out.

Each of these vignettes are stories of St. Mark’s.  They could also be stories of churches around the world where the presence of Jesus casts out demons and brings healing.  The presence of Jesus among us and within us is what makes us the church.  Like the seventy who were sent by Jesus to minister to people and to bring news of the Kingdom of God through Jesus, we too are commissioned by Jesus to cast out demons and to heal each other.  We’ve been commissioned by Jesus to take his presence with us wherever we go.  We’ve been commissioned by Jesus to bring our faith in him wherever we go, and we’ve been commissioned to talk with others about our faith, to talk with others about Jesus and his kingdom of peace, healing, and love. 

That is the kingdom that will come fully one day, not through any effort of ours, but purely through Jesus.  In the mean time, like the seventy whom Jesus sent, we’ve been sent on ahead to live and share his kingdom, to bring healing to division, to bring faith to fear, to bring peace and reconciliation to anger, and to bring love to hatred.  We’ve been sent on ahead to bring Jesus with us, and to rejoice, in him, in his love, his peace, his faith, and his healing in this world which so needs it.  Rejoice, for the kingdom of heaven has come near, and it is present with us amidst all the toils and dangers of this world, for in all of it, Jesus is here.  Amen.