People that are demon-possessed
5th Sunday after Trinity Sunday/Pentecost
Romans 10:1-10; Matthew 8:28-34; 9,1
When Jesus Christ came to the demons, they cried out:
“What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29)
Jesus Christ never tormented anyone, and none of the sane people, not even ones most hostile against Jesus, such as the Pharisees and scribes, could make such completely false accusations against Jesus. But people possessed by demons, evil spirits, shouted just like that.
When the Lord freed those people from the dominion of demons over them, the people became healthy (this is more evident from the account provided by the Evangelist Luke 8:35), but the demons entered the herd of swine, and they went berserk. That herd of swine “ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.” (Matt. 8:32)
And so, whether there are evil spirits among men or among swine, they can only incite the beings they possess to folly, evil, and destruction.
In our times, a rationalistic explanation is broadly acknowledged: it is not demons that possess people, but simply mental illnesses. There are really mentally ill people, but such people are easier to recognize and isolate, as well as easier to treat.
However, there are people who are possessed by evil spirits and then use their intelligence and acquired knowledge to cleverly and ruthlessly plan crimes. A 14-year-old boy killed a 16-year-old girl who lived five miles away from him and whom he quite obviously did not know, who could never have done anything against him. Such a murder took place, not far away, in Whitby, and why it happened — no one knows.
Albert Brust, 44, building inspector, in Miami, Florida, lured young people, dishonored them, tortured and killed them in a specially equipped room in the cellar, and then cemented their bodies by chopping them into pieces. It is difficult even to describe the crimes of that man, because it was so terrible. Yet he was a qualified, educated, and competent man in his profession.
In California, a Mexican-American murdered and secretly buried 24 Mexican workers. He had an agency for hiring workers. That man lured people, killed, and did that for several years.
Why those appalling cases occur, and there are many of them in different countries, is without a clear explanation. Moreover, it is now customary to provide answers based on realistic research. Yet both believers and atheists agree that nature does not tolerate a vacuum. If good does not dwell in the soul of man, if the human body does not become a temple of the Holy Spirit, then evil will inevitably settle in him — the spirits of malice.
And possessed by the spirits of malice, people commit, can commit extremely grisly crimes. Punishment itself, imprisonment, will not help them. Their souls must be freed from the devil's rule and goodness sown in them.
Once I met our Orthodox people (who regularly only come to have their Easter paskha blessed in church). They complain about their children – they’re so-and-so... It is possible that children might not be well-behaved — one has moved far away, and is no longer in touch, and the second still maintains ties to home, but gradually (morally) is sinking to the bottom. Father and mother work, but they no longer have time for children, for the Church. Children grew up outside the Church; God for them is something distant and unreal... We have a proverb:
“As you sow, so shall you also reap.”
The Apostle Paul testifies from God:
“he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)
Today's Gospel account testifies that the Lord alone can heal those who are possessed by an evil spirit. However, let us also not forget that when we live in the Lord, the Lord is with us. So, with the Lord, let us try to heal people who are possessed by evil. But, first and foremost, let us take care that children and people close to us grow up in the knowledge and fulfillment of God's commandments, instructions, and in the fulfillment of God's will.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
