(Matthew 8:28-9:1)

In the Gospel reading for today we hear the account of the Lord’s coming into the country of the Gergesenes and His encounter with the two men possessed by devils. These men lived among the tombs and, as the Gospel puts it, they were ‘exceedingly fierce’ such that no-one could pass by that way. The demons inhabiting these poor souls knew our Lord immediately and cried out to Him ‘what have we to do with Thee, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come here to torment us?’ The demons knew Who they were dealing with and they knew they had no power over such a One as Jesus. So they beseeched Him, asking if He were to cast them out of these men, could they be allowed to enter into the herd of swine. With one word, ‘Go’, our Lord commanded it and the demons left the men and entered the swine and the entire herd of swine went mad and ran violently off the cliffs and into the sea where they drowned. When the people of this region heard of these miraculous acts, they begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

The first things which I would like to emphasize for us are the reality of the presence of demonic evil and the absolute authority and power our Lord has over these evil beings. In our modern world, where there is such a lack of belief or where our belief is so weak – it is not popular to talk about anything being evil or demonic. One of the greatest triumphs of the evil one in modern times is his success in erasing from modern minds the awareness that he even exists. How can you fight against something you don’t even know or believe is there?

Well the fact of the matter is: the Gospels, the lives of saints, a review of the history and deeds of mankind,… indeed, even the front pages of the newspaper, and an honest accounting of the details of one’s own life make it clear that evil does exist. The demons are triumphant in getting us to divert our attention away from them as the instigators of evil and instead we look in suspicion upon each other and make demons out our brothers and sisters, whom God created in His image and whom we are called to love.

Evil does exist and we are called to resist it. As soon as our Lord set foot upon the area inhabited by the possessed men, the demons began to moan and cry out to Him to leave them alone. Evil knows the authority of God and attempts to seduce us into thinking that we are hopeless victims in its snare and that there is no way out. This is a lie from the father of lies! Our Lord smashed the head of the serpent by His triumphant death and resurrection and evil no longer has the upper hand and stranglehold on mankind – unless we, in our weakness of faith, allow it to do so. This triumphant power of good comes from nowhere else but from our Lord Jesus Christ and we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him to live within the protection and joy of His mercy.

The Gospel goes on to tell us a very interesting thing… the reaction of the townspeople to the healing of the men who had been possessed and to the loss of their herd of swine. The people begged Jesus to go, to depart and leave them alone…

Though it was against the observances of their faith, raising and selling swine was incredibly lucrative… bringing in a healthy income to these people. While we might have expected that the townspeople would have exalted Jesus Christ as a hero for freeing them from the torments of the demons, instead they were upset that He had interfered in their affairs, their worldly ambitions and disobediences… and they told Jesus to ‘go away’ from them, to depart from their coasts.

Oh my brothers and sisters in Christ, do we react the same way when the Lord comes to us? Do we cry out to Him to save us from the assaults of the demons, but when He comes and our conscience stirs and rebukes us for our many disobediences to God, for our selfish pursuits… do we dare to say to our God, ‘Go away… depart from me’? Sadly, it is all too often the case that we want God near, but maybe not too near in our lives.

Fr Seraphim Rose of blessed memory, upon encountering the revelation of God as a Person, said: ‘The problem of realizing that God is a Person, is that He might demand something of you.’

As long as God remains simply a pious concept in our lives, as long as our Christianity is merely a spiritual adornment to inspire us toward being a better person, as long as God is simply our co-pilot and we retain control of the wheel… in all these things we keep God at a controlled distance in our lives. When we have need of Him, we call upon Him, but for the rest of the time, we might as well be saying ‘Go away… depart from me.’

And God, in His love, will stand back… If we insist on our own way, He will allow it. Love cannot be forced… it is patient and kind and endures all things – even crucifixion for a world that looks the other way…

Dear brothers and sisters, Christ stands patiently knocking on the door of our heart… awaiting our move to open the door. If we invite Him in – each day, each hour, each moment… He will disrupt our lives, He will challenge us, we will be invited to join Christ in His sufferings, taking up our cross… But we shall also be with Christ in His victorious transfiguration and resurrection. And this, my dear Christians, is what life, a life of abundant grace and joy, is all about!

Let us not be afraid to draw Christ near to our hearts… may our hearts become ignited with the flame of God’s grace. May we never utter in our selfishness ‘Go away Lord, depart from me.’ But may we instead cry out ‘Come near to me Lord Jesus, never leave me! I am yours!’