The demoniac. . .

A blog reader sent this link to me and I was put on this video by Archbishop Fulton Sheen speaking on the account of the Garasene demoniac -- an account we heard in the 3 year series just weeks ago.  Undoubtedly, we have all heard many sermons on this text as it appears in the synoptic Gospels but I found Sheen's presentation somewhat different from most of the sermons I have heard or preached on the subject.

 

What Sheen does that is to interesting to me is how he summarizes the effects of the demon upon the man and upon the world as a whole.   There are three characteristics of the demoniac:

1. Love of Nudity – For a long time this man had not worn clothes.  Here the connection is not simply to the man or his nakedness (nudity is not itself evil or wrong) but to his refusal to be modest, to act with concern for those around him.  The modern day applications here are abundant.  We live in immodest times, to be sure, when sensuality is rampant and nudity is flaunted in everything from the media to parades to comedic monologues.  Is this not evidence of the demonic and its power at work among us?
2. Violence – … though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains. The Mark account has more vivid detail: For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.  No matter what side of the gun debate you are on, only a fool would suggest that we do not live in a time of heightened violence.  From road rage to abuse to video games to media to schools, violence is so routine that it does not even capture the headlines for very long.  It is irrational violence, not out of a cause but simply to be violent.  Is this not evidence of the demonic and its power at work among us?
3. Division (split personalities, disjointed minds, contentiousness against others and society as a whole) – … many demons had gone into him. Again in Mark, the demoniac replies, My name is Legion, for we are many (Mk 5:9). Is he one or many -- there is conflict even within the man.  All of the versions say that the demoniac lived a life devoid of community -- apart from others and solitary.  We live in a world with constant division -- not simply in the realm of politics but everywhere.  From churches to Facebook, we stir up such conflict and refuse to tolerate disagreement.  We have become such a conflicted society that basic functions of the community are made even more difficult -- from governing to education to family gatherings to church.  Is this not evidence of the demonic and its power at work among us?

I am not saying that this is definitive but it is certainly an application which is both credible and timely for the conditions we find ourselves in at home, in the community and nation, and in the world.  Surely this is not simply an coincidence but the evidence of just what Sheen (and others) have suggested.  At a time when Christians seem to downplay the whole idea of the devil and demons and organized evil and hell, the world rapidly deteriorating from its moral foundations and Christian influence is less than it was.  While Christians are not perfect, Christianity has surely been a leavening agent in the world over the last two millenium.  Though some have chosen to foist violence in the name of Christianity, the reality is that the violence was not really Christian at all but a corruption.  At other times, Christian responses were singled out for condemnation while the instigators got off.  Christianity has been an agent on behalf of the unborn, the child, the wife, the woman in society, marriage, family, the plight of the poor and oppressed, and so many other positive ways so the decline of Christianity is sure to allow the rise of much of what Christianity countered.  Surely the devil knows this better than we do.