More Than Our Demons

The story of the man possessed by the demon Legion is so strange that there is a temptation to avoid it because we assume it does not apply to us.  Let us instead inject ourselves into this story and see what truths it reveals about who we are.  Here is the story to refresh your memory.

Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,

to the territory of the Gerasenes.

When he got out of the boat,

at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.

The man had been dwelling among the tombs,

and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.

In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,

but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,

and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides

he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,

he ran up and prostrated himself before him,

crying out in a loud voice,

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”

(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)

He asked him, “What is your name?”

He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”

And he pleaded earnestly with him

not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.

And they pleaded with him,

“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”

And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.

The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,

where they were drowned.

The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town

and throughout the countryside.

And people came out to see what had happened.

As they approached Jesus,

they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,

sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

And they were seized with fear.

Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened

to the possessed man and to the swine.

Then they began to beg him to leave their district.

As he was getting into the boat,

the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.

But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,

“Go home to your family and announce to them 

all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis

what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

We all possess and are oppressed by many demons. Those that we possess are vices that we have welcomed but those that oppress us we did not choose. 

This man, possessed and oppressed by Legion, is living among tombs, among the dead. Our souls too are surrounded by death when we let our demons run our lives. The things we watch on TV, the gossip we share, the way we spend our time on the internet, our activities on the weekend, and the resentment we hold are often lifeless company that we surround ourselves with.  These are activities of death. 

The man in this story could not be held by any chains or shackles and either can we.  Have you ever had someone try to change you?  Have you ever tried to change someone else?  Even someone that is hurting themselves (like this man was)?  It doesn’t work.  External circumstances and restrictions cannot change the heart of a person.  Anyone that has experience with addicts or addiction knows this is true.  Change can happen but it must be an interior journey that one chooses to travel.

Like this man we see Jesus in the distance but we must still choose to "run to Him."  Our demons however, cling to us.  They don't want to leave, like Legion, begging not to be tormented or sent away.  Our bad habits hang on to us. We try to live differently but they pull us back in. So we must put them into the swine.  What does that mean?  Swine represented one thing for Jews, they were unclean.  The first step in getting passed something evil is naming it evil, something that is unclean and undesirable.  We must to truly and deeply desire freedom from what is unholy.  As long as deep down we want our demons they will never leave.  We must run them off the cliff and drown them but that takes some energy.  We have to get some of the pigs into the sea by talking out our issues with trustworthy people.  We have to admit out loud, maybe in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the demons that we hold.  After we get those out they drowned and we feel more free. Maybe we have to write out our demons, journaling about our struggles and writing how we want to improve.  We must pray out our demons. Entering prayer like the battlefield that it is. Taking those demons head on and saying to Jesus, these are unclean, please purify me of them, run them out of me.  We get out our demons also by inviting into ourselves what they hate most, Jesus.  We must receive the Eucharist, which transforms us by removing our demons and replacing them with Jesus, Himself. 

Only after this man is freed from his demons is he ready to preach the Good News of Christianity.  How effective of an evangelist would this demon possessed man have been?  We must be freed first by Jesus, so that we can share the great things that God has done for us and wants to do for others. 

Lastly, we must realize that we reduce others and ourselves to the demons that we have and that is not fair.  The people of this town defined this man by his demons.  We never learn his name, did you notice that?  He is ALWAYS referred to as the man possessed, even after his freedom he is called “the man who had been possessed.”  We must never do this.  It is not right to define someone by their baggage, sexual past, weaknesses, addictions, pride, insecurity, or any other demon. Each person is created as good, sacred, and beautiful. It is the Devil that wants us to settle for the convenient answer of saying "Oh no, that brokenness is all they have, that is who they are."  Or “I’ll never be truly forgiven or freed of my demons.”  Those are lies.  Jesus gives this man the responsibility of sharing what God has done for him.  In that preaching this man takes back his identity.  Saying to his family and community, “Look what God has done for me.  I am not what it seemed that I had become.  I am myself, not simple a collection of my poor choices or bad circumstances.  I was a prisoner but now I am free.”  What a blessing to be able to proclaim with confidence who we are and the great things God has done for us.