Continuing with the story of Jesus and the demon-possessed man from yesterday…as with all such elements of scripture we must ask, what is the real lesson of this story?
When we see ourselves clearly we realize that it takes more than our own efforts to reverse the presence of evil in our lives. The man in the story had fought his demons with all of his own strength. He once was a man with a home, a family, and a community. All was gone, and his life was drowning in a sea of hopelessness.
That man’s story is not unique. How many of us have had a person in our lives who was lost to drugs, alienated from family, dropped out of life? Nothing family or anyone else did helped. Then that person (perhaps it was you) came to the Lord, discovering that the power of Jesus is the power to make people whole, and his life was cleaned up, his personality restored, and his future made bright.
I’ve seen many such examples. Patsy G. showed up at our church in California on a Sunday morning and we were afraid of her. Patsy was married to a man who beat her regularly and took it as his husbandly duty to ruin and deface every area of her life. Patsy’s only daughter grew up with hate in her heart and lived as wildly as she possibly could. Finally, one dark night, that daughter was cruelly murdered, leaving Patsy to continue raising a damaged, out-of-control son, who soon was imprisoned as a sexual predator.
Patsy’s life was demon-possessed.
When Patsy showed up at our 8:00 a.m. service that Sunday her eyes were burning with rage. Her language was coarse and violent. She was physically dangerous and she wanted to get back at God for the wretched life she had. But she came to a worship service because she had had a moment of clarity, saw herself clearly, and became desperate for anything that might even slow down her downward plunging life. She walked into that service and her life was changed forever. Her creator threw the evil out of her life and replaced it with healing. We baptized Patsy and she wept because she felt so good and hopeful. She was the first of a growing number of broken people who came to us, hoping to find another chance.
I could spend page after page telling the stories of my friends, who, like me, were saved from a life of evil so that they might live again. They were not saved by anything or anyone but Jesus. Many churches today are preoccupied with putting on a nice weekly worship service, raising enough in offerings to continue, and drawing enough people to feel successful. But that is not what the world, this world that belongs to God but is so broken and damaged by evil, longs for. Here is what it needs to hear:
“Welcome to the church of another chance. All of us are wrestling with our own sinfulness or the sinfulness of others. For many of us it is very difficult, and we court failure as well as success. So welcome to the fellowship of another chance. Welcome especially if you are lonely, or full of anger or hatred, or bitter, or wrestling with shame, or addiction, or chronic failure. Welcome all. Here we will speak the truth of the answer to our need for life. Here we will tell the story of a creator who restores his fallen creation and loves it into his heaven.”
Part III tomorrow.
Prayer: “Father of Life, how you must grieve as you watch us court evil, then be overcome by it. How you must ache when we turn from you and walk away into this culture of violence, lust, and untruth. But you never move. You do not depart from us. You remain our Father, eager for our return, ready for our restoration. How great and compassionate you are. How firm is your love. Help us to find that love and to set aside all other competing loves. In Jesus’ name, amen.”