In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. Glory
forever. We're wearing red today because today
is the feast day of the unmercenary saints, the
great healers. Who healed unmercenary means they
did not take money. No silver, it says. Most
of them were martyrs, and red is the color of
martyrdom. We have such a riches of themes to
speak of, but let us turn our attention to the
gospel, the first gospel we heard from Luke chapter
8, 26. We heard it recently, I guess it was back
in July, we heard St. Matthew's version of this
same account, and I spoke of the demons there.
and of their powerlessness over us because Christ
is risen and he has destroyed the power of death,
the power of sin, and the demons are about as
useless as a $100 bill on the table sitting there
by itself. It can't do a thing. But of course,
the demons can tempt two men to fight over it
and one kill the other. But that's the power
that's there. But I want you to imagine a scene.
From the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 32, which
I heard a teaching on the other day, and I'm
excited about it, and I want to share that with
you too. Because I learned something new that
I didn't know. There's so much. This is why I
keep reading. Deuteronomy 32 tells us this. When
the Most High, so God, the Most High God, not
an angel, not some other kind of spirit, The
Old Testament calls some of these things gods,
lowercase g. The Most High God is the one who
created heaven and earth and all things. When
the Most High God apportioned the nations, when
he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries
of the peoples according to the number of the
gods, that is, the angels. Fix that in your mind,
that every nation has an angel. But we know,
if we read the Old Testament, if we have paid
attention to the gospel we just heard, there
were many angels who fell away. And they demanded
worship as if they were God. So, listen to this
Psalm verse, Psalm 81. God stood in the congregation
of the gods, and in the midst he shall judge
them. Who is God judging here? God is standing,
he's coming to this, what should be an angelic
council, what should be kind. discerning, loving,
protective angels for the nations and for people,
but they have fallen away and they have rebelled
against God. And God is now standing in their
midst. This is what the psalm says, Psalm 81.
God stood in the congregation of the gods and
he shall judge them. And the psalm continues.
How long will you judge unrighteously? God says
to them. And accept the sinners. He says to them,
judge for the orphan and the poor man. He says,
do justice to the humble and the pauper. Rescue
the poor man and the needy. From the hand of
the evil one, deliver that person. And this is
what he then says to these fallen angels as he
stands before them. They have not known nor understood
they walk in darkness. Let the foundations of
the earth be shaken. The story we just heard
of Christ coming to this land of the gatherings
where people were tending pigs. They were pagans.
They were Roman pagans. They used pigs for their
sacrifices. This was a sacrificial meal. That
man that was possessed by a legion, five, ten,
whoever knows, of demons, said to Jesus what?
Jesus, thou son of the most high God, don't send
us into the abyss before the time. Is it the
time of judgment? They knew this verse. They
saw it coming, but they didn't know exactly what
was going to happen. Psalm 81, are you starting
to recognize this song? We sing it on Holy Saturday.
Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken.
I said, ye are gods, false gods, fallen angels,
and all of you sons of the Most High, but like
men, ye die, and like one of the rulers, do ye
fall. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou
shalt have an inheritance among all the nations.
You recognize that now. Arise, I could ask these
guys to sing it for us maybe. On Holy Saturday,
we sing this prophecy of what Christ will do.
Jesus the Savior, the true God, the light of
light. Are you come, says the legion of demons
to Christ. Are you come to punish us before the
time? That is, after God will judge. They know
that God will bring justice and truth and new
life. Do justice to the humble. Judge for the
orphan and the poor man. Rescue the pauper and
the needy. This is what Christ has done. Arise,
O God, and judge the earth. Rise up, Lord. Having
risen from the dead, then... Jesus stands in
the midst of these demons to judge them. St.
Paul tells us very clearly, for our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, other people,
but against the rulers. These entities, these
spirits, against the authorities, against the
powers of the dark world, and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Let God
arise and let his enemies be scattered, we sing
at Pascha. The enemy is not people. It's not
the opposing political party or presidential
candidate. It's not the Muslims who are killing
Christians. It's not whatever enemy you might
decide. It's these powers that inflict temptation
and evil upon God's world. It's not communists
or anarchists or sinners, those who are different.
And we were all, before our baptism, enslaved.
Through death on the cross, Jesus destroyed him
that had the power of death, says St. Paul in
Hebrews. that is, the devil, and delivered those
who all their life were subject to bondage through
fear of death. Jesus says the thief comes to
steal and to kill and to destroy. And the devil
is a thief and a liar from the beginning. But
Jesus says, I am come that you might have life
and have it. more abundantly. He is our shepherd.
He is our protector. He is our guide. He is our
enlightener. He is the one who loves us, who
knows what we need. Some things we don't want
to bring to Christ, do we? We kind of divide
them off. We don't allow him to change us, to
sanctify us. Like the people in this village
who said, go away. They were afraid of him. This
man, this possessed man, was serving as an oracle
with demonic powers speaking through him. Let's
not imagine, however, that Christ is going to
steal something from you or from me. He doesn't
look for slaves. He says, you are my friends.
If we think he wants to take something away from
us besides sin and death and evil and ultimately
suffering in the life of the age to come, then
we misunderstand. Total obedience to Christ never
leads to regrets. It leads to freedom from sin
because we confess it and we're free of that
stain. which divides us from ourself and from
God and from one another. We are free from death
because he was crucified and died and rose from
the dead, and he promises us resurrection. And
we taste it every time we go to communion. And
he promises freedom from ourself, our constant
stream of confusion, like legion. Life and more
abundantly doesn't mean... I get the nicest car,
I'm going to live forever, I'll die a peaceful
death, everything's going to be great in my life.
No, it means God's life, which we partake of
most perfectly when we receive Holy Communion.
Let me just summarize here. In terms of our core
beliefs, The beliefs that shape the way a person
reacts emotionally and how we behave? What would
it mean to believe with all one's heart and with
all one's soul and with all one's might that
Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the one who stood
in the midst of these evil beings and judged
them? What does it mean that he is one essence
with the Heavenly Father, with power over things
visible and invisible? What does it mean? To
believe that, what it means is that we look at
the world, we look at ourself, we look at our
neighbor, and the person who might consider themselves
our enemy, through the lens of Christ's compassion
and his humility and his love. One writer says
this, a quote, this would mean striving to respond
as Christ would and rejoicing with the heavenly
joy every time his grace, by his grace, every
time we can. We would walk the extra mile and
that would help us to participate in the light
of light. And being called by Christ's name would
be honor beyond all honor. bestowing not just
human dignity and worth, but divine worth upon
us as a vessel of clay. It is not I who live,
but Christ who lives in me. And the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the
Son of God who gave himself and was delivered
up for me. We would believe that our soul would
always be oriented towards Christ as the ultimate
direction of our life and none other. What is
shaping our life, he is saying here? What is
the ultimate meaning of our existence? And what
is the ultimate goal of our time in this sorrowful
world? It was created by the Son of God, and
he is saving it and rescuing it. Believing all
this would change everything about our life.
This is what it means. as I keep saying week
after week, to be Christian on purpose. To our
Lord, the destroyer of sin and death and the
evil one, be glory now and ever to ages of ages.