A Concord Pastor Comments: To be free of my own demons...

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Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Scriptures for today's liturgy)

Audio for homily

I’m not asking for a show of hands here,
but I’m wondering if anyone here
is possessed by an unclean spirit…

The notion of “unclean spirits” might put us off
from this gospel’s message and if it does, that’s regrettable
because there’s something of value for us here that we shouldn’t miss.

We might not often hear anyone speak of having an unclean spirit
but we do talk about struggling with own demons:
not little devils, not demonic possession, but rather
those habits, those inclinations, those anxieties
that take hold of our better selves,
shape our behavior and choices in unhealthy ways,
and trap us in patterns of living we’d love to be free from.

• I’m speaking of the habits that keep me less a person
than the person I know God made and calls me to be.

• I’m speaking of those inclinations that lead me off the path,
off the road I know God maps out for me as a priest,
or for you in your own way of life.

• I’m speaking of those anxieties
that can imprison me in worry and fear,
robbing me of the richness of life God wants for me.

• I know my demons when I see what dulls my spirit
and leads me to make unhealthy and unproductive choices,
contrary to my own good.

• When I see the contrast between the life my heart truly longs for
and the lesser life I so easily settle for,
I can see the influence of the spirits
that keep me from the happiness I desire.

Our demons go by many names:
fear, envy, anxiety, pride, porn, greed, alcohol, selfishness,
the past, work, lust, power, infidelity, food, prestige, laziness…

And the most subtle demon of all,
is the one who tempts me to think, to believe, "I have no demons!"

Most of all, my demons keep me from knowing God
and from knowing my true self,
the good person God made me to be.

And that’s how my demons are the source of my anxiety.

I am made in God’s image, created to know God who made me,
and to be grateful for the person God made me to be.

My demons frustrate the relationship I’m meant to have with God
and the relationship I’m meant to have with myself
-- and that frustration leads to anxiety.

It’s just what St. Paul is getting at in his letter this morning.
Paul writes that he wants us to be “free from our anxieties”
precisely because they distract us from and interfere with
our intimacy with God - and with others.

The Lord wants to free us from our anxieties and fears,
wants to free us from anything that keeps us from him,
and from our true selves.

In the first scripture this morning the people of Israel asked God
to give them a prophet to speak the Lord’s Word to them.

We have just such a prophet in Jesus
who enters our temple this morning
as surely as he entered the synagogue in Capernaum.
And just as Jesus met the man with an unclean spirit there,
so he meets us here with our demons:
spirits from whom the Lord wants to set us free.

But often, we’re afraid and slow to let go of our demons,
so accustomed to their presence have we become.
They're often difficult to dismiss
because we’ve become dependent upon them,
so deeply have they shaped our lives.

The good news is that Jesus desires to free us
from any spirit, any worry, any fear
that keep us from God.

It might take great trust on our part
but the Lord never ceases to hold out his hand,
inviting us to take it and leave our demons behind.

To the Lord belongs the Spirit who belongs in our hearts:
the Spirit whose desire for us is always pure,
always good, always healthy;
the Spirit who waits and wants to shape our lives
so that we might know God and God’s love for us,
that we might know our true selves,
the persons we are, persons beloved by the Lord.

Even while we struggle with this,
and many of us are struggling with this, this morning,
Jesus, the prophet who gave his life for us
to make good his Word that he loves us,
Jesus invites us to the heart of the temple, to the altar,
to share in the sacrifice he offered on the Cross,
that we might have his joy and have it to the full.

Come to the Lord’s Table and share in the Body and Blood
of him who reaches out his hand to each of us,
inviting us to be one with him
and to be free of anything
that keeps us from tasting and drinking in
the love of God for us.