Transcript
Question: Do you ever yearn to be in your right mind?
We all go through times of anxiety; or doubts; voices in our heads telling us the worst.
The story we just heard has some powerful news for us.
Luke 8, verse 35. “They found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”
There are a few passages in Holy Scripture which just about bring me to tears. This is one of them. “They found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”
This is story of the Gerasene Demoniac. He was a demon-possessed man; and Jesus healed him. Of course he’s called the Gerasene Demoniac because he’s from country of the Gerasenes; and demoniac because he had, not one, but many demons.
There’ so much you could say about this man, but let’s start with this: everything about his life had been wrong. He had no home. He had no clothes. He had no dignity. He had no community. All of the things which help keep us… right… those were all stripped away for him. Jesus shows up. He meets him on the shore. And he casts out the demons to restore the man.
Of course, everyone always wonders about the pigs. I’m not going to focus on the pigs. It seems to be saying that something unclean must go into something unclean, to be destroyed.
But look toward the end. “They found the man… sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”
My father, who died some years ago, he devoted his entire career to mental health. He worked with people who had mental disabilities; helped them with work, with housing. He helped give them dignity. He loved helping these “folks” as he called them, even when they were not in their right minds.
Now let’s be careful here. Mental illness is not the same as demon possession. Or vice versa. These are two very different things. The Bible knows that. Jesus knew that. So let’s not make that mistake of saying oh yeah what they thought was demon possession was what we know today as mental illness. No.
But hopes are hopes. And one of the things that many of us hope for—whether for ourselves or for those we love— is to find ourselves in our right minds.
How do you ask God for help in coming to your right mind? I have three ideas for you.
Prayer in the Long Game
Colossians 4. 2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
If you are not praying every day, this is a great time to start. The reason you continue in prayer, every day, is because then, when you don’t know what to do, you still know what to do.
… Today I’m going to pray and read my Bible.
Well you say, “Fr. Matthew I’ve never been good at prayer—it’s not my thing.” Yeah, I get it: pray anyway.
Well, you say, I always get distracted. Yeah, me too. Pray anyway.
Story of going into a church with a lift.
Own your journey
Jeremiah 29. 11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
The plans I have for YOU.
Jump rope.
Now let me be clear for a second. Part of your journey has been bad things. Things that weren’t your fault. Tragedy or loss or unfairness or abuse. I don’t mean to underplay that—not for a second. And part of your journey has been mistakes. Sins. Failures. Regrets.
When it comes to the mistakes: you repent. Confess. Make amends. Ask God to change your heart. You will be forgiven you through the blood of Jesus Christ, and he will renew your mind.
When it comes to the tragedy: the unexplained suffering, there’s no easy answer. You are allowed to say, I wish with my whole being that this had not happened to me. And, but, you cling to Jesus. For he too has suffered, and in a way he suffers with you. He loves you. And he still needs you to build his kingdom.
Let Jesus in the tombs
Verse 27 “As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.”
Did you catch it?
Ok, he meets Jesus on the shore. But the verse says that he lived in the tombs. Not a house. But the tombs.
This might be the key to the entire passage.
See, in he Biblical imagination, a tomb is a place of decay and lifelessness. Whereas a house is a place of growth and vitality.
In the Biblical imagination, you don’t want to be in a tomb – that’s the realm of the dead. You want to be in a house
Psalm 27. 4 "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life."
Here’s the problem, because this is a broken world, and because of in, we all, in a sense, are living among the tombs.
But Jesus, is not satisfied with that situation. So he himself, went to the tomb, to rescue us. Jesus Christ was crucified. He died on the cross. He was buried. He went, spiritually and physically, to the realm of the dead. He went to the tomb.
Why?
So that you could be brought into the house of the Lord.
He took the tomb, so that you could be brought home. To Father, and the father’s house.
Colossians 1. 13. "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son."
What are the tombs in your life? What are the tombs in your life? Jesus knows all about them.
If you yearn to be in your right mind. You gotta let Jesus into your tombs.
You say, Fr. Matthew, I will never get over what happened. No, you won’t – not totally. But he can still make you new. He loves you that much. Jesus will bind up your wounds. And take you to the inn – the house of the Lord. He brings new life, even out of death.
If you trust him. If you let him. If you meet him.
And by the way, you’re doing it right now just be being here, so give yourself some credit.
Pray in the long game.
Own your journey.
Let Jesus into your tombs.
And I pray that one day you will look up, and find yourself, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Clothed (in righteousness) and in your right mind.
Thanks be to God, Amen.
