Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. (Luke 4:35)
They are so visual, those words from Luke 4 about Jesus casting out the unclean demon. We can see Jesus issuing the command, and the demon discarding like so much garbage what had been his host body, then departing.
But perhaps the most important part of the verse comes at the end: All this happened with no harm to the man.
Why? Because God was with him all the time.
Who knows what evil the demon had wrought while he was in the man. Mental anguish and disturbance? Violence? Words that cut deep into those around him? Surely, there was work yet to be done, whether it was internal or external healing and penance. But the demon could not destroy the man’s very essence, his spirit.
Think about the person you know personally or feel you know through our celebrity-of-the-second culture whom you find most difficult to love. In fact, you may struggle not to actively hate this person. Perhaps you find it easier to consider that she or he may be inhabited by an unclean demon. But can you summon up the faith to believe that the Spirit of God still resides in that host body, that at the core, the person is ripe for redemption and in need of your love if not your acceptance? Give it a try, even for an hour. If her or his demon doesn’t come out, perhaps yours will.
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