Demonic Oppression, Deliverance, Liberation and Spiritual Transformation

Demonic Oppression, Deliverance, Liberation and Spiritual Transformation

A Summary of my Sermon
By Fr. Aidan Hix, O.S.C.
St. David’s Anglican Church
Fairfax, CA
Sunday, 2-13-2011
6th Sunday after Epiphany

Lessons:
Ecclesiacticus 15.11-20;
Ps. 119.1-16 or 9-16; 1 Cor. 3.1-9;
Matt 5. 21-37

SETTING THE STAGE

In light of the new movie, “The Rite” starring Anthony Hopkins, (based on the book “The Rite- The Making of a Modern Exorcist” by Matt Baglio), portraying the subject of personified evil and demon possession, I was rather surprised to discover such a connection with The Lord’s Sermon on The Mount. The Sermon on the Mount, especially the beginning passages know as the Beatitudes, are even lauded as beautiful prose and wisdom sayings by people of many different faiths.

However, as I simply sat with this Sermon during my times of meditation over the past few weeks, I started re-reading the context by going back to the passages of scripture just prior to Jesus sitting down on the hill and beginning to teach. Beginning with Matthew 4.12-5.3, the story reads as follows:

“12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali-- 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. 5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying…”

It was in the context of Christ’s ministry of Teaching on the Kingdom of God, Healing the afflicted and Delivering people from the bondage of Demon Possession, that He sat down and began to teach them High Principles of Spiritual Liberation and Transformation. In the Gospel of Luke 4.15-21, Christ specifically identifies himself with this ministry:

15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them,"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

All we have to do to awaken to the reality of Evil, is to watch a movie like The Rite or watch the evening News. History is full of personified evil. Think of Nero, Diocletian, Hitler.

We seem to have a better grasp of the heaviness of evil than we do the power of Christ’s message of Spiritual Liberation and Transformation; and that is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about! What Christ was pointing to was not mere moral platitudes but experiencing the life changing experience of the Spirit, an Inner Renewal and Awakening, a call to the restoration of the pre-lapsarian state of Man. As Paul puts it, ““Thus it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”-1 Corinthians 15:45; and in Romans 5:12-21:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification* leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.“

Below are just a few of the headlines and outline of my sermon from Sunday.

I. There are several different dimensions of Impartation & Revelation in Christ’s Teaching, from the moral requirements of the Law to Hidden shades of meaning He imparts only to His Disciple’s.

A. He reminds them to follow the tenets and morals of the Law.
• 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

• You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times…

B. He taught in Parables to the Crowds; but He instructed his Disciples in the Secrets of the Spiritual Life

• “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables”; or
• “With many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake He not unto them; and when they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples”
• [please note the emphasis on "when they were alone" or "them that are without."]);
• Jesus tells His apostles: “I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now;”

C. These dimensions of revelation and impartation of the Mysteries of the Faith are mentioned by St. Paul.

• “I came to you bearing the divine testimony, not alluring you with human wisdom but with the power of the Spirit. Truly ‘we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,’ but it is no human wisdom. ‘We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world’ began, and which none even of the princes of this world know. The things of that wisdom are beyond men’s thinking, ‘but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit … the deep things of God,’ ‘which the Holy Ghost teacheth.’ These are spiritual things, to be discerned only by the spiritual man, in whom is the mind of Christ. ‘And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ…. Ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal.’

• Carnal Man (of the body/flesh)- one governed by the urges & aversions of the body
• Natural Man (of the soul/psychikos)-natural human qualities- governed by emotions & intellect
• Spiritual Man (pneumatikos)- one governed and transformed by the Holy Spirit (the Saints).

D. These dimensions of revelation and impartation of the Mysteries of the Faith are mentioned by the Early Church Fathers.

• St Clement of Alexandria. One quote from Clement in his Stromata, says,

“”The Lord … allowed us to communicate of those divine Mysteries, and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. And if one say that it is written, ‘There is nothing secret which shall not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed,’ let him also hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall be manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is veiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden to the many shall appear manifest to the few…. The Mysteries are delivered mystically, that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in his voice, but in his understanding…. The writing of these memoranda of mine, I well know, is weak when compared with that spirit, full of grace, which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an image to recall the archetype to him who was struck with the Thyrsus.”

II. So, What’s the Point?

A. The Law teaches us the basic principles, values and morals of the Faith (summed up in the 10 Commandments):

B. The Prophets teach us about the Inner or higher spirit of the Law

C. Christ reveals the highest dimensions of the Law & principles of transformation.
• 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them….
• 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
• Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times….
• But I say to you…..

Matthew 5:21-24,27-30,33-37
Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and `whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
"You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be `Yes, Yes' or `No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

D. Some of the higher principles:
• He requires us to put aside Anger
• To take the initiative in Reconciliation
• Make Friends with your accuser
• He requires us to have control not only over outer things of the Law but over the Inner workings of the heart, like Lust and Sexual Desire
• To take extreme actions (removing the offending member)-Spiritual Disciplines & Following a spiritual practice and awareness of Divine Presence

III. How?
• It requires a change of Consciousness
• The Kingdom is near (at hand)
• The Kingdom is within Us
• He came to mirror for us who we really are in God.

We need to awaken to the reality of the spiritual life and transformation Christ calls us to. He did not come to merely Redeemer/Savior (because of this doctrine we tend to put off until the hope of heaven in the hereafter our personal responsibility of living a trasnformed life in the here and now) but he also came as Life Giver- to give us life now and to mirror for us who we are as the Imagio Dei (Image of God).

A Mystical Awakening, A Spiritual Indwelling, A Transformed Being, A Spiritual Community.

CONCLUSION.

(T.S. Eliot, The Little Giddings, 4th Quartet)

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.