Unclean Spirits

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 

Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name.  There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine.  Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside.  (Mark 5:1-20)

We all have unclean spirits within us: greed, anger, hate, envy, to name just a few of those tomb-dwelling spirits, the dark tombs of our hearts.  If only we could exorcize those spirits.   Perhaps one way is to visualize them leaving us to enter swine (apologies to pigs) to rush in great numbers over steep banks into the sea where they drown.   If we don’t drown those unclean spirits, they will drown us.  Or, they will keep us restrained in shackles and chains and bruised with stones we yield ourselves.

Jesus said, “Unclean spirits, come out of that man (woman)!”  We must say the same to the uncleanliness we all harbor within our hearts.

Deacon David Pierce