Our Need For a Judas – Apr. 4, 2023
“We all need someone to draw off the demonic in us. We still need someone to blame, someone on whom we can project our own fears and phantoms. How often have we hear a parent say, “that child will be the death of me!” Or one marriage partner say of another, “I should have known […]
Take Nothing for Your Journey – Aug. 10, 2022
“One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, […]
Dining with Demons
It has always seemed to me that what the Bible calls demon possession* looks a lot like mental illness. Because it runs deeply in my family, I have learned to live with cyclical depression, which periodically disorders my thinking like an inner demon that wants to drive me to ruin. After so many years, I […]
Enough to Make You Crazy
There’s deep and timely wisdom in today’s gospel account of Jesus healing the Geresene demoniac.* The key is in Jesus’ exchange with the demon itself: “What is your name?” asks Jesus. The demon answers, “Legion.” And while we may think of this word first as meaning “many”, in Jesus’ time it specifically referred to a […]
