THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
(Oculi)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Eph. 5:14: “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Luke 11:24b-26: “[The unclean spirit] says, ‘I will turn back to my house from which I came out.’ When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there.”
Reflection
Last week, a guest preacher at my church turned our attention to the story of Kelly Gissendaner, the only woman on Georgia’s death row. She was scheduled to be executed last Monday, having been convicted for conspiracy to murder her husband, though complications have postponed the execution. The preacher used the opportunity of Kelly’s then-imminent death to criticize the death penalty, citing that the United States is the only modern, industrialized nation that still actively practices such government-backed ritual killings.
To be honest, I probably could’ve done without such a politically-charged and, at times, one-sided discourse. My own position on the death penalty attempts to walk the fine line between faith in an executed leader who preached ongoing forgiveness, and a desire not to infringe my beliefs upon the state, when I don’t want the state to return the favor. And yet it made me reflect on the eternal question of evil—because I can’t look at the world through rose-colored glasses. Evil really does exist. We rarely talk about that. Well-intentioned, most of us prefer to think that everyone, with the right psychological, spiritual, even medical rehabilitation, is capable of embracing goodness, love, and empathy. But what I hear on the nightly news makes me doubt that.
In ancient times, people attributed forces of evil to supernatural beings we now know as “demons”. Originally, though, “demon” was more of a neutral word, not necessarily connoting evil, closer in meaning perhaps to a “rogue spirit”. An example of a “good demon” in antiquity is the “Agathos Daimon” or “Noble Spirit”, honored in Ancient Greece on the second day of lunar months. He figures again in Hellenistic Astrology, lending his name to the advantageous 11th house of friendships and connections. (The 12th house, conversely, belongs to the “Wicked Spirit”.) Additionally, the goal of every Stoic follower was to attain “eudaimonia”, literally, “good-spiritedness”.
However, the New Testament records the darker, more destructive side of the concept. And if you’re thinking you’ve recently been encountering the word “demon” more frequently, that’s not a coincidence. The Gospel readings for the past three Sundays in Lent have all featured a demon: Jesus’ temptation by Satan, the demon-possessed daughter of the Canaanite woman; and today’s lengthy passage begins with the casting out of a mute demon, and ends with an eerie description of a demon’s modus operandi—after being cast out, it may return with “seven other spirits more evil than himself”. (Side note: keep an eye out for these “seven spirits”; they actually will return in the Trinity Season.)
So what does this all mean?
Lent calls us to meditate on the sufferings of One who did not sin, so that we, who often fall into sin, may reflect on where we may have gone off track. It’s a kind of “internal inventory”, as I’ve come to call it this year. But we can’t do that fully and meaningfully without confronting things we’d rather not admit—without facing our own inner demons. Whether these are actual discarnate unclean spirits or not doesn’t matter much when we’ve all got something to come clean about. Fortunately for most of us, our faults are not so great as to merit a death sentence (though, I suppose, a more traditional standpoint may argue otherwise), but they might not be any less destructive to our selves. The promise of Lent, however, is that there is light at the end of the tunnel—the light of Easter, when we will again arise from the dead, to meet the light of Christ shining on us.
Prayer of the Day
We pray you, almighty God,
look upon the innermost desires of your humble servants,
and stretch forth the right hand of your majesty,
to be our defense against all our enemies;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent, adapted from the Book of Common Prayer, 1652
(Words: Claudia Frances Hernaman, 1838-1898; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘St. Flavian’, Day’s Psalter, 1562; adapted and harmonized by Richard Redhead, 1820-1901)
Lord, you throughout these forty days
For us did fast and pray;
Teach us with you to mourn our sins,
And close by you to stay.
As you with Satan did contend,
And did the vict’ry win,
O give us strength in you to fight,
In you to conquer sin.
As you bore hunger, pain, and thirst,
So teach us, gracious Lord,
To die to self, and chiefly live
By your most holy word.
Throughout these days of penitence,
And through your Passiontide,
Yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus, with us abide!
Abide with us so that, this life
Of suffering overpast,
An Easter of unending joy
We may attain at last.
No comments:
Post a Comment