In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.

There's this saying that we all are familiar with: "The devil made me do this." And all of us, I'm sure, are familiar with that moment when you feel yourself driven towards some evil, some wrong. You know you shouldn't say it, but you say it anyway. You know you shouldn't renew this resentment, but you do it anyway. You know you shouldn't take that next drink, but you do it anyway. What can you do? The devil made me do it. It's rather liberating, honestly, to have this sense of irresponsibility, powerlessness. There's nothing I can do about it. The devil's so powerful, who am I?

And in the gospel that we've just heard, we see demons very visibly, powerfully acting, tormenting these two helpless men. And it shows us how the powers of darkness, evil, want to own us. And they're called demon-possessed. And we should understand that word "possessed," like a possession, like something that is owned. That's what the powers of this world want to do to us. They want to own us.

But here's the thing: the Holy Fathers of the Church—and we are grateful to keep the memory of the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical councils this day, who set a whole guide for us of what is true and what is false in our faith and the way in which we should walk—these have taught us very clearly that while we are to be mindful and wary and on our guard against temptation of the evil one, we also understand that their power to influence us directly is quite limited. That in fact, unless you invite them in to make a home in you, they can't make you do anything.

They can give you ideas. They can push you in certain directions, but the devil can't make you do one thing unless you agree to cooperate first with him. And then we can find that by taking the easy way out time after time, running into some difficult situation and finding it just simpler or more attractive, pleasant to just go down that broad, comfortable path—settle in, the waters are warm and nice—and over time, we find ourselves enslaved to something that we didn't quite understand when we started out. We become tools. We become owned by the powers of darkness in this world. That's the terrible picture for us that is laid out for us in the gospel today.

Now this gospel reading shows important truths for us: that those easy answers, that pleasant start leads ultimately to destruction. Now we see the end in that herd of swine that is driven by the demons into the sea and destroyed. But we also see that these same demons have no power before the presence of the Lord. They can do nothing when he confronts them. They have to whine and beg to be permitted to do anything.

Now the same Lord stops to show compassion, to care for these two enslaved men, enslaved to sin and death. They're living among the tombs—take note. And the Lord is the one who sets them free from their slavery, who redeems them, and restores them to their right minds, their former way of life. It's an amazing vision, something that they could not do in any way to help themselves. They were so far gone into this way that there was nothing that they had the will to make right in their lives anymore. But with the Lord coming to them, now all things are made new.

And what of the people that know them, their neighbors, those who dwell in the city nearby, who hear of these wonderful works, who come to understand that these have been rescued and restored? Do they give thanks? Do they praise God? Do they welcome the Lord into their city as their savior and redeemer? No, no, they are focused on the loss of their property, that herd of swine, not on these poor men who've been delivered.

And they're afraid of the presence of the Lord because what else might he do next? You know, he might have some other idea to turn things upside down in their city. What might come next? And so, they beg him to get out of town. And notice the Lord doesn't argue with them. He doesn't force himself on them. When they ask him to leave, he leaves. He goes away to his own city where he knows there is work for him to do.

So, brothers and sisters, this isn't just an interesting story to kind of reflect on and say, "Oh, isn't that interesting?" like you're reading the news and "isn't that fascinating what happened in a far away place in time." What does this mean for you and me? How are we supposed to respond now that we've learned?

First, we need to understand the dangerous condition that we find ourselves in. We are here in this world that is full of temptation. This world that ultimately is bound to death. You know those men were living among the tombs—visibly it was obvious that they were not in a healthy place. But all of us, all of us are ultimately heading for the grave. And all of us, all of us are caught up in sin. And we have those besetting sins that we find it so incredibly difficult to resist and escape from. And we find often that we have no power over some dark part of our life. And no matter how upright we are, how disciplined, there comes an enemy to all our strength—a point when we find ourselves helpless, at a loss.

And brothers and sisters, that's actually good to come to that point where you realize that your strength has nothing to offer because ultimately that's the truth for all of us. We have a problem that we have been making worse for ourselves along with the whole human race. And we can't get out of this problem by our own strength, by our own wits, by our own willpower, by our own righteousness. But rather we need the strength, the power, the good will of God who comes to us and saves us. So that's our starting point.

And then we understand these temptations that we must not play with in this world. Having been redeemed by our Savior, having been claimed by him, his name marked on us, we must not return to our former ways. We cannot choose the easy way out in life, but holding fast to the truth, to the way of righteousness, trusting in our God, and then knowing his good will, how much he has done for us, how much he continues to do for us and in us and through us.

How are we to respond? We've been shown this sad and depressing example of the city of the Gergesenes for ourselves. We should know better. We do know better. And we are called and invited, but we will not be forced to welcome our savior and our redeemer, to make room for him and him alone in the throne of our hearts. We belong to him and him alone.

And we are encouraged to do this even though, brothers and sisters, it will be costly. It is going to require more of us. What that city was afraid of—and who knows what the Lord might do next? What he might change and upend?—well, that is true for us. For us to be made whole, for us to be changed into those that belong in the presence of the Lord in his heavenly kingdom, for us to be made worthy to receive the gifts that have prepared for us, we cannot remain as we are. We cannot be content to sit in helplessness in the midst of our sins, shrugging our shoulders and saying, "What can we do? I have no power to change."

You have no power. But we invite God to come into us who does have power and set himself to work in us. And he's also going to ask us—he does ask us, he's asking us today—to cooperate also in the work that he's doing in the person next to you, in your neighbor, your coworker, in your family, your friends, whomever it is that he confronts you with in your life. That also is a part of the work. It's part of how you yourself are saved and how they are as well. We're saved together, redeemed together, made new together, so that together we can be set free, and together we can be welcomed into the kingdom of God. Amen.

Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.