What Jesus did #18: he dealt with demons

This is a huge subject and one I would have liked to have glossed over as it feels like a real minefield and I feel somewhat out of my depth discussing it. However, Jesus dealing with demons is right there in the text. There’s no avoiding it in the four accounts of his life and ministry here on earth.

So here goes.

There are just as many references to Jesus healing those possessed by demons as there are him healing people of physical illnesses. This was equally important to him then. He took it seriously and delivered individuals from their personal struggles.

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”  Matthew 8:16-17

All our infirmities. All our diseases. All our struggles. Both physical and spiritual. Let’s never fall into the trap of addressing one whilst ignoring the other.

In Matthew 8, Jesus encounters two demon-possessed men in the region of the Gadarenes. They possess immense strength. They immediately recognise Jesus for who he is. They have a tendency to violence towards their own physical body. And they are no match for Jesus.

He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.  Matthew 8:32

In a similar account in Mark 5, the demon-possessed man is described like this.

This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Mark 5:3-5

In the next chapter in Matthew, a demon-possessed man who could not speak was brought to Jesus. This possession manifests in all sorts of different ways.

And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”  Matthew 9:33-34

The crowd were wowed and rightly so. This was awesome. And yet the spiritual leaders concluded that Jesus was himself evil to be able to drive out evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute and is again challenged by the spiritual leaders, this is his response.

Why would Satan drive out Satan?

Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12:25-28 (also Mark 3 and Luke 11)

This is a spiritual battle taking place in the spiritual dimension. It’s the ultimate fight between good and evil. Yes, I believe in all that. I believe in evil, in a force for evil, in Satan as a personification of this evil force. If I believe in God and angels as a spiritual force for good, then it makes perfect sense to me to believe in an opposing force. I don’t understand the spiritual dimension but I believe it exists. I believe in God. I believe in angels, God’s messengers. How God and these messengers manifest themselves in this world is mystery to me. I will never begin to understand it. And so in the same way, I will never understand how the forces of evil manifest themselves in this world either. But I don’t have to understand them to believe that they exist.

Yes, it’s a bit scary. It’s natural and human to be scared of what we don’t understand – the unpredictable, the unexplained. But the good news is that we have nothing to fear, for the Jesus who had the victory over evil during his time on earth is the same Jesus who’s at work in our lives today.

And so when a Canaanite woman came to Jesus begging for him to deliver her daughter from her suffering, he hears, he responds, he acts.

“Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.  Matthew 15:22, 28

And when a man approached Jesus and knelt before him, begging for him to deliver his son from his suffering, he hears, he responds, he acts.

“Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Matthew 17:15-15,18

There is some speculation about whether the demon possession portrayed in these accounts is really what we would now call mental illness (and in the case above, a physical illness like epilepsy. That same boy is described in Mark 9 like this – ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid’). Many now believe that the people at the time simply didn’t have the words to understand what was going on like we’re finally beginning to now. Certainly over the centuries, those suffering from mental health conditions have been misunderstood, misdiagnosed, mistreated as crazy, mad, evil, possessed. Even now, there’s a lingering stigma around mental health issues. A shame that causes people to hide what they’re going through. A fear of admitting to what’s really going on. And when you do open up about it, there are those that are quick to judge, quick to offer opinion or advice, quick to distance themselves from what they don’t understand – namely you.

I believe that there is such a thing as demon possession and that although it may manifest in similar ways to mental illness, it is an entirely different thing. I don’t think it’s at all common. I do believe much damage has been done within the church over the years in treating mental illness as possession. But I’m with Dr. Richard Gallagher, an Ivy League-educated, board-certified psychiatrist who teaches at Columbia University and New York Medical College, a man of science who was brought up a Catholic. Gallagher has become a “consultant” on demonic possessions.

For the past 25 years, he has helped clergy distinguish between mental illness and what he calls “the real thing.” He estimates that he’s seen more cases of possession than any other physician in the world. From ‘When exorcists need help, they call him’

It’s a really good article. A measured and sensible contribution to this discussion. Have a read.

Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.  Mark 1:23-26 (and Luke 4)

These impure spirits know Jesus when they see him. They proclaim who he is. They have a strong, violent reaction to anything spiritual and holy. And yet they are no match for the power of Jesus. Which is scary in itself. The undeniable fact that Jesus possesses a power stronger than any evil, stronger than any demon is awe-inspiring and hard to take. In Luke 8, when the people see a man who had been possessed by many demons now clothed and in his right mind, they’re afraid. They don’t know how to handle it.

Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. Luke 8:36-38

But then, there’s also this.

And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. Luke 9:43

That’s the choice right there, isn’t it? We can choose to trust that Jesus has the power over evil and will never use that power to harm, but only for good. We can choose to wonder, to be amazed at the greatness of God. We can choose to believe the promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Yes, we need to take the spiritual dimension seriously. It’s not something to dismiss lightly. But we don’t have be terrified by it either. We don’t need to obsess about it.

Jesus has our back. He will protect us. If we choose to look for evil, we’ll find it. But that doesn’t feel like a healthy, life-giving way to live to me. Whilst I know I need to live with my eyes wide open, I prefer to focus my attention on looking for the good in the world and the people around me.

So that’s it.

There are ways to suffer on any and every level – spiritual, physical, mental – and they are all interlinked. One often affects another. Physical suffering can cause spiritual and mental anguish. Mental illness can exhibit physical symptoms.

There’s that expression, isn’t there? We all have our own demons to deal with. Whether those are spiritual, physical, mental, or most likely a combination of all three, the good news is that Jesus knows how to deal with demons. He’s the expert.

And he is on our side.