Homily, Casting Out, Welcoming In
The Seventh Sunday after the Pentecost, Proper 9B, 2024
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Tequesta, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
You’d think from reading the gospels that exorcisms would play a much bigger role in my job as a priest. “Jesus sent them out two-by-two…and they cast out many demons,” we hear in our gospel passage. I have never cast out a demon, and if I even wanted to I’d have to contact the bishop first, for which I am very grateful. It’s funny though, exorcism is one of the top things people ask me about in public when they find out I’m a priest. I can even remember my dental hygienist asking me about it one day as he leaned over me in the chair, working on my teeth. Our culture has a certain fascination over exorcisms. We make movies about them. We tell scary stories about them. And I think that’s because in our day, unlike Jesus’, demons and angels and exorcisms feel a bit foreign to us. And so we speculate, and we wonder, and we tell stories about them.
But another reason I think we are so curious about exorcisms is that subconsciously we are attracted to this idea that something can be cast out of us. There are things in our lives, be it addictions, or people, or illnesses, or circumstances that we wish would just go away. And the image of casting out demons subconsciously gives us a hope that we too can get rid of whatever it is that holds power over us. “And they cast out many demons.”
It’s interesting though, that that is not what happens in our second reading today, from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. While in the gospel passage the disciples are given authority to cast out evil spirits, in 2 Corinthians Paul is tormented by a messenger of Satan. He calls it a “thorn in the flesh.” We don’t know what it was, but it was something that bothered him, something that he longed to get rid of, and despite having asked God to take it away from him three times, it remained. There is no casting out in this passage. But there is something else.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” There is no casting out. But there is a welcoming in. Rather than casting out suffering, God invites Paul to welcome in grace. To welcome in grace in the midst of his suffering. To see and to feel and to know that God is with him in his suffering. Rather than focusing on getting rid of something unholy, God invites Paul to focus on welcoming in something holy. And in welcoming in the holy presence and grace of God, the suffering itself is lessened and even becomes a vessel by which Paul can experience God’s grace, even if it doesn’t go away.
Sometimes we are so focused on casting things out from our lives, that we don’t welcome God into our lives. We’re so focused on seeking the absence of discomfort, that we don’t seek the presence of God’s grace. God’s presence is not dependent upon the absence of suffering, but exists even in the midst of it.
And so the invitation to Paul is an invitation to a deeper kind of prayer. A prayer focused not just on the alleviation of pain or discomfort, but on becoming more aware of God in each and every moment.
The first kind of prayer is to pray that God would take suffering away. “God, take away my grief. Take away my pain. Take away this troubling person from my life. Take away my depression, my anxiety, my anger. Cast them out.” And depending on what it is, these can be good prayers. We should pray for healing and justice in the face of suffering.
But the prayer that takes us even deeper—the prayer that can be prayed alongside of the first—is not the prayer for the absence of something, but for the presence of something. “God, show me your grace in my grief. Show me your grace in my pain. Show me your grace in this troubling person. Show me your grace in my depression, my anxiety, my anger. Show me your divine presence in the midst of them, that your grace may be sufficient for me.”
Both of these images—casting out and welcoming in—are kinds of prayer. Both are prayers of Paul. And they are both good kinds of prayer. But the deeper prayer asks not only for the absence of something unwanted, but the presence of God.
It turns out my job as a priest has been so much more about welcoming God than casting out the devil. And I think we are all invited into that work together. Amen.
Resources for Further Reflection
Prayer Practice: The Welcoming Prayer
The prayer of welcoming grace into things unwanted or uncomfortable resonates with the Welcoming Prayer, developed by Mary Mrozowski, a lay contemplative, and Thomas Keating, a Trappist Monk. This has been one my core prayer practices. Click the above link to learn more about the practice.
I also preached a sermon on the Welcoming Prayer a couple years ago. Find it at the link above.
Teaching from the Book of Occasional Services on Exorcisms
There is a very brief explanation of exorcisms in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Occasional Services. If you are interested in learning more, click the above link and scroll down to page 233. While you are there, look at some of the beautiful occasional services included in the book.
Thoughts on Faith 