Evil exists.

Not Hollywood’s evil with its vampires, witches, werewolves, and fantastical warlords, but the kind that draws true horror to our faces and freezes our hearts in fear –abominations so horrible that we can barely take them in.

If evil were merely the stuff of horror films and superstitions, we might go about our day relatively unmussed and unmoved, waving it off as a flight of fancy. But we all know better.

Don’t we?

Yet an old saying reveals that a little kernel of truth always underlies every tale or myth.

Some of these underlying “truths” helped us overcome superstitions of folks we thought were evil.

For example, the myth of the vampire may have come from the knowledge of a strange blood disorder called porphyria, which causes sensitivity to sunlight, receding gums, dark red urine, and destruction of facial tissues. The disease has also been known to cause madness.[1]

Tales of witches began typically as a persecution against early women healers, who used herbs and tinctures to salve wounds and aid in childbirth. When their efforts failed, they often would stand accused of witchcraft.[2]

But while these manifestations of “evil” result simply from misunderstood circumstances, true evil is much more surreptitious and invasive, and it often takes us entirely by surprise.

True evil does exist.

We see it in the killing of innocents, the mauling and murdering of children and animals, the extermination of entire people groups, abuses of power and people. We can see it in the cold eyes of a serial killer or the compulsive acts of a psychopath. We see it seeping into systems that persecute the poor and positions that wield power over the powerless.

Overwhelmingly, the acts that chill us to the bone do so because they are so entirely devoid of empathy, compassion, human connection, or conscience.Evil issues in attributes opposite of those we attribute to God.

True evil exists both in the opposition and absence of God.

Evil is surreptitious. It defies God by being sneaky and preying on the helpless. It threatens God’s creation. And yet it is subordinate to God.

Here is what we see Jesus showing us in no uncertain terms in today’s scripture. That no matter how perverse, damaging, insidious, and insistent evil may be, it cannot stand up to the power of God and will be subject to the authority of God.

In the events told by Luke to us today, we see Jesus deliberately sailing across the Sea of Galilee (which is a lake of course) to the land of the Gerasenes, a non-Jewish, gentile territory. As soon as he emerged from the boat, he was met by a man possessed by demons. He was living among the tombstones in the caves outside of the city, naked and homeless.

As soon as he sees Jesus, two important things happen. 1) The man identifies Jesus immediately as the “Son of the Most High God.” Now remember, Jesus is in a non-Jewish territory, and this man is not Jewish and 2) the “demon(s)” shrieks and begs Jesus not to torture him (them). The immediate reaction is fear and submission.

As the demons converse with Jesus, Jesus gives them “permission” to enter a herd of pigs, which as a result, rushes down a cliff and drowns in the lake.[3] At that, people gather and find the man with demons dressed and completely sane.The demons had departed.

At that, the people asked Jesus to leave. They feared his power. What else would or could he do? Interestingly, it was easier for them to tolerate evil and allow it to live among their tombs and within their peer than it was for them to allow Jesus and the immense power of God to live among them. For in some sense, we all cower before the presence and power of God!

More importantly, we fear what we do not understand.

The people of Gerasene did not understand this Son of God, who could wield the power of God and vanquish evil in a single swoop. They knew Jesus was Jewish. They knew he was a foreigner. They were amazed at what he could do. But it was so outside of their realm of understanding and experience that they wanted nothing to do with it.

So, Jesus did leave them. But not before telling the man he had healed to tell everyone what God had gone for him.

Now that’s clever evangelism!

We hear the truth more easily from those we know and trust.

Today, we may not identify evil in the same ways as people did in Jesus’ day. But we do know it exists. Sometimes, it seems to come out of nowhere, issuing in mayhem and murder. Sometimes, it seems hard to find the root of it, but its results are undeniable. Perhaps because it is so hard to trace, because it is so slippery, secretive, and silently insidious, we tend to imagine it isn’t there. Until we see it’s destruction of lives and loss.

In our age of science, medicine, psychology, and reason, we tend to negate the idea of evil. But we underestimate evil to our detriment.

The good news is, where Jesus is strong, evil will be weak. Where God is present, active, and protective, evil can’t persist.

We tend to fear evil. But evil fears good.

In a true community of love, evil can forge no root.

The best remedy against evil is always the presence of Jesus Christ, Son of God, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, whom we encounter in prayer, in praise, in worship, and in our baptism.

Today, I invite you to pray a prayer of protection, …..a prayer you know as the Lord’s Prayer.

Say it with me now:

Our Father, who dwells in heaven, hallowed be your Name. May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth, just as it is done in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive our sins, just as we forgive the sins of those who sin against us. Lead us away from all temptation and deliver us from all evil. For YOURS is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory….forever.