Proper 7C, 2025

Text: Luke 8:26-39

Title: Losing Your Mind

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Losing your mind is about the worst thing that can happen to you.  Diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia are brutal and devastating. 

When I visit people near the end of their lives, most of them tell me that they can handle the pain and suffering, they can deal with the loss of eyesight or hearing, as long as they still have their mind.  As long as they still know who they are and who their family is, they’ll be okay.

But unfortunately, that’s not always the case. More and more older adults suffer from mental diseases at the end of their lives.  “Memory care” units in nursing homes are overflowing.

Many of you know firsthand what this is like.  Many of you have cared for a spouse, a parent, a grandparent or other loved one with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other mental illness. You’ve dealt with the confusion, the anger, the personality changes, and the silence that comes when you don’t know where you are, or just can’t deal with life anymore, and they depend on you to make all their decisions for them.

And it’s not just seniors who have mental health concerns. Consider schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, autism, and any number of other maladies than can afflict people of all ages.

Imagine how life was like for the man in our gospel story. He had a demon, in fact, he had many demons, and those demons caused him to lose his mind.

Now let’s be clear here.  If you struggle with mental illness or memory loss, this does not mean that you’re demon-possessed. And it’s rare to see someone with a mental illness have symptoms as severe as the man in today’s story.

But in both cases your affliction robs you of the ability to think and reason clearly.  You are not yourself.  And your family suffers along with you.

The man in today’s story got violent, and they tried to chain him, but he kept breaking free.  He wouldn’t wear clothes.  He was banished from town and forced to live among the tombs.

His demonic possession had cost him his home, his family, and his dignity.  He was all alone // until Jesus came. 

When Jesus comes He casts the demons out, and then, I love this description of the man.  It says that he was, “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”

Now most of the time this is unremarkable.  We don’t notice when people are sitting, clothed, and in their right mind. 

All of you are sitting. All of you are clothed.  And I hope that all of you are in your right mind.

But imagine what it was like for this man, to finally have the demons gone.  To be clothed.  To be in His right mind and to be sitting, calmly, listening at Jesus’ feet.

Imagine, though, if someone you know is not in their right mind.  They aren’t able to dress themselves or take care of themselves.  They can’t control their impulses.  They get out of control and violent.  And then you go to see them, and you find them sitting there nicely dressed, completely calm, having a logical, coherent conversation.

What would you think? How would you react if someone who had lost their mind suddenly got it back?

The people of the town are afraid.  They don’t know what to do with a Jesus who has this sort of authority and power. They would rather have him leave than deal with a situation that they couldn’t understand, or might force them to change.

But think about this man’s family.  At the end of the story Jesus sends him back to his home.  That word “home” implies family.  We don’t know if this man was married, or if he had children.  We don’t know if his parents are still alive.  But the fact that Jesus sends him to a home, implies that he’s still got some family back there in town.  He has someone to come home to.

Imagine how they would react with their son, their husband, their father walks through the door and everything is “normal.”

They might think that they’re in heaven.

And in a way, they would be right.

When Jesus does miracles, He gives us a picture of what heaven will be like, what the new world will be like when He comes back and sets all things right.

When Jesus came the first time, He healed the sick and the lame, He gave sight to the blind, He made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, He cast out demons and even raised the dead.

Those miracles help us to see what Jesus will do when He comes the second time, how He will make the world right once more.

In the new creation there will be no more illness, no more pain, no more suffering, not of body or of mind.  There will be no mental illness or memory loss when Jesus returns- no depression, no schizophrenia, no Alzheimer’s or dementia.  All of those will be gone forever.

That is our hope, that no matter how bad things get here in this world, that in the new creation, everything will be healed.

But what about the meantime? What about between now and then, especially for those who are dealing with mental health issues, or serving as caregivers? 

We receive the spiritual gifts now as we await their fullness at Christ’s return.

Jesus casts out our demons in Holy Baptism.  Three times we renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways.  We repeat that renunciation when we are confirmed, and every Easter Vigil, saying “No,” to Satan so we can say “Yes” to Jesus.

In Holy Baptism you receive the Holy Spirit, and when the Holy Spirit enters, all the unclean spirits in you must leave.

In Holy Baptism you are also clothed with Christ.  You probably wore a white gown when you were baptized, and that pointed to the holiness of Jesus that covers all your sin.  Adam and Eve were clothed by God Himself, and so are you.  You wear the holiness of Jesus like clothing, and all the evil is covered up.

And finally, Jesus gives you a right, clear mind to understand the things of God.  On your own, you could never understand the things of God.  You would be completely lost.  But Jesus clears your mind and helps you to understand the spiritual realities of God’s love, His grace, and His forgiveness.

It’s complete and utter nonsense that God would love you, and that Jesus would die on the cross for you, but through His Holy Spirit that’s what we believe in our hearts and confess with our lips.

And that confession is hard to silence.  I’m completely amazed at how long the things of God stick with people.  I’ve visited with people who could not tell you where they were, what day it was, my name or even their own name. 

But when we start praying the Lord’s Prayer, saying the Creed, and especially singing the liturgy and the hymns of the faith, they join right in.

That’s why it’s so important for these things to be taught to our children from a very young age, to repeat them over and over again, so that they get these words and these songs planted deep within them, so that mental illness, and not even Satan himself can root them out.

Music has a way of carrying the word of God deep into your heart. 

And that’s why we’re talking about starting a music conservatory at Zion, so that the young people of this congregation, and in our community, and even you, too, have more and more opportunities for good hymns, good liturgy, to shape your mind and deepen your faith.

That’s why we have programs like VBS, Sunday School, and confirmation, to teach our kids what will stick with them throughout life.  It’s not about entertaining them or teaching them cute ditties that may be fun to sing, but are empty of meaning. 

We teach them the prayers, the songs, the liturgy that they will use their whole life long and even on their own deathbeds- because these words and these songs connect them to Jesus, the same Jesus who heals the sick and raises the dead, the same Jesus who rose from the dead Himself and is returning to raise all of us on the last day and to give us a clear mind, unclouded by sin, Satan, or sickness.

And as we wait, we get to do the same thing that the man in our gospel lesson did.  “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”  Let’s do it.

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