In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
I believe I am in charge of my life, that I can make choices and these are completely free. And I am at the centre: I can choose to do good or do evil, it’s my choice. But this is not the testimony of Scripture: Genesis identifies the first sinner as Cain.
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lᴏʀᴅ said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.
Genesis 4:4b–7
Because, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, sin is not an abstract result of my own free choice, it is an active demon who is trying to make me subject to the passions and therefore make me passive: without agency and without control. Sin wants me to allow it in to take possession of me and act through me. Sin, by itself cannot corrupt, but through me may wreak terrible effects.
Christ journeyed across the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes. And there he met a man who had let sin after sin after sin control him. “What is your name?” asked the Lord, to which he replied, “Legion.” So many had come in that he now even resembled the demons: he wore no clothes, he had no home, he dwelt with the dead and the human powers of this age—guards, chains and fetters—could not control him. Sin had won. He had no way of freeing himself from this slavery to sin, he was trapped and in misery with no way out.
And many in our world are, too, trapped in the misery of sin with no apparent way out. They cannot free themselves from their predicament, they fear all they may do is live out the rest of their lives in this state until released by death.
And Christ comes. Christ comes and frees the man from the powers over him, from sin:
Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.
Christ shows he has the power to do this for the man before he accomplishes it for all on the Cross where the power of sin was cast aside forever. And as often as I turn to him—in Baptism, in the Eucharist, in Confession—he will free me, again, and I will find myself clothed in my baptismal garment, again washed clean, and in my right mind sitting at his feet.
And to our world, to our neighbours, to our families, to our friends, he offers the same: to free all from the powers of sin. And this is the Gospel which our world needs to hear, come to the Lord and you will be freed from slavery, freed from sin and, even, freed from death. Come to the Lord and you will be free. Come and see!
To our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ be all glory, dominion and power, together with his Unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.
— Galatians 1:11–19
At that time, as Jesus arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes and he lived not in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
— Luke 8:26–39