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S140928
“Love, Fear and the Dark Side”
Ephesians 6:10-18 (NRSV)
10 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against
enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on
that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of
truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet
put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take
the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil
one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always
persevere in supplication for all the saints.
[Guardians of the Galaxy]
Last weekend I went by myself to see Guardians of the Galaxy. I went alone, because my
wife doesn’t like these big-battle comic book action films. I like them for some sub-conscious
reason. This one is now the highest-grossing film of all time. So, LOTS of us love this stuff!
Next week we get “Left Behind.” I don’t expect it will do as well, because after all, it is
explicitly Christian in content and explicitly religious content is not playing as well now.
However, the Disney Dreamworks cartoon films are doing very well. Did you know, that they
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are intentionally Christian-themed? The difference, is that they use secular language and
characters and images to communicate rather than religious language. Brave plays better
than Noah. The comic-book films are battles between good and evil. So, people like the
themes. They are not responding negatively to Christian TRUTHS. They just don’t like the
Christian language. I want to argue that our ministry should learn a lesson from the film
makers. We get hung up in our own Biblical language, so much so sometimes that we fail to
see and embrace the truths embodied, and worse, fail to communicate the gospel.
[Satan and Jesus]
I definitely think that is true when we start talking about Satan. Most people now do not
believe in personified evil. Even as Christians we’re split about 50/50. But we have no
problem identifying The Joker in the Batman comics, or Darth Vader of the Star Wars drama,
with evil. We identify with the forces of good in film, and we know evil when we see it. Or do
we? That’s partly the question Saint Paul is addressing in Ephesians. Do you know evil when
you see it? Does it matter whether we believe Satan is real, and not a projected
personification of what we have in us: the sin which is alive in us and dominates us, so much
a part of Saint Paul’s theological understanding of the nature of humanity? It seems apparent
to me that if we are to take Ephesians literally, then for Saint Paul Satan is real. Elsewhere
Saint Paul is more explicit. Listen to II Thessalonians 2:9-12:
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 (NRSV)
coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs,
lying wonders, 10 and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they
refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion,
leading them to believe what is false.
9 The
[Lucifer Falling]
The story of Satan’s fall is found in Ezekiel 28. God speaks to Satan:
"You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy
mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. "You were blameless in
your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. By the
abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore
I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.”
The scriptures include over a hundred direct references to the deceitful and corrupting work
of Satan in the world, many of those references put on the lips of Jesus. So, since my job is
to preach what the Bible says, we will use this language to talk about the very real presence
of evil. My guess is some of you, in hearing that, are thinking, “Whew! Glad he passed that
test!” But for me, a deeper secondary question is, ‘How helpful is it to our communicating the
gospel to others in the secular sphere, to posit Satan as the enemy of God, real, warring for
our souls? With some, that’s probably helpful. So by all means, go there! But with others, it
will stop the conversation. Remember, we begin our witness with others by first listening.
And the truth is, most post-modern, non-religious Americans are not dualists. They don’t
‘believe’ in Satan. Satan is on par with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Now, we could
see that as a very big problem, right? It could help us explain a lot of what is wrong in our
society and world. But I want to suggest to you, that going there is likely not going to be
helpful in sharing your faith with the majority of people.
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And of course, it’s also important for us to be true to ourselves. I get that many of us across
the course of our life of faith move into a more paradoxical and less literalist understanding of
scripture, driven largely by the need to reconcile faith with reason. Here today no doubt are
also half of us, more or less, who do not believe in personified evil. I want to suggest that is
OK too. I’m not going to talk you out of that. I might argue that this very belief is a tool of the
devil, who is, by Biblical definition, the great deceiver. But I’m not going there. I find it more
helpful to seek a common language by which we can be true to scripture and witness to a
world of unbelief.
[Light and Darkness]
Let me read to you another passsage, this one from Ephesians 5:
Ephesians 5:6-14a (NRSV)
no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God
comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be associated with them. 8 For
once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9 for
the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is
pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose
them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13 but everything
exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light.
6 Let
Here, a chapter earlier in the same Epistle, Saint Paul chooses a dfferent set of words to
address the same concern. He calls us to leave the world of darkness, and embrace light
instead. Now, you might say, “OK. Then in chapter 6 he personifies the darkness as Satan.”
But I could just as well say that Saint Paul uses the metaphor of Satan to describe something
innately human, seperating us every bit as much from God. We have been shown the truth in
the light of Jesus Christ. “Live in it!” Paul says here. We have the power in the Holy Spirit to
expose evil for what it is. Expose it!” And live instead in light.
[Sigmund Freud]
In the late 1900’s Sigmund Freud developed really the first full-blown psychological theory.
He defined the personality of human beings as consisting of three components: Id, Ego and
Super-Ego. This was not so different from the Mind, Body and Soul typology of Saint Paul,
with which western civilization had lived nearly 2,000 years. Paul and Freud had in common
the Jewish philosophical heritage of seeing those as within a whole we call the human being.
Paul was not a Gnostic. The Gnostics of his day believed in a soul which was a ‘spark’ of the
divine, not really part of us, but distinct. Freud’s deeper and more lasting contribution, I think,
was his understanding that the human unconscious is not separate from us, but those parts
of us we push down. Freud said that as much as 90% of what motivates us is unknown to
us: it’s below the surface, hidden from consciousness.
[Carl Jung/ Robert Bly]
Psychologist Carl Jung, a student of Freud, called it ‘the human shadow,’ or the ‘shadowself.’ It’s that part of ourselves we keep in the dark. We want to hide it from others, less we be
ashamed, or limited by it in seeking to be perceived only as who we want others to see. And
we hide it from ourselves, mostly because it is too painful to embrace. Later poet Robert Bly,
in A Little Book on the Human Shadow, would describe it as, “The long bag we drag behind
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us.” In our first twenty or so years of life we learn constraint. Freud called that the Superego, and of course, it is essential to survival. We shove all those parts of us which come to be
seen by others or ourselves, as unacceptable, into this bag. But it becomes heavier and
heavier. It saps our energy to drag it around, but drag we must, for it is part of us. We don’t
look inside the bag, so most of us forget even what is there.
But when we are dreaming, or when we are vulnerable because of some crisis, the bag
opens up and stuff comes flying out. It happens when we are stressed, pushed and pressed
by some difficult situation. It might be a struggle with how to handle a disobedient child; or an
intense diagreement with your spouse; or some work requirement which feels unethical. The
most typical way the bag opens up is in a fit of anger. We let down our guard, and the bag
comes open, and all that vitriolic stuff inside comes streaming out. You know those moments.
You have more energy than usual. You might even feel super-human. You can lift something
and throw it across the room, when before you couldn’t even lift it! The words flow, when
before you couldn’t find them. It might feel really, really good!
But afterwards, when you have somehow managed to close the bag again, the energy
dissipates. And you look inward. You might feel guilty, or shameful. You might have shoved
the intruding memory back into the bag. But the painful message from your past lingers. A
part of your shadow self has been exposed. You have reconnected with some part of who
you are which had been hidden.
[Projection]
Now, that’s not the whole picture. The bag is not impervious. Stuff leaks out. Freud and
Jung called that projection. Do you know those moments, when you realize you are
negatively judging someone else and it just makes no sense? You perceive this person as
out to get you. But when you stop and think about it a bit you realize they are not! You are
casting some bit from the bag, some piece of someone from your past, some lesser known
part of who you are, out there onto this someone now. We pastors get it a lot. People project
their stuff onto us all the time. So often I hear from a second party that this person says I am
this or I am that, or even said this or that, when I clearly did not say it. Now, I get that they
thought that’s what I said! It’s a projection. Often people see in the pastor one of their
parents, with whom it was difficult to connect. Or people sometimes even see God in the
pastor, for better or for ill. Sometimes it is for ill. Meanwhile, as a human being like the rest of
you I’m stuffing stuff into my shadow. So, I really might say something, or even feel
something, that I’d rather not, so I hide it away! See? We all do that. What we want, is to be
whole, honest people, right? But we are divided. We are alientated from god,l others and
ourself. Historically, Biblically, we call that sin. We can attribute all of this to what we
Christians call spiritual warfare.
[Hand and Truth-Note]
We get angry at God, Amen? We project our stuff onto God. And, we want to hide from the
truth about ourselves. If you don’t ever get angry at God, then I worry about how well you are
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doing in this spiritual warfare. You might not be in it at all! James Merritt wrote, “You are
involved in spiritual warfare. But the problem is, many Christians, perhaps most, don’t even
realize it. Many of God's soldiers are asleep in the barracks when they ought to be out on the
battlefield. The reason why many Christians are losing their battle with the devil, day-by-day,
is because they're not even showing up for the war. …If you don't believe there's a war going
on, just read your newspaper and you'll see the results of this war in things such as murder,
rape, prostitution, robbery, terrorism, drug addiction, and child molestation. These are the
rotten eggs that are hatched by this terrible war.” Merrit didn’t mention beheading.
[Collage]
Now, I want to suggest to you that these horrific behaviors which we call sin, even social sin,
or systemic sin, or collective sin, can be projected stuff out of the rage in our bags. We do
these horrible things to others because the bag opens up, and it gets out of control. And also
because we project our stuff onto others, and they just can’t handle it. That’s what racism is,
for instance, at it’s core. A white privileged social and economic system paints AfricanAmerican people as ‘devils,’ the ‘bad people.’ And the deeper pain, is that so many take on
that label and live it out. We all lose. You may not know that for 500 years or more prior to
World War II most Europeans were openly anti-semitic. Church people included! I am
embarrassed today by the nasty words wriiten by Martin Luther against his Jewish neighbors.
Both the Eastern Orthodox Church in Russia and The Roman Catholic Church in Italy openly
persecuted Jews. Adolph Hitler was a believing Catholic. What Hitler did was just a eugenicsphilosophy-enhanced more-of-the-same. So yes, World War II was indeed a war against the
powers of darkness in high places, against the projection of our own sin and evil onto a whole
race of people. It continues today, though we Americans are shifting the projection from
Jews to the whole race of Semites known as Arabs and Muslims.
[Beheading]
And in response, white westerners get beheaded by religious people who genuinely believe
they are serving Allah by beheading. Now, the painful tragedy is that those of us on the
receiving end of such collective projection are the ones who suffer, right? Let’s break it down
from these broad-stroke racial and cultural prejudices. It can get very personal, right?
Robert Bly, following Carl Jung, wrote about how some of us get hooked into what others
project onto us. We take on more and more and more of other people’s stuff, until we just
really can’t help but burst. So aweful things happen. Did the devil make us do it? Maybe.
But if so, I think the devil did it mostly through the sin of other people, projected onto us. Is a
policeman in Ferguson responsible for over-reaction when he felt threatened by an
approaching young man on the street? Yes, partly. But he is also carrying the prejudice and
fear projected by many of the rest of us. And likewise, that young man likely acted out of a
pent-up rage from lots and lots of projected sin onto him and others.
[Prayer]
Projection is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be helpful, because it gives us a chance to
see the stuff out of the bag, so to know ourselves better. We find in this other person onto
whom we are projecting our stuff, a mirror for seeing it. One of the greatest gifts we can give
another, is to be a mirror for their projection. This is what a therapist does, at his or her best.
When you go to a therapist and they sit there in silence while you talk, and say nothing, they
are trying to establish with you a positive projection, what we also call a positive transference.
It’s about being able to get some of that burdensome stuff out of the bag, to see some of our
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shadow. We’re willing to pay $100 or more an hour for that! But you know? You can do that
for someone else for free, if you just build some non-judgmental trust. It’s one of the greatest
gifts we can give another person. If you think about it, some of your best friends are your best
friends because they do that for you, and even better, you can switch roles and do it for each
other. And think about it. Jesus receives our transference. He took the sins of the whole
world upon his shoulders. And when we walk with him, and talk with him, and tell him he is
our own, he receives it again. If you are not going to Jesus, or some spiritual friend, or
finding some other outlet for this kind of healthy projection, then you are probably still stuffing
your bag. Sooner or later it’s going to burst, and I assure you, it is already leaking, a lot!
I want to suggest to you, that this stuff has everything to do with that warfare language
against “the “rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” If Satan is real, then Satan wants to deceive
you most of all be keeping you from truly knowing yourself. Because you are created in the
image of God. You are love, you are grace, you are God’s gifted gift to the world, to work
good, to love others, and to have the time of your life doing that!
[Jesus on the Throne]
Now here’s another piece of scripture which for me, at least, fills in the gaps in this picture.
It’s at the beginning of Ephesians, right after Paul’s greeting to the people there:
Ephesians 1:20-23 (NRSV)
put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him
at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and
dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to
come. 22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things
for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
20 God
See, really before we even have this conversation about whether or not Satan is real, and
how Satan works to deceive us, Saint Paul declares the victory. Jesus is on the throne.
Those same ‘heavenly places’ from which Lucifer was cast out are Jesus’ domain. So, in the
beginning and end, see, dualism is what is not real. If Jesus has already won, Satan has no
power. It’s a ruse, a delusion. Yes, of course we are tempted to be someone other than who
God created us to be. Yes, of course we are tempted to treat other people like they are not
also loved by God. Yes, any of us can clearly be mean S.O. ------------ : NO, I didn’t say it!
But thanks be to God, that Jesus has the victory!
[Soldier in Armor]
Now, you might have expected me to get into all those pieces of the whole armor of God.
I’ve heard preachers speak endlessly on the details, what the helmet is, what the breastplate
is. Righteousness, which is justice for all: same word. A message of Peace. Faith. Salvation,
and not least, God’s Holy Spirit. The main thing to be said, is that these make up an agile
suit of armor. The metaphors are the components of the armor of a Roman foot-soldier. This
is not a Knight in Shining Armor, so weighted down that he cannot even fight. Roman armor
was sparse but effective, allowing the soldier to move quickly, swing and duck and lunge and
even run when necessary. God’s yoke is easy. God’s burden is light.
[Praise]
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So empty the bag! Get that stuff out in the open! What is there to hide? For God loves all of
you, and wants to engage every part of who you are in the enterprise of Love.