Modern Possession

To some, the gospel stories about people afflicted by evil spirits can feel strange and distant. Yet in his sermon on the possessed man in Mark 5, David pointed out that even—maybe especially!—the most modern people have left themselves empty and thus vulnerable to uninvited occupation:

We find ourselves in a complicated social network, meeting different people and tackling various big and small issues every day. In the complex society, our identity is often less “my true self” than “masks” that we change according to people or situation we engage. We learn how to look smart, but this smartness, though it may be useful for our outer appearance, is quite useless in filling our inner self.