The Abyss
In the Gospel readings, Jesus talks about demons.
Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they 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. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave 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 Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. - Luke 8:26-39
The place where the demons in this story don't want to be sent is back to the abyss.
I understand the resistance. Who would want to be confined to a place when they could roam free?
In reading several sermons and commentaries, I get the impression this abyss that the demons fear is not same as Hell, the place we may wind up if we turn against God and refuse to return.
If it was the same place, we might take a lesson from those who have returned from there, these demons, and decide not to choose that as our final unresting place.
Maybe that is the point of the story, to give us a clue, a taste of what eternal agony would be like.
Do we become the demons that seek out humans to inhabit so they don't have to go back to the place of isolation and endless suffering?
Perhaps. And if we do become like them when we choose to reject God, we may find ourselves with little or no options, like the demons who choose to enter the swine.
Once the pigs drown, where do the demons go?
In our lives, now, before we face our final journey, we can choose to stay far from the abyss by loving God, loving ourselves, and loving others.
If we look closely at what Jesus did for the demons, it was also an act of love, giving them a choice, just as God gives us a choice.
So, maybe this is all about how and what we choose in life, and what consequences that has in death.
More to come...