Slaying the Beast

Four weeks ago today my doctor told me there was a mass in my upper left lung. Two weeks ago it was identified as a cancerous tumor. In the effort to get my head around this new reality, I have occasionally referred to this tumor as “the beast” and written in terms of slaying it. This is mythical battle language, a genre I am not accustomed to using. Nevertheless, the image sticks in my mind, because there is a foundation of truth underneath it.

Unlike Don Quixote, whose imagination led him to believe he was being attacked by giants, I am not tilting at windmills. I am indeed “fighting” something that does not belong in my body. This intruder gained entrance by some silent mechanism, and I have resigned myself to the mystery of its origin. But its dynamic aligns with a reality all Christians face, whether or not they are aware of it: the spiritual battle in which we are each engaged.

We see evidence early in the gospels that Jesus contended with evil spirits that were having a deleterious effect on citizens of his part of the world. Demons caused various maladies: seizures, mental illness, crippling, and blindness to name a few. When Jesus cast out the demons, the illnesses disappeared. This illustrates to me a link between physical and spiritual problems. I hasten to add that observing a link does not give a full explanation of the suffering we face. I do not intend to assert that whatever we endure is only a spiritual problem. But I believe the New Testament teaches that we are integrated human beings, whose spiritual life affects our physical condition, whose psychology affects our spiritual life, and whose physical condition can distress both our minds and our spirits. There is no such thing as a problem that is only physical or psychological or spiritual! To eliminate the possibility that we may be seeing manifestations of all three is to deny the full arsenal of tools and weapons God has given us to deal with them. When it comes time to address a health issue, we are called at the very least to attend to the spiritual aspect of it, while seeking relief through medicine or psychotherapy as needed.

It has helped me to engage some imagery to describe my current enemy, the beast that prowls about in my chest seeking cells to devour. It is, in fact, this description of the Evil One Peter used in 1 Peter 5:8 that is so apt. He refers to a roaring lion, which was a considerable foe in his time and place, as it would be in ours. [However, C. S. Lewis has forever redeemed the image of “lion” by using that particular beast to depict Aslan, the Christ figure in his Narnia stories!]

Just like cancer cells, which go into hyper-drive to reproduce and take over healthy structures, Satan tries to satisfy its insatiable appetite for “food” by attacking vulnerable human beings and destroying them. It is a perversion of God’s good creation to use cell reproduction for evil purposes and cause previously healthy tissues to turn upon their host in order to wreak destruction. For a person whose theology starts “in the Garden [of Eden]” I find this perversion outrageous. It is why I consider cancer an enemy, a beast that must be slain. [Thank you, Ron and friend, for this helpful concept.]

Compared to the glorious might of our Lord and Savior, this enemy is small, impotent, and deluded. Ultimately, it cannot stand and survive an encounter with the living God. It boasts way more power than it actually has, but it knows that “a single word may fell it.” From a spiritual standpoint, this beast is doomed.

The physical battle must be fought, however. I am approaching it as a test of mettle and a sharing in Christ’s sufferings. If I may more dearly appreciate the suffering Christ endured as a human being who died on the Cross for you and me, even physical pain and discomfort can have a healing effect. This does not stop me from asking God to slay this beast and save me from the side of effects of chemo and radiation, and I pray that petition daily! I’m not really keen on radiation and chemo in and of themselves, but if by their use I am healed of this cancer, then I gladly walk the road so many of my readers have already trekked. I will do so with the full assurance that Jesus is bearing the load and carrying me through it and that, at the end of the day, Jesus will reign victorious over all Creation!