Proper 7 (12) (Year C)
26Jesus and his disciples sailed to the Gerasenes’ land, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, a certain man met him. The man was from the city and was possessed by demons. For a long time, he’d lived among the tombs, naked and homeless. 28When he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down before him. Then he shouted, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29He said this because Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken possession of him, so he’d be bound with leg irons and chains and placed under guard. But he’d break his restraints and the demon would force him into the wilderness.
30Jesus asked him, “What’s your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had entered him. 31They pleaded with him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, 33and the demons left the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned.
34When those who tended the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and told the story in the city and in the countryside. 35People came to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully dressed and completely sane. They were filled with awe. 36Those people who had actually seen what had happened told them how the demon-possessed man had been delivered. 37Then everyone gathered from the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave their area because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and returned across the lake. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged to come along with Jesus as one of his disciples. Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return home and tell the story of what God has done for you.” So he went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.
Other readings:
1 Kings 19.1-4, (5-7), 8-15a or Isaiah 65.1-9; Psalm 42 and 43 or Psalm 22.19-28; Galatians 3.23-29.
Prayer:
O God, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness. Help us to seek and serve Christ in all people, loving others as ourselves; to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being; through Jesus the Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
As this is #PrideMonth, I found today’s Gospel Lesson rather fitting. Not in the sense that our Sisters and Brothers from the LGTBQ+ community are “demon possessed” — never let it be said — but how they’re ostracized by their families, friends, and other communities, including a lot of religious ones.
In the Lesson, Jesus and his followers come into a city where they encounter a person “from the city.” This tells us that he was part of a large community. He probably had friends and family there. He probably had a small business there, too. But something happened. The man started to behave in ways the community — including his family and friends — disapproved. Not only that, I’m sure he got his fair share of bullying — name calling and violence acted upon him.
They all turned their backs on him. (Except for the bullies, of course. They just love an “easy target.”) His customers stopped doing business with him and he was forced to close his shop. Since he no longer had a steady income, he’d been kicked out of the place he was living. Turning to family and friends for help, they rejected him, too. Now homeless, the man tried to find some kind of shelter, but the local authorities ran him off. Most likely he was driven from the community until he found himself on the outskirts of town living in the cemetery. Homeless, hungry, and barely clothed, the man lived among the dead and forgotten, a mere shell of his former self.
But even that wasn’t enough. Every so often, some “religious” group would come and try to chain him down and cast out the “obvious” demons that had possessed him. But he would break free of their “chains” of what a “real believer” was supposed to be and chase them off.
And it’s at this time that Jesus and his followers encounter him. Of course, the man’s going to be confrontational and angry. Naturally, he’s going to act out. But that’s not what his encounter with Divine Love looked like. After meeting the Lover of his soul — the Lover of his true self — the man was found “sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed, and completely sane.”
Now someone might say that I’ve left out a big part of the story. That Jesus drove out the demons and released the man from his captivity. And I would agree with that. But I see the demons as a metaphor for how the man was treated by the community, especially the religious community. He was driven from others and sentenced to solitary confinement among the long dead. Look at what happened.
When everyone from the region came and saw what had happened to the man, they demanded that Jesus leave because they were overcome with fear — just like the man “possessed.” In other words, their hatred and bigotry was revealed! The object of their hatred was no longer the problem. Their own “demons” were exposed and so they drove out Love! The very Thing that would rescue the whole community was forced out — just like the man had been forced out.
This is why I’m convinced that the more we see the Other — the asylum seeker, our Muslim neighbor, black and brown people, people who love differently than we do — as the one in “sin” or “inhuman” or the “enemy” or living a life we find offensive, we’re really exposing our own falseness. In those moments the Love of Christ is shining into the darkest corners of our hearts and bringing to Light our own fears and, yes, our sins. Jesus said that we treat him in the exact same way we treat the Other (Matthew 25.31ff).
One last point. When Jesus was leaving, the rescued man begged to go with Jesus and his disciples, but Jesus told him to return to his community. This is how a life of faith works. We’re not called to go off with others and separate ourselves from the world around us. No. We’re called to go back into our communities and be Christ to them — to reflect God’s Love to a hurting world and bring the pain and suffering, the injustice of it all, back to God.
Because of Christ, we’re called to be God’s Word manifest in the world (John 20.21). We’ve been made priests to God, through Christ, on behalf of creation (1 Peter 2.5; Revelation 5.10). We’re to be the Light and Love of God in a world that’s still struggling and afraid of becoming authentically free because of the cross of Christ. We’re called to show them what it’s like to be Truly Human. And what True Humanity looks like is Love helping people see that they’ve already been set free from their chains of falseness — whether they’re caused by their own doing or the actions of others.[2] We’re called to Love people the way Christ Loves all of us and let them know that Christ has set them free to be their authentic selves, their Truly Human selves.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
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