Year C Pentecost 5
Luke 8: 26-39Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 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. 28 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’- 29 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.) 30 Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
32 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. 33 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.
34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 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. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37 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. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus* sent him away, saying, 39 ‘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 New Revised Standard Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989In the name of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
It is not that well received by a congregation, to begin a message with… “put your hands up if…”, but today I will…
Put your hand up if you found the gospel reading today shocking or disturbing?!
It is an amazing passage, that time when Jesus goes to the other side of lake Galilee by boat, and steps out onto land to be confronted by a man who had lived amongst the tombs for a long time. It is a passage that I have preached on before, found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, in one form or another.
Each time I have preached on this passage, I’ve thought to myself, this man is out there, living amongst the tombs, because he is a reject, uncontrollable, unwanted in the nearby town. In Mark’s Gospel, the same passage about this man reads… “when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones.” [Mark 5]
But of course, as we often do, we can read such passages about the way of Christ, and not be amazed, shocked, disturbed, at all.
And then a month ago, as I was driving, I heard a BBC radio programme…. About mental health throughout the world, and the story of one man from India….
As I listened, I thought to myself, I have read about this man, in the Gospels…. This is exactly the man from the country of the Gerasenes. And it is shocking. I’m going to play a portion of the programme for us to hear …, but I want us to hear about the man named Kashava… It’s about a man who was for 9 or 10 years kept in a room because his family over time could no longer deal with his behaviour and mental health issues as he became more and more violent and uncontrollable.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018vhb7]
Now that is shocking.
Isn’t that a contemporary account of the same man in today’s Gospel reading?
Now in today’s passage, the man is described as being possessed by demons and I am certainly not making any connection between mental health and demons; that would be very wrong. Yet we hear in that month old interview from India, the same tensions that existed 2000 years ago in the time and place of Jesus Christ, between religious beliefs and beliefs about medicine and science. At first the Indian man Kashava would have been treated by religious people, but then as we heard, the family sought medical treatment, and saw no real change in his behaviour, and of course, as we heard, the community would have encouraged “Magical religious” treatment. It would have been no different in the days of Christ, depending on what you believed, how much you could afford, and where you lived.
Do you remember the woman who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years, and comes into the crowd simply to touch the hem of Jesus cloak, believing that she would be healed…. She had spent everything she had on doctors and no one could cure her.
And let’s recall the passage of the man who had been begging by the pool of Siloam in Jerusalem for 38 years, along with many others, all who believed that the first person into the water when it bubbled up would be healed.
It’s the tension between the magical religious and the medical. We still live with this today to varying degrees, again depending on where you live, what you believe, and how much you can afford. In our part of the world, and in this age, we are fortunate to have great health care, with the support of modern medicine, but to varying degrees, many still rely on their faith at any time of health crisis. In other places in the world, where health care is not as available, people would rely almost completely on their religious beliefs.
Today’s passage from Luke, and the healing of the Garasean demoniac, is obviously not a passage affirming the medical, nor even the “Magical religious”, but an event from the life of Jesus that announces the way of God, the longing of God for people’s lives. It is a passage that deals both with the physical, but also with the spiritual.
It is like the woman who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years.
Like the man begging by the pool for 38 years.
Like the woman at the well.
Like the healing of the blind, or the lepers,
Like the feeding of the thousands,
Like the healing of the centurion’s daughter…
In each of these passages, we hear about both the physical and the spiritual, but all are events from the life of Jesus that announce the way of God, the longing of God for people’s lives, and most notably, the gathering of the least, into this act of God’s grace.
When I heard the BBC radio interview about the man in India… I thought I heard once more the liberating voice of Jesus…. But spoken through an Indian [Mayor.]
“Immediately I told my people to break open the wall… there were 2000 people gathered watching what we were doing…”
“Break open the wall”…
I imagine, that unlike the Garasean demoniac, the man from India, has not been cured, but he has been helped.
He has been set free, where once he was bound and confined.
He has been given dignity, where once he had none.
He has been given a name, where once he had no name.
He has been given back to his community, where once he was alone.
Again it is perhaps easy for us to read these passages and not be shocked or disturbed. Worse still; not be challenged or called to respond in our own lives and communities. And… if it is not us who are going to respond, then who will be able to say…
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim that the time of the Lord’s presence has come. [Luke 4 18 ff]
Amen.