A man named Legion

When I was a student in theological college, we had a day in homiletics (preaching) class where we had to call in and talk to a talk show host about this awful incident of losing the community’s pig herd because of something a fellow named Jesus and his rescue a poor fellow who had been possessed. There was lots of laughter as we had our roles assigned, and uproarious laughter as each of us called in to the show from our imaginary community “out around the bay” to talk to “Bill” (which was extra funny because our professor was a woman). If you want to check it out try this link: http://www.vocm.com/mediaplayer/player.asp The shows are on from 9am to 1130am, 2-4pm and 8-10pm weekdays. Listen carefully to what is going on in the world when you do this!

We did this exercise for a simple reason... It got the class to look at a story of the Gospels from different angles. This in turn, helped us to see Jesus, the possessed man and the community involved in a variety of ways.

The story this Sunday is about Jesus and the disciples crossing the lake to get to a gentile area so that Jesus could have time to teach them before he sets out for Jerusalem and the cross. It is the only time that he makes this kind of trip; the only time he heals one person. Jesus tells that one man to “Go home and tell home much God has done for you”. The story is a foreshadowing of the mission of the 70 and of the events around the transfiguration which will happen in chapter 9.

What does the story tell us?

·         There is the disciples of Jesus who are silent witnesses of this act though they were in full flight in the boat, fearing that they were about to drowned because of the storm and the lack of response of Jesus until he is aroused from his nap on the pilot’s cushion. It leaves the disciples wondering what kind of Saviour is Jesus, because he commands creation and it obeys him.

·         There is the community and the people who live on that side of the Lake who may or may not have heard about Jesus until he arrived on their shore. They didn’t know why they had lost their herd and thus their income. They were fearful of what they had seen and heard and wanted nothing more to do with Jesus. They asked him to go way so that they wouldn’t suffer anymore. They had suffered in trying to deal with this man who had been occupied by evil. The people had tied him up, bound him with ropes and chains and yet he could still free himself. They were genuinely afraid of him and what he could do to himself and to them.

·          There is the man named Legion. Jesus came to rescue him and to make him whole. He was not just possessed when Jesus came to free him, Legion was occupied. More than likely he had been taken to exorcists by family and friends, only to find that at some point, this man was to fall back under the control of evil and have the situation worse than it was before.  It is both devastating and harsh that this man had been robbed of everything that made him human and himself, including his own name. The personal evil within answers for him with their own name. The man is totally enslaved to evil; totally occupied by a legion and therefore claimed territory of evil.

And remember something important: “God has visited and redeemed his people”. Luke makes this bold statement here to help the readers of the Gospel to understand that the good news that is proclaimed about Jesus is not just for one, or for some but for all. The world and some within the Church are going to have a real struggle with the idea that there is a personal form of evil. Often people will think and say that disease is a human thing. Physical, mental, spiritual disease can have human sources but there is a force at work in the world that would see you separated, alienated from the One who has created and is redeeming you. We acknowledge this in our baptism service, renouncing Satan, the spiritual powers and sinful desires that would corrupt and destroy us as creatures of God. The thief comes for nothing but to kill to steal and to destroy but Jesus comes that we might have life and have it more abundantly. We need to be freed from those things that possess us, enslave us, and even occupy us. Freedom is not a DIY project. We need others, and in particular we need to be visited by God so that we can be set free. We need divine mercy, grace, compassion and love in our lives. In short, we need God. God visits all of his people and redeems them. Even if it only one person and that person by worldly standards is deemed to be a hopeless case, God works to move us from being occupied by evil by transforming us into the likeness of Jesus and into being his people, his children. For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost (Lk.19.10)

God comes to cast out the demons, to restore our identity as his own people and to remind us that he does visit and redeem his own because we are his and no other’s.

Jason+