Those Living Among Death

What do we do?

We could spend a couple of weeks dissecting this healing. Some have, and for good reason. Maybe someday I’ll take more than a day to linger over stories like this. But at the moment, the nature of this daily reflection is to read the whole of all four gospels in about eleven months.

So there’s a lot to consider about Jesus’ interaction with the Legion demons and the man they tormented. For today, the man’s social location jumps out. His life was relegated to living among the dead (where else could he go?). He had no “proper” social location. He had no clothes. And he had no home.

Take another moment to remember three of the five elements in Jesus’ stated mission: Good news to the poor. Release for the captives. Freedom for the oppressed.

The man’s long-standing possession by the many demons is interesting. Why him…over and over again? Why would they continue to come back to him and not some other persons? Consider something that plagues a whole lot of people today: why can some drink alcohol responsibly and others cannot? Why is opioid addiction so extensive? If you know anyone who has dealt with addiction, you know just how long the journey can be, full of ups and downs. From a distance, it looks irresponsible (and there are certainly elements of bad choice). But when we allow ourselves to get up close and personal (a difficult proximity, indeed), we see just how unfair addiction can be.

Jesus was not afraid to get near the demoniac. Whatever parallels we do or do not want to make between possession in the gospels and social and medical conditions today, in the end, Jesus’ willingness to draw near and do something about a difficult situation is clear.

We humans often look for explanations to assign blame, as if that could make the world feel safer. The pull and desire of defining culpability is strong in a world that wants to feel better about itself. Who knows…perhaps this man from Gergesa had done something initially that prompted these demons to take over his life.

Perhaps.

But it certainly doesn’t play a role whatsoever in Jesus’ decision to interact with him and heal him.

Jesus just did it.

The story reminds us that Jesus’ grace is not merit-based. He didn’t wait for the man to get himself together, put on clothes, or prove he was worth the effort. He stepped into the chaos, the stigma, and the brokenness and brought freedom. That is the good news we cling to: no one is too far gone, too complicated, or too messy for Jesus to cross the boundary and meet them where they are.

Can we, too, trust that same presence in our own places of struggle and to move toward others with that same courage and compassion?

Luke 8:26-39

Jesus and his disciples sailed to the Gerasenes’ land, which is across the lake from Galilee. As 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 had lived among the tombs, naked and homeless. When 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!” He 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 would be bound with leg irons and chains and placed under guard. But he would break his restraints, and the demon would force him into the wilderness.

Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had entered him. They pleaded with him not to order them to go back into the abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, and the demons left the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned.

When those who tended the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and told the story in the city and in the countryside. People 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. Those people who had actually seen what had happened told them how the demon-possessed man had been delivered. Then 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. The man from whom the demons had gone begged to come along with Jesus as one of his disciples. Jesus sent him away, saying, “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.

Psalm 107:10-16

Some of the redeemed had been sitting in darkness and deep gloom; they were prisoners suffering in chains because they had disobeyed God’s instructions and rejected the Most High’s plans. So God humbled them with hard work. They stumbled, and there was no one to help them. So they cried out to the Lord in their distress, and God saved them from their desperate circumstances. God brought them out from the darkness and deep gloom; he shattered their chains. Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all people, because God has shattered bronze doors and split iron bars in two!

Prayer

God,

I’m mindful of those who live in places of despair, rejection, addiction, and deep loneliness. But honestly, I don’t want to just think about them. I want to do something when it’s right and possible. I confess it’s easier to stand at a distance and wonder what choices brought them there than it is to step close with love. Actually, I’m often rather past that blame-game, but sit more comfortably in feeling like my arrival is enough to not do anything else about it.

Goodness…convict me, Lord. Move me to action and true compassion and not intellectual arrival.

Jesus reminds me that you shatter gates of bronze and break bars of iron not just in poems and psalms, but in actuality. Make it so in me.

Help us, too, in the crossings of seas to find one person who’s lost everything. Teach us to trust that same nearness today, your willingness to step into our chaos and to walk with us toward wholeness. Give us courage to move toward others with that same compassion, believing that no one is beyond your reach.

By your Spirit and in Christ,
Amen.