Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost
Do Not Torment Me
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Jesus was having quite a week. Warn out from teaching and healing, Jesus and his disciples had spent the night traveling by boat across the Sea of Galilee. But, it had not been a restful trip! Storms got were so bad that the frightened disciples woke Jesus up from what must have been a much-needed sleep and asked Jesus to save them, which, of course, is exactly what Jesus did.
Now they have traveled through that stormy night to the other side of the sea to the country of the Gerasenes, people who were foreign to them, non-Jews, people who did not know about Jesus and God. And in that land, another sort of storm awaited them.
As they arrived in this new, foreign country, just as Jesus stepped out on land, a man of the city who the text tells us “had demons,” this man met Jesus. It seems this man was even waiting for Jesus.
Then the text tells us this man’s story. For a long time, he had worn no clothes, and did not live in a house but in the tombs. When this man 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." Apparently, not recorded in our text, apparently Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. This spirit had so tormented this man that he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles. So bad was his mental illness that the text tells us this man would break the chains and shackles and be driven by his demons into the wilds.
Jesus asked this man, "What is your name?" The man, or his demons, responded with one word, "Legion" from the Roman army term for 5,000 soldiers, for so many demons had entered him. The demons then begged Jesus not to order them to go back into the abyss.
Now there on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So, Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd of pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
When the swineherds, the owners of all the now-dead pigs, when they saw what had happened, they ran off and told everyone they met in the city and in the country this terrible thing which had happened to them and their pigs. Naturally, people then came out to see what had happened, everyone loves to see a disaster, but when they came all they saw was with the man from whom the demons had gone now sitting at Jesus’ feet. The man was now clothed and in his right mind. This was the town crazy man and he was crazy no longer. Seeing this, the text tells us that the people were afraid. Those who had witnessed this man’s healing by Jesus now told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.
Then what did the people do, did they thank Jesus that he had cured his man’s mental illness and, obviously, made their lives easier by not having to deal with a crazy man? No, the text tells us that the people, not just some people, but all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, so much had this man’s miracle healing by Jesus frightened them. Not wanting to be where he was not welcome, Jesus got into the boat and returned to the other side of the lake.
Just before Jesus left, the man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus told him no and said, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So, the now-healed man went away proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Now that is quite a story!
Imagine with me for a moment:
His mother would have gazed in wonder as she nursed him a long time ago. He would have seemed perfect to her. Maybe as a little boy, he would have pleaded for mercy as his father tickled him. I wonder if he ever had a first kiss or learned to fish? Did he ever have the chance to lie in a hushed field and count the stars at night? Where did they go wrong? Did someone hurt him? Was he neglected? Something must have happened. He always was a little off. Do you think he was married? I bet she left with the kids. I wouldn't blame her.
Something terrible had happened to this Gerasene man.
Now he was naked as a jaybird, dirty as a pig, shameful really. Crazy as a loon, whacked out of his mind, coo-coo, lost his marbles. As long as we can talk about his demons, we don't have to face our own, do we? Problem is, he's so gone we can no longer keep him under control. Even though we've gone to great lengths to keep him away from us, he's causing problems. So, we do what we have to do; change the locks, turn him over to the officials, cut him out of our lives, chain him up, and pretend he never existed.
Is he a dead man walking or a living ghost? He dwells in a tomb with chains and shackles and guards. Yet no one can keep him restrained, and he won't shut up!
In Mark's version of this story this man howls day and night. Mark includes an even more heart-breaking detail – this man self-mutilates by beating himself with stones. Does he bruise himself because he is tormented or because he just wants to feel something he can control? By any and all accounts, this man is beyond saving.
We all have demons. Of course, instead of addressing them head on, we often go to great lengths to avoid them and silence them and control them and, if all else fails, escape them: voices, feelings, out-of-control thoughts, habits, all those fragile parts of our hearts and our minds and bodies we thought we had control over.
We all have demons, which is probably why Jesus made the trip to a spiritually unclean, Roman occupied, gentile town full of swine herders in the first place. Jesus had a point to make: no one is so unclean. No one is out of God's reach. But, of course, like the Gerasenes, we really do not want to hear that word of grace and love. If we just keep this dirty, crazy, homeless, dude is out of sight, we can keep pretending we have our act together. Let's talk about him, shame him, blame him, try to fix him, control him and then, let's refuse to acknowledge he exists.
Meanwhile, one drink to take the edge off, another to unwind, and a third for numbness. Watching internet videos, playing online games, smoking some pot, doesn't it all basically work the same way? We all have demons. We can crawl into our beds and weep for days without explanation. Uncontrollable panic can attack us without warning. Fear or grief can lead us to the darkest tombs.
Sometimes it's impossible to escape or control these mighty storms, so we might try to control or escape other things instead. Stop eating or eat too much. We may not have the energy to move, or we might exercise or work or shop too much. And when all else fails, we resort to blaming our children or partners or parents. Nobody wants to face their own demons.
But it seems this man, this man has nothing else to lose and nowhere to go. His demons are so powerful and all-consuming all he can do is break free from the shackles, flee into the desert and hope he might outrun them. He was certainly strong enough to deal with the chains, and he was used to being isolated, too.
But no one can face demons alone.
So, this time, this man finds Jesus and throws himself to the ground as if somewhere buried deep within his soul, a faint whisper of hope remains. Somehow, hope is still in there. Perhaps this man was so broken it was obvious that he had no power over these voices and no pride to pretend otherwise. Even in this state of skepticism and desperation, probably because of it, the man proclaims Jesus as the Son of God. How in the world does he even know who Jesus is? He probably was not expecting much. It was as if he was testing, begging and smack-talking Jesus all at once. I wonder, what does it take for folks like you and me to drop to our knees and say, "Here I am, Son of God, what are You going to do with the likes of me?"
Jesus' choice to annihilate the demons was not dependent on what this desperate man did or did not know in the midst of his crisis. This man did not ask Jesus to save and heal him. There is no mention of him accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior either. Jesus just loved him and healed him.
Jesus asks the man his name, but the man responds with the names of his demons. "Legion," they announce themselves with great vigor, "We are like 5,000 Roman soldiers attacking this man from the inside out!" There is no way this man's momma named him Legion! It would be as if we stood before a baptismal font with a precious baby and called him, Depression or Addiction. Legion cannot be this man's name. God knows us and loves us for who God created us to be.
This gentile man would not have known of God's promise through the prophet Isaiah who says, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name,” but Jesus is on the shoreline anyway.
You see, society has it all wrong! Our human struggles, illnesses and weaknesses - they do not define us. After proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God, this man falls to his knees and names his demons.
If you have ever been to a 12 step meeting, you know what I am talking about. Folks in recovery introduce themselves at meetings by sharing their God-given authentic name and then stating their addiction. Right then, the demons begin losing their power. Where two or three are gathered, the demons know the gig is up.
Overdose and addiction is the number one cause of death in Americans under age 50. We don't talk about it, but almost 15% of us will develop a substance abuse issue at some point in our lives. Did you know those tiny vaping Juuls hold the equivalent of 20 cigarettes of liquid nicotine each? 37% of high school seniors and over 10% of 8th graders vape. Over half of us have a close relative suffering from dependency, addiction or abuse. One in every five adults has a prescription for opioids, and almost 70% of all drug related deaths involved opioids.
Here's the thing. Not only will Jesus will meet us in our darkest tombs, but Jesus comes with a promise that our lives will not stay the same. That is certainly Good News for the naked, demented guy, but perhaps we should consider what this means for us. You see, we don't mind sending a little food up the hill. We don't mind paying the soldiers to guard him. We'll even pay for new shackles every time they get shattered. But now, Jesus is harnessing and demonstrating a power so threatening to our hierarchy and our need for control, that we do not even stop to celebrate this man's restoration to a life of wholeness. We are offended! We are angry!
Evidently, it cost more than we considered. Are we sure this man's life is worth 600 pigs? After all, they weren't our demons. Someone owned those pigs. Someone raised those pigs. We were planning to feed our families and to make a huge profit from those pigs! Who is going to compensate for economic impact of our loss? Are we expected to pay for his sins? Why are we required to cover the cost of his restoration?
Well, we, you and I, we are from the west side of that lake. We know about that promise Isaiah was talking about. We were on the boat when Jesus calmed the storm. We witnessed Jesus turning out enough bread to feed 5,000 people. We shouted, "Hosanna" and cried, "Crucify Him." We wept. We peered into the empty tomb. We know the living Christ.
If we, the Church, dare confess Jesus Christ as the Son of our Lord Most Hight, then you tell me, what are we to do with that man in the tombs?
The truth is, at least 50% of us have suffered mental illness, or will, at some point in our lives, and yet fewer than half will ever have access to professional care. More than half of all U.S. counties do not even have a psychiatrist. Treatment for addiction is such a luxury, that only 10 percent of those with an addiction receive any type of treatment.
We can hear Martin Luther King Junior ringing in our ears:
Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
They beg Jesus to leave that town, and the restored man pleads to go with him! But no, this man is instructed to stay and share his story of redemption. The restored man has some Good News to share in a community of unbelievers.
In Christ we find the courage and strength to face our demons together, and, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called by name and set free. In this Gospel truth, we are called to cross the sea, to the east side, to address the demons of those who have not had access to the power of the knowledge of such love.
There is nothing you can do, nowhere you can go, no tomb dark enough, no sin too dirty, and no demon too powerful to separate you from the love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can separate us from God’s love.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Lori Raible and the Day1 radio ministry).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, June 22 & 23, 2019
