An Unusual Kindness
By Caroline Dean
June 23, 2013
Luke 8: 26-29
[ Audio
(mp3, 7.0Mb) ]
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A reading from Luke 8:26-29
Then
Jesus and the disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes,
which is opposite Galilee. As Jesus 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. 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'— 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.) Jesus
then asked him, ‘What is your name?' He said, ‘Legion'; for many demons had
entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
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. 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.
When the swineherds saw what had happened,
they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 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. Those who had seen it told them how the
one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 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. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might
be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘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.
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e disciples are “on their toes” - they are in an unknown land on the “other side of the tracks.” This is a town of Gentiles, non-Jews, who raise pigs, which Jews don't eat and call “unclean.” And to top if off, the second Jesus' foot hits the ground –in this strange land – he encounters a man with demons.
I'm
sure the disciples are thinking, “Of course, this makes sense, no big deal, a
man with demons. This happens all the
time back home. It's cool. We got this…” Or the disciples are terrified. This
isn't just a man with demons. This is
man with a “legion” or over 6,000 devils haunting him. This is a man who lives in the tombs, naked,
bound in chains and the people in town have to hire a guard to watch over this
man. This is scary.
When
the disciples see this man in his exposed state screaming at Jesus, they probably
think “these people on the other side of the lake are in serious need of some
help! They live in tombs and they run
around naked and out of their mind?” They have just walked into a horror
story. If I think about it too long my
skin will start to crawl and images from all those scary movies that I watched
too early on as a kid pop into my head.
If
I am in the disciples' shoes I want to sprint to the boat! The problem with this moment is that if we
run away and let it be a formative moment it teaches us to equate difference
with demons; the unknown with something that will hurt us. Instead of letting the unknown be vulnerable
moment & also a moment of faith.
Jesus
has a different reaction to this man. The man with the devils falls at Jesus
feet and says to Jesus in a loud booming voice, “leave me alone” which is again
pretty scary and also exactly what the disciples want to hear to give them permission to get out of town. But for some reason Jesus has the courage and
an unusual source of kindness and he sticks around.
And
he asks the man “What is your name?” And
it only gets creepier, the man says “Legion” which means that he has a lot of
demons. “Legion” refers to a Roman army
of around 6,000 troops. So again, this
is not encouraging information, this man is battling not just a demon or two,
but six thousand. If I am a disciple, I
have one foot on the ground and one foot on the boat ready to head home. Just say the word Jesus. But this is the terrifying piece of this
story-this man has lost his true identity and knows himself and names himself
just as everyone else has – by his illness, by his legion of demons. How many of those who suffer in our world are
defined solely by their suffering “label”, alcoholics, schizophrenics, addicts,
homeless, illegal immigrants, and terrorists. We give them one story. We give them one name and they are defined by
their struggle. We ignore the complexity
and the beauty in their lives that grants them strength in the struggle. People
are defined by the taboo “demons” that push them to the margins and we ignore
the parts that make them human. And
then we run away.
But
Jesus stays. Which may be the most
important moment of unusual kindness this story – just staying - because Jesus'
presence disturbs these demons so much so that they ask to go into this herd of
pigs on the hillside, because they are afraid of Jesus. And so he says “ok.” And here comes another bizarre scene, the tradition
says that 2,000 pigs are overcome by these devils and head straight into the
lake and drown. Now I assume that in New
Jersey we don't often encounter a squealing pig but if you have had this
experience it is quite memorable.
On
my first trip to Nicaragua with Peaceworks we were in
a rural area in the mountains and we were shopping for handicrafts and enjoying
a lovely afternoon, only to hear this tortured creature making high pitched
otherworldly noises down the street as if it was fighting for it's life. Seriously
I would have guessed that someone was killing something. And it turned out that it was a pig, being
strapped to the roof of bus that would take it to be sold at the market. And this pig was not very happy, it was
making these unearthly noises that again made my skin crawl and I certainly
felt sorry for the pigs unhappiness, which I'm sure continued all the way down
the mountain.
All
that to say, that from my experience one pig, made quite a scene, you could
hear it's squeals all over town and it demanded your attention. That pig was out of his mind trying to
survive, desperate for help. Now
multiple that sound, that experience, times two thousand pigs running down a
hill and drowning violently. This is an
image that sticks with me, because this man, this man who had been plagued by
devils, had been living with that chaos inside of his head, in his body, in his
relationships, in his soul; that intensity, that desperation, that insane and
awful reality. And we can't handle that
level of pain, so we don't know how to be kind to men like this.
And
then we have the pig herders, who come on the scene pretty quickly. Except these folks are much more invested in
the wellbeing of their herd of pigs. They come out and only add to the chaos, with tears and shouts they
grieve the loss of their entire source of income, the loss of financial
stability that will impact generations. Their lives are turned upside down by this foreign visitor named Jesus.
And
so the people kick Jesus out of town. Now I wonder if you had a healer, teacher and demon exorcist in town –
wouldn't you take advantage? And maybe
ask him to have a couple beers, see if he could help out your relatives and
friends who are sick or outcast? Also
wouldn't they be glad that Jesus healed the creepy naked guy wandering in the
cemetery? Wouldn't they be glad to stop
worrying about steering their kids away from the part of town? So why this big push to get rid of
Jesus? Jesus is the one who helps
alleviate their fears, right?
Who
knows why – the obvious reason is that they are afraid that Jesus will kill
more livestock and financially ruin the entire town. But I also think there is something scary and
powerful about this idea that when Jesus comes to town suddenly demons are
being cast out and into things! Now
demons are flying. Are the demons now contagious? Is Jesus to be trustworthy in this role? Will Jesus attract more crazy people to their
town? After all he just murdered a
gaggle of pigs and put a family in financial ruin – who cares about the crazy
guy who lives in the tombs – what about everyone else? They shout, “leave us alone Jesus!”
Again,
the disciples are hoping, maybe this time that they can “jump ship” and leave
this strange place behind. And this time
they get their wish.
But
first the man who had been plagued with demons says, “Jesus – can I come with
you?” Because you see he is now clothed
and in his right mind, of course he would want to follow his miraculous
healer. But Jesus says, “stay, return to
your home and share with everyone how God has healed you.” In many ways it would be easier for him to
start over, the guy with the demons, but Jesus says, “stay.” And when he makes his home at home, he has to
face the realities of his own community. He has to face those who shunned him and those who will continue to shun
him. He has to face those whom he hurt
while he was under the influence of the demons. And this path – although it is harder in many ways – promotes the most
healing. On this path he has to face the challenge of forgiving himself and
forgiving others and vulnerably asking others to forgive him. And forgiveness-forgiveness is the real
secret to exorcising our scariest demons.
So
the first question that this story brings up for me is simply this: why are we
so afraid of mental illness, schizophrenia, depression, bi-polar, addiction, those
who are institutionalized. What do you
think?
I
wonder if we are afraid of mental illness and those on the margins of the
margins of society because these people remind us of our own demons, our own
frailty. They remind us that sometimes
things get cast upon you and sometimes it is utterly out of your control. Maybe we are afraid on some subconscious
level that if we hang out with the frail, the dying, the mentally ill – with
anyone who struggles with the demons that plague all of us, - if we hang out
with these people we wonder if their suffering will get cast upon us. Their death reminds us to face our own. Their baggage, their fears remind us all to
face our own demons – which isn't a very pleasant reminder!
The
last question that I will leave you with is simply this:
How
is Jesus able to tap into some source of unusual kindness towards this tortured
soul? Apparently 4 out of 5 people will
root for an underdog in sport's settings (see Scott Allison's research on
underdogs at the University of Richmond). But my theory is that our bias for the one who is supposed to lose only
goes so far – think about the most taboo people - those on the margins of the
margins of society (i.e. addiction, mental illness, prisoners,
terrorists). When our own psychological
and physical security is at risk, another part of our brain takes over and
says, “stay away from that person” and a part of us begs those kinds of people
to “leave us alone.” So what gives Jesus
a different perspective? What allows him
to tap into such brave kindness?
My
theory is simple Jesus is somehow able to see through our legions of demons,
the pains and the baggage that haunt us – that we collect over a lifetime – and
despite all of those demons he can still see our true selves. Jesus can see what we struggle to see. In all of the chaos of this story, the pigs
squealing, the demons begging, the disciples freaking out inside, the pig
herders weeping, depite all of this – Jesus is able
to see this man's legions of demons that haunt him and he is also able to see
the man's true self. Jesus sees this
man's humanity, his connection to all of us. Jesus sees this his goodness. Jesus sees that this man is beloved by God and that he is created to be
beautiful and to be cherished. And so
the kindness in Jesus reaches out to the true self in this man and he draws the
man's true self forth. That is the
miracle!
What
are the 6,000 devils that plague you? And how can we love each other and love the least of these while
acknowledging our demons alongside our true selves? How can we receive Jesus' miraculous kindness
in our most unlovable hidden places? How
can we be a catalyst for unusual kindness in the world?
For
me this story boils down to something pretty simple, if God's love can cast out
a man's legion of 6,000 devils, then God can love you as you struggle with
yours. This story reminds me that God's
love is tough, and resilient, that God specializes in unusual kindness.
I
wanted to leave you with this poem: *
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Delivered
by Jan Richardson
From the hundred wants
that tug at us.
From the thousand voices
that hound us.
From every fear
that haunts us.
From each confusion
that inhabits us.
From what comes
to divide, to destroy.
From what disturbs
and does not let us rest.
Deliver us, o God,
and draw us into
your relentless
peace.
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From Jan Richardson's website:
http://paintedprayerbook.com/2013/06/16/delivered/#.Uch5xs2GgU4
