“Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law…”
“As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him…”
To what are you beholden? What imprisons and guards you? What demons do you have? Or in more modern language, what controls your life?
The contemporary mature, American answer to that question is “Nothing! Nothing controls me. I am my own person, make my own decisions, I am in charge.”
But you know that’s not true. All of us respond to some sort of external controls. But we do have choices about which of these external pressures will have the greatest influence over our lives.
The first time I noticed that something had taken over my life was when I was about 19. I was still living at home, going to college a half hour’s drive away. My dad bought and fixed up an old baby blue Rambler for me to use to commute. I had been driving the family cars for years. I certainly knew how to put gas in the car, and I knew that a car needed periodic attention: new tires and so forth. But in general I was not responsible for those things. One of my parents might say, “Fill up the gas tank before you come home tonight.” Or Dad might say, “you can’t have the car on Sat. it needs an oil change.” But it was not until I began driving my very own car, that those concerns became mine and mine alone. Realizing that was a life-changing experience. I found I had to plan my whole life around the needs of a machine. I only got stranded on a dark country road about twice before I figured it out. It was up to me! I was the one who had to know when that car needed gas, oil, new tires, or an inspection. It was almost as if I was owned by the car instead of the other way round.
Of course, as we grow we do yield control of our lives in a variety of ways every day. We obey the laws of the state, we conform to the expectations of teachers and bosses, we join groups and organizations that require changes in our lifestyles. Sometimes control is taken from us. I remember the first time I ever experienced a really bad illness. I was in my teens, working for the summer as a camp counselor. Some sort of food poisoning ran like wildfire through the camp one day, and although the girls who were my responsibility were lying sick in the their cots, calling for their mothers, there was nothing I could do, because I too, was lying sick in my cot, grossly and unpleasantly sick, and unable to do anything about it. I was not in control
When Jesus stepped out of the boat into the country of Gerasenes, “which is opposite Galilee” he was making a choice about which forces would control his life. The land of the Gerasenes was Gentile territory. In leaving Galilee, Jesus chose to offer his ministry not just to the Jews, but to the whole world.
The man who met him there was also “opposite Galilee.” Everything about him went against Jewish law. He was unclean because he lived among the tombs, in the city of the dead. He was unclean because he was not clothed. And above all, he was unclean because he was inhabited by demons, evil forces that were beyond his control and had not yielded to any available treatment.
At this early point in Jesus’ ministry not many people were clear about the nature of his true identity. So it is shocking to hear, in this foreign land, the voice of the demon recognize and address Jesus with absolute correctness: “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
Jesus did not appear surprised. Instead, he asked, “What is your name?” It is recorded that the answer was “Legion.” Here is a hint that the writer of Luke has more than one agenda. The word “legion” immediately brings to mind the occupying force of Israel at the time, which was of course, Rome. Some would say that here the word is used simply to indicate that, since the number of men in a Roman legion was 6000, there were 6000 demons inhabiting the man. But consider what happens next:
The demons ask Jesus not to destroy them, but rather to let them live in the large herd of pigs grazing nearby. Now pigs were unclean according to Jewish dietary laws, but they were frequently used in Greek and Roman sacrifices, so they also served as a symbol of apostasy from Judaism and a symbol of Roman political power. When Jesus gave permission, the demons sought to save themselves by entering the pigs, but the pigs rushed into a lake and all were drowned, demons, pigs, the whole lot. Here is a fairly strong political statement about the relationship between the Jews and Romans, tucked away in the midst of this story. Here is a comment about some of the forces attempting to control the people in this land. The response of the local folk was immediate. They were Gentiles, not familiar with Jesus and his teachings,. They were afraid, very, very afraid. Was it possible that this man was here on their shores to raise an army, to attempt some kind of overthrow of the Roman government? They wanted no part of this. They begged him to get back in his boat and take his plans somewhere else.
And so he did. Meanwhile, the man who had been controlled by the demons was trying to catch up. Somehow, as the whirlwind of porkers rushed past on their way to lake, the man had been deposited right at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed, as sane as anybody else out there that day. I doubt if he understood what had happened, but he obviously understood that Jesus was the source of the great power that had entered and healed him. That was all he needed to know. He would have gladly spent the rest of his days sitting at Jesus’ feet. He would have given Jesus his life, for Jesus was the one who had saved it. But Jesus said there was a different mission needed. He sent the man back to his people, the Gerasenes, to tell them what God had done that day. The man went.
The man who lived among the tombs was not in control of his life, until he met Jesus. Part of the healing he received was a choice. He could have rejoined his family and become John Smith, ordinary citizen, or he could follow Jesus’ instructions and go about the country, telling everyone he met this extraordinary, almost unbelievable story. One might argue that he would have more control over his life if he took the first, less risky option. What do you think?
What demons do you have? What is controlling your life?
The churches in Galatia were a source of great frustration to Paul. The people there were mostly Gentiles. After founding the churches, Paul moved on to other missions. In his absence a whole assortment of Jewish-Christian teachers came to town, and attempted to persuade the Galatian Christians to follow various aberrations of the law. Our reading today contains the climax, the battle cry of Paul’s argument to his people. Paul insists that righteousness, that is, right relationship with God and one another, is not dependent on observance of the Jewish law but rather on God’s promise and its fulfillment in Christ Jesus. You are no longer bound – you are free, he tells them over and over. You are not defined by your religion, your ethnic background, your gender. You are only defined by your faith. Will you belong to Christ? That is the only question that needs to be answered.
What imprisons you? What discipline do you follow?
At first glance, today’s lessons seem to promise instant gratification. The man rushed toward Jesus, the demon cried out, Jesus spoke, and it was done. The evil was gone. Such a story is hard to reconcile with reality in today’s world. As I face a friend struggling with the demon of addiction to alcohol, how I wish I could promise an instantaneous cure. How I wish I could say to that demon “be gone in the name of Jesus!” and know it would go.
But I can say this to my friend: believe in Jesus, be baptized, become part of the Body of Christ and the Body of Christ will bring Christ’s healing to you. Here within the Body are others struggling with this same demon. Every Monday night, the O. Henry AA group meets downstairs in Broome Hall. The people gathered there are finding freedom, one day at a time. So can you.
That is the message of our readings today: believe in Jesus. Belong to Jesus, and Jesus will care for you, heal you, love you.
It is such a simple message, but it is not an easy choice. G.K. Chesterton once said: “The Christian life has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” We do have choices – we can try to control our lives by ourselves; we can give control of our lives to some other entity; or we can give our lives to Jesus. An AA counselor I knew used to say: “It’s not necessary that you believe in God. What’s necessary is that you know you’re not God.” When we place ourselves in charge of our own lives, we are acting in place of God, and it will not work for long. When we allow our jobs, our families, our struggle for security, our desire for status or power to control our lives, we are putting those things in place of God, and it will not work for long. Even the things that come unbidden: the horrendous illness, the loss of partner, lover, job, or fortune – even with these things we have a choice. They may change our behavior, but they do not have assume control unless we surrender to them, and if we surrender, then the illness, the loss, the tragedy becomes God. God is not death but life. God wills wholeness and health for us – even in the midst of a world of pain, oil spills, wars and suffering. Indeed, in the midst of it all, the only choice that is guaranteed, the only choice that will work not just for a lifetime but forever is to give our lives – wholly, completely, totally – into the hands of the One who created us, redeemed us, and will sustain us to eternity. It is not an easy choice, but it is a choice filled with grace.
May God give us the courage to go forth this day and like the Gerasene demoniac, proclaim throughout the city exactly how much God has done for us.