“Name your demons”. A reflection for Pentecost 2.
Today it might be helpful to begin with a little geography lesson.
The sea of Galilee is roughly oval in shape. It is 21 kilometres long and 11 kilometres across. It is a four hour boat trip from top to bottom for the sea of Galilee and the voyage is fraught with danger.
In today’s story Jesus begins right at the top of the sea of Galilee and he travels all the way down to the bottom to the country of Gerasenes.
Its quite a feat and it would have been a whole lot easier for Jesus not to have made this trip at all. Surely there would have been heaps of other people to see, heal, feed and teach.
So the first point I make is that Jesus went out of his way to visit this tormented man. We are reminded that the Master Healer will go to any length, to any place, to seek out and heal those who are tormented.
The Gospels don’t say how Jesus heard about this guy but it is very clear this is why he made the ferry crossing. As soon as he lands there, Jesus is met by this man, and as soon as he has accomplished this exorcism he leaves.
The One through whom all things were made, went into the country of the Gadarenes in order to rescue this one solitary wretched man. The demoniac is not an interruption or a kindly detour. This was always going to be part of Jesus’ itinerary.
Now as Jesus steps ashore the demon shouts "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
Knowing your opponent's name was regarded as a means of establishing dominance. The demons seek to establish power over Jesus by stating his name. But Jesus turns the tables on on him and asks ‘What is your name?’ Jesus demands their name and the demons submit to him. And we know how the rest of the story goes. The man is exorcised and the local swine herd go for a dip in the ocean.
It’s a splendid piece of pastoral work and you would have thought that everyone would want to get Jesus to stay on for a bit. But not so. They implore him to leave. Why?
Well for one thing the owner of the herd of pigs would not have been impressed. He was probably just fattening up his swine for market next week when… hey presto … next month’s income vanishes thanks to that intruding, uninvited Jesus guy.
Further we are told that the locals were full of fear. Fear of the outsider, fear of someone and something different, fear of relinquishing that which is comfortable and known. And the fears that they could not or would not name.
The ‘Outsider Jesus’ confronts this community just as surely and effectively as the foreigner, the newcomer, the interloper confronts us. We fear disruption and we are challenged when what has always been unshakeable comes crashing down around our ears. The outsider coming from outside of our perspective and our world makes our certainties rumble and quiver. And while this may be disquieting and unsettling it will also do us a whole lot of good.
For the healed man, Jesus being encouraged to get back on the ferry must have been quite sad. His hero and healer was leaving him.
My guess is that there are times when we are like the healed man. It seems that we are the only people who ‘have got it’. The more insidious truth is that there are times when we send Jesus away. Yes there is some lovely gooey yummy stuff but messing with my whole life Lord, that’s just a bridge too far. Am I really prepared to change… everything?
My name is legion… for I am many.
Do we know the names of our personal demons? Can we identify the ones in our community? Can we name them, for in naming them, we confront them and in confronting them, we banish them? And then we say sorry for the damage they have caused?
It is difficult to over emphasise the need for this process. To name our demons and say sorry when we have damaged our relationship with God and others.
We say sorry not to try and placate a grumpy God. The focus should always be on cementing, refreshing and renewing a friendship with the one who we have turned away.
The story of the demoniac is about the promise of God's ability to defeat and re-order the disordered powers that afflict individuals and communities
And if we read carefully, it will also teach us that our loving God has been searching us out, finding us, healing us, embracing us and reconciling himself to us, long before we realised how tormented we really were. Remember the perilous boat trip was 21 kilometres and four hours long.
Right at the end of today’s gospel the people ask The teacher to leave their neighbourhood… And he complies. The healed man begs to get on the boat with Jesus, but Jesus has a different plan for him. ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’
And if it is good enough for him…