Rev’d Peter Balabanski
Pentecost + 2 C – 1 Kings 19 Ps 42-43 Gal 3 23-29 Luke 8 26-39
Last week as I read today’s Gospel story about the Gerasene demoniac, I recalled a Sanskrit translation I had to do many years ago. The English version went like this. Once there was a cave in the mountains which was infested by a certain demon. The idea of a demon infestation tickled me. It domesticates demons; it puts them on a par with cabbage moths or head lice. The Gospel accounts of Jesus healing the Gerasene demoniac similarly domesticate the infestation that calls itself Legion – at least for their original audiences. But I’ll get to that in a minute.
Our Gospel is one of three of today’s readings that say God calls us to confront oppression. Elijah confronts the infestation of his people by the corrupt, violent regime of Ahab and Jezebel. Paul tears his hair out because his infant church in Gentile Galatia has been infested by reactionary preachers. They harass his new Christians with calls to obey Hebrew law about food and circumcision. And in the Gospel, we’ve seen Jesus confronted by a man suffering from a very severe demonic infestation calling itself Legion. A Roman legion was made up of 4,000 to 6,000 soldiers. Imagine having so many voices getting at you. It’d be like living on social media. Elijah’s sound of sheer silence would be such a healing blessing!
People these days tend to describe the demoniac’s condition as a mental illness – possibly along with an ice habit to explain his amazing strength. We might also wish there was an RSPCA for the pigs. There’s quite a gap in understanding between us and the stotry’s original hearers. NT scholar Ched Myers sheds a very interesting light on this story. https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2016/06/16/confronting-legion/?utm_source=BCM+Email+List&utm_campaign=e3492ddd2e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_05_05_10_06_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a44c074ee8-e3492ddd2e-115903929#more-5405 Let me share some of his insights.
He reminds us that the area on the ‘opposite’ side of the lake from Galilee was a Roman colony called the Decapolis (Ten Cities). The colonists there were veterans who’d been granted other people’s land by the Roman Empire as payment for their military service. The man who confronts Jesus is a refugee displaced from his home – by what? He lives among the tombs in haunted exile. Myers sees in this story a parable of colonised peoples and those who displace them. The man’s been shackled and kept under guard. But he breaks free and escapes into the wilderness. We are to hear an echo of Israel’s escape from slavery in Egypt.
The demoniac addresses Jesus by title, Son of the Most High. When Jesus asks the demoniac to name himself, the demon gives his title as Legion. This is significant.
When the Gospels were being written, four Roman legions controlled the eastern border of the empire. And the one which controlled Israel and Judah was the 10th Legion.
Now you may know that Roman legions had animal mascot symbols – like some sports teams today. The symbol of the 10th Legion was – you guessed it – a running boar; a pig! So Luke is telling a double story; one of the healing of a man as a sign of hope for healing of a people? The Greek word that Legion uses to ask Jesus to send them into the pigs – agelē – is a common military expression – like the word dismiss can be used in English. And the now infested pigs run into the lake and drown themselves. The evangelist reminds us of Pharaoh’s army drowned in the Red Sea. Luke doesn’t feel our compassion for pigs. Unclean interlopers anywhere around the Holy land – pig or colonising army – were just not welcome.
But after the healing, the colonised locals are frightened. They ask Jesus to leave … now! Because Rome had taught them any rebellion would be met with ferocious revenge. They feared returning demons more than they marvelled at the healing. So Jesus left the healed demoniac to serve as his evangelist. It was a dangerous job.
This Gospel and our other scriptures today summon us to follow Jesus in bringing healing to those who need it. Ched Myers’ reading of today’s Gospel takes us from debating whether we can accept first century cosmology. Luke was perfectly capable of seeing parallels between the story of the Gerasene demoniac and the unjust political, military landscape of his time, and encoding the story with one of political rebellion. He had plenty of precedents in the Hebrew Scriptures. Elijah was called to anoint kings and a prophet who would end the rein of Ahab and Jezebel.
And Paul fiercely defended his flock from infestation by false, would-be alternate leaders. He proclaimed a new freedom in baptism that, strangely, the Church has always struggled to afford new Christians. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. Gal 3.27-29 You and I, God’s people, are called to resist infestation by the kinds of demons who are seizing power today.
We’re called to set people free from demons. Demon infestations take many forms – bad government, unjust social or financial structures, fears, lies, addictions – anything that chains people from within themselves. It’s a dangerous job. Amen