Reading: Luke 8:26-39
Let us pray: May we hear your word for us today O God and
may we respond in generous faith to all you require of us in Jesus name. Amen.
Jesus asked the
man: ‘What is your name?’ He replied:
‘Legion’ meaning many were influencing his life, or in other translations ‘Mob’
giving some indication of the sense of helplessness over the rampaging horde.
‘I no longer know
who I am’ is his silent cry – the cacophony of voices in my head means I can no
longer hear myself. My name has been
taken over by the multitude, the mob.
A man in deep
distress, out of control, violent, driven and yet directionless, naked,
chained, pleading for his life back before Jesus. It is an evocative passage we have heard read
from Scripture today, and with some quite troublesome detail in it.
As is often the
case with bible readings, it is very easy to get bogged down in detail such as
debating what is meant by demons and do they exist today, or why the pigs – not
very thoughtful for the owners and to allow oneself to be persuaded by demons –
what was happening there? But I don’t
think that would be particularly helpful – so I am going to leave that for you
to ponder in your own time if you are interested and rather pursue the question
I began with: What is your name? Jesus asking us ‘what is your name?’
It seems
particularly appropriate to ask this question on a day in which we have
received James into the body of the Church, because in the act of baptism we
are shaping the name of who James is to be.
And we are encouraging him to hear particular voices – that of Jesus
Christ, that of loving family, that of his church family. That man in chains, naked, demented: his
voices were altogether different tearing him apart, driving him to acts of
violence and, as said in the Message translation of this passage, ‘screaming
and bellowing before Jesus ‘What business do you have messing with me?’[1] Filled with hate, yet somewhere inside
knowing enough of himself to get his out of control body into the path of
Jesus. To bring himself to Jesus
attention. Now that is something to
ponder is it not? That the meeting was
instigated by the man rather than the demons – because the recognition of the
danger and power of Jesus was immediately obvious to the mob voices within but
maybe somewhere in there was a small voice of remembrance of self that insisted
on the encounter.
I cannot help but
think of the young man whose act of unbelievable horror and violence has led to
such pain and devastation in Orlando. I
cannot help but recognise him as someone who had his own demons driving him to
do things and wonder if he too had a small voice inside that just wasn’t able
to speak into the rage and hatred that consumed him to the point of absolute
inhumanity.
When the demons
had gone from the man, people came and saw his sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Or as the Message puts it:
wearing decent clothes and making sense’.
And the people’s response? It is
interesting again to compare translations: NRSV says ‘And they were
afraid.’ Eugene Peterson puts it this
way: ‘It was a holy moment, and for
a short time they were more reverent than curious.’
What difference if
the perpetrators of hate filled violence had been instead ‘in their right
mind’? What would be in this world if
the voice of God, not twisted extremism had been the voice that guided their
lives?
And so the
question can be legitimately asked of all of us. What is your name? Is it ‘Mob’ or ‘Legion’ or
is it ‘Christian’?
It’s a challenging
question for sure. For several reasons.
How do we define
mob today? Sure we know it as extremism
but is it also consumerism, prejudice, apathy and all those other things that
keep us separated from God, that give power to other voices to take us over?
We asked just this
question at the first Wednesday Worship but coming from a different angle? What is it that shows we are Christian? Are there certain behaviours we would expect
to see in those who profess to follow Jesus and does it compromise our
integrity as Christians if we don’t. And
particularly with reference to Romans 12, we explored how we show our belief of
God with us to the world. In the end it is whose we be that shows the world who
we are. The voice of God within enables us to be the loving of God without.
And the ‘what is
your name?’ question becomes especially challenging if we believe that the
legion of voices that destroy and devastate can be expelled by Christ. That means that we must hold out hope that
there may be a spark of connection with God for the gravest of criminals, for
the vilest of deeds – and that is a huge ask for some of us. It means that we
cannot indulge in huge sweeping statements of derision or judgement because we
do not know God’s capacity to cleanse and heal.
It means that we must leave judgement to God for we do not know.
It is challenging
to for us to remain within the community in which we might have been found
wanting – to stand up to the doubters and the finger pointers and whispered
‘isn’t that the one who…..’ and it is a
challenge to the community to not be the doubters and the finger pointers and
the whisperers when someone is struggling to know their name in the midst of
compelling legions of noise.
It means we must
recognise the cacophony of voices in our own lives and know when they are of
Christ and when they are other. That
perhaps is the most difficult for most of us because those voices can be very
subtle, persuasive, compelling. Just a
little tweak here and there – a small withholding of generosity or compassion,
an occasional foray into prejudice or blanket judgement, an acceptance of
unjust practice or unfair policy because in the end it doesn’t really affect
us, here, today.
And probably the
final challenge (although there are plenty more I am sure) is the way in which,
knowing our name is ‘Christ follower’, life becomes incredibly disruptive and
often uncomfortable for us. When we
accept recognition of the healing and saving grace of God in our lives our
human instincts sometimes drive us in different directions where alternate
voices are always hovering, happy to leap in at the slightest chance. And not listening to those voices will bring
us in conflict with a world does listen very closely to them sometimes. I loved the blessing that Joy Cowley
gives: ‘May the peace of Christ
profoundly disturb us all’.
So, showing
infinite compassion whilst abhorring the violence of extremism is something we
would all struggle with. But what we can
avoid is responding with hatred, sweeping judgement, uninformed prejudice –
giving space within us for the voice of fear to take over.
Being the people
of Jesus and showing this in our words and actions is not always easy. But what we can reject is thinking that we
don’t need to try, that someone else will do it better or we might be taken
into uncomfortable places.
Figuring out if
the voices within that control our living are of God or otherwise calls for
both vigilance and the renewing of our baptismal promise every day. But what we don’t do is think that we can do
it on without regular prayer and worship and community, God with us. It was the belief of the day of Jesus that
evil spirits cannot survive in water – so they struggle to survive in a life
lived immersed in the love of God.
And for this we
give thanks to God. Amen.
Margaret Garland
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