God Rushes In Where Angels Fear to Tread – sermon on June 19, 2016
Luke 8: 26-39 Jesus and his disciples arrived in the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in the tombs outside the town.
As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.
Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.
When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in the region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.
So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.
Sermon: God Rushes In Where Angels Fear to Tread by Rev. Doreen Oughton
So our story from Luke this morning begins with Jesus and his disciples arriving by boat to Gerasenes. They have crossed over from the region of Galilee – Capernaum and surrounding villages – where Jesus has been healing and teaching. His suggestion to the disciples to cross to the other side of the lake seems to come out of the blue. And while they are crossing over, Jesus settles in for a nap. A fierce storm comes up, flooding the boat and terrifying the disciples. They wake him, and he calms the storm, and on they go to Gerasenes, which was Gentile territory, inhabited by many more Greeks than Jews. I wonder why Jesus wanted to go there.
And when he arrives a naked, tormented man – a man, we are told, who is possessed by demons – approaches him. The translation we heard today says he was “met” by this man, but that seems so gentle a term considering the man’s behavior. As soon as he sees Jesus, he shrieks and falls. Now I don’t believe in demon possession, but I wonder if it could be a metaphor of sorts for how people can be out of their right mind; or a way to talk about / describe an intense inner conflict. The way the scripture says Jesus was met by this man makes me wonder if he went there specifically to see him, and to heal him. Perhaps Jesus heard his prayers, his cries of anguish. And Jesus knew somehow that the truest part of this man, his soul, perhaps, wanted healing, panted for God, and had dragged that legion of demons kicking and screaming to meet Jesus.
What a fight that must have been for him. This man had suffered so much for so long – homeless, naked, sometimes chained and shackled, isolated. That longing part of him is buried so deep that when asked his name, he says “Legion” because of the many demons. He identifies himself by his pain, by his deficits and ailments. They have come to define him.
We don’t usually call it demon possession these days, but we know of people who suffer this way. They may be possessed by the effects of trauma, violence, addiction, schizophrenia, even sociopathy. Others may fear them, or pity them, or hate them, and they don’t want to get too close. I think it’s important to understand that not only do others start to see people solely in terms of their struggles and suffering, but these suffering people come to define themselves in that way. But I believe that in all tormented souls there is a core, a true center that pants for God, that longs to be healed and reconciled, no matter how much they say, as Legion did – leave me alone.
Another thing that really intrigued me in this reading was the response of the townspeople to this healing. Just like Legion, they were afraid of Jesus and wanted him to leave them alone. Jesus left, but only after doing what I believe he went there to do. The townspeople may have been uncomfortable seeing Jesus there even besides the healing and the swine incident. Faithful Jews did not mix with Gentiles, it was unclean. And being around grave yards? Unclean. Interacting with a man possessed by unclean spirits? Unclean, unclean, unclean. So what is this Jewish rabbi doing in the last place he should be, talking with a legion of demons?
That’s the thing about God. God is always showing up where you don’t expect God would be, where you don’t think God should be. God’s wisdom and healing and welcome can come to and even through people who have expressed no interest whatsoever in getting to know God. At our worse moments, whether we are acting out, cursing God, in the depths of despair and doubt, God will meet us there, God will help us see past the identity of pain and struggle to our truest selves. God will heal and save us. And it’s not just like the father running out to meet the prodigal son who has repented and headed home. No, God doesn’t wait for us to make it most of the way to him before coming to meet us. God will go anywhere to reach and free and sustain us. There is no place that is “God-forsaken.”
We don’t have to go to the highest mountain, as the Psalmist sings. We don’t have to walk among crowds of worshipers. Wherever we are, in our discouragement and despair, in our wealth or poverty, we are not beyond God’s reach. Jesus tells us if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Another Psalm says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths of Sheol, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” That psalm talks about physical locations, but it is true of emotional and psychological locations also. If I am bitter and spiteful, you are there. If I am paranoid and mistrusting, your hand will guide me. If I am selfish and thoughtless, even then your right hand will hold me fast.
Sometimes our fears and doubts and stubbornness cause us to turn from God’s outstretched hand, but still God never takes that hand away. We may ask Jesus to leave us alone, not to torment us with his glorious light and truth and love, but we can’t keep him from coming, can’t keep him from seeing our pain and our need as well as our true selves, which are so much more, so much richer, than our pain and need. This truest part of ourselves is of God, and this is so for each and every one of us. We don’t have to earn God’s love. It is built into us. The philosopher Kierkegaard shared this image of God as a besotted lover ever poised to dance with us. We can offer no rejection of the dance that would be permanent in God’s eyes. There is no way to make God stop wanting to dance with us. At any time, in any circumstance we can take that divine hand and let ourselves glide into God’s perfect rhythm, and be led in the dance of a rich, abundant and eternal life. May it be so.
