Someone Stop the Voices in My Head and Give Me a Little Peace!

It wasn't until I sat with some friends to look at the passage, that I realized how sad one part of it really is. The healing of the Gerasene demoniac (Luke 8.26-39 and parallels) has always been one of my very favorite stories. 

Placed in its context, you have Jesus - just before our text (see Luke 8.22-25) - intentionally crossing over the lake from Jewish territory into Gentile territory...the gospel text actually says that he crosses over to the "country of the Gerasenes, which is OPPOSITE Galilee" (8:26)...To be sure, this is more than a geographical notation (I love this Jesus, constantly and intentionally crossing boundaries and reaching out to all of the "others."). And of course, there is a storm on the lake while they are crossing it - which has to be more than only a meteorological notation, because storms always arise when we try to cross over to those who seem opposite from us (NB that Jesus calms the storm - so that the crossing can continue). So...I am loving the set up for this story. Someone from a region opposite of Jesus' is healed of a disease that rendered him an outsider among outsiders. He is restored to his "right mind" and told to return home and declare there how much God has done for him. I love it! I love preaching those sermons about staying where you are and living your faith. So, I love this story. 

Anyhow, I was sitting with my pastor friends - certain that I was going to preach my "get-over-yourself-and-talk-about-God-and-what-God-has-done-in-your-life" sermon, when someone said, "What do you do with the answer the guy gives to Jesus' question (see verse 30), 'What is your name?'?" She said, "I mean...it's kind of sad." I'm sorry to admit that because I was so certain that I knew the story so well, I had never really thought all that much about that before. But, the more I read and studied, the more I realized that she was/is right. It is sad. His answer to Jesus' question, as you already know is "Legion" or "mob." 

One scholar says (Culpepper, Luke, New Interpreter's Bible), "With such a response, the man  had acknowledged that he no longer had any individual identity. He had lost his name. He had lost his individuality. All that was left was a boiling struggle of conflicting forces."  My friend Brian says that there are a lot of voices roaming around in one's life - either from within or without. I agree. There are a lot of voices that either play in our heads, or with which we are bombarded, which try to define us in a way that can cause our unique individuality to get lost. Things that make us lose our name. Whether it is the advertising that tells us that the way we are is not good enough, that we are lacking in some fundamental way, that unless we have this or that thing,we are not acceptable; or whether it is our work (from which we derive our identity. There is very real evidence of this right now, when so many have lost their jobs and no longer know who they are.); or whether it is our successes or failures or loves or losses or diagnoses, it is hard to remember who we are at our core. We, too, are "legion," possessed by many voices. And that is sad. 

But, what is interesting is that the very presence of Jesus threatens those possessing voices. The very presence of pure,unmitigated, unconditional, I-don't-care-what-your-job-is-or-what-kind-of-car-you-drive-or-the-mistakes-you've-made love drives them out. I mean that is radical! That kind of love can change the world. That kind of "I love you because of who you are in your created-ness" love, could save the world! We would no longer have to put other people down to feel better about ourselves. We would no longer have to resort to gossiping and bullying (adults are often the most guilty of this) to find our value - because we would know who we truly are and would derive our worth or our sense of identity from the fact that we are so extremely loved! I mean, this is crazy stuff!

But, truth be told, it is also scary stuff. If I stop being defined by what you tell me about myself, and instead, define myself by how much I am loved...Or, if I stop participating in the gossip sessions, because I realize that not only am I loved that extremely, but so is that person you insist on gossiping about, then I will most likely be seen as a threat to you. And you will ostracize me. When one person's central identity changes, the whole community feels it (I think that is why the rest of the people in the story are scared and want Jesus to leave - too much threat of change). 

I like to think there was a happy ending to this story, but we really don't know. To start being our most authentic self (to finally know the answer to "what is your name?"), when we have never really known our most authentic self can be hard...And happy is a lousy word anyhow, in my opinion. What we can be certain of, is that there was at least one person who left the encounter with a much profounder (is that a word?) sense of peace. 

And I, for one, could be really, really satisfied with a profound sense of peace.

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