What a sad story we have in our Gospel reading. The account of the demon possessed man known as “Legion”. This was a man whose community could no longer care for him. Their solution: He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles. He lived in the cemetery until he was able to break the chains and shackles when he would then flee into the wilderness rather than return home only to be tormented again. The same wilderness that Jesus was very experienced with when he was tempted by Satan. He wore no clothes – whether that was because he ripped them off or perhaps that was how they sent him – we don’t know. Jesus arrives at the Gerasenes where this man lived and when he sees Jesus he naturally feels that Jesus will treat him just as everyone else did. What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.
Sadly there are many people in society today who probably feel like this. Those that society forgets. Those who don’t fit in.
Those that live on the outer. And I’m not just talking about the ones we usually put into that pigeonhole. The addicts – why bother helping them – they’ve made their choice. The criminals – leave them in jail where they belong. The homeless – they could get a job if they tried like all of us. But there are many who look okay – who look like they are coping – who look as if everything is under control – but inside are tormented. Maybe you’ve felt like that tormented man. Like you don’t fit in.
Like everyone else is fine but you’re not. Yes we can all put on a well presented front like everything is okay – but beneath the façade of our neat and tidy appearance dwells a person locked in chains and shackles wanting to escape where no one can see you, And maybe your experience of God is like this man whenever you come to God in prayer – please do not torment me. I know I am a sinner – I don’t need to be tormented again and again. Maybe you feel that God is more like the local sheriff who has come to arrest you than the local doctor who has come to heal you.
And this is what St Paul is pointing out in out Galatians passage – the difference between a God who Is a disciplinarian and one who has come to love and care for us: Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. What a wonderful and comforting message from St Paul. And unlike the people in the Gerasenes, God does not distinguish or discriminate: As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 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. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Jesus Christ is the great equalizer who brings us freedom. In Jesus we are all one and we are all on the same level playing field. There is no distinction as was made very evident in his 3 year ministry on earth. He ate with sinners. He fellowshipped with lepers. And here he goes to the land of the unclean Gentiles. I know that sometimes it might feel like God is not really there for you when you need him. That’s how Elijah felt. With all that he was going through – with people trying to kill him – it seemed that his enemies were doing much better than he was as a follower of God. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors. And then God shows his care: Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. And then God revealed something extraordinary about himself: God said to Elijah – “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went. Even though it was the sound of sheer silence – Elijah heard God’s presence.
And that’s God’s message to us. Maybe we don’t always feel or hear God’s presence but he is always there for us. Sometimes God’s presence appears as sheer silence. Just as he was there for Elijah even though everyone was chasing after him to kill him. God was there for the demon possessed man even though the whole town was against him. And God is also there for you even when it seems like the whole world is against you. And just look at the transformation Jesus makes in the life of the demon possessed man. They found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. What a beautiful image. Jesus not only restored his physical body but gave him back his dignity by finding clothes for him to wear. Much like God replaced the pitiful attempt by Adam and Eve to clothes themselves with fig leaves by providing them with clothes from animal skin.
And God also clothes you with a very special garment. As Paul says – As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. How beautiful to know that God has clothed you by the special clothing of his Son Jesus Christ. That was the image that John saw in his Revelation. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
There’s another important lesson in our Gospel reading today. And it’s about mission. After having been healed the once demon possessed man wants to show his appreciation to Jesus and begged that he might be with him; What a great testimony that would have been. But nobody would really have known the extent of this man’s healing except those who had discriminated against him and thrown him out of their community. So, Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he did.
This is our greatest mission field. To go to our communities and to help those who have perhaps been against us. To show love and forgiveness as Jesus says – love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And that’s why Jesus said that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed – beginning in Jerusalem. Beginning where you came from.
Beginning in your homes. This is going to be a huge challenge for him – to declare the love of God to people who showed him no love. But that’s the story of the Good Samaritan who showed love to someone who showed him no love. But that’s exactly what God has done for us: As Paul says in Romans – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us
.And sometimes those are the chains that bind us. The inability to forgive those that hurt us – and that unforgiveness keeps us bound in hate and resentment and we won’t know true freedom until we can break those shackles. And if we can’t do that then instead of the freedom of Christ and the Gospel we places ourselves back under the law as our disciplinarian. But thanks be to God for Jesus’ freeing words from the cross – forgive them Father for they know not what they are doing.
May you experience this freedom as you claim your Baptism garment that has washed away all your sins.
