Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
June 23, 2019
Isn’t that a great
story from Luke’s gospel that we heard today?
I can almost picture it like a movie.
We start with a wide
angle including the lake and the shore.
A boat limps into view – they’ve encountered a storm on the way across,
so maybe the sails are torn, but the water is calm now. The sailors on the deck look as through
they’ve been up all night – exhausted and sore from battling the storm.
As the boat approaches
the shore, the camera slowly zooms in.
We can now hear the voices of the sailors talking to each other about
the storm; we can hear the waves lapping at the shore. As the boat grinds up on the shore, the
action starts.
A man runs down to the
shore from the graveyard. Not just any
man though. This one has long hair, a
long, wild beard, a frantic look in his eyes.
He’s naked – or maybe a few strategic scraps of cloth if we want to keep
this movie PG. There are chains dangling
from his wrists and dragging from his ankles.
They clang on the stones as he runs down to the shore, shouting at the
newly arrived sailors.
One of the sailors
steps forwards to meet the man. Before
the man can say anything, the sailor commands a demon to come out of the
man. The man cries out, “What have you
to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” OK – so the sailor now has a name – it’s
Jesus.
Jesus asks the man,
“What is your name?” The man replies in
a tortured voice, “Legion.” Maybe we
would have to change this name to make the movie relevant today since we no
longer live with Roman Legions. Maybe we
should have the man say that his name is “Army” or “Invaders” or “Colonizers.” Whatever his name he gives us though, the man
falls at Jesus’ feet and begs him, “Don’t destroy us!”
Now comes the most
dramatic point in our movie. Jesus does
something – maybe he raises his arms, maybe he says a word – and thousands of
demons rush out of the man. The demons
rush out in a stream that seems to never end, rushing out of the man and into a
herd of pigs. As the demons enter the
pigs, they rush to the edge of the cliff, and over the edge, into the lake
where they drown.
Our move gradually
fades away on this scene, and the next thing that we see is the group of
sailors sitting under a tree with the man formerly known as Legion. Because it’s a movie, we need to show that he
has changed, so his hair and beard have been trimmed, the chains are gone, and
he is dressed in clothing similar to the others.
Some people from the
town approach them, and when they realize that the man has been changed, they
are terrified. What has happened? How can it be that this man that everyone
knows is possessed by demons now seems to be normal? Are they really gone? And who is this Jesus who can perform
exorcisms?
The townspeople are so
scared that they order Jesus and the other sailors to leave them. As the group makes their way back down to the
shore, the man formerly known as Legion runs after them, begging them to give
him a place on their boat. He is afraid
of what the townspeople are going to do to him – after all, they were the ones
who kept him chained up when he was possessed.
And maybe he is also afraid of his new freedom – after all, that former
life of being enslaved to the demons is the only life he has known, so maybe it
might be better to be enslaved to Jesus and his crew than to be set full free. But Jesus tells him no – he is to go back to
the town, back to his family, back to his home, and he is to tell everyone that
he meets what God has done for him. He is
to tell everyone that God got rid of his demons.
And so our movie ends
much the same way as it began – with the boat with ragged sails sailing away
from the shore, back across the sea. Let
the credits roll.
What a great movie
this would make! The only problem is,
that this is supposed to be a sermon, and not a movie. I think that the biggest challenge for me in
this story is the demons. How, in our
scientifically minded 2019 worldview are we supposed to find good news that is
relevant for us in a story about demons?
In the world of the story, it is a story of good news for the man who
was freed; but how can we connect with this story today? But how, in 2019, can I stand up in front of
people and talk seriously about demons? I
mean, demons!
But you all are
expecting a sermon rather than a movie, so I had to find something to say this
morning. So I spent some time thinking
about demons, and what they might represent.
The demons in our
story have taken over this man’s life.
They are controlling how he acts, how he presents himself to the world,
how others perceive him. He has lost so
much control over his life that he has even lost his name. Did you notice that he doesn’t have a name in
our story? When Jesus asks him for his
name, it is the demons that answer on his behalf.
And if you think about
it, don’t we have things in our world today – even if we don’t name them as
demons – that control how we act, how we think, how we present ourselves to the
world? Things that take over even our
identity?
As I thought more
about this story, I wondered if, perhaps, the most subtle demon that controls
our life is fear. If you look around the
world and through history, how many wars have been fought, how much violence
has been done and is being done because of fear of people who are different?
In our scripture story
today, outside of the Legion of demons, we also have a group of people who are
possessed by fear. The people living in
the city are afraid of the man who lives with demons. Their fear causes them to keep him in chains,
and away from the places where the rest of society is found. And then after Jesus releases the man from
his demons, they are afraid of Jesus and his power, and this fear causes them
to drive Jesus and his disciples away, rather than being receptive to his
message of love.
Fear also acts closer
to home. How many opportunities have you
missed out on because of fear? Scaredy Squirrel might be an extreme
example, but how much of what life has to offer do we miss out on because we
are afraid to try something new, because we are afraid to fail, because we are
afraid of how we might be seen by others.
Fear can control what we do.
And then there is the
fear that presents to us as that little voice in our head, telling us that we’re
not good enough, that we’re not pretty enough, that we’re unlovable. This voice is a liar; the voice of anxiety is
a liar; and yet it is like a demon that can control our thoughts and our
actions.
So where is the good
news in the story for us? I think that
the good news can be found in knowing that love is stronger than fear. God doesn’t want us to live our lives being
driven by fear – God wants us to live our lives in the power of love. You are God’s beloved child. You are God’s beloved child. The first words spoken by angels in scripture,
spoken by God’s messengers, is almost always “Don’t be afraid.” The first part of the message from God is
that we don’t have to be afraid. God’s
love is stronger than our fears.
In our scripture story
today, after he has been released from the Legion of demons, the man still
seems to be controlled by fear. He
doesn’t want to go back to his home; he wants to go with Jesus. But Jesus says no. Jesus says to him that he doesn’t have to be
afraid of his neighbours, he doesn’t have to be afraid of his new freedom. As well as being released from the demons, he
is released from his fear. And he goes
away, with newfound courage, telling everyone in the city about what Jesus had
done for him.
We don’t need to be
afraid. God’s love, made known through
Jesus, is stronger than our fears.
Two years ago, when I
was living in Halifax, I used to take public transit whenever I could. At that time, it seemed like the world was
falling to pieces. There had been an election
south of the border; people were afraid of what was happening to vulnerable persons;
protests and riots were breaking out around the globe. It was a time of increased global anxiety.
On the day I’m
thinking of, there had been a light dusting of snow overnight but it was
melting quickly. At the bus stop where I
would wait every day there was a wall, and the top of the wall was angled; and
that day, when I got on to the bus and sat down and looked out the window, on
the top of the wall that was now facing me at eye level, someone had written
with their finger in the snow, “LOVE > FEAR.”
A simple reminder that
was only there for a brief moment of time – until the snow melted, or someone
came along and brushed it off the wall – that we don’t have to be led by our
fears. Love is stronger.
And so just as the
power of Jesus’ love was strong enough to release the man from the demons that
were controlling him, and to release him from the fear that threatened to
control him, I invite you to consider what it might be like to be freed from
the fears in your life. What might it be
like to be fully freed from these forces that control you, so that it is only
love that guides everything that you do.
Because God’s love is
stronger than fear. Thanks be to God!
Paka and Lily - sticking together when things get tough,
because LOVE > FEAR
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