After calming the sea, Jesus and his disciples step ashore in the land of the Gerasenes.  Luke tells us that the country of the Garasenes is “opposite Galilee.”   Luke’s comment may well indicate that indeed, Gesara is not only geographically opposite, but also politically and spiritually opposite as well.  After all, this is the land of the Gentiles, and their crude, unclean ways.

As the story progresses, we hear all the things that 1^st century Jews no doubt found revolting and at the same time, perhaps thrilling in this story.   Demons—sworn enemies of all that is holy.   Tombs—containing the unclean remains of the dead.   Pigs—unclean and prohibited by Jewish law.  References to “Legion” a company of Roman soldiers—occupiers of their land and their government.   Early hearers of this account might even have been reminded of the Roman Legion which was stationed in Palestine—a Legion known for the large boar on its standard.  (1. From Prof. Bill Loader, “Lectionary Resources” at www.staff.murdoch.edu)  

The story in modern ears seems quaint.   Demons.  Supernatural powers.  Pigs running into the sea.   But to the ancient Christian/Jewish hearers of this story, it has all the thrilling action of a Hollywood Epic.   In fact, the American Bible Society, the publishers and distributors of the Good News Bible, made a short film of this story in the Bible—to capture the imagination and tell the story in a fresh way for a new time.   Your ears might have to grow accustomed to the accent of the narrator, but she is using the actual words of the Scripture.   Let’s watch:

VIDEO: Out of the Tombs

Consider the many points of view in this story:

First, the point of view of the demons.  Immediately they recognize Jesus for who he is: Son of the Most High God.   They throw in the towel before the match begins.   “Send us into the pigs,” they beg.   Jesus does, and well…we know the rest of the story.  It doesn’t end well for the demons, and to be sure, theirs is the most pitiful of all the viewpoints.

Second, there is the man in whom the demons have taken residence.   Chained, both physically by the locks and iron around his wrists which he wrenches apart.  Outcast. Naked.  Tormented.  And..in the end, healed.  Whole.  In his right mind.  He wants most of all to follow Jesus, to go along with him and his Disciples.   But Jesus refuses, telling him instead to return to the hometown from which he’d been excluded, and to tell those there how much God has done for him.  He has much to celebrate—liberated from the demons that tormented his soul.  But surely there is disappointment in not being able to escape altogether—now he is forced to go back and live among the people he hurt, the people he terrorized, the people that know all that he did when he was not himself.

Then, consider the swineherds. They are the first to see what happens, and the first to run and tell of it.    Are they influenced by the fact that they have just witnessed their livelihood run down the steep bank and plunge into the water to be drowned?   What do they tell the townspeople and the people of the countryside?   Are they telling the news of the man made whole?  Or the pigs now on the bottom of the sea?  I imagine the ones who own the pigs have much to resent.

There’s also the people from the town and countryside.   They come and see the man now in his right mind, clothed, and seemingly normal.   They then react in an unusual way.   Luke says they are frightened.   What frightens them?   What are they scared of?   Is it just the powerful demonstration of Jesus’ power, over the supernatural world of demons and the affliction of the man none of them understood?   What would terrorize them more than the demoniac had terrorized them?   They are “seized with fear,” Luke tells us.  Isn’t that interesting?   Seized with great fear, and so they urge Jesus to leave them alone.

Of course, that’s the way it is sometimes…we are more comfortable with the terror we know than the frightening prospect of a power we don’t comprehend.  A man with uncontrollable fits, whose sanity has been taken over by something unknown, something chaotic that it can only be described as demonic--that’s something people can deal with.   Put him in the grave yard.  Chain him up.  

But something so powerful, so tremendous that it can transform and restore the man to life….that can be frightening.   If the man’s demons are no longer the focal point for the entire community, they will be forced to reckon now with their own sin, their own demons.   The scapegoat has been set free.   What are they to do now?   I am reminded of a seminary professor who often told her students, “acts of liberation are not always popular.” 

The event, the story, changes depending upon who you are and where you are when you experience it.   The same it true for us.  Whose point of view do you most understand?   The demons’, the man possessed, the swineherds, the people?   Do you know what it is to be possessed by something that is more powerful than your own will?   Have you ever been afraid of the power that is greater than that which has you in its clutches?   Perhaps you know what it is to see transformation and newness happen to someone in your life, and you’ve been unable to respond to that newness at first.   Have you ever resented that following God’s will could hit you in the wallet?  How do you make such choices…doing the right thing over against doing the profitable thing.

          Depending upon our point of view, when Jesus comes, we are either liberated, or victimized.   We either find the results joyous or terrifying.   But this we know.  The only point of view that truly matters is God’s.   The same God who sent Jesus into the world to save and not to condemn.   To bring liberation from all that imprisons and shackles us.   And to challenge us to know and follow God’s Will, even when our desires pull us in another direction.   May our own point of view align most with God’s, may our story be one of the new life we find in Jesus Christ, may our song be one of praise, all the day long, for the one who sets us free.   Thanks be to God.  Let us sing together: “Blessed Assurance.”