Bible Study Notes: St Luke's Gospel
Session 22 Chapter 8: 26-39
They sailed on to the country of the Gerasenes, directly
opposite Galilee. As he stepped out onto land, a madman from town met
him; he was a victim of demons. He hadn't worn clothes for a long time,
nor lived at home; he lived in the cemetery. When he saw Jesus he screamed,
fell before him, and bellowed, "What business do you have messing
with me? You're Jesus, Son of the High God, but don't give me a hard time!"
(The man said this because Jesus had started to order the unclean spirit
out of him.) Time after time the demon threw the man into convulsions.
He had been placed under constant guard and tied with chains and shackles,
but crazed and driven wild by the demon; he would shatter the bonds.
Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion. My name
is Legion," he said, because many demons afflicted him. And they
begged Jesus desperately not to order them to the bottomless pit.
A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons
begged Jesus to order them into the pigs. He gave the order. It was even
worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff
into the lake and drowned.
Those tending the pigs, scared to death, bolted and told their story in
town and country. People went out to see what had happened. They came
to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had been sent, sitting
there at Jesus' feet, wearing decent clothes and making sense. It was
a holy moment, and for a short time they were more reverent than curious.
Then those who had seen it happen told how the demoniac had been saved.
Later, a great many people from the Gerasene countryside got together
and asked Jesus to leave - too much change, too fast, and they were scared.
So Jesus got back in the boat and set off. The man whom he had delivered
from the demons asked to go with him, but he sent him back, saying, "Go
home and tell everything God did in you." So he went back and preached
all over town everything Jesus had done in him.
Gerasa is hardly a favorite holiday destination -- in the first century or today. But in Luke's Gospel it provides analogies, contrasts and perspectives on Israel. A man lives in dire straits; naked, among the dead. He recognizes Jesus, but sees him as a threat. Then Jesus asks him his name.
His name is Legion. This name is the key to the story. Everything begins to make sense when we allow the meaning of "legion" to dictate the shape of the story. It's a story about Rome whose legions possessed Israel. Israel lived in internal exile. Why are there so many pigs, when Jews would have no use for pigs? Because pigs had one purpose only - to feed the bands of Roman recruits. As always, Biblical writers obsessed by Jewish custom or eschatological expectation or charismatic gifts or psychological states may miss the highly political significance of what the Gospel writer is recording. This is a coded identification of Jesus the liberator.
The passage retells the story of Jesus' ministry. He arrives at the "far country" -- far from his heavenly home. As he begins his ministry ("steps out on land") he meets with conflict straightaway. Those who confront him are exiles from their true home. They find themselves unclean -- defiled by death as Israel is defiled by gentile rule. And daily they have an impossible choice; confront Rome, and find that their shackles are fastened more tightly or that they are "driven into the wilds"; or allow the Romans to possess them, and lose their identity. Jesus faces the question of identity head on: "What is your name?" The man has lost his identity; he says, "My name is Rome."
Drastic action is needed. Jesus delivers the people. The transformation is terrifying. Less fascinated by the sane and clothed state of the man, the people are horrified by the costs and consequences of the salvation Jesus brings. Fancy living without pigs! It's too scary. They ask Jesus to leave. The last scene of the story anticipates the last scene of the Gospel: just as later the disciples are "continually in the Temple, blessing God," so here the former demoniac proclaims throughout the city how much Jesus has done for him.
This is the kind of thing that happens when Jesus goes on holiday. The customs, adventures and challenges vary, but the holiday's real significance is in the way it recasts what is taking place at home. Before arriving, Jesus calms a storm, thereby allaying fears that the land of the gentiles is a land of deathly abomination. When he returns from Gerasa, he heals two women whose place in the unity of Israel is blocked by the impurity of blood and death. On the other side of the lake a great drama is played out that mirrors, parodies and mimics the drama being played out in Israel. I have pointed out the similarities. But there is one key difference. On the far side of the lake, in Gerasa, many die so that one man can be saved. On this side of the lake, in Jerusalem, it is the other way round; one man is to die so that many can be saved.
As a priest, I am invited from time to time to come to a person's home and hear stories about spirits, or demons, and to perform acts of cleansing or exorcism. I try always to go with an open mind. Looking back over these experiences, I sense a pattern. The people involved are often possessed by fear. If it’s a person then the person of whom they are afraid is sometimes dead; sometimes it is their own self they fear; sometimes it is a person all too real, all too much alive and all too close - who yet can’t be named. I see my role as listening to their fears until the point is reached when it is time for me to ask the equivalent of Jesus' question, "What is your name?" Sometimes I ask, "What is the worst thing that could happen?" in an effort to elicit a name for the possessing fear. I see my role to restore in the person a true sense of his or her own power, and to witness to and offer appropriately the power given to the church through baptism and Eucharist, scripture and prayer.
But sometimes I sense I am dealing with a person who has internalized the crisis of a family, community or society. For such a person, empowerment is not enough. A whole range of relationships, habits and contexts are sick. Personal healing is not the issue, for the person is exhibiting the ills of a whole society -- a whole world. The violent transformation of that world is portrayed in this story from Gerasa, the country beyond the sea: many die to save one. But the ultimate transformation takes place on this side of the sea, in Jerusalem: one dies to save many.
© Fr Michael Fuller: July 2009