Pastor Laura Sutherland
June 24, 2007 - Pentecost Four
Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Avenue, Madison, WI

The Sermon Text — LUKE 8: 26-39

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Sermon -

Our Gospel for today is a rather strange story, about a man wandering among the tombs, living in a cemetery, he's homeless and he's been wandering among the tombs for years. Even the cemetery is not quite your typical cemetery - the tombs are high up on a cliff and the only creatures that seem to be around are a bunch of pigs grazing in the grass. And the man who lives there among those tombs, well he must have been quite a fright. He's naked, his hair was probably wild and his beard long and unkempt and I doubt he smelled too good either. On top of all of that we know that he was terribly fierce. At different times he was kept under guard, in chains and shackles, and he would break right through those chains to be driven right back by the demons that tormented him into the wild.
This was the man that Jesus encountered after he stepped off the boat, after calming the seas. You know that story where the disciples were afraid for their lives because of a great storm that had come up on the lake when they were in the boat with Jesus. Jesus had calmed the winds and the lake. This was the first man Jesus had met after calming that storm.
Jesus had demonstrated his power over the earth's forces of wind and water and now he was encountering a twisted form of spiritual power. So Jesus asked the man his name. Now we know that in Jesus' day that people had normal names, like James and John and Paul but this man didn't answer with the name his mother and father gave him when he was a child. Instead he tells Jesus that his name is Legion. But Legion is not a name - it's a military term, it refers to a unit in the Roman army that consists of five or six thousand men. And the man called himself Legion because that's how many demons possessed him. Last week Pastor Bill mentioned in his sermon how Jesus had driven seven demons from Mary Magdalene. It's hard to even contemplate being tormented by so many more dark forces, so many demons, thousands of them.
This morning we heard that beautiful passage from Galatians that when we are baptized into Christ we are clothed with Christ and claimed as children of God and that those distinctions of Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, that those distinctions don't define our primary identity; rather our primary identity is as children of God. But for Legion he couldn't even claim his own name as his identity much less recognize himself as a child of God; instead he was defined by the demons that possessed him. Legion was a man in need of Jesus just as we all are. Though the demons inside of Legion said leave us alone Jesus, we're fine just the way we are.
As bizarre as Legion's story is, it certainly has its
modern day counterparts. We can all recognize Legions around us, maybe even some of Legion inside of us.
Whatever our burdens are, our anxieties, whenever what is weighing us down threatens to overwhelm us, then we can relate a little bit to Legion. Just this week I was reading in the papers that alcohol has now been banned in Law Park, you know that nice strip of land that runs along John Nolen Drive by the convention center where many of us, myself included, like to jog or bike or walk and enjoy the views of Lake Monona. It seems that too many people have been gathering in the park, intoxicated, and occasionally saying obnoxious comments to the people jogging or biking by. Some of the people concerned about this ordinance have said that the people that will be most affected by it are Madison's homeless. That they are the ones congregating in Law Park and yeah they occasionally get drunk. Once this ordinance is in effect they'll probably just move to the next park along Lake Monona where alcohol is allowed, Olin Park. Probably many of them feel like Legion, tormented by the demons of homelessness and alcohol and who knows how many of them battle mental health issues as well.
Last spring and into this summer the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been running an ongoing investigative series into the quality of care in the Milwaukee county mental health system. In the last four years people seeking care at the county's psychiatric crisis service has spiked from 11,000 some cases to over 13,000 cases. Meanwhile the number of beds available to treat people has been cut in half from 212 to 96. This spring a man who had been chronically ill with schizophrenia was found dead in a group home. He had been dead in his room for four days in the home before someone even noticed. The state department of justice is now conducting an investigation of the county's mental health complex, after several recent deaths of mental health patients under their care who died from suicide and sadly even starvation.
The danger with mental health issues, or alcohol issues or homelessness is that people can become defined only by that issue, they can lose their identity as children of God, exactly what Paul warns us against in Galatians: homeowner vs. homeless; sober vs. alcoholic; sane vs. mentally ill. Legion was undoubtedly the village crazy who wandered among the tombs until Jesus came and drove those demons out of him and into the herd of pigs instantly redefining who Legion was. He became clothed and in his right mind and kneeling at the feet of Jesus.
The story of Legion is a story about recognizing that the power of Jesus is greater than any demon in our lives. It doesn't make a difference if that demon is drinking too much alcohol, or if that demon is anxiety about a job that overwhelms us, if that demon is a relationship that is spiraling down the tubes or if that demon is a terrible illness - our identity is not defined by those demons, our identity is defined by God who loves us and who will sustain us through those times and isn't that a word we all need to hear.
I've been here at Bethel now for just two weeks and one of my ministries is Bethel's divorced and separated group. And anyone who has ever gone through a divorce or who has had someone in their life go through that knows that it can affect almost every aspect of your life, your primary relationship, your children, where you live, your house, sometimes even your job. It can be overwhelming, I know my parents were divorced and they both remarried people who had been divorced. But this story tells us that as difficult as that can be, with God in our lives, there can be more to life than that difficult period. Legion went on to testify about the power of God in his life, he was no longer just the man who wandered among the tombs, he became a great witness.
Now for most of us God's healing in our lives or the lives of a loved one may not be as dramatic as Jesus' healing of Legion, but for some it will be. Many of us know people, who with the help of God, have stayed sober, or who with the right prescriptions have overcome depression. God works amazing things.
The reaction though of the townspeople to Legion's healing is interesting; instead of being filled with joy that Legion is now in his right mind, no longer naked wandering the tombs breaking through chains they are afraid. In fact they are so afraid they want Jesus to go. It seems that what Jesus had done was too much of a shock and, not surprisingly with a reaction like that by the townspeople, Legion wants to go too, to leave that miserable past behind and join Jesus. Who wouldn't, the local heard of pigs is dead, everyone is scared out of their wits, who wouldn't want a fresh start?
But Jesus wouldn't let Legion come with him, he said no you need to stay and testify, be a witness to what God has done in your life.
I don't know what God has done in your life, what demons God has driven back in your life. But I do know that God claims us as God's children throughout all those times in our lives and I know what God has done in my life. How God brought me through difficult times in my childhood. How God has brought me and my family through times when we had no insurance, and a miscarriage. Legion didn't want to go back home and testify to God. It's hard to say to the people who know us best, who have seen us in our darkest moments, this is what God has done for me. It makes us vulnerable but what a powerful witness that is.
Thanks be to God who does drive out the demons in our lives whatever they may be and who claims and reclaims us as children of God. Amen.
© 2007

Not for publication.