Be Kind: Bless—Psalm 51: 10-13; Mark 5: 1-20
What do we need to let go of in our lives? Boy, that’s a loaded question to start off the sermon, isn’t it? But that is exactly the question that our Gospel lesson asks of us today—what do we need to let go of or have cast out of our lives? The Gospel is, in fact, a very difficult and problematic one. It basically says that Jesus met a possessed man who was healed by casting demons into pigs who immediately killed themselves which exposed the betrayal of the town to their Jewish neighbors and got Jesus cast out, and “Thanks be to God for these words of hope.” What is tough, though, is that we are called to look directly into the face of something terrifying—this unknown of “demon possession” that this man suffered with his whole life. In our modern understanding, we might consider this a mental health disorder (like schizophrenia) as opposed to a literal horde of demons living in this man. Although, the literal is also not outside the realm of possibility, and I believe that is even more terrifying to us in the age of science and medicine of modern times.
We see in the story a man who lives in a Gentile territory, that of the Gerasene region. He has, for some time apparently, been possessed with this demon, this thing, which has taken over his life. It tortures him and causes suffering. He howls and roams the tombs like some kind of animal. He must have been a ghastly sight—bruised and bloody from beating himself with rocks, looking broken and deformed where the Gerasene people physically abused him. Make no mistake they hated him, were terrified of him, and used brute force and abuse to control him by subduing him and chaining him up—likely hoping he would die. Imagine the pain as he likely broke his wrists tearing the iron shackles apart. This kind of horror shocks us and terrifies us.
I think part of what makes us so unsettled about this Gospel lesson is that it forces us stop and ask, is something like this lurking inside of our minds and spirits as well? It’s even more disturbing when we see that Jesus cast the demons out into a herd of pigs and 2,000 of them hurled themselves off a cliff to their death. That kind of suffering in innocent animals is horrifying to wrap our heads around. If you go even deeper, the story becomes politically charged. The man’s demon was named Legion (meaning many), but also a reference to the Roman army’s “legions.” The Gerasene people were raising the pigs to feed and support the oppressive Roman Empire’s army occupying the region, including Jerusalem, which would have been seen as betrayal—supporting the enemy. In one quick story, Jesus has the Romans compared to demons and cuts off the majority of their regional food supply. These people hated the demon possessed man, and probably hated Jesus even more for spoiling their arrangement.
But even as we’re shocked by the brutality here, we still see a story of hope in that the love and power of Jesus cast out the demons this man had wrestled with for so many years. It’s a gospel lesson that begs this same question of us: what do we need to let go of in our own lives? There are things, I’m sure, that each of us live with which clutter our lives and our spirits to the point that God’s blessings have no room to enter in. Just as the demon lurched and convulsed in the man when Jesus came near, those demons we live with know Jesus and don’t want him to come anywhere near them either because we’ve held on to them for so long.
What do we live with that we need to have Jesus cast out of us? For the Gerasene people, they betrayed all of the oppressed peoples in the region by helping the Roman Empire. They were cruel and abusive to this man, none of which helped or changed him—he only changed when confronted by the loving, redemptive power of Jesus who has the strength to cast out these spiritual troubles we live with. You cannot hide away or beat your spiritual baggage into submission. It must be called up and cast out by the Savior.
For some of us, I imagine there’s childhood traumas we carry around. For others of us, it may be anger, resentment, bad theology from our past. It may be sadness and loss that made wounds which never seem to heal—make no mistake in each and every life there is some kind of thing lurking in us which we carry around and may have for years. Name it. Call it out. Let it be exposed to Jesus just as the possessed man called out the name of the thing tormenting him—Legion. Name it. What is it? What spiritual burden or baggage do we need Jesus’s love and grace to cast out of us?
Far too long, I believe some of us have lived like the possessed man. We react when those wounds and struggles get touched upon. We fight and wrestle with trying to find ways of coping and ignoring the struggles. We are shackled to the wall by suffering which we can’t or won’t let go because we’ve become comfortable living with it. That hurt, those demons, now define us. That’s the trouble with toxic people and situations in life, we’re constantly drawn to them hoping tomorrow will be different. A pastor I follow said in a similar sermon on this Gospel lesson, “There are people [and situations] we encounter and instantly know they are toxic. But at the same time, there are people in this world who find us toxic, and that’s much harder for us to accept.” Jesus cast out the toxic, evil thing in the Gerasene man, but the Gerasene people, unwilling to accept or understand Jesus, considered him toxic and dangerous and threw him out of the town.
The Gerasene people saw this demon and man wrestling for control. They tried to beat it into submission, tie it up and hide it away, prayed it would just starve out and disappear. But none of that worked. Instead, it was the love and power of Jesus to help, to heal, and to save which ultimately freed the man to accept his full blessings in life. His encounter with Jesus was different. Jesus looked on him with love, with a desire to change and be healed. Healing and wholeness were not an easy road for this man. But it was this kindness and hope found in Jesus which ultimately changed his life.
Your demons and struggles and those things which haunt and possess you cannot be ignored or beaten into submission. Ultimately, they will fill your life up with sin and toxic, horrible feelings. To truly find healing and wholeness we must shine this light of Christ on those old, deep things buried in our souls and have them addressed. Can you call its very name today? Is it resentment, anger, fear? Can you name it, so that Jesus can take it from you? It may take prayer, therapy, or any combination of medical and spiritual approaches to find help.
The Gospel lesson, however, is clear. For those who suffer and find these struggles living within them day in and day out, these toxic and negative things buried deep within, it takes shining the love of a Savior and Christ’s redemptive power to cast out the spiritual mess and welcome God’s blessings within. Again, that can be done in the context of therapy and help, or in prayer and counseling. But to the man who had never seemed to know kindness, Christ became a blessing and a healing Savior.
Yet even as we summon up our own inner demons ask Christ to cast them out, there are others who need us to show this love of Christ to them for their own healing. We can’t be like the Gerasene people, who were cruel and mean to this suffering man. Christ became a blessing to him bringing him hope and healing. Likewise, as our souls are freed up for God’s blessings to us, we must also become a blessing to one another. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew within us a right spirit. May we make room for God’s blessings in our lives, and may we also be a blessing to others.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/253659486314592