"A New Thing"

      They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. ² And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. ³ He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; ⁴ for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. ⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; ⁷ and he shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." ⁸ For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" ⁹ Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." ¹⁰ He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹ Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; ¹² and the unclean spirits begged him, "Send us into the swine; let us enter them." ¹³ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

      ¹⁴ The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. ¹⁶ Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. ¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹ But Jesus refused, and said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you." ²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed. ¹

      This morning I begin with three stories which tell of three sorts of healing.

      “It's a miracle, really. I can't explain how it happened. The psychiatrists can't explain it. All I know is that in April they told me (after dealing with this for two years) my brother would never, ever, be able to shake this crippling depression. We had tried everything. Every antidepressant under the sun. Psychiatric treatment. Holistic treatment. Nutrition counseling. Acupuncture. Everything. Who knows how it happened? Now Joe is back to work; he's able to laugh again.

      "I have been given a gift," the well-dressed man said with conviction. "All my life I have been striving for more. More money, more prestige, more power. I was given the gift of a major cerebrovascular event. You may find it strange to hear me say a major stroke is a gift. For me, it was, and I will tell you why. The stroke stopped me in my tracks. The stroke forced me to admit my dependence on God, and my need for my family. God used this stroke to heal my spirit. God changed me. Yes, it's true. I still can't walk very well and my speech is still slurred. I am never going to be able to go back to the high powered job I had before. But I tell you, I am healed! I am healed, and I didn't even realize how sick I was."

      A homeless woman shared this. "I have been an addict all my life. I still am. I ruined my life. I lost everything, my family, my children, my work, my health, my self-respect. There was absolutely no way I could stop using. I started going to St. Martin de Porres for food, but something happened there. They accepted me, high, dirty and homeless. They didn't care what I was wearing or what I looked like. They didn't care that I was loud and foul. They were kind to me; they fed me. It didn't happen all at once. It took a very, very, long time. But I am clean now, and I have those people to thank, those people who showed me the power of Jesus' healing. I am saved now and I am never going back to the way things were."

      Jesus heals troubled spirits. Strange as this passage from Mark is, this fact is one of the main things communicated here. Oh yes, the commentaries talk a lot about this first miracle among the Gentiles. All three synoptic writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) tell pretty close variations of the same event. It's a biggie.

      Early in his ministry, Jesus (a good Jew) steps out into the land of the unclean. The story locates us near Gerases, on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee. Just about everything in this story reeks of ritual (and actual) uncleanliness. There is nothing in it that's kosher. First, Jesus is in Gentile territory. Good Jews did not step foot in Gentile territory, for lots of reasons. (The Decapolis was a region of ten cities steeped in Greco-Roman culture---on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee). Then, there's a man with an unclean spirit, but more than that, a man with a virtual army of demons fighting inside him. He I living among the tombs. He is naked. He is out of his right mind. Unable to be controlled. Screaming like a banshee, mutilating himself with stones. He is completely cut off from his community. And then there's the pigs. Yep, you guessed it, also unclean.

      Those inclined to look for thematic patterns in scripture are quick to point out that in Mark, Jesus encounters the chaos of the Gerasene demoniac on the heels of the chaos of a storm at sea. In both instances Jesus calms and brings order, first to the waves, then to the waves of torment within this man living in the land of the dead.

      Jesus heals those troubled in spirit. Who among us has not had a troubled spirit at one time or another?

      What does it mean, today, to be living in the land of the dead? It could mean one of any number of things. It could be a person who now lives only for the past, who clings to memories to such an extent they are confused and sad about today, wishing only that they could turn back the clock to the way "things used to be, back in the good old days." Tormented by the demon "Yesterday."

      Living in the land of the dead might mean a person has completely lost hope for the future. Because of life circumstances, because of death or cutoff from loved ones, because of loss of a dream. Such a person lives among the tombs, tormented by the demon "What If?"

      It might be an individual who suffers such mental or physical pain that she is crippled, unable to envision a time when pain will be no more.

      It could be one addicted to drugs, or alcohol, or sex, or food, or work, or the internet, or spending. The demon "Addiction" is legion, too.

      It could even be cultural. Many believe we live in a culture of death: violence, greed, and power seem to prevail and there appears little hope for deep and lasting peace anywhere on the planet.

      It is all too easy to find examples of living in the land of the dead.

      And yet, the good news of this gospel is this. Jesus find us, even, and maybe especially in the land of the dead. Jesus heals the troubled spirit. Jesus gives second, and third, and fourth chances. There is no human disorder, anywhere, too large for God to heal. Jesus works through all kinds of people and situations to bring wholeness and comfort and hope.

      God continues to heal us in ways big and small. Sometimes the healing we get is not the healing we ask for. Sometimes it is difficult for us to recognize how we are being healed. Healing is not always easy. Sometimes we are given what seems to be an even bigger demon to wrestle with.

      Do you know what happened when God healed the Gerasene demoniac? Yes, the pigs ran into the sea, and that created an uproar among the townspeople. I am not talking about the dramatic scene of pork falling off a cliff. I am not talking about the thousands of pounds of bacon getting wasted in the lake. I am talking about a smaller, much more important detail. A detail that is easily missed because the pigs falling into the sea is so dramatic.

      I speak of a man who was once "out of his mind", a man who could only scream and self-mutilate, a man coming to his senses by the mercy and grace of God. Jesus gave this man a mission: to tell everyone what happened to him. To tell of the healing power of Christ. To spread the good news that Christ heals. This is very strange in the gospel of Mark. Mark usually has Jesus telling people "shhhh! Don't tell anyone what has been done for you."

      The Gerasene demoniac, this crazy-man-turned-calm, is the first missionary to the lost Gentiles. He is the first to spread this very good news to people not born Jewish. This is the message that rang out then and still rings true today, twenty centuries later:

      He heals your troubled spirit. He restores your soul. He can lift a lifelong depression, like he did for Joe. He can cast out a tenacious addiction, like he did for a homeless woman and countless others. He can even heal you and me by humbling us, by making us weak. His healing an look like an unexpected infirmity. His mercy is deep and wide, and He knows exactly what we need.

      Will you pray with me?

Empty us of our demons, Lord, that we may be filled with your love.
Empty us of what distracts us that we may be free to tell others what you have done for us.
Clear away cobwebs of confusion and doubt so we can see your generous mercy.
Cast out the things that continue to haunt us, Lord---
     past hurts,
     regret,
     things that torture us,
     things that tie us up in knots,
     things that make us crazy.
Release us from our self- destructive tendencies: addictions of all kinds, self-defeating behaviors.
Break the chains that bind us:
     chains of false obligation,
     chains of prejudice,
     chains of "ought" or "should."

      That we might indeed be healed, set free to tell everyone we know, everyone we meet, EVERYONE, of your mercy, your power, and your love. Amen.