Proper 7, year “C”. June 19, 2022

Luke 8,26-38

Rev. Neli Miranda

 

After the celebration of Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sunday, today we are ready to begin a new journey with Jesus. During the coming months we are going to follow him in his proclamation of the good news, and we are going to learn from him along the way. Unlike the season of Lenten, we now walk with Jesus having experienced Easter and Pentecost and become the community of Jesus, the church that proclaims the kingdom of God in this world.

 

This Sunday, Jesus asks us to go across to the other side… In the preceding verses,                                                                                      in the company of his first disciples, women and men, Jesus has been proclaiming and bringing the good news throughout the different cities and villages of Galilee. Luke then tells us that after teaching the parable of the good Sower to his disciples, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” Crossing to the other side meant going to the territory of the Gerasenes, considered gentile and therefore impure.

 

Crossing to the other side was a crucial decision and implied risks. While they were sailing, a gale swept down on the lake, the boat was filled with water, and they were in danger; however, the powerful voice of Jesus calmed the wind and the raging waves. Then, as Jesus and his disciples arrive in the country of the Gerasenes, they face the hard reality of the other side, which is represented by a tormented man. Luke describes the terrible situation of this man: he was tormented by many demons, he was homeless and naked, and living among the tombs. He was totally dehumanized!!

 

 For Jews living in the first century both mental and physical illnesses were produced by supernatural entities called demons or unclean spirits that possessed and tormented people. XXI century thinking leads us to interpret these demons as physical or mental conditions that destroy people, dehumanize them, and consume them to death if they do not find help. It is not strange then to find in the Gospels many cases of possessed people who needed liberation, so casting out demons was one of the main activities in Jesus’ ministry. He also sent his disciples not only to proclaim the kingdom of God but also gave them power and authority to cast out demons.  Jesus’ power over demons, the evil powers, was a sign of the arrival of the kingdom of God to earth.

 

The case of the Gerasene man speaks to us about the hard reality that people lived in the first century.  It seems that demons which possessed people came from the evil system that oppressed them… When approaching the possessed man, Jesus asks him, “What is your name?” and the possessed man responded, “Legion.” The name Legion is associated with a roman military formation, which consisted of about 6000 soldiers.

 

In Jesus’ time, the country of the Gerasenes was under Roman occupation and it was a hub for much of the Roman military. Gerasa was known as a place where many Roman veterans with benefits were given land where they could dwell. So, it was a militarized zone  (Claiborne & Haw, 2008). Does the evangelist tell us that the violent and oppressive Roman occupation tormented the people of the first century? How disturbing was it for the people to experience oppression, violence, looting, rape of women and slavery produced by the Roman occupation? Was it the oppressive Roman occupation which produced both physical and mental conditions in people and prevented them from living as humans? It seems that the oppressive and violent systems make people get sick in many ways.

 

Dear sisters and brothers, the liberation of this man was a process that led him to realize who the demons were that tormented him and prevented him from living a full life. In this process of liberation, Jesus let this legion of demons enter a herd of pigs that “rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned”.  Does not this image remind us of the image of Pharaoh’s legions drowning in the sea in Exodus? Because of his liberation, the man recovered his life and dignity. Luke describes him “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind”. He had received the liberating news of the kingdom of God!!

 

Sisters and brothers, Jesus takes us today to the other side, to the house across the street, to the office next to ours, to another village, to another country, to another way of thinking. He leads us to see other realities occupied by legions of demons: violence, hunger, disease, alcoholism, drugs and other addictions, depression, anxiety, suicide and so on. Through this reality, we can see how the earthly, oppressive systems possess peoples’ lives and torment our world.  Jesus takes us today to the other side to proclaim liberation and cast out all the demons which prevent people from living in dignity, clothed, and in their right mind.  Let us go across to the other side to proclaim the kingdom of God!! AMEN

 

 

Claiborne, S., & Haw, C. (2008). Jesus for president: Politics for ordinary radicals. The simple way.