The Man in the Cemetery [Proper 7C - Luke 8:26-39]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Luke 8:26-39

 

The Man in the Cemetery

Church of the Redeemer, Rensselaer

 

No one visited the cemetery anymore.  It was occupied by a man who was himself occupied.  And so everyone else in the country of the Gerasenes avoided the old tombs, the graves of their ancestors and friends, because they were afraid.

 

The man in the cemetery wasn’t always like this.  There was a time, before the occupation, that he was more, I guess you might say, normal.  When it first happened, his loved ones tried to help.  They wrapped him up in chains to try to subdue his chaos and frenzy.  But it never worked.  And so now, he was alone, with the dead.

 

Alone, except for his demons.  Unlike the humans, his demons refused to leave.  And they refused to let him leave, refused to return him to the people he once knew and loved.  The town was terrorized by the man’s wild presence.  But also he was terrorized by the army that ruled his existence.

 

It is no accident that the company of demons, in our Gospel story, is named “Legion.”  There are many words that suggest a large number of something, but “legion” was chosen, because it was a familiar, and evocative, term in Jesus’ context. 

 

You might remember that that entire region was occupied by the powerful Roman Empire.  The Empire ruled by brutal power; it thrived on fear.  The military companies of the Empire, those of approximately 5000 Roman soldiers, the companies that controlled the occupied cities, were called legions.  And they dominated the communities in which Jesus and his contemporaries lived; they were a constant oppressive presence.  The very sight of the entering army broke the spirit of the community: the people understood immediately that they were no longer free.  Their hope was shattered and their will was broken.  The man’s soul was an occupied domain – there was no room for hope, no will to walk into a better future; he was dominated by his enemy intruders – until Jesus showed up.

 

Before exiting the boat, into this opposite place, Jesus’ ministry had taken place exclusively in his own Jewish world.  Amongst his own people, he was met with crowds, surrounded by crowds, occasionally even threatened by crowds, great crowds, throngs, a lot of people.  His entry into the land of the Gentiles was subdued in comparison.  He was greeted by…one man.  And the one man was naked and possessed.

 

And dramatic.  As Jesus reaches the shore, this man falls down before Jesus and begins shouting at the top of his voice, as loudly as he possibly can.  Jesus, of course, handles it well.  I do wonder what the disciples were thinking.

 

In the chaos, Jesus stops and talks to the man.  And that might seem like a small detail, but it is a big deal.  Because nobody talked to this man anymore.  He lived alone, with his demons, in the cemetery.  He was the village pariah.  He was the homeless man whom folks avoided with their eyes and their feet.  He was a prisoner of the margins of his own society.  The community only remembered to fear him.  But Jesus stopped and saw him and talked with him and stayed with him.

 

And Jesus set him free.  Jesus drove out that occupying army.  And he did so, in rather dramatic fashion.  The pigs are, quite literally, the splashiest detail of the story.

 

But not the most important.  The pigs pique the people’s interest, but the miracle is sitting at the feet of Jesus.  They find the man whom not even chains could subdue at peace in the presence of this mysterious stranger.  The man who once was naked is clothed.  The man was no longer terrorized.  He was well.  He was healed. 

 

And the crowds noticed him, noticed the difference.  But they didn’t rejoice; they didn’t celebrate.  Once again, like they had been before the transformation, they were afraid. 

 

But now for a different reason.  Now, they were afraid because Jesus had the power to set people free.  They were afraid of that and afraid of Jesus because he could drive away the demons that haunted their lives.  It seems like they should and would be happy about that.  But you know what they say, “better the devil you know…”  And Jesus drove out the devil they knew.

 

Which tells us that the man in the cemetery wasn’t the only person in that town who knew too well the weight of bondage – his demons were just harder to hide.  The entire town counted on demons and their host in the cemetery; that tortured man and his legion were a helpful diversion; nothing, and no one, looked that bad in comparison to the naked man raving down by the tombs.  But because of Jesus, he was well and that was scary.  For a long time, they all hid behind their own demons in plain sight.  And now there was nowhere to hide.  But even scarier yet: what if Jesus made their precious demons leave too?  The man lost his identity when he lost his demons.  Who would they be if they were healed?

 

As the story ends, the man Jesus healed appears to be the healthiest person in town.  It’s a shocking twist.  And it is understandable, given the past and present, that the man decides to leave, to follow Jesus right out of that inhospitable town. 

 

But Jesus doesn’t let him.  So many times in the Gospel Jesus asks people to follow him – often he asks people who have little or no interest to follow him.  And now this man wants to follow Jesus, actually begs to follow Jesus, and Jesus turns him down.

 

Because Jesus needs him to stay.  The same town that didn’t want the man, now needs him desperately.  Because he knows the way to freedom.  Jesus makes him stay because Jesus recognizes that the town is still occupied.  The town still has its demons.  The people are still dominated and ruled by pathologies and fear.  And God wants to see them be free.  God knows they need to hear the Good News of a love that can and will transform their lives.  And who better to tell that story than the very man whose life was changed by Jesus?

 

The man in the cemetery lost a legion and gained a testimony.  

 

In this anxious age, amidst a world of fearful people, Jesus is still in the miracle business.  Jesus is willing to cross any sea, enter every cemetery, search out and find every hopeless soul.  Jesus sets the captive free, not always by removing you from the place of struggle, but by transforming you within it. Like the man, you too have a testimony to share, a story of liberation to live, a tale of the transformative strength of God’s miraculous love. Go then, and, like the man, declare what God has done for you.