SETTING THE CONTEXT

The story prior to our reading today is Jesus stopping the raging storm. Following today’s reading are several stories of Jesus healing different “unclean” people. This is significant because most people avoided the unclean, if they were touched they became unclean themselves. Jesus was breaking the purity laws left and right showing that compassion and healing were more important than their religious laws. There are some other important facts in the story. When I picture Legion living among the tombs, I picture cemeteries like ours, so I imagine Legion sleeping on the ground among the tombstones. But in the Middle East many tombs are caves where the bodies are laid on bedrock, so in all likelihood someone living among tombs would be sleeping in caves with the dead. Another important fact is that the land of the Gerasenes is Gentile (non-Jewish) country. This is alluded to in the story first by the title the demon calls Jesus. Son of the Most High God is a Hellenistic title not a Jewish title^[i] and secondly by the fact that they are herding pigs. Let’s hear the story of Jesus and Legion.

Read Luke 8:26-39

THE SERMON

This story is such a rich text that I could preach at least four different sermons today. I could talk about Jesus’ authority which is demonstrated throughout the 8^th chapter in Luke. I could talk about Jesus reaching out to the Gentiles, those outside the boundaries of his religion. I could talk about fear, about fearing the change that the power of Jesus brings. How many times do we usher Jesus out of our church when the change he calls forth challenges us and makes us afraid of what will happen next? I could also talk about Legion’s healing experience and broaden it to talk about an issue many of us confront every day, mental illness. This is the topic I want to address today.

Did you know that 1 in 10 of those sitting next to us in the pews every weekend has a serious mental illness? How about that 1 in 5 of us has someone in our immediate families who has a serious mental illness? In Jesus’ day, a person’s deviant behavior was attributed to an outside source. It could be attributed to God, just look at Jesus’ life as an example of this. Jesus broke all kinds of social norms and boundaries and it was attributed to God. Or it could be attributed to evil spirits or demons which is the case of Legion. Today we might attribute behavior outside the norm to mental illness, epilepsy, autism, drug and alcohol addiction and other conditions. While we might attribute the behavior to different things, the reaction is still all too often the same. Shunning and isolating the affected person, wanting them out of sight and out of mind. There is such a social stigma to mental illness that most of us think we’re the only ones dealing with it. I was surprised by the statistics I just quoted. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless^[ii] approximately 20 - 25% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (National Resource and Training Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness, 2003). I realize the issues are complex. For example at a former church we had a seriously mentally ill woman come looking for help. She was dangerously dehydrated and obviously not eating much. She did not have shoes or underclothes on. We gave her water and some food which she couldn’t keep down then we called 911 for help. The paramedics worked with her for hours but in the end her vitals signs were stable and even though Cheryl was hardly coherent, clearly vulnerable and too ill to make a rational decision they could not do anything more for her because she refused their help. It tore us apart to put Cheryl back on the street. We were confronted with the dilemma of her right to self determination verse her inability to make a rational decision because of her illness. The issue of mental illness and how to deal with it is difficult.

As Jesus stepped out of his boat, he met this naked obviously ill man. He did not flinch or turn away pretending the man wasn’t there. He engaged the man with compassion and healed him. As I said before, Jesus broke all kinds of purity rules. He touched a man from among the tombs, a man possessed by demons, a Gentile, a man he should have avoided in fear of being “contaminated.” Instead Jesus engaged the man, he asked his name, he healed him and sent him home with a mission and purpose. Scholar Kathy Black challenges us saying, “We need to address our irrational fears before we can be a healing presence in the lives of those who live with mental illness”^[iii] and I would add their loved ones. We need to be able to look them in the eye with genuine care, learn their names and engage them. When we lived in Phoenix there were always people on the major streets holding those signs asking for food. We started carrying Care Bags in our car which had food and water in it with a note from the church. There was one man at the intersection on my way to church that was obviously seriously mentally ill. He stood in the same place for hours and hours every day talking to himself. He did not seem to even notice the traffic. He was filthy with matted hair. One day on the way home from church Rachel decided to make the man lunch then I could take it back to him when I went back for a meeting later that afternoon. Well, I rolled down my window and called to the man to hand him the bag. When he approached my car, I was startled to see he had the most beautiful blue eyes. He got the biggest smile and his eyes shined when I told him that my daughter made him lunch. We started watching for him and gave him a Care Bag whenever we could. He went from being a filthy, frightening bum to someone we looked for; it was amazing the shift in our attitude. One day I saw him walking down the street cleaned up and obviously clear-headed. I was so excited something major had happened that brought him healing. Unfortunately several weeks later I saw him back in his filthy state. That’s the hard part about mental illness, there are few instant cures. Although we pray for and wish for instant healing as Jesus healed Legion often mental illness involves a daily struggle for both the person living with mental illness and their loved ones. It involves bringing together medication, therapy and the support of the community including the faith community. With that support a mentally ill person can still live a quality life; they can find healing even if that standard of quality is different than our own.

My brother who is 4 years younger than I am has struggled with mental illness since his early twenties. He has always had learning challenges but in his twenties he started hearing voices. I believe that in 6 months time he tried to commit suicide 8 times. He takes medication for his schizophrenia but he constantly has to deal with side effects and the medication losing its effectiveness so he has to switch to another medication. He lives a very different way than I live. He has never worked steadily; he works occasional part-time jobs for his friends. He lives in a low income apartment and spends most of his time in the streets. The street people are his friends. Sometimes he goes and sleeps under the bridge in San Antonio just to be with his friends. He goes and talks to the hookers who are also his friends. He lives up to his nickname as he has since he was a child, Buddy. He is part of two faith communities who have loved and supported him. One community, the Living Stones, is a biker Christian ministry. They have watched over him, rescued him from messes he got himself into from time to time and helped him for years and years. If it weren’t for my brother’s experience with the Living Stones, I would be terrified of a biker group even a Christian one, but I am very grateful for them. Through his participation in the Living Stones, my brother has served meals to the homeless regularly for many years and helped in the homeless shelter. While I have met many standards of success, in some ways, my brother has been more like Christ than I have, befriending and serving those at the fringes of society, those that most of us would rather not see. My brother for the most part is very happy. But believe me it has not been easy for my parents, but they have been there with him through every crisis, every struggle trying to balance protecting and supporting him with pushing him to be an independent man. Part of Jesus’ healing was engaging Legion, engaging his illness and the man behind the illness.

When it was time for Jesus to go, Legion understandably wanted to stay with him, but Jesus wouldn’t let him. The villagers who came to see what was going on found Legion sitting at the feet of Jesus. We have seen that phrase before and it implies discipleship. Could Legion be Jesus’ first Gentile disciple? Imagine the villagers trying to comprehend that change! This man they had chained and bound, this man who was naked and living in tombs for years was not only cured but he was accepted as a disciple by the One who cured him. Jesus sent him home back to his family, his community, his former life to share the good news of God’s healing power. The Greek word translated healing at the end of the passage can also be translated as saved. Jesus sent Legion off with a new purpose and mission for his life. He went home to tell everyone how he had been saved. I have no doubt that a big part of my brother’s quality of life has been the fact that he has served others through the Living Stones. He has met Christ in this faith community and he has been the body of Christ in this faith community. What is the legacy of Legion? It is a legacy that tells us that Jesus values those who are mentally ill, that we can participate in their healing by engaging them with compassion and respect and helping them discover a purpose and mission in their lives. One day a wise member of my former church, Jack Schraven asked a key question. He said, “Do we have a place in our society for people who will never fit into our normal structures and cultural norms?” In other words, “Do we have a place for those who live by a standard very different from our own?” I am not convinced we do yet, but I believe that the legacy Legion and his encounter with Jesus challenges us to find one. Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on June 24, 2007.