June 29, 2003
By Jack Price

            Early in the winter of 1974, four young men in their first year of college decided to travel to a nearby town to see a premiere of a new motion picture call The Exorcist.  It was extremely popular and, arriving two hours ahead of the scheduled start time, they were able to get near the head of the line for tickets.  Sitting in the front row, popcorn in hand, they watched every moment of the movie, every terrifying and putrid special effect and no one would admit to the others how unsettling the experience had been.  A near accident on the drive back contributed to feelings of surreal anxiety.  That night, sleep did not come easily.  To one, in particular, a sleepless night was past in fearful expectation of the dormitory bed beginning to rise slowly into the air - a sure sign of demonic possession. 

            I tell you this in strictest confidence. I was that young man.   Upon reflection, it was not so much the movie itself or certainly the quality of the special effects that affected me.  It was that the idea of the demonic evil seemed so plausible, so real. 

            Turning our attention to the Gospel lesson for this morning, I am reminded that, were we to be seeking a title for each of the four biblical gospels, Mark's might well be called, The Exorcist.  I mean no disrespect by this.  There is a lot of exorcism in Mark's Gospel.  If you were to read Mark straight through, you'd be struck by two things.  First, there is a lot of action with relatively little talking.  Second, a great deal of that action involves Jesus interacting with and casting out demons and evil spirits.  These accounts reflect a superstitious age when seizures, deformities, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder were attributed to minions of the demonic realm.  Evil itself was believed to result from its personification in Satan - the Devil.

            All these accounts point to Jesus as a Spirit person, well versed and intimately acquainted with the world of spirits, including evil spirits.  Last week, we examined the story from Mark's gospel about Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  What follows their reaching shore is just as amazing.  Listen to this story at the beginning of Mark, chapter five.

            They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.  And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him.  He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.  Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 

            When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 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."  For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 

            Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" 

            He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 

            He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.  Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, "Send us into the swine; let us enter them." 

            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.

            The world of Mark's gospel, around the year 70 AD, was highly charged politically.  Most of the energy flowed around the mighty Roman empire, in the process of decline yet still with massive military might.  Then, there were many local national and ethnic groups trying to rebel and free themselves from the weight of Pax Romanas - the oppressive peace of Rome.  Mark's gospel was written around the time of an unsuccessful rebellion by Jewish zealots.  Roman response was swift and brutal.  They destroyed Jerusalem completely, including the temple.  Rebel Jews were pursued for years until, facing a Roman siege on the mountain fortress called Masada, the group committed mass suicide.

            The world of Mark's gospel was politically charged and its reflection in the life and ministry of the historical Jesus, some forty years earlier, reflects those feelings.  Ched Myers authored a politically-oriented view of Mark's gospel in his book Binding the Strong Man.  With thoughts shaped during the politically-charged atmosphere of the 1960's and early '70's, Myers offers a very helpful interpretation of Jesus' exorcism of a legion of demons.

            The setting is clearly Gentile.  Jesus and the disciples have gone over to the other side in every sense of the word - the other side of the Sea of Galilee and the other side of the world to the land of Gentiles - non-Jews.  The possessed man approaches and the power struggle begins.  The demons go first, trying to name Jesus and thus gain power over him.  They used a distinctly Gentile title, rarely appearing in the gospels, calling him "Son of the Most High God."  Jesus just turns the tables and demands, "What is your name?"  Unable to resist Jesus', the evil spirit confesses, "My name is Legion, for we are many."  This is the clue to Myers' interpretation.  Legion is a military term referring explicitly at that time to the Roman legion, a brutal force with whom even the gentile Garasenes were far too familiar. 

            Demonic possession can represent political and military oppression, and exorcism the overcoming of that oppression and throwing it off.  Understood in such a way, this story places the writer of Mark's gospel in the tradition of Old Testament prophets such as Jeremiah who proclaimed victory over the mighty army of Babylon even while his own people were being taking into exile, defeated and destroyed. 

            Rome has devastated Palestine, both the Jewish and Gentile inhabitants.  Mark's gospel proclaims victory by God through Jesus over the legion of Roman.  They are cast out into the pigs and drowned in the waters of the sea - just like Pharaoh's troops drowned in the Red Sea after Moses and the Hebrews had escaped to freedom.

            The demonic is real in our world today -- not the Hollywood version of The Exorcist or even the first century version of demonic possession, but the reality of evil in the form of brutality, hatred, intolerance, and the suffering of innocents.  There is abuse of drugs, alcohol, and food, abuse of children and women, abuse through self-destructive behaviors.  The demonic exists because we know it exists.  Descartes, the famous philosopher has said,  "The infinite in our mind presupposes the infinite itself."  It is also true that the demonic in our mind presupposes the demonic itself.  Now, we are far too scientific to believe in demons, evils spirits, and exorcism per se.  But perhaps we do believe and call them by different names.  Demons become unresolved pathological systemic interactions.  Evil spirits become psycho-physiological disorders.  Exorcism becomes psychotherapy or sometimes pop psychology or even theology!

            C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia features Aslan the mighty lion who is the Christ figure of this fantasy series.  Of Aslan, it is often said, "He is not a tame lion."  Lewis reminds us where true power lies.

            How true this is in our consideration of God as predictable and somewhat tame.  We say as much in presuming God will always behave in ways we expect.  An honest look at nature, human civilization, and scripture itself should affirm the reality that God is mysterious and not safe or predictable, except to those who are already broken and destitute.  The story of Jesus sending Legion of demons into a herd of pigs is a little strange to our modern ears, but reminds us that Jesus did not always do what people expected.  God does not always follow our plan or read from our "script." 

            What does this mean for us?  The first lesson to learn from this story is you never know where you going to go ashore and what or who will meet you.  So be prepared for anything, especially after a big storm.   The second lesson is a little more difficult perhaps.  Be careful not to presume on God's nature and on our understanding of God's nature.   We may assume that God loves everybody, therefore that God won't let anybody be lost or left out of eternal life.  The truth may well be that God continues to pursue every person, but we choose our own fate.  The church has a harder time today than it used to have scaring people with the fear of God's judgment and condemnation.  But the reality of consequences is no less true.  How can the church deny the reality that we people often condemn ourselves and suffer the consequences of the decisions we make. 

God's judgment of us is not ever a matter of the belief system we espouse.  The true consequences we face, representing God's holding us to account, definitely result from the values we hold as demonstrated in our living.  So think, and release your theological imagination to try to wrap your mind around your experience of the Holy.  At the end, we will still understand God about as well as ants understand the calculator over which they crawl.  The acts of our living, however, the values reflected by our choices, and the character shaped by those values definitely have deep and eternal consequences, affecting the well-being of our world and furthering the birth of God's coming new creation.  The way we treat others - those closest to us and others with whom we share life, even the way we treat the world itself - affect our ability to give and receive love, to know deep happiness, and to find lasting meaning in life. 

The Gospel is good news and there is great news in this story.  It does not matter the circumstances.  It does not matter how imprisoned you are or how oppressed you feel.  It does not matter how hopeless your case and shame-filled your history.  The living Jesus of Easter names our demons:  fear, shame, guilt, rage, despair, hopelessness - and has power over that which seems to have irresistible power over us.  Do you want to be free?  Do you long to be healed?  The God of all creation, who is in Jesus, is in you as well. 

Freedom and healing alone are not enough.  In the places where you have known the presence of oppression or shame or emptiness, the Spirit of Life longs to fill you.  The journey of spiritual growth and discipleship is simply this -- an ongoing act of your choice and your will to invite the Spirit to fill you.  "Spirit of Truth, of meaning, of abundance, Spirit of joy fill us as full as we can stand today, and then more and more each day of our lives."  Amen.