1 Breaking Out of the Graveyards of Our Lives Sermon by W. Dreyman June 23, 2013 Lectionary 12 C LCR, Maywood and HT, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ In the face of miracles, scholars (and often clergy) are reluctant to accept the stories of healing. One author puts it this way: [they] are peculiarly reluctant to concede the innate human capacity to accept the marvelous, to delight in wonder and respond to the strongest claims made on the imagination (Rachel Trickett, Imagination and Belief in A.E. Harvey (ed.), God Incarnate: Story and Belief (1981)). I try to take such views seriously in the experience of miracles. My contemporary, scientific way of viewing the world might diminish the grandeur of the Bible. I am trying. I suspect this may an issue for some of you as well. So. What are we to make of this healing of the Gerasene man in the Gospel of Luke? Was it demons or a psychiatric problem that fell upon him? Talk to any police officer and they will tell you stories of naked people out of touch with reality that they or their fellow officers have encountered. It is not that unusual. Let s look more closely at this healing story. We know that this man was an outsider. He lived in a community across the sea from Galilee. Those were not Jewish
2 lands. Luke reports this without making a big deal about it. But, he makes a point just by mentioning the location. Whether it is a nation or a person of faith or not, Jesus brings salvation in the form of healing. Jesus has come for the world, not just for a particular community. Something else that Luke lifts up is the importance of names. The demons that have entered the man recognize whom they are encountering. Jesus, Son of the Most High God. When Jesus asks them their name, they reply Legion. A legion in the Roman army was a group of 4 to 6 thousand men. We are hearing the story of a possession of a man by many, many demons. Jesus bears authority over all of them. The Gerasene man lived in a graveyard. Those of you who heard my meditation from a couple of weeks ago may remember what I said about purity laws in relationship to death and burial. It was the week we heard the story of how Jesus raised the only son of a widow from his burial procession at the gate of the city. Jesus caused quite a stir when he touched the bier or the cart that carried the body. It was against the purity laws of the day for anyone to touch the bier except the bearers. If we take that understanding to the story
3 today, we see that living in a graveyard was an unclean practice. It is a sign that the Gerasene man was not only possessed. He was isolated. He was alone. He was considered unclean by (unfit for) the community. All of this gives us a broader picture of Jesus miraculous healing of this man. Jesus saw the helplessness and bondage of the Gerasene man and drove the demons out of him. The result was a man at peace with himself, clothed, and seated before Jesus: from helplessness in the face of bondage to peace in restoration. This healing story is contained in the Gospel of Luke to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God whose power is so great that even the powers of evil are put- down before him. For this we give thanks and experience hope in a world often overcome by hopelessness. In another sense, we identify with the man from Gerasene. Our problems may not be the same as his. They may not be as severe as his. But, we may feel alone and helpless. We may feel in bondage, captive to something looming in our lives. We may long for that experience of restoration that brings peace.
4 We may long for what that man experienced, moving from nakedness in the graveyards of our lives to being clothed at the feet of the one who brings healing. It is like the couple, early in their marriage that suffer distance in their relationship. They both drink too much to cover their pain from each other. He drinks beer with his guy friends until late in the evening several nights a week. She drinks a bottle of wine between suppertime and around 2 am and then wakes and berates her husband for all his failings. He is a college professor. She is a housewife who gave up her profession to move to a new campus with her husband. They are trapped and feel hopeless and helpless in the midst of their distance. They are in the graveyard of their lives feeling alone and without a future. It is like the high school sophomore who gets harassed by older schoolmates. He is so bullied and feels so alone that he considers suicide as the only way out of his situation. He is in the graveyard of his life looking, but not seeing the way through.
5 It is like the family of five who left Mexico when work disappeared and the drug violence became untenable. The kids are straight A students but the parents cannot find a way to citizenship. They pay taxes. They keep a nice home. Yet, they feel isolated and ashamed to be in this situation. They are in the graveyard of their lives looking to belong, but having no hope. The graveyard of our lives can take many shapes. Yet, in the end we feel trapped, isolated and without hope. This is when the community of Christ can reach out with words of comfort and healing. We are the body of Christ! We can model our life after the miracles that Jesus makes possible. It means seeing folks in the complexity of their lives. It means choosing to leave the judgments to others. It means reaching out to people who feel alone with an acceptance that says you have a place here. In our own struggles, we reach out for acceptance and love. That means being open about our lives and our feelings of isolation. It requires courage. In our congregational life it means keeping alert to the situations all around us. It requires vision. But, these are God s gifts to us: The courage to be ourselves: The vision to see the needs of others. Amen.