Healing and Inclusion

[Our readings were Isaiah 65:1-9; Psalm 22:18-27; Galatians 3:23-29; and Luke 8:26-39.]

The story of the Gerasene demoniac we hear today in the Gospel of Luke probably seemed pretty humorous to the Christians of the First Century—who had a Jewish background—who first heard it.

You have to admit that the story is rather strange. You have a naked crazy man, talking demons, pigs charging off cliffs, tombs, chains, unhappy townspeople. All this on the wrong side of the Sea of Galilee in Gentile territory!

This made a good story: how un-kosher, unlucky and just plain strange those gentiles were and best of all, those unclean pigs came to a well-deserved end, unless you were a pig.

But this story has layers upon layers to it, rich with meaning. And the greatest meaning is that Jesus has power. He has just calmed the sea to get to where this story takes place and we will see even more.

First, the man. We never learn his name. All we know is that he lives naked in the tombs, chained, shunned by family, friends and neighbors. He is tormented by a host of demons.

(In fact the demons are called “Legion.” The hearers of this Gospel would instantly catch the reference to the Roman legions that occupied their land—the most powerful force of oppression of their day. But they are no match for the power of Jesus. At his command, they jump into the pigs and head to a watery death.)

We don’t really do demons very well in the 21st Century. What the people of the First Century attributed to demons, we now see as a form of illness. We have clearly progressed over the past 2,000 years. Or have we?

Instead of being possessed by demons, we might well say that this man was manic-depressive, or bipolar and possibly schizophrenic. He was excluded from his society. Thankfully, we don’t do that today. Or do we?

Today, if you visit mental health facilities or the streets of many of our cities where people live in cardboard boxes you might wonder if we have advanced that far after all. In many ways, we still exclude those who suffer from diseases of the mind, even when people successfully manage their conditions. Maybe we haven’t changed that much after all.

The ultimate point of the story is that Jesus has power to heal and restore those who have been excluded, like this man. When the townspeople arrive, the man who had been a naked, tormented outcast is now clothed and in his right mind.

We don’t know how well he was welcomed back into his community. We do know that Jesus told him to remain in his community and “declare how much God has done for you.” And he did.

We humans are very good at drawing lines and excluding. We do that all the time and it may be that the churches in Galatia to whom St. Paul wrote did that, too. So when we hear the powerful words of St. Paul: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus,” they suggest that the Galatians were separating and excluding Jew from Gentile, slave from free, men from women.

Those were hard words to First Century Jews steeped in a worldview that drew lines between themselves and outsiders—Gentiles. A common Jewish prayer of the day was: “Thank you, Lord, for not making me a foreigner, a slave, or a woman.” I suggest that was a prayer for Jewish men only and Paul plays off against that in his words.

While we are not all the same, no group must claim superiority over another, nor must we exclude one another. Our human distinctions are irrelevant to God: male or female; rich or poor; young or old; married or single; educated or unschooled; black, white, brown, red, or yellow; white-collar or blue collar worker; gay or straight. None of these things which often are so crucial to us matter in the slightest to God. These differences, so profound to us, are nothing compared to the power of Christ to reconcile all things.

Where is the church that truly lives out this vision? Do we truly treat everyone as one, not just in this building, but in all our lives? G.K. Chesterton wrote that Christianity “has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” When will we try it?

The familiar words of the old African American spiritual are “We shall overcome someday.” Why not today? Why can’t we bring the Kingdom of God into being today? In the midst of the battles about immigration: “There is neither native born nor illegal immigrant.” In the midst of our bad economic times, where income inequality is greater than ever: “There is neither monied nor working class nor power.” In the midst of our society still often polarized by race: “There are neither people of color nor people of no color.”

For we are all one in Christ! Christ alone matters. Christ is our unity; Christ is our focus; Christ is the beginning and the end; Christ is the cause for which we live; and Christ is whom nothing can separate us, not even death!

Never forget that Jesus’ ministry was mainly to the poor and excluded, like the Gerasene demoniac, not to the wealthy and comfortable. May we never forget that!

Repent!

Remember the first words spoken by Jesus in Mark's Gospel:

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." [Mark 1:15].

What does that say to us about the man-made disaster in the Gulf?

These days we think "repent" means feeling bad about things, but in the Gospel sense it rather means "change your path" or "turn aside from the failed road you are on". How better to describe our stewardship of God's creation?

We need to choose paths which are sustainable. I don't know anyone with even a smattering of scientific knowledge who believes that fossil fuel resources are infinite. Whether the date on which we use them up is 25, 50, 100, or 500 years from now, the day will come. Also, most uses of fossil fuels have negative environmental impacts, primarily through creation of greenhouse gases. Fossil fuels have done great things for us, but we have let them take us down the wrong road (pun intended).

Does that mean Christians must call for the immediate cessation of the use of fossil fuels? No. Without regard to whether it would really happen (and it won't), there aren't today sufficient alternatives to allow for it without huge economic devastation that would, as always, be most heavily inflicted on the poor.

Does that mean we do nothing? Again, no. There are things we can do, both personally and as members of a community, that reduce our reliance on non-renewable fuels. Where we can, take mass transit. When we purchase vehicles, factor fuel efficiency into our decisions. Do things in our homes that reduce the power and water that we use, as well as the impact generally on the environment. Support actions by all levels of government which reduce our use of these non-sustainable energy sources.

How does all this play into the unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico? In a recent article, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts-Schori, wrote

The still-unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is good evidence of the interconnectedness of the whole. It has its origins in this nation's addiction to oil, uninhibited growth, and consumerism, as well as old-fashioned greed and what my tradition calls hubris and idolatry. Our collective sins are being visited on those who have had little or no part in them: birds, marine mammals, the tiny plants and animals that constitute the base of the vast food chain in the Gulf, and on which a major part of the seafood production of the United States depends. Our sins are being visited on the fishers of southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, who seek to feed their families with the proceeds of what they catch each day. Our sins will expose New Orleans and other coastal cities to the increased likelihood of devastating floods, as the marshes that constitute the shrinking margin of storm protection continue to disappear, fouled and killed by oil.

***

There is no place to go "away" from these consequences; there is no ultimate escape on this planet. The effects at a distance may seem minor or tolerable, but the cumulative effect is not. We are all connected, we will all suffer the consequences of this tragic disaster in the Gulf, and we must wake up and put a stop to the kind of robber baron behavior we supposedly regulated out of existence a hundred years ago. Our lives, and the liveliness of the entire planet, depend on it.

It's easy to point fingers at BP and they deserve some of the blame. It's easy to point fingers at the Federal Government for allowing BP to drill in deep water without a clear method to deal with disasterous consequences. While we're pointing fingers, let's examine our own complicity through our insatiable thirst for cheap oil, large cars, trucks and SUVs. While we're demanding that BP and the Government repent and change their paths, what about us?

A prayer for the Gulf:

Creator God, author of life, source of all meaning, you made a universe of infinite complexity and beauty and entrusted us humans with the care of a tiny jewel called Earth.

With the passing of time we came to believe we were owners, not fellow creature dwellers, of this bountiful planet and its extravagant web of life. We have used God’s creation without regard for the impact our rapacity had on the other creatures with whom we share our earthly home. We have acted with craven disregard for complex ecosystems we barely understand. Our self-deception has led us to assume we have the capacity to manage environments we exploit to sustain lifestyles that defy the intrinsic interdependence of all life. Now we face the consequences of our idolatry. We thought we were gods; but our recklessness has brought us to our knees, to ask for your mercy and forgiveness for the chaos we have brought about. We pray for the oceans and all the creatures that dwell in it. We pray for the forests and the abundance of life they nurture. We pray for the very air we breathe, now laden with the toxic gases we produce. We pray for our children whose earthly home we have so imperiled. Loving God, have mercy on us, grant us forgiveness and the strength to make amends.

[Photograph by Mathew Hinton, New Orleans Times-Picayune]