Proper 7 (C) + Explosion of grace + 6.19.16
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(1 Kings 19:1–4, (5–7), 8–15ª; Psalm 42; Galatians 3:23–29; Luke 8:26–39)
The demoniac was a man of violence, from a violent place.
Gerasa, an important city in Roman Arabia, was also a place with a history of
violence, and it was captured at least once by Romans in ancient times.[1] Now, Jesus probably did not visit
Gerasa proper but just the region, being that the city was 30 miles inland from
the Sea of Galilee, but you get the feeling that the whole region was marked by
violence.
And you might say that this man encompassed all the violence
and pain that this entire region had been through. He was suffering. And
somehow, across the sea, Jesus felt it. He felt it so strongly that he crossed
to the other side of the sea, withstood a dangerous storm on the water, and
went to heal this one man. This action does not make any logical sense, doing
all this for one man. But perhaps he felt the pain of a whole region in that
man. Did Jesus feel his pain across the sea, a pain that was felt all over the
land?
All we know is that Jesus felt the pain of this man, he
responded to it by healing him and he left, leaving a number of dead pigs in
his wake. And that part is sad for us animal lovers. We want to ask “why the
pigs, Jesus?” But the truth is that the pigs are not the main point in this
story. We have to remember that they were basically a monetary unit, with each
pig being worth about 86 dollars a head, valuing about 172,000 dollars for two
thousand pigs. No small change for any farmer in any time or place.[2] But Jesus didn’t measure the cost
when it came to healing this man. When it came to taking away his pain, not
even two thousand pigs could stand a chance. Jesus will stop at nothing to heal
us. Jesus didn’t measure the cost later, when he gave his life for us. We human
beings tend to see things as monetary units, as comparative value, but God sees
more deeply.
I saw something deep this Friday when I participated in an
event called “Festival of Grace” at Bethel AME Church and it made me think of
Elijah’s quote from today: “I am no better than my ancestors,” which in Spanish
was translated “I am no better than my fathers.” I say this because I heard two
stories of two very different fathers. And here I will include a disclaimer—if
there are little pitchers who are susceptible to being scared by certain
stories, please protect them or distract them at this time. Because these two
fathers’ stories are hard ones.
I heard about one father, who, about twenty years back, lost
his infant daughter, and who never recovered from this loss. Over time, he
became so sad and angry at God, that he marched into a schoolhouse and killed
some Amish girls. He could not heal, or find the forgiveness that is in God,
and so he lashed out at innocents.
I also heard about another father, a very different father.
Bishop B.A. Huggins is the pastor of the St. Paul Baptist Church here in
Oxnard, and he shared about the power of forgiveness in his life. First he told
us about how, as a youth, he was beat up by a group of white boys when he was
headed to school, simply because he is black. He was hurt so bad he was in the
hospital. And some people wanted to start a race riot as a result. But there,
still in his hospital bed, Bishop Huggins’ mother did something powerful. She
started quoting the Bible, saying: “Blessed are you when people revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my
account (Matthew 5:11).” She shared about loving our enemies, and about forgiveness.
So he did something amazing. He joined with white and black youth to promote
peace after he got well. He learned from the example of his faithful mother,
how to live out grace and forgiveness.
Then something even more difficult happened. About three
years ago his son was killed during a traffic stop in Alameda County. And
speaking through his deep pain, Bishop Huggins described how he is learning
anew how to forgive. This father, so different from the other father, showed us
a sacrificial and living example of what Pastor Rick Pearson had mentioned when
he talked about the need to “practice” our faith. Because Pastor Pearson
mentioned that after the deaths of those Amish girls, what did the Amish
community do, but come to the widow of the shooter’s house to express
condolences and to forgive? They did this because this was their faith
practice. This was how they lived their faith every day. They responded in this
way because grace and forgiveness were a part of their every day vocabulary and
actions. Although it is more difficult than he can bear at times, Bishop
Huggins showed us that he practices his faith in forgiveness, too.[3]
The stories of the two fathers show us a little bit about the
man from the gospel today. He was held hostage by his demons. We don’t know
what they were. Were they only spiritual? We hear that they were “legion.” Of
course, this is in an interesting term because “legion” was the name of the
Roman military unit that likely took the Gerasene region by force. A legion
usually comprised about five thousand fighting men at that point, too many to
count.[4] Does that sound familiar? A bit like
our world—too many demons to count? We have spiritual forces, but we also have
addiction, widespread access to the armaments of war combined with an American
psyche that is affected by an ongoing war in other parts of the world and yet
not physically affected by it in the day-to-day (by and large). We have mental
illness and a culture of disconnection. Jesus saw all the demons in this man and
brought healing. We trust he sees these in us and brings healing to us, too.
Now we have a decision. The families of the dead in Orlando,
how will they react. How will we react after witnessing such violence? Friday
we remembered the families of those who died in Charleston, SC last year and
how they faced their family members’ killer and said “I forgive you.” We can
follow this courageous example of healing and forgiveness. But to be able to do
that, we need to grieve and we need to practice our faith. We need to receive
the healing power of Jesus, just as the man in today’s gospel received healing.
Put your trust in God, says the psalm. And this is necessary, because when we
practice our faith, it is quite possible that folks will not react as we hope.
Look to the end of this gospel passage. The man is healed,
clothed, in his right mind. And how are the people? Terrified. Weirded out.
They have lived in daily violence – with this man, and with their lives in
general, for a long time, and they are not ready for change. Maybe the pigs are
also a big inconvenience. They want Jesus to go. So the man asks if he can go
with Jesus. And Jesus tells him that he needs to stay, and talk about what God
has done for him. To talk about healing, grace and forgiveness. The man had to
stay to heal his region.
So this is the hard part for us Christians, because to
practice our faith we sometimes must forgive in moments when there is no
logical reason to do so. But this helps the grace which only comes from God to
be released into the world. This leads to healing acts.
Friday night I mentioned something. I said how important it
was to Pastor Alene and me that we were invited; being that the founders of the
African Methodist Episcopal church did not feel welcome in their historic
Methodist and Episcopal Church homes as a result of racism. At the end of the
event, we walked around and greeted each other saying “God bless you,” much
like we do at the peace, and I was enveloped in hugs and smiles. I felt so much
love. It felt like a small explosion of God’s grace. And this gave me hope.
Because we can be a part of that. In these continued conversations and in every
way as we each continue to practice our faith. Amen.
[2]
Rolf Jacobsen, Karoline Lewis and Matt Skinner, “Working Preacher Sermon
Brainwave for June 19, 2016,” www.workingpreacher.org.
[3]
Rev. Richard Pearson and Bishop B.A. Huggins, talks from “Festival of Grace,”
Bethel Oxnard Church, June 17, 2016, 7:30pm.
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_legion
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