Changing the System
Luke 8:26-39
June 24, 2001
St. John United Methodist Church
David Beckett, D.Min.

26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.

Scholars are not certain as to the location of this country of the Gerasenes. Tradition has it as Gerasa or Jerash, which was 30 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. But the problem with this lies in the fact that the stampede of pigs from Gerasa, 30 miles to the Sea of Galilee would have made them the most energetic herd in history!

27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.

We need to understand that this story is set in Gentile country. Pigs were considered unclean animals by Jews. Tombs were also a source of uncleanness. In Jewish areas they were often whitewashed so that one might not come in contact with a tomb accidentally.

28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me"--29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.)

Isn=t it interesting that the Jewish people have difficulty figuring out who Jesus is. His own disciples are not sure of his identity. But the demons do know who he is. This one falls at Jesus= feet.

30 Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him.

It was believed that demons roamed desolate places seeking refuge. They also believed that knowing the name of the demons gave the exorcist control over them. ALegion@ is a number, not a name. A Roman legion was composed of five or six thousand men.

31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

The abyss was the place where the disobedient spirits were imprisoned.

32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Here we see the negotiating prowess of the demons. Jesus allows them to enter a herd of pigs. The drowning of the pigs adds a suggestive twist to the story. No Jewish Christian would have raised questions about the ethics of Jesus= allowing the destruction of the livelihood of the Gentile swineherds. Instead, the fate of the pigs would show that justice had prevailed all around: The man had been delivered from the demons= torment, the unclean herd had been destroyed, the demons had gotten what they wanted, and in the end they had been destroyed along with the pigs. Jesus had outwitted the devil. Whenever evil gets its way, it is always destructive and ultimately self-destructive.

34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.

37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.

The peoples= response to this exorcism is one of great fear. They recognize the mystery and power of what has taken place, but they cannot make a place for it in their lives. Therefore, they ask Jesus to leave.

38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

The man who had been healed wants to be with Jesus. Imagine the feelings of this one who had suffered so much. Now he was free! He was a new person! But Jesus tells him to go home (Remember this is a Gentile region) and tell others how much God has done for him. So here we see the beginning of a mission to the Gentiles. When we have been touched by Jesus our task is to tell others in our own home towns.

A system is Aa pattern of interaction that persists.@ (REPEAT) So what are some examples of a system? A family is a system. A school is a system. A marriage is a system. A church is a system. A SS class is a system. Simply put, if you are in relationship with one person or many persons where your interactions have a persistent pattern, then you are a member of a system.

Oftentimes, in a relationship there is a pattern of interaction that emerges subtely, silently, without discussion. For example, early in their marriage a husband noticed some wet, vegetable garbage in a colander in the sink. So he threw it away. A couple of days later he again found a pile of green garbage and tossed it in the garbage can. This pattern was repeated several times after that. Today this man is 61 years old and for 40 years now he has been in charge of emptying the wet garbage!

My mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law are here today and can attest to the change I unwittingly brought to their family system. I was raised in a family with two working parents and the three of us boys were expected, at the very least, to take our dirty dishes to the dishwasher after meals. This was a pattern that persisted in my family system.

In 1979 I began dating Kim Snavley of Sidney, Ohio. Apparently the Snavley family pattern after meals was that the women would wait on the men and pick up their dishes after meals. Now I was not clued into this pattern and the first time I ate dinner there I remember getting up to take my dishes into the kitchen. There were two reactions. The first was from the women who liked what I did. Not only did they like what I did, but they began speaking to the men to take their dishes to the kitchen. You can no doubt guess the reaction of the men. They did not like this proposed change to their comfortable system! They rather enjoyed being waited upon by the women. So I began to be the target of their scorn and heard my name spoken in vain on many a meal at the Snavley house. Before I arrived their family system at meal times worked for their advantage. Because I had introduced a different pattern the system had changed.

A system is a pattern of interaction that persists. In this story we have a classic pattern that kept on persisting...until Jesus came along and upset it. The man had likely resigned himself to the demons within him. The demons were apparently comfortable in their home. The people from the city and the countryside probably told stories about the wild man who lived in the desolate places. I can imagine the adults telling their children never to wander too far away from their villages, for fear that the wild, demon-possessed man would get them. These folks were used to their system the way it was. They probably didn=t want it to change, except for the possessed man. But perhaps even he had come to accept his fate. Perhaps even he had given up all hope of ever being free. Perhaps even he knew he would never be saved from his shackles.

Then Jesus comes along....and speaks to the demons. In that encounter the tormentors leave the soul of this man who had been in bondage for so long. And he was free! Notice that he was the only one in this story who was not afraid of Jesus. He knew all too well that the demons had left him. He had lived in darkness. Now he could see the light. He had known despair and suffering. Now he could taste salvation and freedom.

But how would others react to this man=s new found salvation? They were used to him being wildly possessed by demons. He filled a role in their mythology of fear. He was part of community culture. But Jesus had come and upset all this by granting his inner freedom. And they were afraid and asked Jesus to leave.

Are you ever afraid when someone you know encounters the living Christ? When I was living in Georgia and teaching 8th grade I worked with the youth in my church. I remember taking the group to a retreat where some of the teens made new commitments to Christ. They were filled with a new joy and love for God. One of the girls whose name is Beth did not find a joyful welcome when she returned to her home. Her parents were quite upset with her and with me. AWhat was all this religious stuff?@ they asked. They didn=t like all this emotion. Because of the control they had over her they were able to keep her from coming to youth group. They were able to keep her from seeing her new found faith nurtured in a Christian community. Sometimes fear can rise within us when others walk a journey of faith and wholeness.

I can fully understand why people allow their fears to get the best of them in these situations. There is so much change in our world today. It=s like we are on Achange@ overload. We can only deal with so much change that we begin to shut down and allow our fear, not faith, to respond to change. We become comfortable with our old patterns of living.

For example, there are families who have established patterns of abuse and violence with each other. They scream and shout obscenities at each other. They learn to hit and throw things at each other. This is their system. It may be dysfunctional, but they have become used to it. So if one member of this abusive family opens his or her heart to Christ and receives healing and salvation the system changes. Suddenly this one with new faith learns that violence is not the way Jesus intends them to live. She wants her family to change, to stop yelling and hitting each other.

But the typical response of the family system is to do everything within their power to resist the change. Abuse has become such a habit, such a powerful way of life for them that they are afraid to not live this way. They become like the people who witnessed the healing of the demon-possessed man. They are afraid and want Jesus to leave their family.

The family is a system. The church is a system. Even in church systems there are ways in which we act like the people in this story. We are afraid when the power of Jesus moves in our midst. We are afraid when our comfortable ways of relating with each other are threatened with change. We are afraid when Christ calls us from bondage to new life.

But the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we don=t have to fear God=s love. This is a love that is much more than a warm, fuzzy feeling. It is a radical, life-changing, liberating, justice-seeking love that challenges the old ways of relating with others. It is so radical that we, who are touched by this love, cannot return to our systems and fall into old, unhealthy patterns.

And so we need each other, to strengthen each other to live in light of this love without fear, without abuse, without violence. May God bless our hunger for love, and our search to live in it without fear.

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