Monday October 13, 2014

Monday October 13, 2014 - Luke 8:26-39

Today's story begins with Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee and crossing into Gentile territory.  As soon as Jesus steps onto the shore a man met him; a man who is described as being full of demons, who did not wear clothes, and who lived not in a house but in the tombs where 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".

Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man and asked him, "What is your name?".  As David Lose, a Lutheran theologian, says, 

The heartbreaking moment in the story for me is when Jesus asks the man his name and one of the horde answers, “Legion, for we are many.” I find it devastating that he has no name, no identity left, except for what he is captive to. It’s not Elijah, or Isaac, or John, or Frank, or Jo-Jo; it’s Legion. He has been completely defined by what assails him, by what robs him of joy and health, by what hinders him and keeps him bound, by all those things that keep him from experiencing life in its abundance.

On this day of national Thanksgiving, we are invited to celebrate, with gratitude, God's good gifts.  But we too are captive to many forces that can rob us of "joy and health . . . from experiencing life in its abundance".  Maybe they are the "demons" of cynicism, relentless consumerism, addictions, fear, refusals to forgive, you fill in the blank . . . 

Will we risk, and even seek out, an encounter with Jesus?  We will risk having God restore and strengthen our identity as a beloved child of God?  Will we risk, with God's help, moving away from the things that enslave us and into the freedom of life with God?   

- Marilyn Malton