Posts
Today’s
text
Luke
8:26-35
They came
to land in the territory of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
He was stepping ashore when a man from the city who was
possessed by devils came towards him; for a long time the man had been living
with no clothes on, not in a house, but in the tombs. Catching
sight of Jesus he gave a shout, fell at his feet and cried out at the top of
his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I
implore you, do not torture me.' For Jesus had been telling the
unclean spirit to come out of the man. It had seized on him a great many times,
and then they used to secure him with chains and fetters to restrain him, but
he would always break the fastenings, and the devil would drive him out into
the wilds. Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He said,
'Legion' -- because many devils had gone into him. And these
begged him not to order them to depart into the Abyss. Now there
was a large herd of pigs feeding there on the mountain, and the devils begged
him to let them go into these. So he gave them leave. The devils
came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd charged down the cliff
into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had
happened they ran off and told their story in the city and in the country round
about; and the people went out to see what had happened. When
they came to Jesus they found the man from whom the devils had gone out sitting
at the feet of Jesus, wearing clothes and in his right mind; and they were
afraid.
Reflection
It’s not right. “Legion,” the possessed man when asked his
name, and we might answer the same. “My name is legion, for many things possess
and define me.”
But that is not right, not for him or for us.
We are not the demons that take control of us. We are not
the fears, defense mechanisms or anxieties about our success, appearance and
importance that possess us and obscure our deepest identity.
We are not the deficiencies and disappointments that haunt
so many, nor are we the wounds and sorrows that seek control over our waking
thoughts.
These things seek to define us, possess us, and too often we
allow it, thinking that, yes, this is who we really are: that legion of
feelings, the weight of the past, fears of the future and gnawing insecurities
that shape our inner life and much outward behavior.
But this is not who we are. This is not our identity, and we
know it when we, like the Gerasene demoniac are restored to our right mind.
Jesus enters the wild lands of our confusion, where we are
driven about by one compulsion or another that takes possession of our minds and
convinces us we are far less than we are.
How many times have I heard others… or myself spoken the
words … ‘I am only …’ or I am just a …?’
How many times have I heard others… or myself … speak words
that diminish or make light of the gifts, hopes and dignity of who we each are
as human souls, bearers of great beauty, promise, love and capacity for
receiving and giving grace?
How many times have do we accentuate our deficiencies or
smallness for fear of making too much of
ourselves--or to lower expectations so others would not look to us for any
truly important?
In such times, we truly are not in our right minds. Right-mindedness
appears only in the presence of the power of love that frees us to discover and
be who we are as gifted, graced, beautiful children of the Loving Father who
hungers for us to know and live our true dignity.
The power of such love frees us from demons that possess
that our eyes might glisten and our lives shine with the glory God intends.
Pr. David L. Miller
