The Demoniac

Dear Friends,

In this week’s Gospel reading (Luke 8:26-39) Jesus encounters a man possessed with demons who lives in the tombs, naked. Jesus helps restore the man back to sanity, and news quickly spreads around the city.

“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.” (Lk. 8:35)

The people were so frightened they ended up asking Jesus to leave. The great irony in this story, is that in spite of the demoniac who lived among them, the townspeople preferred the old way rather than a new way of being.

As our country spirals further into inner socio-political turmoil, as well as escalating global tensions, this all feels uncomfortably familiar. Before societal fear was aimed primarily towards immigrants and the LGBT community, it was black people (along with the LGBT community), and before that it was Moslems. Of course, these “old” fears never really leave; they simply get repackaged and recycled for another politician’s demagoguery.

When fear mixed with tribalism drowns out rationality and empathy, then, like the townspeople of Jesus’s day, we too seek to drive out agents of change. However, fear of the “other,” cannot be driven out, because the issue is internal. And until we (as a country) choose to face and address those familiar “demons” of racism, xenophobia, and violence, then, not only will social unrest continue to be the norm, but it has every potential to collapse further into chaos

Christ have mercy.

 Sincerely,

Anthony+