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Boy Scout Tr #240

Scripture: Luke 8:26-39

This part of Luke is full of miracle stories--ones that show-off Jesus’ power: his power over storms, demons, death, and power that transferred into a woman who simply touched the fringe of his clothing. These are spectacular stories and we can get a lot of comfort from these stories about Jesus calming storms, raising the dead, and healing someone who had been sick for years. His miracles remind us that the way things are not the way things will always be. His miracles are evidence that God’s will for us is not chaos or brokenness but wholeness. They are glimpses of the kingdom--a moment or two when we see how things will be.

But sometimes I wonder if miracle stories do more harm than good. Here is the problem I have with miracles: I would really like one of my own. How many of you here can think of at least one person in your life who could use a miracle-- today? But miracles are hard to come by. Not everyone who prays for a miracle gets one, not by a long shot, and meanwhile there are some people who get miracles without even asking for them at all. And personally, this apparent randomness about who gets a miracle and who doesn’t just isn’t right! I’d like to know the formula. Surely, there is a formula. Two parts prayer, three parts faith, one part good works. Don’t walk under ladders. Pray three times, turn around twice, and throw salt over your shoulder. What is the magic recipe for a sure-fire miracle? Is it in the Bible? In these stories? What can we do to make ourselves irresistible to God? Sometimes I wonder if the miracle stories in the Bible do more harm than good.

Just after Jesus and his disciples crossed the stormy sea, where Jesus stilled the waters, they arrived at the country of Gerasenes. They were met by a wild city guy, who wore no clothes, who lived in a graveyard--he was crazy, he was strong, he ran free in the city and the countryside. And the day that Jesus arrived on that side of the sea, this man was the self-appointed greeter. Except this man was not himself. He had been taken over, controlled, possessed by something else, demons, Luke tells us. The setting is Gerasene, by the shore, in Gentile territory. A herd of pigs are grazing nearby.

So, the man does not greet Jesus and the disciples. The foreign power that occupies his body does, named “Legion.” The man has lost his soul to something called “Legion.” We would have to be unconscious to not wonder if there is another layer to this story than what is on the surface. A foreign power called Rome is occupying Israel in Jesus’ time. And perhaps it is driving the people mad. This “Legion” was making this man do extreme things, this “legion“ was taking over this man soul. The remarkable thing is that Jesus has a rather polite conversation with “Legion.” They have a discussion about where it doesn’t want to go when Jesus expels it from the body of the man it occupies. “Don’t send us into the abys,” they said. “What about those pigs over there? Would that be acceptable?” Obviously, Jesus was in control of this situation. Jesus had the upper hand--and so easily. Jesus didn’t see any problem at all with “Legion” moving over to the pigs. What better place? After all Jesus was a Jew and we all know that nothing could make the pigs any worse than they already were. So, Jesus said, “Sure, go into the pigs. Be my guest.” Which they did and that was the end of the herd of pigs. They ran into the sea and drowned. And the people who observed this were amazed and spread the news. A legion of folks came to see for themselves what had happened. The pigs were gone. The possessed man they had grown accustomed to was clothed and back to being himself. They were afraid. And maybe for good reason! What kind of person would talk to a demoniac and drive pigs into the sea? This Jesus had to go. So, they ask him to leave and he did, leaving the man behind to bear testimony to this miracle.

But, what kind of miracle? Seems like Jesus left life more in chaos than it was before. This miracle was not in response to a declaration or act of faith. It was not even an answer to prayer. I did not read that the demoniac was someone who wanted to be healed. And no one brought him to Jesus to be healed. No, the miracle seemed totally random. In fact, it disturbed the order of this community. I think the demoniac had an important role in the life of the community. And what did Jesus do? He came and changed all that with a miracle. Life would never be the same for them again.

You see, miracles do more harm than good. A herd of pigs were drowned, the local madman was not mad anymore, who can be blamed now for failure, bad luck, loss? Only one person, the one who changed everything-- Jesus. Jesus had to go. So, the folks who came to see for themselves what had happened told him. “You need to get out of here. We can’t have you messing with us anymore. Who knows what you will do next. It will just be better for all of us, if you and your lot go back to where you came from--the sooner, the better.“ So, they got in the boat and sailed back to where they came from.

What kind of miracle was this? A totally randon, unexpected, undeserved miracle that scared the hell out of everyone. Not the kind of miracle we pray for, is it? We don’t pray for a miracle that scares us, that messes up the order of our lives, that disturbs our community. That’s not the kind of miracle I want!

Welcome to the way that God operates in our world! Not the way we expect, not the way we want, not the way we ask. Totally unpredictable. Thanks a lot, God. Thanks a lot for nothing but trouble.

Or maybe we religious people are a little mixed-up about miracles and what causes them. Maybe we have this belief that if only we had enough faith, if only we could control our thoughts, if only we prayed hard enough, then we would have the miracle we wanted. We tend to think that miracles work along the same lines as one of those strength tests you sometimes see at a county fair, the one that is like a big thermometer with a bell at the top. You hit with a sledgehammer, and if you were really strong and hit it hard enough, you ring the bell and win the prize. If not, well, try again and better luck next time.

In other words, we have this hope and belief that miracles are something we control. And if we are not receiving a miracle, it must be our fault. We didn’t do something right. But the truth is God is in control of miracles. And what better example of that than the healing of the Gerasene demoniac.

Perhaps another way to look at this story is to realize that we all have had demons in our lives--demons that keep us from being ourselves wholy. Anne Lamott wrote a book about writing way is 1994 titled Bird by Bird. She writes about perfectionism like it is a demon. She says, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” She says it is easier to get through perfectionism if you believe in God. She writes: “If you believe, then this God of yours might be capable of relieving you of some of this perfectionism. Still, one of the most annoying things about God is that God never just touches you with a magic wand, like Glinda the Good, nad gieves you what you want. Like it would be so much skin off God’s nose. But God might give you the courage or the stamina to write lots nad lots of first drafts, and then you’d learn that good second drafts can spring from these, and you’d see that big sloppy imperfect mess have value.”

It’s true, the miracle is the mess, believing in the mess, believe that something is able to come out of a mess. Nothing comes from perfectionism. Because “perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend.” And Jesus was an artist who made messes with his miracles. And I believe in messes!

So, it helps me to remember that Jesus got himself in such a mess that he went to the garden and prayed for a miracle, the night before he died. He prayed, “For you all things are possible; remove this cup from me.” When he opened his eyes, the cup was still there. Did Jesus lack faith? I don’t think so. The miracle was that he drank the cup, believing in the power of God more than he believed in his own. It is always a miracle, isn’t it, when we understand that God is God and we are not.

So, I’ll keep praying for a miracle. Because there is someone I love who needs one. I won’t stop and I hope you won‘t either, because the world needs all the miracles it can get. I’ll try to remember that there are no magic words or a secret formula. I’ll try to remember it’s not about me when there doesn’t seem to be anything happening. I hope I remember that the miracle is not my job--it’s God’s. I’ll also remember that when we were children we needed to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here and the good news is that miracles and messes often go together.

Amen.