Christ and Chaos

January 26^th, 2020    “Christ and Chaos”     Rev. Heather Jepsen

Mark 5:1-20

         We continue to follow the narrative lectionary reading through Mark’s gospel and once again we find Jesus challenging the power of evil in our world with the gift of healing.  I have always found this story of the Gerasene Demoniac to be one of the most frightening in all of scripture.  There is just something about it that disturbs me to my core and I have a feeling that’s the purpose of this story.  The gospel writer wants us to be upset.

         Everything about this story is crafted to create discomfort.  Jesus has left the safe country of the Jewish territories and by crossing the sea has entered Gentile realms.  This in and of itself would be enough to make a good Jew uncomfortable.  What would Jesus be doing in Gentile territory anyway?

         But this is just the beginning.  Not only is this a Gentile region, this is a graveyard, the most unclean area imaginable.  To even accidently brush up against a tomb would render one unclean.  Add to this the large herd of swine, also unclean, and we begin to get the picture.  This is a nightmare of a place that literally no Jew would be caught dead in.  It is a polluted region.

         As if the setting weren’t scary enough, the writer of the Gospel of Mark has placed into this story the most terrifying character in all of scripture.  As soon as Jesus lands on the shore this madman comes running to meet him.  This man is so violent that he cannot be contained, breaking the chains of all who would try to hold him.  He wounds himself with rocks from the ground and spends his days howling out in terror.  When the writer of the gospel of Luke tells this man’s story he declares that he is naked among the tombs.  So imagine, a naked, bleeding, screaming mad man comes running at Jesus in this most unclean place imaginable.  It is chaos and it is terrifying.

         The man throws himself at Jesus’ feet and screams at the top of his lungs asking Jesus to leave him alone.  Jesus knows of course that this fellow is possessed and asks the name of the demon that torments him as that is first step toward exorcism.  Not one demon but many haunt the man and he cries out that his name is “Legion”.  Whenever I imagine this scene I see the man’s rolling eyes, wild hair, and spitting mouth.  I hear a deep many layered monster voice as he cries out.  I imagine him as a cross between the girl in “The Exorcist” and the terrible fast moving zombies of “28 Days Later”.  This man is one of the scariest things I can think of and I would be terrified to witness him in person.

         In an act of mercy Jesus sends the demons into the nearby herd of swine.  I imagine the pigs’ eyes rolling over in their heads and their screaming cries as 2000 swine become infested with demonic madness.  The sound of pigs screaming is one of the most disturbing sounds there is and it is often used in horror movies because it causes us such discomfort.  Magnified by 2000 this would be deafening and terribly frightening.  In absolute chaos and madness this screaming herd gallops toward the cliff edge and drowns in the sea.  Seriously, with just a little imagination this is the most disturbing story in all of scripture.  I find it extremely unsettling.

         Of course, so do those whose job it is to monitor this herd of swine.  They run into the town and tell of all the frightening things they have seen.  It is no wonder that the townspeople come and ask Jesus to leave.  He has brought complete chaos to the region.  Sure, they all knew the scary guy out at the tombs but if you stayed away you were ok.  After what happened with the swine, who knows what other madness Jesus will release in the area.  As the text says, when they saw what Jesus had done the villagers were “very afraid”.  So different from the other healing stories in Mark, instead of people crowding around the area, Jesus is told to get back in his boat and leave. 

The man though, the real man who we haven’t met up to this point, wants to go with Jesus.  This is not hard to imagine either.  As he sits before Jesus and the disciples finally clothed and in his right mind, one can imagine that there is little for him left in the area.  He can’t stay among the tombs and he probably has no home to return to.  But Jesus is not interested in followers at this point.  Rather, he sends the man on into the Gentile regions to tell his story.  When we end our story, Jesus sails back into Jewish territory and the man spreads the good news of God’s mercy through the cities of Rome.

This is a very strange story and it’s no wonder that it does not appear in our regular lectionary readings.  It can be hard to know what to make of it.  If we take the story seriously and at face value it is terribly frightening.  It is complete and utter chaos and yet Jesus enters into that space and is in control.  Even though it is the most unclean space imaginable, Jesus is not made unclean by his presence there.  Even though the man is possessed by the most frightening cadre of demons imaginable, Jesus is able to easily bring healing.  Although this story terrifies me, there is nothing frightening here for Jesus.  In the cyclone of complete chaos Jesus occupies a space of pure calm.

When I was pondering the text this week I tried to understand what I was so afraid of in the story.  Am I afraid of being in this frightening place, seeing this demonic man, and witnessing the maddening rush to death of the pigs?  Yes.  Am I afraid that I am capable of being like this man, so completely out of control of myself and harming myself and those I love?  Yes.  In all honesty, I am afraid of all kinds of things and all kinds of chaos.  I am afraid of tornados, and I am afraid that someone will come in here and shoot us when we are trying to have church, and I am afraid of nuclear war, and I am afraid of a complete failure of the power grid and collapse of the economic system, and I am afraid someone will harm my children and I won’t be able to help them.  I am afraid of all kinds of chaos and I think you probably are too.  Chaos is completely frightening.

In this story and in others, Christ wades right in to chaos.  In fact, I would say that chaos is not chaos to the Christ.  Right before this reading is the story of Jesus stilling the storm.  You know it.  Jesus is sailing across the lake and he is asleep in the boat and the disciples are in the middle of a giant storm.  As water fills the boat the disciples are afraid they will drown.  And so they wake Jesus up and ask for help and he quiets the storm and calms the waves.  Water equals chaos in the Bible, and Christ conquers that chaos.  That’s why it is one of the symbols of baptism; God’s tames the waters of chaos.

In the world of occupied Rome, the power of empire was the power of chaos.  The land of Gerasene is under the same Roman occupation as the Jewish lands across the sea.  Legion is the name of the Roman garrison of troops that patrol the area and the standard on their flag?  A wild boar.  Christ wades in to the controlling chaos of the unjust Roman occupation and executes power and authority.  Chaos is not chaos to the Christ.  Political, spiritual, environmental, Christ is able to control it all.

When we read this story we find that Jesus has authority over that which we most fear.  Jesus has authority over that which makes us most uncomfortable.  Jesus can wade into any space, any pollution, any brokenness, any chaos and bring the gift of healing.  What would it mean for you to invite Jesus into the fear and anxiety in your own life?

I am certain there is something that keeps you up at night.  When the world is fast asleep and you lie awake alone in bed, what is the thing that disturbs you most?  What is your fear, your chaos, your source of infinite anxiety?  What would it mean to invite Jesus into that space, that fear, that worry?

Sometimes I think we keep religion and the “real world” too compartmentalized.  There is Sunday morning and then there is the rest of my life.  There is church and then there is my job and my family.  There is the Bible and then there is the news and the impeachment hearings and one more mass shooting.  There is what I believe about God and then there is what I believe about the rest of the world.  We don’t do a very good job of bringing these two things together.  We don’t do a very good job of inviting Jesus into the rest of our life. 

Our scripture reading for this morning reminds us that there is no part of our life, no part of our world, that is off limits to our Lord.  There is no place that Jesus does not have the power to enter and there is no illness that is beyond his ability to heal.  There is no uncleanliness that can make our God unclean.  There is no graveyard that is beyond the reach of our resurrected Lord and there is no nightmare that frightens our God.  As Paul writes later in his letter to the Romans, there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God.  There is no chaos, real or imaginary, that can separate us from God.  There is no chaos to God, for God has authority over all things.

This week I want to invite you to think on the place of chaos in your own life.  There are certainly an ample amount of things that are beyond our control.  But there is nothing beyond the reach of our Lord.  There are certainly ample things that can frighten us and cause us worry, but there is nothing that can frighten Jesus and there is no place he can’t go.  This week, what would it mean for you to imagine the power and authority of our God and what would it mean to invite God into your life beyond the realm of Sunday morning?  What would it mean to invite God into your biggest worry and fear?  There is nothing in this world that is beyond the reach of our God.  There is no part of your life that Jesus cannot heal.  Invite Christ into your chaos.  Amen.