MOB - Pent 5C

I am being stalked!

Seriously all week the Gospel reading has been chasing me, jumping out from behind bushes, and peeking through half drawn curtains.  It seems everywhere I go   - the situation or conversation relates to the story of Jesus casting demons from the mad-man in the Trans-Jordanian wilderness.

On Tues night, I attended the Gambler’s Anonymous group, that meets in the church hall.  The community was celebrating a 24^th birthday – 24 years gambling free; a milestone that was honoured by many telling the birthday celebrant how much they had helped their own journey to living life.  Other stories shared were current struggles, wrapped up in demons from the past, and hard circumstances needing to be faced in the days to come. One attendee was quiet, until near the end. Getting up the courage they shared that it was their first meeting --- having been brought by a friend --- and cried out, that there was nothing but darkness (an abyss), and that the celebration of the birthday and the stories of others were enough to give them the possibility of perhaps believing there might be a hope that there is hope. 

In a long time, this is the darkest place I have witnessed someone being in.  I recalled the demons speaking to Jesus, They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.  The demons, however, had pretty much taken the mad-man to beyond the edge, and this person from the meeting was well into the abyss; which I describe as a place where one has no hope; they are no longer themselves.

The translation from which we read the story of the man whom Jesus heals, the demons refer to themselves as Legion.  A Legion, is not the Legion we know today as a place for veterans to gather – to share each others pain, hidden inexplicable memories- demons. Rather a legion describes a large army, 5000 strong, designed to attack in waves – if you have watched any recent epic film you know what I mean:  a wave of cavalry, a wave of archers, a wave of foot soldiers, then giants, or catapults… 

I prefer the language used in the Message translation – which for some reason was the translation Lutheran clergy read the text from when we gathered on Thurs.  The text reads, Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Mob. My name is Mob,” he said because many demons afflicted him.

Mob, m-o-b.  This word resonates. Flash mobs; mobs rampaging after sporting events; protests turned into violent mobs; a school yard fight turning into dozens egging on the fight and joining in; a mob --- an unruly group of people who act in destructive ways with a mentality that has a life of its own, often producing actions that individuals would not commit of their own accord. 

I had coffee with a friend this week. This friend spoke with me about this great Bible translation that seemed to bring the Word into real life like none other – the Message – so I gave an example I had heard the day before:  Legion to Mob.  The friend shared a disturbing story, when he lived in another part of the world and had a life as a bus driver --- he found himself stuck on the bus, alone, on an empty street and coming over a hill, came to a police barricade, with no choice but to turn left, he turned tucking in just past the police line and was halted.  There was an approaching mob that was being corralled away from the main street of the city and being pushed down the road where my friend’s bus sat.  The police had my friend take cover in the bus  - the mob chose to hit the bus; 1000s of people, wave after wave, took their angst out on the bus; my friend did a lot of praying and was sure he was going to die. The riot squad eventually moved the mob enough with protective shields to get my friend off before the bus was flipped or set on fire. It was the longest 5 mins of my friend’s life.  Mob.

We might not have such a fantastic mob story, but, we understand mob. 

We’ve been in crowds, at concerts, and sporting events and have felt the pushing at the end of the night when everyone is trying to leave quickly; we’ve been at dances were the dance floor gets over full and people push in on each other; we’ve been in circumstances where a crowd gets excited or agitated, but, we more often experience Mob in a more personal way.

Mob gets to us: waves of guilt pile up and we feel undeserving of coming back to the church community; waves of not feeling well to a diagnosis of inoperable cancer; waves of anxiety or depression to an end of self-harming; waves of life circumstances numbed by substance and led to addiction; waves of memory lapse and cognitive distress on the way to Alzheimer’s; waves of doubt and fear as one is in the last stretch before death ---- this week these were the places where Mob burst into my world.

Throughout our lives we have moments of getting pretty close to being on the edge of the abyss:

overwhelmed, at the end of one’s rope, and sometimes the bottom falls out.  The Gospel does not leave the mad-man in the abyss, or us, close to the edge.   The Gospel story ends with:

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him [Jesus]; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went a

way, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

As the Gospel continued to stalk me, I figured it out ----

The conclusion to the story is important!  For the man-made-whole the conclusion has become his vocation and purpose in life.  It is also the direction for those of us who have been under the control of Mob.  We are to return home and declare how much God has done for us.

When there are those who have recognized and experienced Jesus in the moment of utter darkness -- when on the edge of the abyss – and in that moment where Jesus casts out the demons; these people have been given a gift of hope and life. And the people having experienced Jesus go and share their story of what God has done, spread hope and peace to others. In doing so they become the Word that pushes the demons back and puts an end to Mob having a debilitating hold on a person.

That’s what happened at the Gambler’s Anonymous meeting, those who lived through darkness, had faced Mob, shared their stories.  In the honesty of the story, the admission of continued struggle, and the resource of the community, Mob lost its power over the person, for at least this moment, this wave.  Hope was given as a gift.  This hope grew in community.

That’s also what happened over the years in our Legions, those who had witnessed the darkness of war, had faced Mob, had a place to go and share their stories, a common horror that didn’t even need to be articulated.  Mob lost its power over individuals, for at least a moment, in the awareness that no one was alone – a community held hope as a whole that allowed for life to continue on.

My experiences this week had me sharing stories with those facing Mob, stories of others whom I had journeyed through similar circumstances with.  I shared stories that told of hope and healing in all the circumstances of life – although perhaps not in the way the hearer might have anticipated.  One person kept asking me, well how do you know? I know that all will be well, that God holds us because I have journeyed with people through some very dangerous and scary places.  And in the end I have been with those who pass from here to the next world – with a joy glowing on their face, an indescribable peace in the room, a gentle slipping between this world and the next obvious that someone they knew had come to take them on the next part of their journey.

Although in this Gospel we do not get an insight into the disciple’s experience of the event, we are told later in the Gospel, when after Jesus’ death they are on the edge of the abyss – when everything in their lives comes crashing down around them- when Mob is at the door; the disciples hole themselves up in a house; together.  For 50 days they wait in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, and when the Holy Spirit comes they go off preaching and teaching – not alone but in pairs, forming communities and sharing all that Jesus had done for them and for those whom Jesus met.

Because of community I had stories to share, my own and those of others, with those facing Mob.  The Word, Jesus was present in the presentation of Good News and hope was made possible.

What you hear here, see here, and experience in life --- the struggles you struggle through and make it through --- are a gift of hope for those currently stuck in the abyss.  Please share your stories, as insignificant as you may think they are.  Simply to know someone else has struggled in the same way is reassuring that one is not alone.

Save a life, cast out a demon, simply by enacting Jesus’ words:

Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.