PIGS, POWER, AND REDEMPTION

From Mark 5:1-20.  Jesus Frees a Demon-Possessed Man.

¹⁸ While he was climbing into the boat, the one who had been demon-possessed pleaded with Jesus to let him come along as one of his disciples. ¹⁹ But Jesus wouldn’t allow it. “Go home to your own people,” Jesus said, “and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how he has shown you mercy.”

In this story, a man possessed by demons confronts Jesus upon his arrival in Gerasa, today part of the Golan Heights on the northeastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The man was said to howl night and day and to injure himself. Using chains and leg irons, his fellow Gerasenes attempted to contain him -- but all efforts failed. In frustration and fear the community exiled the man to a cemetery on the fringes of the city. 

The demons within the man recognized Jesus immediately and, anticipating their destruction at Jesus’ hand, asked Jesus to banish them instead into a herd of pigs feeding nearby. Jesus granted their wish, and the pigs immediately drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.  The man is returned to complete sanity.

Jesus spoke, and he was healed.

As much as we are drawn to the image of pigs running headlong into the Sea of Galilee, the focus of this passage is not the pigs but Jesus, more specifically the power of Jesus to restore. The man in this story represents all helpless and hopeless people who have been dehumanized by their circumstances and are unable redeem themselves. When confronted by our demons -- whatever they are -- Jesus doesn’t flinch; nothing repels him, no one makes him fearful, no situation lies outside Jesus’ compassion and grace. 

Jesus speaks, and we are healed.

Many years ago, I was like the man in this passage. The demon inside me was the illusion of control. I believed my life was totally under my command. If I planned and executed well enough I could determine all outcomes in my life. Not surprisingly, the harder I tried to impose my will, the more my life spun out of control. I tried everything to shut out the pain and despair of my failures, until I found myself a broken man. With nowhere else to turn I placed my life into the hands of God. Now I wasn’t struck by a bolt of lightning nor did the clouds part and a ray of sunshine illuminate my face, but within a few days the hole that consumed me was filled. For the first time in my adult life I felt at peace. 

Jesus spoke, and I was healed.

Do we see people around us like the man in the story, dehumanized, demoralized, and unable to help themselves? What about you? What demons exerts such power over your life?

Lord, we confess we are at times consumed by demons we cannot control. Pride, greed, anger, and envy fill our hearts and minds. Thank you for never flinching when you see us at our worst, but responding instead with your perfect compassion and grace.  In your mercy, show us the way back to you.

Jesus speaks, and you will be healed.

AMEN

National Grographic article on human communication

As if on queue the National Geographic today published an article on the evolution of human communication skills.  The article adds detail and contex to my blog post "A Rift in Time".

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/origins-the-journey-of-humankind/articles/how-communication-made-us-modern/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=ORIGINS&utm_content=link_fbch20170321ORIGINShowcommunicationmadeusmodern&sf64391983=1

A RIFT IN TIME

Then the Lord said to Moses: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I promised: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have shown it to you with your own eyes....” Deu 34:4.

The Jordan Valley

I’m standing in an external courtyard of the Franciscan monastery that sits atop Mount Nebo in Jordan. Tradition says this is where God showed Moses the promised land while, at the same time, denying him entry. While I’m sure I’m not standing on the exact spot as Moses, I am sure that I am seeing the same geography he saw long ago. In front of me, though obscured by a heavy haze, lies Jerusalem, Jericho, and Bethlehem. 1200 meters below lies the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.

The Edge of the African Continent

The Jordan Valley is part of a much larger geologic system, called the Great Rift Valley, which extends from Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley in the north to Mozambique, 6,000 kilometers to the south. Hundreds of millions of years ago, an upwelling in the Earth’s mantle began to stress the solid crust above it. As the pressure increased the crust began to thin and deform. When the pressure became too great the crust cracked and separated into the two continents of Africa and Asia. As the continents continued to drift apart, the land between them subsided (and continues to subside) into the Great Rift Valley. On the summit of Mount Nebo I am standing on the Asian continent. Across the Jordan Valley from me lies Israel which is part of the African continent. The Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth, lies between the two in the Jordan Valley. 

The Great Rift Valley has been the nexus of humanity, connecting us across millions of years of geologic time. The story begins in the Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania at the southern end of the Valley. Roughly 3.5 million years ago, a small animal emerged from its forest home and took its first tentative steps into the grasslands of the Rift Valley.  Life in the Valley was very different from life in the forest. The animal needed to be able see over the tall savanna grasses to gather food and guard against predators, so it began to stand and move on two of its legs. Bipedalism freed the animal’s hands for other tasks. Using its hands the animal learned to alter the physical environment to its own advantage. It learned to shape stones into tools that could be used for cutting and hammering. It learned to fashion shelter for protection from wind and rain and cold. It learned to control fire. The animal discovered that by cooperating with other similar animals its ability to survive was enhanced greatly. Cooperative efforts necessitated a means to communicate between individuals and a social structure to organize cooperative efforts. Language and social structure required ccomplex behaviors and the brain of the animal grew to support these activities. Social structures evolved into culture, defined as the learned ways of man, through which adults passed on skills and knowledge to their offspring, allowing them to build on a body of knowledge accumulated across generations. Then, after untold generations, the animal crossed a threshold and became what we define as human. Across the generations, the Rift Valley nurtured the nascent human species. Humans proved to be extraordinarily well adapted to their environment, and wave after wave of humans migrated up the Rift Valley and out of Africa. Roughly 200,000 years ago, the last wave, our direct ancestors, emerged from their African home and colonized the earth. 

And all this leads to a question; what is it that makes humans different than other animals? Is it the size of our brains? Whales and Dolphins have larger brains than humans. Is it our “intelligence”? That’s hard to say since we don’t have a way to assess accurately any intelligence but our own. Is it our ability to communicate? Again, whales and dolphins communicate over vast distances. How about living in complex social structures? Whales and dolphins exhibit complex social behaviors. What about our ability to make and use tools? Research and observation tells us that the great apes have this ability.  Is it our ability to pass knowledge to the next generation? Again, the great apes teach their offspring how to use the tools they have discovered. 

So just what is it that makes us uniquely human?

I assert that humanity is unique because we have grown to understand that we are more than the sum of our physical form and intelligence. Humanity discovered that we are part of a world, a spiritual world, that we can neither see, touch, or hear. We sense it around us. We feel it at the core of our being. The world religions, and all expressions of “spirituality”, are attempts to connect with and comprehend that which we feel but cannot articulate. 

The Great Rift Valley has been at the center of our evolution from physical being, to intellectual being, to spiritual being. It was with us from the beginning. Millions of years ago it enticed our ancestors out of the forest with its siren song. It sustained them and challenged them in ways that forced them to adapt and grow, both physically and intellectually. At the same time, it nurtured humanity’s growing awareness of a dimension that transcends the physical world, a spiritual connection to the infinite, an awareness that led, ultimately, to the birth of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, at the Valley's northern extent

Humanity has outgrown the Rift Valley, but we will carry it with us forever. 

It's encoded in our DNA. 

It's imprinted on our minds. 

It drives our spirit.

MEDITATION ON JOHN 4:43-54. JESUS HEALS AN OFFICIAL'S SON

"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders", Jesus said, "you will never believe." (from John 4: 43-54.  Jesus Heals an Official's Son.)

Capernaum

In this story Jesus returned to Cana in Galilee after attending a festival in Jerusalem. Word of Jesus’ actions during the festival reached the Galileans before his arrival, and they welcomed him warmly. Hearing of Jesus return, an official living in Capernaum traveled to Cana to ask Jesus to heal his desperately ill son. At first Jesus rebukes the man saying “Unless you see miraculous signs and wonders, you won’t believe.” 

I can almost hear the irritation in Jesus’ voice, can’t you? I imagine him rolling his eyes and thinking, “What is it with you people? Why can’t you simply accept who I am? What do I need to do to overcome your disbelief?” But the official persists and Jesus relents, declaring, in a way we might construe as offhanded, okay fine, “your son lives”.

The official returned to Capernaum where his servants rushed to tell him that his son had indeed been cured at the very hour Jesus spoke of his healing.  The official and his entire household became believers.

The gospel writer uses this incident to address two issues: our reluctance to believe and the power of Jesus’ word. We humans are notorious for our need to see with our own eyes. The state of Missouri adopted “The Show-Me State” as its slogan after its citizen’s legendary refusal to believe the word of others. Jesus’ own disciples, who lived and traveled with him, doubted who he was. How can we, living 2000 years later, be expected to believe without proof? 

Jesus overcomes our resistance through the power of his word: “your son lives”. 

Not “your son might live”. 

Not “your son could live”. 

“Your son lives”. 
 
And with that simple pronouncement Jesus changes our lives. 

Lord, we have read and heard of the many miracles you performed during your ministry so long ago. But we are weak, and in our weakness, we doubt you. We confess we need the testimony of our own eyes. Yet your word carries the power to transcend our weakness. Give us the wisdom to listen to your voice speaking to our very souls, to overcome our doubts, and to simply, joyously, believe.

AMEN.