What are They So Afraid of?

A while back I was swimming laps early on a Saturday morning at the YMCA in Lynn near our home in Revere. It was getting to be that time when three of the five lanes would be over-taken by the water aerobics class – the very loud and ruckus group that make big waves in the pool. I’m not a fan because they make such big waves! Fortunately I was in a lane that they did not need so I kept swimming. Shortly before the class began I stopped to catch my breath, and as I looked over to the group I noticed something fascinating and disturbing all at the same time.

Before the class began the people gathered in the water in small groups, and it was clear they were just visiting and catching up before the instructor started the class. But then I noticed the groups. Each group formed a circle all facing one another. One group of about 7 people were all African Americans. Another group of about 9 were all Latine Americans, and another group of about 8 were all Asian Americans. Then there were two white people who were face-to-face alone in their own group. Everyone was in their own bubble. There was no integration. There was no mixing. There was no diversity within each group. Each group was its own bubble of color or race or country of origin. Isn’t that both fascinating and disturbing all at the same time especially as we celebrate Juneteenth? I wonder what they are so afraid of?

In our gospel story today Jesus does just the opposite. He is not afraid to get out of his own bubble – away from his own people in Israel – his fellow Jews. He gets into a boat crosses Lake Galilee and goes over to the other side – the other side of the tracks – to be among the Gerasenes who were foreigners, non-Jews, people who were different. Jesus does not seem to be afraid. He seems to be on a mission, and there he finds more people who are simply afraid and living in fear.

Who’s afraid? First it is the main character – the man who is described as possessed with demons. In fact, he was so disturbed that he lived not in a home but a graveyard, and he was seen never having any clothes on, and during his worst moments he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles. In today’s society this man surely would be suffering from some sort of diagnosable mental illness or in fact he may have literally been possessed with demons. When he sees Jesus, he falls down before him in fear and shouts at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most High? I beg you do not torment me.” It’s remarkable that he not only immediately recognizes Jesus, but even more so that he is afraid of Jesus. What is he so afraid of?

Perhaps it was the demons talking and they, too are afraid. They’re afraid that Jesus will do away with them. They’re afraid that Jesus will not tolerate such evil to dwell in anyone, and they are correct. The demons think they fool Jesus when they beg him to transfer them into a herd of pigs, but even the pigs can’t take it. They run off the side of a cliff into the water and all drown. The demons have every good reason to fear Jesus because Jesus will not tolerate evil and Jesus demonstrates that power by exorcising the community of the evil.

But the fear doesn’t end there. The story does not end there. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told everyone in the city and the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they found Jesus, they found the man who had been possessed by demons – the man who had been ill. He was sitting at the feet of Jesus. He was clothed and in his right mind. He was healed! And you know what the next sentence is in the story? It’s this. “They were afraid. They were afraid.” What are they so afraid about?

Not only that but you know what they did next? They saw that the man had been healed by Jesus. Then all the people of the surrounding country of Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; and I quote: “for they were seized with fear.” They were afraid of Jesus right after Jesus healed this man. Why? What are people so afraid of?

Let’s go back to the swimming pool at the YMCA – me in my lane swimming alone and all those people in their own little groups, their own bubbles according the color of their skin or cultural or national origin. What if Jesus showed up? What if Jesus actually appeared? He’s standing on the pool deck. He blows a whistle – like a lifeguard – to get our attention. I stop swimming laps. I and the little groups turn to look at him, and he invites us to mingle, to mix, to get out of our comfort zones. He invites us but it doesn’t work! It doesn’t work because we are afraid. We’re afraid of the unknown. We’re afraid of what’s not familiar. We’re afraid of getting out of our comfort zone. But most importantly we’re afraid of the life-changing power of Jesus! And you know what we do – we ask Jesus to leave. Just like the Gerasenes who witnessed a healing miracle, we demand that Jesus leave us alone.

Look what happens when we keep our distance from the life-changing power of Jesus. Look what happens when we stick to our own people. Look what happens when we don’t take risks. Look what happens when we don’t work for justice for all people.

Like the man in our story who is described as possessed by demons – how many people are haunted by a traumatic past and tortured by painful memories and remain alone and ill? How many people live unsheltered, hungry and inadequately clothed because of social and economic inequities that they cannot overcome no matter how hard they struggle? How many people are objects of derision and hatred because of who they are or whom they love or what they look like? How many are enslaved by addictions no longer knowing where addiction ends and their own selves begin? How many are innocent victims of occupying and brutalizing armies that are destroying their country and their way of life?

Look what happens when we keep our distance from the life-changing power of Jesus. Look what happens when we stick to our own people. Look what happens when we don’t take risks. Look what happens when we don’t work for justice for all people.

Keeping our distance from the life-changing power of Jesus has consequences. Keeping our distance from one another has consequences. Asking – no demanding that Jesus just leave us alone – has consequences.

And so Jesus gets into his boat and leaves the people of Gerasenes, but the man who was healed – the man who did experience the life-changing power of Jesus, the man who sat at Jesus feet fully clothed and in his right mind begs Jesus to take him with him, but Jesus refuses and says, “No. Instead return to your home, and declare to everyone you can how much God has done for you. So he went away. His fear was gone. He was no longer afraid so he proclaimed throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Do you remember? Do you remember what it’s like to be healed by Jesus? Do you remember that feeling that comes once in a while – where you just know, you just feel, it finally dawns on you that you are God’s precious child. That God is good. That, yes, my faith matters. And there is nothing to be afraid of. There is no more fear and anything is possible. You must have your own story of an intimate encounter with the divine – otherwise you wouldn’t be here OR you are here because you want to meet up with Jesus once again – to sit at his feet, fully clothed completely at peace. Wanting to stay right there – at his feet content and at home. But then knowing and remembering and hearing that you’re not going to get in the boat with him. Instead Jesus calls you to tell anyone who will listen what wonderful things God has done for you. Instead Jesus calls you through your actions and how you live each day to share God’s life-changing gift of love.

Do you want to be changed today? Do you desire to be healed today? Do you want to be forgiven today? Then come to the table. Come to the table where Jesus waits for you, and be healed. And be healed. Amen.