Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, January 26, 2020
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Jesus’ ministry was often met with fear and resistance.
Already by this point in Jesus’ ministry (quite early), he was starting to upset people. Even when he was doing good, people were resistant to his words and actions.
In the country of the Gerasenes (a town east of the Jordan River with more Greek than Jewish influence), Jesus encountered a man clearly tormented by his demons. The man was shackled, but had broken through those—no one could do anything with him, so he lived among the tombs (the dead) instead of among the living. Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man, and the demons challenged him to leave them alone. The demons were the first to recognize Jesus’ divinity and were afraid. But Jesus continued, commanding them to leave. They begged that he send them into a flock of swine, and Jesus agreed. They entered the swine and fled into the sea.
Now, you might think the townspeople were happy about this miracle, but instead were quite afraid. They begged Jesus to leave.
Why would they react in this way? Systems theory suggests that a system (in this case the Gerasene community) always pulls toward status quo (not change). The community, although also affected by the man’s demons, had effectively dealt with the problem—they tried time and again to restrain him, and they made him live among the tombs. It was not ideal, but it was what they knew.
Along came Jesus. When he drove the demons out of the man, the community was terrified. A man tormented with demons they could handle. A man who could cast out demons was too big a change. They didn’t want to know what else such a man could do, so they cast him out.
All of us live in such systems—likely several. Our family systems, our work systems, our neighborhood and community systems—all of these have their own dynamics. All of these strive to keep the system in a state of status quo. What this means is when people introduce change, the system will naturally resist it, even when the change is for the better. It seems the more dysfunctional the system, the more resistant it is to functional change.
Another characteristic of dysfunctional systems is that the black sheep of the system is usually the healthiest among them. The healthiest person resists the dysfunction, threatens the status quo, and is so labeled trouble-maker.
Jesus was the healthiest person entering a dysfunctional system, not only in Geresa, but to the entire Jewish (and Gentile) community. He resisted the dysfunction, threatened the status quo, and would carry out most of his ministry labeled a trouble-maker.
Consider your own community. In what ways does it resist change? Who is labeled trouble-maker? How might your community learn to embrace healthy change?
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