THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY (Proper 7C)
20 June 2010

"Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Darren has returned! He will be more familiar to members of Saint Modwen's than saint Paul's, but Darren is the young man who left his car on the Vicarage drive from a couple of weeks while he sorted out the M.O.T … last August! And if, unlike the young man in our Gospel today he was not given to wandering naked in graveyards, he has been known to dance in the street with fire extinguishers – the sort of behaviour that is apt to get you into trouble with the authorities.

But he is back, and has come a long way from when I first met him. He has a job and a flat in Huddersfield, and has found himself a lively church – which to judge from their website seems to combine the liturgical style of Saint Paul's with the musical style of All Saints – and he has assured me he will be back to collect his car. So things are looking up.

I mention all this because one of the issues today's Gospel raises is precisely how we as a Christian community relate to those who, for whatever reason, are on the fringes or who have difficulty relating to society. If we are being true to our vocation, we have to be there for such people; and I am always troubled by the sort of church where everyone seems to have a perfect life and perfect teeth, and no one seems in anyway out of place.

Those who followed Jesus were a good deal more mixed, and Jesus himself managed to include among his closest associates everyone from Simon the Zealot (whom we would probably describe as a terrorist) to Matthew the tax-collector. Then there were the women, including, as we were reminded last week, Mary Magdalene, who may or may not have been the "woman who was a sinner" who anointed Jesus feet, but who had had "seven demons cast out of her" … of which the late Archbishop Donald Coggan remarked, Whatever that means, it sounds bad! Yet all of these heard the call of Jesus and found their lives turned around; and our job is to help men and women today, whatever their need, to hear and respond to that same call.

But there is more here than that. Luke has filled his account with little details which might easily be overlooked. The man was naked – like a prisoner he had lost the freedom to dress as he chose. He lived among the tombstones – an unclean place in Jewish law. He is in Gentile territory, among the pigs (which no Jew would keep). In fact, though Luke never makes it clear, the man may well be a Gentile himself, which tells us something about Jesus' understanding of his mission. And he is possessed by not just one but demon but by many.

What Luke gives us, then, is a picture of someone completely enslaved to outside forces and utterly outside the community, in a way unlike any of the other individuals Jesus met and healed. .

Then comes the surprise. He knows who Jesus is: What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? His condition of utter forsakenness has given him an insight into Jesus' identity even before his own disciples have grasped it … and we see this on several occasions. It is, if you like, the idea of the "Holy Fool"; the one who, precisely because he is outside the norms of civilised life, has a better grasp on deeper realities than we do. All the more reason to attend to those who don't fit in easily.

The most striking feature of this story is, however, what happens to the demons; but even here Luke may be pointing us to something else. Because they were unclean, pigs were often seen as a symbol of Roman occupation. Jesus' ability to command the legion of demons to go into the pigs, who then drowned, may be a subtle way of asserting Jesus' authority not only over demons, but over the Gentile Roman legions as well, and a pointer to the eventual end of Roman power. Just as the demons who oppressed this man were defeated, so too would the forces that oppressed Israel be overthrown.

And the man himself is healed: he has gone from living outside the city to inside it; from living in tombs and being driven into the desert to living in a house; from nakedness to being clothed; and from being demented to being of a sound mind, and is found sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to him. He has been restored in every sense of the word, brought back into relationship with others, and people are amazed – indeed, Luke tells us, they are afraid.

And as a result the man wants to come with Jesus as one of his immediate company – and I wonder if there isn't something in that as well. Because Jesus sends him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you". So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. He may have been cured, but that doesn't make him an apostle.

Here there is a reminder that not all of us are called to special ministries in the Church. For most, the really important thing is simply proclaiming what Jesus has cone for us in the circumstances of our daily life. And it's not inappropriate at this ordination season to spare a prayer for those who feel themselves called to ministry, but whose call has not been recognised by the Church; and to whom the Church has had to say in effect, Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. That's not always an easy message to receive – or to deliver.

Our prayer must always be that we may welcome all people whatever their need, rightly discerning their special gifts and insights, and giving them the guidance and support they need; and that each one of us, knowing what Jesus has done in our own lives, may proclaim it to all those among whom we live and move.

"Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.