This is a strange story to modern ears. Although, there are universal insights within the passage that transcend time.
Three parts of the narrative worth noting.
1. The name of the demon is ‘Legion’. Luke tells us that the man is possessed by many demons. But ‘Legion’ also referred to a unit of soldiers in the Roman army, the army that occupied the country. It is difficult not to see a connection. The social situation of the man – under Roman occupation – lives in him.
2. The story is a reverse scapegoating story. In a paradigmatic scapegoating story, the crowd throw the (alleged) demon-possessed person over the cliff to exorcise the evil from their midst. (It never works.) In such a case, imagine the crowd looking over the cliff at the dead body of the dead scapegoat far below. But in this story the order is reversed. The formerly-possessed man, now in his right mind, looks on as the demons (in the unclean pigs) rush to their deaths. Those who formerly lived in him have been ejected, and he is free.
3. The people of the town beg Jesus to leave them. Strange that they don’t ask Jesus to stay and heal others. It is as though Jesus has disrupted their lives by setting free this man.
So, what has been disrupted? Perhaps it is the distorted social relationships that live in the man. We are told in the narrative of the attempts by the people of the town to help the possessed man. At first glance we think it is too bad the man couldn’t be helped. He escapes their attempts to bind him. But what if he is escaping those whose distorted social relationships live in him? The people need someone to ‘help’, but not for his benefit, but for their own benefit. He breaks their bonds and escapes, but only temporarily; it is Jesus who will truly heal the man.
And notice also that the Jesus does not give the man permission to leave the place where he was (formerly) bound. Instead, Jesus sends him back into the jigsaw of social distortion as a missionary of the peace and freedom that Jesus can give. He is a living missionary of the good news. As a disciple of Jesus the formerly possessed man will now be the one who disrupts the social relations of the town. This is integral to being a disciple. To be a living presence of the peace and healing of Christ in a world in need of that peace and healing. The greater the healing, the greater the freedom of Christ, the less we will fit the jigsaw. That is, won’t fit the jigsaw (of distortion) anymore, at least as we might have formerly. But that is why our discipleship as missionaries of this peace can be so powerful, and in ways not easily seen at times.
We live in an age of blaming others. When we neglect our inner healing and look only to heal other people or societal structures, we are on the path to scapegoating. The surest way to prevent scapegoating is to remember Jesus (who died a scapegoat) and take into the world his healing that lives in us.
