Logion

Today I Was Told Something that made me very sad. A lady who is TODAY

a Christadelphian, but who cares for several Christadelphians in a private nursing home, had expressed dismay that these Christadelphians seemed to be afraid of the Day of Judgment – and of the Judge. They were always praying, “And if it be Thy will, grant us a place in Thy Kingdom.” But did not Jesus say, “Fear not, little flock. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom?”

Near the eastern shore of the Lake of Galilee, there once lived a man and his companion. One of them in particular called himself Legion because he suffered from a delusion that he had been ‘possessed’ by a whole army of demonic spirits. No doubt he had been told very often the same thing by other people too, so no wonder he came to believe it! This is what we know about them.

  • They lived in the local cemetery, not in a house.
  • They were so violent that no one could pass that way.
  • They had been expelled from their home town of Gadara (Gergesa? Gerasa?).
  • The local police had tried to keep Legion under guard, but had not succeeded.
  • He had almost superhuman physical strength. No one was strong enough to subdue him
  • No one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. He snapped the handcuffs and broke the irons on his feet.
  • For a long time he had worn no clothes.
  • He had a very loud voice, and used it.
  • Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
  • He believed in the Day of Judgment, but he was terrified of being rejected and tortured as a punishment for a life of sin.
  • He knew Jesus of Nazareth well.
  • He believed that Jesus was the Son of the Most High God, the Messiah, and the Judge of the living and the dead.
  • He suffered from agoraphobia and must also have been in the advanced stage of a venereal disease (STD), probably neuro-syphilis. During my many stays in hospital I have seen and met several people who fitted the description in the Gospels perfectly. In fact, there is one on my ward right now who gives the doctors and nurses so much trouble.

Spiritually, Legion’s biggest problem was his terror of eternal damnation. He thought of Jesus, the promised Messiah, as a hard and unforgiving man, only concerned to condemn and punish sinners like himself and his companion. As the apostle John warns us, fear has torment, and so does hate. I am quite sure that he hated himself for his past life, hated his companion for dragging him into it, hated his friends for abandoning him, and worst of all, hated God for sending a host of “evil spirits” [mental disorders] to torment him

The fearful demons of law and its consequences made it impossible for him to appreciate the wonder of grace and forgiveness — that is, until Jesus converted and healed him. For has not Jesus come specifically to release the oppressed? (Lk. 4:18).

Joy, not fear

Jesus’ aim was to convince these two tormented and terrified men that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17). That was, and is today, a tough task.

Jesus’ method was to convince them that they didn’t need to fear him but to love him and follow him. They needed to be converted and believe that their disease was cured, their fears and their unclean spirits banished for ever, and to approach the Judgment Seat with eager anticipation of glorious immortality and not terror of torture. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son ship (Romans 8:15).

The pigs, unclean animals as they were, stampeded down a steep bank into the lake, and were drowned. Gone was the death-dealing law and its power to terrify. Gone were the terrible phobias. Gone was the life of sin. Gone were the brain-destroying diseases that sin had provoked. Jesus had two new disciples and a preacher of good news to all the region round about!

Do not cling to law

Yet the sequel was so sad, so terribly sad. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into a boat and left.

Astonishing! Fear left the mentally sick and overcame the sane. It is so sad when sincere people cling to their fears because they cannot face what health and freedom involves. They cling to law, as the Gadarenes clung to their swine, because they somehow feel that God’s love and grace are just too good to be true. Law gives a false sense of security, like pig farming, because its boundaries and limits seem well defined. Love and the spirit of God stretch to infinity.

So let us not be like the people of Gadara who seemed to prefer their herd of unclean pigs to the spectacular cure and conversion of their own unfortunate fellow-citizens. Don’t let us ever beg Jesus to leave us because we are happier without him!