February 1, 2009

Glynn Cardy

Epiphany 4     Deuteronomy 18:15-20     Mark 1:21-28

 “If Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being. I’d just as soon be a rattlesnake.” Kurt Vonnegut

Violence and brokenness surround St Matthew’s. The dealers and the dealt to, rough sleepers and rough livers, the whacked and the whackos, the pissed and those who piss on the Church… They speak a truth that is difficult to hear. It’s a simple truth though: our beautiful, blessed and lovely society doesn’t work for the un-beautiful, un-blessed, and unloved. It is hard, cold, and lonely on the outside.

We had a visit from the Archangel Michael last week. You might have heard him. He showed up just before our main service and proceeded to preach his truth 15 centimetres from my face. He was dressed in black, with white earrings, and a partly shaven head to match. Not that I knew who he was until he told me. He delivered the forceful opinion that I was wrong, judgement was coming, and a verse from the Book of Daniel needed to be read. He then strode off, only to reappear a few minutes later. Our welcomers had given him a hymnal when he’d entered the first time and now he came to return it. It was nice to have an archangel that returns church property.

The Gospel story today is set in a synagogue. A disturbed man interrupted Jesus: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” I wonder whether he was 15 centimetres in front of Jesus when he said it.

The author of the story, Mark, accredited this outburst to a ‘demon’ and accredited to Jesus a method of dealing with this – namely authoritatively saying ‘shut up’ and ‘come outside’. It reminds me somewhat of our gutsy new Minister for Social Development dealing with a well-publicized teenage brawl in her electorate. A powerful personality can produce pleasing results… in the short-term anyway.

It will not surprise you to learn that I do not believe in literal demons. I do not believe there are personal supernatural spirits who cruise around the world, invade peoples’ bodies, and make them do things they wouldn’t normally do. But the vast majority of the world’s population does, and always has.

Western Christianity has been significantly influenced by the bio-medical approach to abnormal behaviour. A diagnosis, say of schizophrenia, turns ‘possession’ into ‘illness’ and, at its best, doesn’t affix blame on the patient. Western medicine has also devised various chemical and psychological interventions that have brought much relief to patients and their families.

That said there has also been substantial research taking a sociocultural approach to such behaviour. There is a close relationship between oppression and possession. That oppression may be a profound individual trauma – like a violent rape – and the ‘possession’ a way that the body and mind attempts to cope. That oppression may be an invasion of a societal body, like Palestine under Roman rule or Aotearoa under British rule, and ‘possession’ a way that an individual attempts to cope. It is not insignificant that indigenous peoples who have been dispossessed of their land, personal power and identity are disproportionately over-represented amongst mental health patients. The question then arises ‘Whose sickness is it?’ and maybe so-called ‘demonic possession’ is even a healthy response in a sick or oppressed society.

Probably the clearest biblical example of this is the Markan story of the Gerasene Demoniac in chapter 5, 1-17. The demon here is both one and many. The demon is called Legion, the sign of Roman power. This sign is then consigned to swine - the most impure of Judaism’s impure animals. The episode, though unlikely to be from Jesus’ actual life, characterises Roman imperialism as demonic possession and shows how it could impact upon an individual.

Those who have worked with the mentally ill can tell stories of supra-human strength [like with the Gerasene] and other phenomenon that are difficult to explain in a bio-medical sense. The impact of trauma, history, sickness, and the workings of our world generally, can adversely disturb and torture the mind.

Michael Leunig in his book A Common Prayer talks about the fragile ecology of the mind. Our sense of meaning is so finely assembled and balanced and so easily overturned. It is a struggle for many to keep that balance that society calls sanity. Too often people are left vulnerable and exposed, and cope by disassociating, or splitting themselves into safe compartments. Leunig’s prayer is for us to be careful - careful with others and careful with ourselves.

The visit from the Archangel and the many others who wander in or just yell from the outside remind me of the need to be careful. There is the need to be careful about personal safety, and the personal safety of others who work and visit here. It can be dangerous around here, and locks, cameras, and the police are necessary.

But more importantly there is the need to be careful about my soul and the soul of this Church. It is very easy to form a crust-like substance around the soul. Like plaque on teeth it comes. It comes with cynicism. It comes with experience. It comes with being taken advantage of. It comes with being hurt, defensive or busy. It even comes with training. That crust stops the soul emitting mercy and pity. It stops us thinking the best of people, no matter what they smell or look like, or how pathetic their story is. It stops us opening our doors to the vulnerable, the violated, and the violent. It stops compassion. In time that crust will trap and may destroy the soul.

There is no easy way to stop that crust building up. Reading about Jesus, trying to let his life guide us, talking, praying… all these things can help. But the only sure way I know is keeping on being willing to open our doors, to listen for a while, and to offer a token of help. It’s a bit like that old story of the guy trying to rescue a scorpion and being repeatedly stung. He said, ‘Although it is the scorpion’s nature to hurt when it’s scared, why should I deny my nature which is to be kind and try to help’. If we deny our spiritual centre, our soul, we are no better than a scorpion, or a rattlesnake.

God bless the possessed and the dispossessed, the confused and the confrontational, those who can’t help themselves and those who do. Bless all who scare us, yell at us, and revile us. Amen.