Troublemakers

When I read this text, one of the first things that came to mind was how Jesus was immediately seen as a troublemaker. When that image of troublemaker came into mind I thought about one of the stories that we looked at together this fall when we started the Narrative Lectionary. The story that I am talking about is when Elijah and King Ahab meet together before Elijah has the show off of him versus all the prophets of Baal.

King Ahab and Elijah meet and Ahab calls Elijah a troubler of Israel. And three chapters later Ahab says to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” Clearly there is some rivalry going on between the two of them. The rivalry centers around the fact that Ahab continuously tries to keep the status quo of having the people of Israel worship the false god Baal. There are probably many reasons for it. One of which is that he was married to a Canaanite princess and she had influence over him. Worshipping the same god as that of neighboring kingdoms probably facilitated treaties and trades between the two nations. In a way you could say that in order to make his life ‘easy’ Ahab gave up on Yahweh and gave into Baal. Keeping things simple instead of focusing on doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.

Even though Elijah quips back at Ahab by calling him the trouble maker, there is no doubt that Elijah was in fact a trouble maker. Someone who is fine with the status quo doesn’t pick a fight with the King of any country. Someone who is fine with the status quo also doesn’t pick a fight as one man against 400. Elijah was a trouble maker because he wasn’t ok with the way things were being done, because the way things were being done weren’t right.

Jesus was also a troublemaker. Any time that Jesus healed someone who was unclean, any time that he brought someone from being outside of society into society, the times that he raised people who were dead, Jesus was being a troublemaker. There were very clear laws in place that dictated who was in and who was out of society. It was also clear that if you were in society then you weren’t supposed to touch or interact with those who were unclean until they became clean again; if they ever did.

Even though Jesus is in Gentile lands at this time, and there may or may not be ritual cleanliness in place, we can see very clearly from this text that there is, at least in this town, an accepted way to handle those who are outsides the norm of society. Everyone seemed to be fine with the setup that they had in place. The man named Legion was to be sent away to the cemetery and chained even though they knew the chains wouldn’t hold him. This was the way that things had been done and even though it wasn’t a perfect way to handle the situation it was the norm and it seems that everyone was ok with that.

Jesus comes and upsets the norm. He upsets the status quo. He becomes a troublemaker once again. As with any situation there is more to this healing than just healing the man. If doing something nice were so simple as healing someone and everything being fine afterward and everyone being happy. The trouble is that Jesus just killed a legion of pigs that the swine herds were tasked with protecting. That is income lost. There is a good chance it was either their parents herds, or the herd of their master, or the herd of the owner. With that many pigs it is likely that it was not the owner tending the herd. The swineherds run off because they probably want to tell, at the very least the owners to come and see what just happened so that it isn’t their lives on the line for losing a herd of 2,000 pigs.

There is also the issue of this man. What are they going to do with this man who was out in the cemetery? Who does he live with now? Who is going to give him a job? What happens if he isn’t fully healed and he wreaks havoc in the city in a few days? This troublemaker Jesus probably isn’t going to do anything about it and now he’s upset the status quo but isn’t going to do anything about it. Instead of welcoming this lost person back they don’t seem to know what to do with him and instead of praising Jesus for restoring this man to wholeness and bringing a lost person back into society, they are afraid of it all.

How do we as a congregation break from the status quo? How do we not be like the people of Gerasa and push aside those who are different from the norm? How do we welcome those who are outside what every considers those who belong? And not just welcome them but what are the ways that we can go beyond this place and seek out the people who find themselves cast out into the “cemeteries” and places that they have been sent because that is where it makes everyone else feel safe?

How do we become troublemakers? Now I know that is a dangerous question to ask but hopefully in light of this message we can have a better understanding of what it means to be a troublemaker. To be a troublemaker like Christ, and for Christ, we need to go places where others may not normally go and proclaim the good news to those who are there. We need to challenge the systems and the norm within and without so that all may experience healing and wholeness for the sake of the Gospel.

Perhaps through those healings those people will then also go to out and share with others the love of God as found in Christ Jesus. For that is what is the greatest gift we can share and the greatest gift that we have ever received. The gift of a God who was brave enough to make trouble by sending God’s one and only son to find out the places that we were and to bring us into the family of God that knows no bounds, and that challenges the status quo in order that all may feel the love and grace of God which is freely given to all by the One who loves us all. Amen.