Living in the Light and Facing Loneliness
Mark 5:1-20
January 24, 2016
Mark S. Bollwinkel
The liturgical season between Christmas and Lent
is a time to focus on the person of Jesus as God's incarnation of unconditional
love. Specifically, it is an opportunity
to wrestle with the implications of such love in our lives. During this series we will look at moments in
Jesus' life when God's love transforms those facing the same challenges in life
that we all do.
Webster's dictionary defines "loneliness"
as "cut off from others", "sad from being alone", "a
feeling of desolation".
Loneliness is a common
and universal experience. Most people
are probably going to have a significant experience of loneliness at some time
in their lives.
Loneliness is a feeling
of social disconnectedness in which a person wishes that he or she had better
social relationships.
Social science research
suggests that loneliness includes feelings of self-pity (32 percent), the
feeling that no one understands us (17 percent), helplessness (24 percent), a
sense of being different (20 percent), boredom (14 percent), and rejection (18
percent). (Mikluciner and Segal, 1990, psychologyandsociety.com)
Donna Swanson's moving poem, "Minnie Remembers"1
says it all so profoundly:
How long has it been
since someone touched me/ Twenty years?/ Twenty years I've been a widow./
Respected./Smiled at./But never touched./ Never held so close that loneliness/
was blotted out.
Being alone does not equal loneliness. More of us choose to live alone than ever
before. "Aside from childless
couples the most common household type in America is an adult living
alone. That’s one out of seven adults,
over 30 million people...representing a 33 percent increase in the decade
between 1996 and 2006."2
Loneliness is not the same thing as being
alone. We can be lonely in a crowd, in a
family, in a marriage. But when we are
lonely we feel cut off from everyone around us and God.
In this Epiphany season we ponder the in-breaking
of God’s light into the world, the real world of flesh and blood, fear and
failure, brokenness and loneliness. What
good is all this talk of God’s love if we’re lonely?
Consider the story of Jesus and the Gerasene
demoniac in our gospel lesson this morning.
Jesus and the disciples had just crossed the Sea
of Galilee during which the Lord stilled a storm threatening to swamp the
boat. They landed on the eastern shore
in the country of the Garasenes.
Immediately they are confronted by a man possessed by a legion of
demons. His neighbors were so afraid
that he would hurt them or himself that they bound him in chains. But to no avail. He was so physically strong he could break
the chains in pieces. The neighbors cast
him out of their community. The man
lived in the neighboring cemetery, wandering among the tombs, howling and
crying out in pain, mutilating himself with stones.
The scene reminds us of the homeless men and women
of our own 21st century cities possessed by addiction, poverty, mental and
emotional illness. The U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs estimates that 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given
night. And approximately twice that many experience homelessness over the
course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is
sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put
on a uniform and served this country. (National Coalition for the Homeless)
One out of every three of the homeless in our
country are under the age of 18. Six
percent of homeless youth are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender who have
been rejected by their families. Ten percent of homeless youth are
pregnant. Many homeless youth leave home
after years of physical and sexual abuse, addiction of a family member, and
parental neglect. (National Coalition for the Homeless)
Like the Garasenes as a society are we still
casting those we don't know how to help out of our sight so we don't have to
deal with them?
The demons within the tortured man immediately
recognize who Jesus is, they cry out, "Son of the Most High
God". Note that the pious
officials of the synagogue and Temple, the Pharisees and scribes did not
recognize who Jesus was but demented demons could!
Matthew, Mark and Luke describe how Jesus then
casts the demons into a herd of swine.
They throw themselves to their death in the water nearby. The legion is dispatched with one word,
"Go" (Matthew 8:32). The power of evil is no match for God's
love.
One would think that the neighbors would rejoice
that such a miracle occurred. Just the opposite is reported. The Garasenes are afraid. They ask Jesus to leave as soon as
possible. It is not just that their
major swine producing industry has just taken a huge hit but in the face of God's
loving power our knees tremble to be sure.
It is the man liberated of the legion of demons
that voices faith and hope. He wants to
climb into the boat with Jesus and the disciples. Jesus says, "No, go home to your friends
and tell your community all that God has done for you" which the former
demoniac does throughout the region.
Jesus restores the demoniac to his community,
breaking the chains of loneliness and isolation. Having been freed from the bonds of his
disease, the Demonic wants to help others.
Could that be one of the keys to breaking the
chains of loneliness in our own lives? To
do something good for somebody else?
"For to be free is
not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and
enhances the freedom of others."
Nelson Mandela
Loneliness happens to everyone sometime in their
lives to greater or lesser degrees.
Don't confuse it with being alone which can be a healthy thing when
chosen not imposed. Loneliness is a
powerful experience. It is a factor in
the medical diagnosis "failure to thrive" for infants or the
elderly. It is the curse of those in our
society who cannot find a home.
Which character in the story best describes you at
this time in your life? The one
possessed by the spirits of self-pity and social isolation? The one so frustrated with and afraid of
another that the best option seems to cast them out? The ones like the disciples that seem to be
just coming along for the ride? The
liberated one that can't wait to share the good news of the redeeming
possibility of God's love?
Embraced by the
unconditional love of God even loneliness can be the starting point on the
journey home.
Amen.
1Cited in Ashley Montagu,
Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin, 3d ed. New York: Harper
& Row, 1986, 396ff.
2Going Solo: The
Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone,
Eric Klinenberg, Penguin Press, 2012
