In this gospel passage from Luke 9 Jesus heals a mentally disturbed man and returns him to his community to share what has happened to him with others. The man is usually referred to as the demoniac, meaning that he has been possessed with many demons or evil spirits, which is how ancient people described various diseases and mental illnesses. It is interesting that the word used to describe healing is the same word also used for salvation. The man is healed by Jesus but he is also saved from a life that caused him to be rejected by others. As we have been seeing in the healings and resurrections we have been reading about these past few weeks when Jesus restores someone to health he is also restoring them to their community, giving them social and economic justice as well as healing their disease or condition.
I really struggle with this passage because it has been so often used against those of us who are Queer. So called fundamentalist Christian ‘friends’ have told me that I am Queer because I have been possessed by an evil spirit which need to be exorcised from me. Many fundamentalist Christians tell us that we are Queer because we have a mental disorder that needs healing, in other words we aren’t ‘normal’, that is heterosexual. Well, I've got news for folk who believe that way: Medical science says that being Queer is natural and normal within humanity and that I don't have a disease that needs healing. I am 100% okay exactly the way I am, exactly the way God created me. Therefore, there isn't within me an evil spirit of homosexuality that needs to be exorcised. And I am not in need of healing to repair my sexuality. In fact, Jesus is spiritually helping me to live my Queer life abundantly and joyfully!
It is worth noting that when the man is with his community that they chain him to prevent him from hurting himself or them. I, too, felt 'chained' by others about my sexuality and socially restricted by them before I came out about my sexuality. I had to hide in the closet, withholding the truth about myself from them because society told me that if I was Queer I would not be welcomed and that somehow I was a danger to them and a threat to myself because of my different sexuality.
When the man escaped the chains he went to live in a lonely graveyard. What a horrible place to live: alone, amongst putrid, rotting bodies, a place where no one else wanted to go. Throughout history society has forced Queer persons to isolate themselves from others by going into the 'graveyards' of society where no one else wanted to go to be with us. This is how the terms 'living in the closet' came about. Queer people developed their own safe spaces where they could be themselves apart from the rest of society and its condemnation.
When Jesus healed the man he sent the man back into his community and told him to tell everyone exactly what had happened to him. I don't imagine that was very easy for him to do, but he went empowered by Jesus. He no longer had to live a life isolated from others or restricted by them. He could finally be himself, whole, healthy, happy, complete, because of what Jesus did for him.
Do you feel incomplete, less than a whole person, unhealthy, and depressed? Then I've got some good news for you! That's what PRIDE is all about! PRIDE is about how we can live whole, healthy, happy, complete lives as Queer persons who are beloved by God exactly the way God created us!
Take off the chains during this month of PRIDE and be yourself. Come out of the closet and let others know that you are a beloved child of God! It might not be easy to convince everyone, but God has empowered us to proclaim the truth about ourselves to everyone right where we live and work! It's at least something to think about!
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