Bible Challenge Day 37

Leviticus 1-3, Psalm 31, Mark 4

I realized during my reading today that I don't think I've ever actually read the beginning of Leviticus.  If I ever did, I certainly didn't retain any of it.  Perhaps I put it out of my mind.  It's not exactly one of those Sunday School favorites.  "Ok, kids.  Today we're going to talk about slaughtering animals, burning the fatty parts, and dashing the blood around the sides of the altar all for the glory of God."  I can only imagine the arts and crafts project of the day.

I'll admit, however, that I was greatly intrigued by all of this.  The symbolism of putting your hand on the animal's head so you identify with the sacrificial victim.  The word "atonement" comes up several times.  Jesus atoned for our sins by dying.  In the ancient Hebrew world, the animals' deaths were the atonement for sin.  The person offering the sacrifice places his hand on the animal, and the animal's death is a substitute of sorts for that person.  Hence the imagery of Christ as the sacrificial lamb.  It's quite grotesque, but it's the way it was.  And is, for that matter.  Soon we will come to Good Friday where we read the horrifying Passion narrative.  It's bloody, brutal, cruel, and at the very center of Christianity.

Moving along to Mark's gospel, I read the story of the man with legions of demons in him in a rather different light that I had in the past.  It's a story with which I'm quite familiar, but I had never really thought about the man as a real human being.  I know that sounds cruel, but when we read these stories it's easy to read into types and characters and ignore the humanity of the stories' subjects.  Now demonic possession is one of those subjects that everyone is fascinated with.  Look at all the movies on the subject!  (I'll admit, I've seen most of them.  The Exorcist scared the be-jeezes out of me!)  I don't want to deny the possibility of demonic possession, but I also don't know that we can read it literally.  One explanation of the rather numerous encounters with demoniacs in the Bible could be a misunderstanding in the ancient world of mental illness.  If you read the encounter in Mark 4, this man certainly sounds crazy.  I work very near a halfway house in Newport.  The denizens of Broadway, as we call them, are crazy.  Clinically nuts.  Most of these people suffer from extensive alcohol and drug abuse, and are not in their right minds.  They do things that I cannot fathom.  They scream at no one in particular.  They start crying without warning.  They'll hurt themselves intentionally.  This sounds much like the man living among the tombs in the wilderness.  When I observe people walking down Broadway, they avoid the crazy people.  (Let me just put it out there that I know the word crazy isn't P.C., but I don't believe in political correctness.  Let's call it what it is.  Crazy.  I know they can't help it, but it doesn't change the fact that that's what they are.)  I'm forced to interact with them due to my job on Broadway, so I've actually gotten to know some of these people.  I find that many of them are starved for a human connection.  Others are so far gone they don't know where they are.  Either way, it's not popular or fun or often times safe to approach these people.  But that's just what Jesus does.  He commands the "legions" of demons to come out of the man.  (Sound like schizophrenia or multiple personality syndrome?)  He then tells the man to go to the places where he is known and share how good the Lord is.

I don't have the power to cure a mental illness.  I don't have the medical know how to counsel someone who is mentally ill.  I'm too scared of getting attacked to approach a crazy person on the street.  So what am I supposed to do?  I guess that's why Jesus chose this man to spread his message.  Here is someone everyone must know or know about.  Someone suffering greatly and causing harm to himself and those around him.  If someone that far gone, that far removed from society, can be healed and worthy of God's love, then we all must be.