This is the story where Jesus casts out lots of demons from one guy (the guy says his name is Legion because there are so many) and sends them into a herd of pigs, which then promptly drown themselves. The story is full of all sorts of interesting things, not the least of which is Jesus negotiating with demons, but what caught me this time was something that happens near the end. A crowd has gathered and sees the man who used to be demon-possessed sitting clothed by Jesus. They are afraid and beg Jesus to go away. As Jesus is getting in the boat to leave, the formerly demon-possessed man begs to go with him. Surprisingly, Jesus says no. Jesus tells him instead to go back to his house and to tell everyone what has been done for him.
I think we often respond to being saved from our demons in much the same way. We have a salvation experience of some kind and decide we need to become a monk (Martin Luther, anyone?) or go be a missionary or work in a church. I'm not saying that any of these things are bad things, because they're not. Also, I'm not saying that nobody is called to these things, because some certainly are. What I am saying is that there's nothing left to accomplish in our salvation, so we don't need to go do these things to prove ourselves or repay our debt or something. The gift has been given, salvation has been accomplished.
Let me say this another way. Often, in our discussions of salvation, we tend to emphasize the eternal importance of it while neglecting the immediate implication. We get so caught up focusing on Heaven and eternal life that we forget about the here and now. We tend to live "for Heaven" or something like that and therefore we strip our actions of any earthly meaning. We don't help one another for the other's sake, rather we do it with Heaven in mind. We know that we aren't earning our way to Heaven, but we are secretly trying to make ourselves more "heavenly." We live in such a way as to make ourselves holier, to be more "like God," thereby succumbing to the original temptation. When we become so focused on Heaven that we forget the here and now, we fail to fully receive the gift that has been given. Because salvation is something done for us, rather than by us, we don't have to worry about it. To be "saved" is to be saved from all of our attempts to save ourselves, from our tendency to ignore the here and now and interpret everything that happens against some constructed eternal meaning. In saving us, Jesus gives us back to this world. Because we don't have to worry about our eternal life, we can focus on this one. We are free to live earthly lives, to live as humans and give up attempting to be God. We are now free to really live; to eat for pleasure, to enjoy a sunset, to help our neighbor for his own sake, to thank God for every day.
As I sat in the garden, thinking about this, with the beauty of creation all around me, I heard a child squeal with delight when she saw, of all things, a fish. It's funny that it has taken so much reading and thinking to begin to understand what a child knows so effortlessly, but I guess that's just the way it is sometimes.
