Sanity restored - Tuesday 6 February 2007

I think there was once a time when I lived a normal life. I grew up and did my lessons at the synagogue and had my bar mitzvah like any other boy, and I learned a trade and earned my wages and did all the usual things that a young man does. I think I even had a marriage arranged and looked forward to knowing my young wife and having a family of my own. That was before the voices.
At first it was just the odd weird thought, a suggestion to me to do something but I ignored that. Then came the day when a voice told me to do something and I did it, it felt good obeying the voices, I felt powerful and special.
Of course I kept it to myself at first but pretty soon the voices took over my days and my nights. I couldn’t do my work. Then the voices started to get me to do things that hurt people. By then I was completely in their power and people stated to get funny with me. In the end even my own mother rejected me and threw me out of home. I ran off and started to live in the graveyard and the voices taunted me day and night. If they told me to cut myself I would. My clothes became tattered and I stopped wearing them. From time to time men came up to the graveyard to bind me and arrest me but I always broke free even breaking the chains that bound me. The voices made me strong.
Whenever I tried to go back to living with people the voices drove me back out to the wilderness.
Then one day I saw this man approaching. He shone like the sun and the voices told me to run away because he was the son of God but I couldn’t somehow and I ended up on my face at his feet. Then my lips moved and I spoke, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God?’
The man Jesus asked me ‘What is your name?’ but the voice answered for me ‘Legion’
Then the voices through me begged the man not to send them to the abyss but to let them go into a herd of pigs rooting around on the hillside. When the man said they could they left me and I could only watch helplessly as the whole herd rushed down the bank into the lake and drowned.
Then I realized, the voices were gone, I was myself again if I could remember who myself was. I sat there for a while and presently the disciples brought water from the lake for me to wash and a sharp knife for me to shave. I shook so much they had to help me. Then they collected some clothes for me too so I could be decent.
It didn’t take too long for the people who owned the pigs to complain. Next thing we knew there was a crowd coming up from the village to find out what was going on. They were not best pleased I can tell you that this Jesus had wasted their livestock and what happened had scared them so Jesus said he would leave.
I begged him to let me go with him, I wanted to find out more about him but he told me to hang around and tell my story. So that is what I do, I tell anyone who will listen that the power of God has made me sane.

‘Return home, and tell how much God has done for you.’ Luke 8:39