❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Healing of Mental Illness
Series “Theology of Interdependence and Disability” Part 9 (Luke 8:26-39)
Mari Ikeda
Today is the ninth and final part of our series on Kathy Black’s book. So far, the book has covered physical disabilities such as blindness, deafness, and paralysis, leprosy, and chronic illnesses, but the final topic covered in this book is mental disorders.
I must confess that I was not sure whether to take up this chapter. Because the story of casting out demons is discussed in order to consider the healing of mental illness. I think that would lead to the misconception that people with mental illness are possessed by evil spirits. But that is not my intention, nor is it Kathy Black’s idea.
The causes of mental illness are complex, and there are many things that even modern medicine does not understand. Moreover, mental illness is not caused by evil spirits. What is needed for the healing of mental illness is not the banishment of evil spirits, but medical and social support. The passages we will read today also do not teach that people with mental illness are possessed by evil spirits.
So why then did Kathy Black bring up the story of the casting out of evil spirits to talk about the healing of mental illness? Because the suffering of mental illness is the suffering of feeling as if you are possessed by an evil spirit. The feeling of having one’s mind controlled by something other than oneself may be best described as “being possessed by an evil spirit.” It is also possible that people in biblical times attributed illnesses that would be considered mental illnesses today to evil spirits, and it is possible that the man in the passage we will discuss today was one of them. That is why Kathy Black chose today’s passage as a story of suffering and deliverance for those with mental illness.
Now I would like to read it. It is a bit long, but let’s read it through. Luke 8:26-39.
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. 30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
A. About mental illness
1. Suffering from lack of control over one’s own mind
I work at a welfare shelter on weekdays, which provides an emergency temporary place to live for people who have lost their homes for a variety of reasons. Some of them came to us because they ran away from their families due to domestic violence or abuse, while others became financially impoverished as a result of mental illness that they came to suffer from due to the abuse they had experienced in the past. There are also those who became mentally ill regardless of such traumatic experiences and unable to work, and others who face difficulties in social life as a result of not recognizing their their mental illness and not accepting treatments. Although my experience is fragmentary, I would like to share some of what my clients have taught me about what it is like to suffer with mental illness.
Those with addictions to alcohol, drugs, or schizophrenia may hear and see hallucinations, which are very real to them and involve real fears. Many of them have a sense that someone is watching them, they feel that someone is entering their room without their permission, they become suspicious of our facility staffs, they do not feel safe in the facility, and as a result their condition worsens, and some of them disappear without telling us. Even after connecting with medical care and discovering that the voices they were hearing were hallucinations, they do not cease to be affected by such voices. Even with treatment, changes in the environment can make symptoms worse or prevent medications that were working from working.
Some people who have experienced terrible violence or long-term abuse develop depression or PTSD, and some may develop many personalities within themselves. Depression often causes people to blame themselves for wanting to get up but not being able to, or wanting to rebuild their lives but not being able to move. PTSD symptoms vary, but the slightest noise or smell in daily life can cause panic. Memories may become fuzzy, certain memories may completely slip away, or conversely, forgotten memories may suddenly come flooding back raw. It is natural to lose confidence in oneself and become highly anxious when experiencing such symptoms.
These are just some of the mental illnesses, and there are many more symptoms for each of them, and different people have different symptoms for the same disease. Also, I am not a psychiatrist, so what I have told you may contain some misunderstandings on my part. However, despite the many differences, people who get a mental illness share the common suffering of losing control of their own mind. With a physical disability, one can rely on one’s own spirit even if one’s body is not free, but with a mental disorder, one feels fear and discouragement that one’s mind itself may not be dependable. It can also feel as if the person’s personality and identity have also been altered by it. It can also cause a sense of loss for family and friends, as if that person is no longer the person they once were.
2. Suffering from social marginalization
The man in today’s Bible passage “was from this town,” so he must have once lived in the town of Gerasa and had family and friends there. But since he was “possessed by an evil spirit,” we read that he “lived in a graveyard, chained, shackled, and watched.” The people of the town, including his family and friends, were so afraid of him that they felt they had no choice but to keep their distance.
What I find so sad about this passage is that it says that the evil spirit made this man break the chains and shackles that were put on him and drove him out into the wilderness. In order to break the chains and shackles, this man would have had to hurt himself. Also, living in a graveyard is lonely enough, but to be sent out into the wilderness with no one there must have been dangerous. I don’t know, but did this man not try to return to the town by himself? It is my own imagination, but it seems to me that this person chose to live in the graveyard on his own so that he would not be a burden to his family and friends, so that he would not hurt them.
It is said that the world has seen a change in the flow of psychiatric care since the 1960s. Until then, inpatient treatment was the mainstay of treatment for people with mental illness, but with the development of therapeutic drugs, there was a shift toward providing medical care in the community. But the number of psychiatric beds in Japan increased rapidly during the same period. During the period of rapid postwar growth, the trend shifted from people with mental illnesses who had previously lived with their families to being committed to hospitals. Such segregation policies may have contributed to misunderstanding and prejudice against people with mental illnesses in Japan.
Now, from here, I would like to consider what kind of healing Jesus brings from today’s biblical passage.
B. Jesus’ healing
1. Healing of illness
The healing that Jesus brings in this passage is the very deliverance from sickness. Jesus commanded the evil spirit to go out of the man, and the evil spirit obeyed the command and went out of the man. It came at the cost of a herd of pigs drowning, but Jesus delivered the man from the demonic spirit in an instant.
Healing a mental illness often takes a very long time. If symptoms are severe, ongoing medical support is essential, and complete healing in the form of this banishment of evil spirits may be difficult. But there are many different methods of psychiatric care, including counseling and peer support as well as finding the right medication for you. It may be difficult to return to the person you were before you became ill, but you can find a new you as you learn to deal with your illness and rediscover your weaknesses and strengths. That is actually a lot of struggle, and it is not something I say lightly, but I have seen my clients at the shelter regain their smiles through treatment.
Also, what we don’t want to overlook in this Bible passage is that Jesus commanded the evil spirit to leave this man before he could say anything. The fact is that when Jesus saw that this man was possessed by an evil spirit, He immediately felt compelled to release this man. It was impossible for Jesus to allow this man to remain possessed by an evil spirit. This is because he is one of God’s beloved children and must be under God’s control. There was no way he could remain under the control of an evil spirit.
Having a mental illness, no one can answer why it happened to you, just as no one knows why this person was possessed by an evil spirit. But at least, God is not okay with the condition of having that illness rule over your whole life. God’s desire is for us to be able to live in safety and security in His love, even though we have a disease, because we are still His precious children. In many cases, healing takes time, but I want you to know that God’s good will is clear.
2. Trust and respect
There are other actions of Jesus that are noteworthy in this passage. First, Jesus asks this man his name. It was the evil spirit that answered, but what Jesus was trying to ask was the man’s own name. Jesus was trying to get to know the man himself, who was under the control of the evil spirit. Jesus knows that the problem of illness is not all of us. He treats each person in illness with respect and tries to get to know us on a one-to-one basis.
However, on the contrary, Jesus did not allow this man to become dependent on Him. After the expulsion of the evil spirit, this man wished to follow Jesus, but Jesus did not allow him to do so and commanded him to return to his own home and tell what God had done for him. We can say that Jesus trusted this man and gave him a new responsibility. It must have taken courage for this man to return to the town that had previously excluded him. But I believe that Jesus thought he could do it. And indeed, this man did just that. What he did, Jesus could not have done. He returned to the town and took on Jesus’ ministry in place of Jesus who had been driven out of the town.
This does not mean that you can carry on the work of Jesus only after your illness is healed. If, by encountering Jesus, you can believe that you are under God’s love and not under the control of your illness, you will know that you are trusted by Jesus, even if your illness is not healed. Jesus gives us the power to deal with our illnesses and to create new relationships with those around us. It is just a fact that God’s love, proven by the cross of Jesus, teaches us.
But this is not something that we can do alone. It requires the presence of people who can overcome their fears of illness together and trust each other.
In today’s passage, Jesus could not remove the fear of the townspeople. It was a mission left to the man who was cast out of the evil spirit and to the townspeople themselves. It is our role as people living in this society to remove the fear of mental illness. It is the work of those with and without illnesses working together to deepen our understanding of the illness, to remove fears and prejudices, and to accept that some things have been lost because of the illness and some things can be changed anew. It is not easy, but we who know the love of Jesus can do it.
(Prayer) Lord Jesus, please help us to know better that whether we are ill or not, the only one we can count on is you, not ourselves. Please protect and strengthen our hearts with your spirit when we cannot control our condition, when we are uncertain of what lies ahead, and when we are anxious. May we not be in a hurry to spend the nights when we cannot sleep or the mornings when we cannot wake up due to illness, but may we spend them with You. Please teach us that all our lives are in your hands. We pray in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Summary
The causes of mental illness are complex and often unknown. Common to all is the suffering of not being in control of one’s own mind. In that the suffering is as if one is “possessed by an evil spirit” and has no control over it, the biblical story of the casting out of evil spirits is helpful in considering recovery from mental illness. However, people with mental illness are not “possessed by evil spirits,” and what is essential for recovery from mental illness is not “casting out evil spirits” but medical and social support. It is not a quick and easy process like casting out evil spirits, but a time-consuming process of confirming that you have God’s trust in you, even in the midst of illness. That work cannot be done alone, but requires the presence of people who can overcome the fear of illness together and trust each other. Churches that share the love of Jesus are called to be such a presence.
For Discussion
Why did people not rejoice that this person had recovered, but rather feared the sequence of events?