Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. Luke 8:30-33

I heard one of the most disturbing things and at the same time, I was encouraged. It might appear that I have violated some Law of Logic here. I hope Aristotle would give me a moment to explain myself. Before I can do this, I need to introduce Ron. Actually it is somehow pronounced as Hon. In reality, his name is Tiago. I think I am confusing everyone. Sometimes things are little confusing in the streets. To make matters worse, the children and teens refer to him as a “she” even though he has never once dressed as a woman nor behaves like one. They say that he is a trans. We respect people where they are and Ron knows this but has never asked us to address him as such. Therefore, he will be a “he” here.

Ron is not really a teen. He is not even a young adult. He is in his thirties. We know his exact age. However, he made us promise not to reveal it so I am obliged to keep our word. He has been homeless since he was a teenager. This is why he has an affinity with the children and teens. The children adore him even though he finds them to be annoying. He often refers to them as a bunch of lazy criminals. Despite his caustic humor, he has a deep affection for them. When Wesley died a few months ago, I saw Ron hiding in a corner to cry. The former used to annoy Ron a lot when he was alive. The children think Ron is funny and feel safe with him. He is part of the children’s environment just as we are part of it too. Anyone who wants to foster deep relationships with them has to accept those in their environment. I’m sure that they observe how we treat Ron. Fortunately, we enjoy his company. This can not be said of everyone in the children’s environment which includes some dangerous and unsavory characters. We just acknowledge their presence and keep a safe distance.

Ever since the Pandemic started, the local government has set up hygiene stations where the homeless can take a shower and wash their clothes. They also provide clean undergarments. A simple thing as such has improved the quality of their lives radically. The older teens take regular showers now and often look very neat and tidy thanks to this service. Ron also takes full advantage of this. He has a bag full of clothes and washes them once a week. He is quite an organized fellow. This week while he was waiting for his clothes to get done, he came and talked with us. He timed himself so that he knew exactly when his clothes would get done. Unfortunately, he got distracted and was five minutes late. One of the staff chided him saying it was unacceptable and banned him from washing clothes for the rest of the month. It was a little disproportionate. She even refused to let him dry his clothes. He carried all his wet clothes and laid them on the floor so they could dry in the sun. Naturally, I was appalled at this callous attitude of the staff. This is Brazil. People are always late. Whenever I have my friends over to my place, I know that everyone will be at least half hour late on a good day. The norm is one hour. No one is hardly on time for any appointment. It’s just part of life here and usually no one really minds. Moreover, no one ever thinks of apologizing for being late. No judgement here. It is just the way things are and it’s neither bad nor good. However, apparently the staff at this place is either from another country which is most unlikely or mean-spirited. I reiterated that being five minutes late is not that big of a deal especially for the homeless who don’t have watches nor mobile phones. Ron replied by saying this is the norm. It is not about tardiness. Most staff who work in the government social programs hate the homeless. He said that all the children and teens know this. Even when those give out food at night, they can be mean and say degrading things to them.

In a way, this is not news. I have observed the social workers and other governmental agencies in the streets. They do treat the homeless either with indifference in most cases or unprovoked hostility in some situations. Ron said that the homeless are used to this hostility. It is just part of their life. Then he said, “You like us.” I almost did not hear him saying this. I was disturbed by the fact that people who choose to work with the homeless continue to disseminate attitudes of hatred and rejection towards them. To be fair, I have met some social workers who were excellent but they never stay long in the field. They always get frustrated but not with the children and teens. They feel like they are working against an army of demons. Of course, these are not their exact words. I am interpreting what they said.

Unfortunately, the word, demon, tends to conjure up caricature images in our minds, no thanks to cheap and vacuous movies and literature. If we believe that the essence of God is Love and the ministry of Jesus is to reconcile us to this love then demons includes anyone who promotes hatred and alienation of any group of people. In all societies, these demons are present. Sometimes they have a permanent place. Legion is not just peculiar to Gerasene. It has a foothold in this city too. It doesn’t want to leave this place. Unfortunately there are many here who are willing to give Legion a place in their lives whereas the irrational beings like the pigs would rather die than be a host to such destructive forces.

Jesus did not need to go Gerasene. This was explained to me by a scholar who likes to study New Testament geography, something which I lack the inclination to do. It makes complete sense. No devout Jewish person would wonder into a place where swines are livestock. Nevertheless, Jesus made a special trip to this place to do just one thing. He wanted to heal a man who the whole village kept in an alienated state. He served a purpose for them. Maybe he kept strangers away from the place. Perhaps he was the perfect scapegoat for that particular society. They were not interested in his healing. They wanted him to remain in his state. If this wasn’t the case, then they would have been happy when Jesus healed him. Instead they were more concerned for their livestock. The economy was much more important than the healing of a human being. They would rather cohabit with demons than lose some money. They did not want a savior to upset their well-established order. Despite the rejection of the people, Jesus fulfilled his purpose in that place. He came to heal just that one person. Legion still remained in that particular city. It did not matter. Jesus healed this one soul. The kingdom of God was established in that place.

In every society, there are demons who like to keep things the way they are. We need to make sure that we do not become one of their host. Clearly, no one wants this. All of us want to be agents of Love and Reconciliation. Yet, wanting something is not enough. Our Lord would go out of His way to bring healing to people who suffered the most by the oppression of these demonic forces. It is an active vocation which does not happen naturally. We must act to become agents of healing.

Jesus did say that before we take the speck out of the other’s eyes, make sure we don’t walk around a log in our own eyes. Therefore, we have to ask ourselves if we are being agents of love to the homeless. It is not a given just because we are ministering among the children. The staff who was mean to Ron also works among the homeless. Later than evening, I remembered Ron’s words. “You like us.” He is easy to like but there are those who are not that easy. They need God’s healing and reconciliation too.

Jesus came to preach the good news to a specific people but He made His detours as the Spirit led. We have the same Spirit here with us to guide us to become God’s agent of Love and Reconciliation where He has placed us. In this world, we can be either vessels of Legion and disseminate destruction or we can be agents of love and reconciliation.

There is a street cleaner of the area where the children stay. Every day she sweeps around the area at the end of day. She always has a smile for everyone and always speaks lovingly to the all the homeless. Everyone loves her including us. Sometimes she makes little comments which make the children and teens feel loved. She is just a street cleaner to the world but in reality, she is a genuine agent of love and reconciliation. No one will ever hear about anything written about this woman. Yet, her love will always be remembered by the homeless and by us as well.