That's My Story

Sharing our faith story with others

02/03/2020

Mark 5:1-20 Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

Have you ever been frustrated by nontransferable tickets? As you probably know, nontransferable tickets are those you cannot give to someone else or resell once you have purchased them. I was reading about this frustration of nontransferable tickets on an online community forum called “stubhub community.” One person wrote: “I have two tickets to DMB in Tahoe on September 16, 2019. Unfortunately, we cannot go, and ticketmaster does not allow transfers.” By the way, “DMB” stands for Dave Mathews Band. Another person piped in with this complaint: “I’m looking to sell 4 tickets to Twenty-One Pilots in New Orleans on the 19th. Ticketmaster says they’re nontransferable.” And so on and so forth the list of unhappy people stuck with this concert tickets serenaded their sad songs. Incidentally, I would happily buy the Dave Mathews Band tickets, but those who bought Twenty-One Pilots tickets deserve to be stuck with them.

Concert tickets, though, are not the only things that are nontransferable; so, too, is our unique and unrepeatable relationship with Jesus. Each one of us has been perfectly loved by the Lord, and we have loved him in return (much less perfectly), in an utterly singular and special way that it is nontransferable. Like that popular saying: “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” We really don’t have a choice but to stick with our story of relating to Christ, like those poor people on the “stubhub community.” We cannot transfer the grace we have been given to someone else.

In the gospel of Mark, we see a perfect example of the nontransferable quality of our story with our Savior. Jesus heals a man possessed by a “Legion” of unclean spirits because there were so many of them. When the townspeople arrive and hear of the miraculous healing, how do they react? Mark records: “They begged him to leave their district.” What a surprising reaction! One would expect them to be pleased and even ask Jesus to stay and perhaps perform more miracles, and yet, “they begged him to leave.” In other words, the grace given to the previously possessed man was nontransferable. The people could not cash in on the grace of the miracle that Jesus performed, and come to faith. They would have to purchase their own “ticket” to a relationship with Jesus, one that is always unique and repeatable with each person. Still, what did the cured man do? Mark adds: “They the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis (Decapolis means “ten cities) what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.” That is, the man was saying to anyone who would listen: “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!” Our relationship with the Lord is always particular to each person; it evinces this nontransferable quality to it, so that we cannot give it to someone else. Our faith story always sticks to us.

Today is the third anniversary of the passing of my nephew Noah. He was a sophomore studying at Baylor University. Would you mind if I shared a few memories of his story with Jesus? Even though our story always sticks to us, in the end that’s all we have to share with others, like the man in the land of the Gerasenes. I re-read my homily from Noah’s funeral three years ago, and I want to share these three memories.

First, Noah’s maternal grandmother, Tessie Auntie, recalled that Noah loved to pretend playing a priest at Mass at home, when he was a small boy. He would hand pieces of potpourri like Communion wafers to each family member seated on sofas. He invited his little brother, Isaac, to participate, but only as the deacon. Isaac could be Dc. Chuck while Noah would be Msgr. Scott Friend. When you direct the play, you always cast yourself in the leading role.

Another recollection was how Noah always pushed his friends forward, out of their comfort zone. One friend, Chris, remembered Noah gave him the courage to speak in front of the youth group; something Chris was terrified of. One of Susan’s (Noah’s mom) most cherished memories was seeing Noah and his track team holding hands and praying before meets. Noah was a normal guy in many ways, but he never stopped encouraging, pushing, uplifting and never resting.

The third memory is the advice Noah gave to his girlfriend Izzie on how to study in college. He wrote: “(1) Always sit in the third row in class. It’s close to the front but not all the way there. It’s the sweet spot. (2) Text your boyfriend every day. He will always have something nice to say about you. (3) Smile as much as you can. It makes you approachable to anyone, and your smile is gorgeous.” Now, that’s pretty good advice, not only for Noah’s girlfriend, but for all of us.

Sometimes, we wish we could go back and change Noah’s story. We wish we could give him some of the grace that has been so generously lavished upon us, and maybe things would have turned out a little differently. But that’s when we have to go back to the beginning of his homily and remember those sad people on stubhub stuck with their nontransferable tickets. We cannot give to others the grace that has been uniquely granted to each of us. Each person’s relationship with the Lord is special and singular and…nontransferable. In the end, all we can truly say is: “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. And my story is sticking to me.” Still, Jesus also said to the healed man, and he says to us: “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!