Memories

In Clitheroe URC, where Lesley and I are members, we use the Good News Bible, probably because it's easy to read. The other day I happened to be reading the story of Jesus meeting the demented man in Mark 5:1-20, and I came across a mis-translation. I recognise that we are using only one out of dozens of translations, and that the story was originally written in what was everyday Greek and then translated into many more languages over the centuries, until it finally made its way into English. But this mistake is actually quite important.

Jesus asked the man his name, and as Mark and Luke tell the story in the Good News version, the man replied "My name is mob - there are so many of us." However, if you look at the Greek text, and in other versions of the Bible, you'll find the man saying "My name is Legion, for we are many." That's a clue about what Jesus was saying, because a Legion was a unit of Roman soldiers, and the poor crazed man was possessed by forces beyond his reach just as the land of Israel was possessed by the Roman empire. So, in the story, Jesus cast this evil spirit called Legion into a herd of pigs that rushed into the sea, feared as the abode of evil spirits and chaos, and were drowned. Pigs were unclean animals to the Jews, so they didn't matter - except perhaps to their owner! This story is about the empire that occupied and tormented Israel, and would ultimately destroy itself. It's not just a story of healing, it's also a recognisably political statement.

As also is the Lord's Prayer, or at least one phrase it. "May your kingdom come" was seditious, because to claim that anyone other than the emperor Caesar was "the Lord" could get you executed. So to pray "your kingdom come" and not mean Caesar's empire was very risky indeed. Whose kingdom we choose to serve has real-world consequences. Perhaps the word itself, with its overtones of remote royalty, might be better named "community of hope" or some such phrase. But the notion of "kingdom" might lead us to reflect on what are the foundations of our living - what are the important morals by which we regulate our way of life, the standards which we probably learnt from our childhood.

Back to Blog index