Very
long: on the Odyssey, and the Gospel; Odysseus, Jesus — and you.
Eight
hundred years before the time of Jesus, a Greek author (or authors?) known as
Homer compiled oral stories into two epic poems: the Iliad, which recounts the
decade-long Trojan War; and its sequel, the Odyssey, which recounts the
decade-long attempt of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, to return home after the War —
a journey on which he is hindered by the god Poseidon and helped by the goddess
Athena. Homer’s two volumes were hugely popular — hence their survival — and
remain popular with audiences to this day.
Luke,
the Greek follower of Jesus and author of the two-volume Gospel According to
Luke and Acts of the Apostles, clearly modelled himself on Homer in his
storytelling. (Long after the event, editors divided ‘Luke’ into 24 chapters —
the same number of chapters as both the Iliad and the Odyssey — but then
spoiled it by dividing ‘Acts’ into 28 chapters.)
In
Acts chapter 8, Jesus crosses the Lake in a storm and arrives at the country of
independent Greek colony-cities to the south-east of Galilee. There he is met
by a monster, a man who possesses the strength of many men.
In
the Odyssey chapter X, Odysseus is recounting parts of his voyage. The chapter
opens with his arrival on the island home of Aeolus, a mortal king whom Zeus
had appointed captain of the winds. Aeolus entertained Odysseus and his men for
a month, and then, to aid them on their journey home, made a bag from the hide
of an ox and contained within it, bound tight by a silver thread, all of the
winds except for the fair west wind.
For
nine days and nights they sailed and on the tenth day they saw home — Ithaca —
on the horizon. But at this point, Odysseus was overcome by sleep. While he
slept, his men debated the contents of the bag he had kept close, and,
believing it to contain treasure that Odysseus planned not to share with them,
they opened the bag, releasing a storm that drove them all the way back to
Aeolus.
Aeolus
was surprised to see them again. When Odysseus explained the betrayal of his
men, Aeolus concluded that the gods were set against Odysseus and refused to
help him a second time. And so, their epic journey continued.
After
further misadventure, they arrived at the island of the goddess and enchantress
Circe. There, Odysseus spied smoke, assumed habitation, and encouraged his men
to investigate. But on the previous island — and not for the first time — many
of the men had been eaten; and so they were understandably hesitant.
Nonetheless, half the party were dispatched to explore, and came across the
home of Circe, who invited them in. Only Eurylocus, the captain, being
suspicious, remained outside. The other men entered and dined on cheese and
wine, which had been drugged, such that they forgot their home. Then, Circe
transformed them into pigs and shut them in her pig styes.
Eurylocus
ran back to Odysseus to inform him what had befallen the men, but on his way to
rescue them, Odysseus was intercepted by the god Hermes, sent to him by Athena,
to counsel him how to approach Circe safely, also giving him a herb that would
protect him from her spell.
On
discerning his identity, Circe asked Odysseus to go to bed with her, that they
might become friends and learn to trust one another; but he asked how he could
trust her and made her swear an oath not to harm him. Agreeing, Circe washed
Odysseus in a bath, anointed him with oil, dressed him in a fine cloak and
shirt, and seated him on an ornate chair. She then sets a banquet before him,
but he refused to eat while his men were still held captive as pigs. So, Circe
gave them a second drug, restoring them to human form, and repenting of her
actions.
While
Odysseus returned to the ship to fetch the rest of his men, the men who had
been pigs were washed, anointed with olive oil, clothed in woollen cloaks and
shirts, and fed. They remained there for twelve months being strengthened for
their journey. Then, they sought to continue on their journey home, but Circe
informed Odysseus that first they must journey to the house of Hades and
consult the ghost of the blind Theban prophet Teiresias.
In
Luke 8.22-25 Jesus and his disciples are crossing the Lake. Jesus is asleep in
the boat. A storm arises; the men debate among themselves. So far, so the
Odyssey. But unlike Odysseus, Jesus is not betrayed by their actions. Instead,
here is an opportunity for them to discover (not for the first time) that Jesus
is divinely appointed, as he takes captaincy over the wind.
Luke
tells us that they sailed down to the country of the Gadarenes (our English
translation says that ‘they arrived at,’ but the more accurate ‘they sailed
down to’ sounds more epic), perhaps blown off course by the winds. There, a man
of the Greek city meets them. We are told that he has been naked for some time
and is living not within a household but among the tombs, in the house of the
dead.
This
man is demonised. The text implies both that he has taken hold of demons and
that the demons have taken hold of him. This is a codependent relationship,
where the demons make his life a misery and yet he cannot imagine living
without them.
The
demons fear that Jesus will send them back into the abyss. They plead to be
allowed to leave the man and to enter a herd of pigs. When they do, the
terrified pigs rush over a precipice into the lake and are drowned. The
swineherds run off to the city to inform the citizens, who come out and
discover the man whom they have often bound in chains to restrain him from self-harm
and harming others, sitting clothed and in his right mind.
In
Greek culture, pigs were seen as both noble and ignoble, and as a symbol of
human behaviour, which could be noble or ignoble — falling away from the human
ideal into base animalistic behaviour.
In
the Odyssey X, men are transformed into pigs, and back again, symbolising their
greed and how quickly they will fall away from sensibility (only Eurylocus
resisted the temptations of Circe). In Luke 8, the demonised man is freed as
the demons enter into the pigs instead.
In
the Odyssey X, the restored men are washed and clothed — in the Homeric
tradition, clothing is significant, not simply the contrast to animal nakedness
but in a play of concealment (disguises) and revealing, falsehood is made to
speak truth, and character is purified. In Luke 8, the man is sitting clothed
and in his right mind.
The
pigs — and the demons — are also washed, plunged into the lake. This will be
picked up in the Baptismal prayer over the water, where the liturgy declares:
‘drown sin in the waters of judgement, anoint your children with power from on
high, and make them one with Christ in the freedom of your kingdom.’
In
the Odyssey X, Odysseus cannot return home before first journeying to the house
of Hades. In Luke 8, the man desires to leave home behind and accompany Jesus
on his journey — which will ultimately be to Hades, and back, before returning
home to his Father — but is instead told to return to his own household and
declare to them what God has done for him. (In so doing, the man conflates God
and Jesus.)
There
is a clear play between the story of Odysseus, familiar to Luke’s audience, and
the new story they are hearing concerning the adventures of Jesus. But these
adventures are not set in the distant past, lost in the midst of time, but in
their near-present.
A
man who has been kept captive by the powers of death and hell is set free;
clothed with Christ, taking on his own true identity within the — grounding,
framing — person of Jesus; and restored to relationship with his own family,
from whom he has been long-separated due to the capricious nature of the gods.
The
demonised man — not Jesus — is now the new Odysseus. And Jesus is, to him, help
along the way — Aeolus, and even Circe — truth hidden in various disguises,
waiting to be revealed.
Likewise,
our true identity is hidden within Jesus, who comes to us in various guises: in
men and women whose actions help us on our long journey home to God the Father,
through many challenges.
Every
story is an epic tale, including yours.