Odyssey

 

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.