I told those at 8am that I had two different sermons for each group this morning. That means when they start talking about courtrooms and our call to judge ourselves against God’s argument and evidence, they really were in church this morning. Similarly, they may ask you about this one, so you better be paying attention.
Our story from
Luke today is very well known. It is so
well known, in fact, that many non-Christians know it. Jesus arrives across the sea in
Gerasenes. As Jesus gets out of the
boat, He is met by a demoniac. Luke
tells us the man wore no clothes and lived in the tombs. You an I, of course, should realize that the
man is estranged from his community and actually lives in a place that leaves
him perpetually unclean, unable to worship God properly without being
purified. Nobody in their right mind
makes such a choice, not even today. As
we learn from Luke, though, the choice makes more and more sense.
The man falls at
the feet of Jesus and asks Him what He has to do with him? More significantly to us, of course, the man
knows who Jesus is. The man specifically
identifies Jesus as the Son of the Most High.
It is certainly a correct title.
It is a title that the Apostles and Disciples and Paul will not
understand until the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension; yet, this man seems to
know long before these events. Critics
naturally point out that Luke’s account was recorded much later than these events
and include lots of embellishment.
Demons are not real, and besides, the man was probably bi-polar or
schizophrenic or something natural rather than unnatural. Luke, for his part, was a Gentile physician
who interviewed lots of the primary figures of the early Church, after serving
as Paul’s manumissive. Luke relishes
describing the details of events, and, as we like to say, the devil really is
in the details. Those in the early
Church who witnessed this event certainly thought the man possessed. I mean, if it was propaganda they would be
the ones who knew Jesus’ identity from the beginning, not some unclean outcast
across the sea.
More curious to
us, I hope, the man asks Jesus not to torment him. Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to
come out. Luke reminds us of the power
of this man. At various times he would
be chained and shackled and guarded, but no human effort could contain him. In response to the plea about torment, Jesus
asks the name. The demon answers that
its name is “Legion” for they are not one, but many. Israel, of course, was not as pre-occupied
with numbers as most ANE cultures. You
will notice in the Scriptures that they describe numbers in rather vague terms
or that the Hebrew word can mean more than one number. If the name of the demon is significant,
though, the Roman world would have heard this answer far differently than
“Many” or “A lot.” Roman legions had
about 5000 soldiers. The actual number
might fluctuate a bit, depending on the period of the empire about which
scholars are talking, but it is close enough for our purposes today. Maybe as many as 5000 demons are in the
man. Certainly, the demon says there are
many.
The first thing
I want us to notice today is the power and authority given to Jesus. We tend to try and de-mystify Jesus, reduce
His significance, even in the Church. We
think supernatural attestation is a barrier to people believing, and so we
discount the miracles. It’s not a new
practice. Such has been going on since
the beginning of the Church, to say nothing of how the world perceives Jesus
and us. But whether many means a dozen
or fifty or 5000 or anywhere in between, how does Jesus cast it out? Those of us who grew up on The Exorcist
should see lots of sweat, lots of straining, the right prayers said, lots of
pea soup, and maybe even impossible neck movements. Those of us who watch witch and demon horror
flicks know candles and pentagrams are necessary. How does Jesus cast out the many demons,
whatever their number? With a simple
command.
Notice from the
get go that the many demons know Who Jesus is and His absolute authority. They identify Him correctly. And they beg Him not to torment them. There is no contest of wills; there is no
strain. Jesus is in command, and the
many demons know it. All they can do is
beg Jesus to be merciful. All they can
do is beg Jesus not to send them back to the abyss!
Spying a herd of
pigs, they beg (there’s that word again) Jesus to let them enter the herd. Jesus gives them permission. Those of us who have parented toddlers can
only dream of such power and authority.
The demons ask Jesus for permission to go into the swine. Were He to deny them that action, there is
nothing that the many demons could do to thwart Jesus’ command. They enter the pigs, who then rush headlong
down the steep bank and into the sea and are drowned.
The poor
swineherds, we are told, witness the event and tell everyone they meet in the
country and city. As a result of the swineherds’
story, the people in the area come out to see Jesus. Who could cause a herd of pigs to do
anything, let alone rush into the sea?
Upon their
arrival, they encounter the man clothed, in his right mind, and seated at the
feet of Jesus. The image is one of
teacher and student, or rather Teacher and disciple. How do they respond to the healed man? They are afraid. We might think their response strange, but
consider all the work and effort they have put into keeping themselves safe
from the man. They have chained him,
shackled him, guarded him, and forced him into the tombs, from their
perspective, not understanding that the demons would love to live among the
dead and entice others to join them.
Jesus speaks a command and the man is in his right mind? Jesus just says come out, and the man wears
clothes now? Jesus has proven Himself
smarter and stronger than their communal effort. Plus, the pigs have stampeded to their death! No wonder they were seized with terror!
The second take
away from our lesson today that I want you to notice is the aftermath. The former demoniac begs Jesus to go with
Him. What does Jesus say? “No.”
Actually, he tells the man to return to his home and testify to what God
has done for him. Throughout the
Gospels, how many people does Jesus seem to refuse? You are laughing because you cannot think of
examples. Sure, Jesus tells those who
are distracted by the cares of the world, and not solely focused on Him, that
they are not fit to follow them. But
Jesus never rejects someone who wants to follow Him, except this man, the
former demoniac.
Why do I
highlight that the man is rejected by Jesus?
First, is the man really rejected by Jesus, as some of us look at the
passage closely? No, the man is given a
specific ministry. In fact, the man is
given a Dominical command, to use the high theological language. Jesus tells the man to return to his home and
to declare how much God has done for him.
So thankful is the man at his healing that he wants nothing more than to
follow Jesus. It is a simple
request. Jesus, for His part, knows what
the man needs for healing and how God will be best glorified. Jesus commands the man to return home. We need to remind ourselves that this man has
been living in the tombs. No one would
want to go near him. Because he lives
among the dead, he is unclean. Anyone
who touches him would also be unclean.
Much like the menstruating woman, nobody in their right mind would ever
touch him. Much like her, though, the
man needs to be restored to the community in order to be completely
healed. Were he to follow Jesus, he
would have a tightknit community, to be sure, but it would be a community that
did not have a home. The Healer knows
better than the man what he needs to be fully restored, and so he sends him
home! But Jesus sends him with a command
to tell everyone how much God has done for him.
The man responds
as one truly thankful and truly grateful for what God has done in his life,
proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.
There is an undercurrent
of “I’m not enough to . . .” in our parish family. By that I mean that I have frequent
conversations where people describe a call on their lives and then throw up any
number of objections. I am not smart
enough. I am not strong enough. I don’t know how. We are not the first to want to use our
inferiority as an excuse not to do what God commands. Think of pretty much any prophet. But it is a common experience that people
come into my office trying to convince me that they are unsuited for a
particular call that God has placed on their life. They almost always want me, the professional
Christian among us, to tell them they are correct. I almost always do that, but then comes the
spiritual wedgie. If God commands it of
us, we cannot fail. Oh, to be sure, it
can look like failure from the world’s perspective. We can lose reputation or finances or time or
whatever else the world values, but we are incapable of failure, if God calls
us to His work and His purpose.
As we read that
story and focused on the healed demoniac, rejected by Jesus, how many of us
identified with him? How many of us
thought we knew the best thing for him, only to be reminded by the Healer what the
man most needed and where God wanted him working? Would anyone consider obedience to Jesus in
that instance failure? We might quibble
and say the man credited Jesus with his restoration, when Jesus said to credit
God; but we are all Trinitarians at heart and understand they are One and the
Same, even if we cannot rightly explain them.
The man does as he is told, even though it was not what he wanted, joyfully
and obediently.
In what way was
the man unlike us? In what way did the
man likely have the right thought that he was unfit for any work for the kingdom
of God? He had been separated from his
community, possessed by demons, and lived among the tombs. If anyone should have the right to feel rejected
by God or unloved by God, this would be one.
Now, at his moment of freedom and release, Jesus tells him to stay and
proclaim what God had done for him. Of
course, just as Jesus knew what the man most needed, he also knew what those in
his community most needed. Those of us
who have heard of miracles know how quickly we Christians tend to discount them,
never mind the rest of the world. We
always look for another explanation because miracles don’t happen or are a
thing of the past. And in that rejection
of miracles, we are tied to God’s people throughout the ages—think of Israel
after the Red Sea. But, by commanding
the man to stay and proclaim, those in the community will be forced to confront
daily both their failures and the joyful, thankful proclamation of one freed by
God!
That community
did all they could to subdue the possessed man.
And they failed, miserably.
Jesus, whom the demons rightly identify as the Son of God, does not even
raise His voice. He speaks, and they
must obey. And no matter how insistent
the people will be trying to discount that work of power, they will be forced
to acknowledge the man in their presence, an incarnation of God’s grace in
their midst, and grapple with that.
Sometimes,
brothers and sisters, our ministries make no sense to us or make us feel
foolish. Sometimes, we fight God
thinking we cannot make a difference or do anything the way He expects. The glorious reminder this day, though, is
that we really cannot fail, if we obey.
God gives meaning to all our efforts; better still, He promises to
redeem all our failures and vindicate our efforts to glorify Him in our
lives. Looking at the Gerasene demoniac,
we might be tempted to declare his ministry a failure. We have no record of a great conversion
later; heck, we do not even know his name.
Yet, nearly 2000 years later and 9000 miles distant, you and I remember
the story because others remembered the story and shared it with Luke. And today, because of the demoniacs
faithfulness, I expect some among us will be encouraged, be comforted, be extolled
to do the work that God has given them to do.
And I hope those so moved do so not out grumbling obedience or out of a
conviction of failure, but with the certainty that comes from knowing the Lord
of their life is the One under Whom all things are in submission, that even if
the demons of hell stand before us, even if the world thinks we are nuts, we
are freed and empowered and commanded by Him to proclaim what God has done for
us! Better still, we know that God has
the power to accomplish redemption of our failures or give meaning to our
efforts by virtue of the Resurrection of His Son, our Lord Christ. And because we share in His death by virtue
of our baptism, we are assured a firstborn share in His Resurrection! Knowing that, knowing we have been freed from
the tombs of our lives and from death itself, we can, like the demoniac, declare
what God has done for us, and invite others to share in His promises!
In Christ’s Peace,
Brian†
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