Jesus Heals the Demonic - Luke 8: 26-39

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Commentary

Today we start hearing about the miracles. But if you have been paying attention over the last month or so, you are going to hear a lot that is familiar. This particular story is, for me, one of the hardest. I have never met a man who went around naked, lived in the tombs, and was bound in chains by his neighbors because they were afraid of what he might do when he fell into a fit. Even worse, this man is able to break the chains with which he is bound. He sounds like a fearsome creature. But for me the true stone in my path is that because I have never met such a person, I have a hard time believing he is anything but a fairy tale. If you remember, last week I commented on the fact that we cannot see what we do not believe is possible. So, our first problem in believing this miracle is to believe in the underlying story. If you have problems as I do, let me give you the closest I can come up with. I have seen a person in the middle of a seizure. It is a terrifying sight. Their face can become contorted as if it was made of clay and some unknown force was just reshaping it in front of your eyes. Likewise, their limbs can take up positions that you know are impossible. They are drooling, and while they are looking you right in the face, you somehow know they are not seeing you at all. As I said, it is terrifying. I have also seen people heal with their hands. They don't even have to have physical touch. Just pass their hands over the patient and let the energy between the two people do its work. It is not terrifying, but it is incredible. If I suspend my disbelief for long enough to sift through all my experiences, I realize that while this story is, to my experience, improbable, I certainly do not say it is impossible. So, with some work, I have put myself in the position to benefit from this miracle. Now you might also remember I said that miracles are to get our attention. If we do not just dismiss it out of hand, it will have gotten our attention. So now comes the big question. What is it that we are supposed to discern from this story. What is it telling us? I am pretty sure that for the Gadarenes, the intended message was that Jesus is the son of God, and that God's will is that all people be whole. From the story, it sounds like the message they got was that the power of Jesus/God was very likely to upset their existing order. And I think from their reaction we can conclude that for them, maintaining their existing order was more important then attaining the kingdom of God. That is unfortunate, but the question for us is what is our reaction. On the surface, I suspect we can all say comfortably that we get the intended message. We believe that Jesus is the son of God, and that God's will is that all people be whole. My concern is that we can say this comfortably only if we stop there. The story occurs a long time ago and a far way apart. Furthermore, the story concerns a person the likes of which we have probably never seen. It is too easy for us to say, like the possessed man in the story, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus?” The real question is, “What cost are we willing to pay in order to accept the message of Jesus?” The Gadarenes realized that to accept Jesus, they had to give up their accepted order of things. And given that choice, they declined. What does it really mean to say that Jesus is the son of God. Saying we believe doesn't hack it. What Jesus wants is that we KNOW God. Not believe in Him, not accept Him, but KNOW Him. And Jesus tells us God is LOVE. Jesus tells us that IF we are LOVE God himself will come and live within us. Jesus tells us that we need to love God with ALL our heart and ALL of our strength, and ALL of our mind. If we really do that, there isn't going to be much room for our self centered ego. So, getting back to miracles, this story tells us about a miracle of Jesus casting out the demons of a man so tormented that he had been thrust out of society. It is a wonderful result for the man, and the story performs its purpose of getting our attention. Then we are left with the task of figuring out what we are supposed to get from the story. I would suggest that if we are to completely discern this story, we have to look not only at the possessed man, but equally at the society in which he lived. I would suggest that like the man, we are all possessed by demons. Perhaps we have been able to clear ourselves of the demons of greed and hate and bigotry. But unless you are a true saint, you are still possessed by the demon of self centeredness. Jesus can cast out this demon for us, just as he cast out the demons of the poor man in the story. But there is a cost. Jesus asks us to to love God with ALL our heart and ALL of our strength, and ALL of our mind. Jesus asks us to make a place for God to dwell within us, and in the process he asks us to get ourselves out of the way. We have to be willing to accept that result. If not we are like the Gadarenes. We end up asking Jesus to depart from us because we are afraid of the implications of the miracles that he wants to perform in us. Lord Jesus, heal us from our fear. Amen