Second Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 7C
Luke 8:26-39
26[Jesus and his disciples] arrived at the country of the
Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27As 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. 28When 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”—29for 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.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He
said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31They begged him
not to order them to go back into the abyss.
32Now 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. 33Then 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.
34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then 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. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then 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. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“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.
32Now 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. 33Then 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.
34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then 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. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then 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. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“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.
Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Jesus comes
into a town which has a demon-possessed man who has been living among the dead,
who has been terrorizing the town, who has resisted every attempt to restrain
him. His family must have been at their wits’ end, his friends didn’t know what
they could do for him. And Jesus comes into the town and deals with the demons.
He casts the unclean spirits into the unclean animals, and the animals, driven
mad by the demons, plunge themselves into the sea.
One might
expect a deliverance so great to be met with joy, celebration, gratitude. And
yet, there is no celebration – there is no joy. There is fear. The people ask
Jesus to leave. Leave at once. They tell him to turn around and go back where he
came from.
We might
think that there is something wrong with the townsfolk. That they are
ungrateful by nature, or that they are possessed themselves. Something like
that. But that's not what's in the text. The people are afraid. 'Fear has seized them.'
When the
townsfolk see that Jesus has cast out the demons, they come to realize they are
in the presence of great power. It’s not only conceivable, but reasonable that
their assumption is that Jesus has the most powerful demon of all – and that
he’s come to assert dominance over the other demons, and could possess them
all. Imagine not only one man enslaved to demons, but an entire town.
We have been
taught from birth that we don’t need to be afraid of Jesus. But these folk
don’t know that. They respond in the only way they know how – to beg this one
with great power to leave them alone, to please spare them.
In the Gospel of Luke, the eleventh
chapter, some people accuse him of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the
ruler of the demons. It seems altogether reasonable to assume that these are
not the only people who believed that something like this could occur.
But what does
Jesus say? He says, ‘If by the finger of God I cast out demons, then the
kingdom of God has come among you.’
This is not
demonic power at work, but God’s power. For the man from
whom the demons had gone was sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his
right mind. Those who had been driving him to self-destruction had themselves
been driven away. He no longer needed to be controlled, but was in mastery of
himself. He was no longer seeking death, but life.
Demons are not necessarily the scary creatures that they are portrayed to be in movies. The power of evil is most dangerous, perhaps, when it is more subtle. Perhaps it keeps us chained to our anger, our fear, our cravings, our desires. It may
keep us tied to the regrets of the past or to the fear of the future. It can be as simple as the voice that says ‘you need this to be happy.’ Or it can be the voice that says your pride demands revenge. The
demonic whisper can be as simple as the voice that says, ‘Everyone is doing and
saying this, and you need to do and say this too in order to be well-thought
of.’ In the story of the garden, the first words that the tempter spoke were,
‘Did God really say, you shall
not?...’
But Jesus
gives the man life, and freedom, and a place to be. Jesus does not dominate him
in his turn, but releases him from bondage. The word 'Lord,' in Latin is dominus, and yet perhaps the one who does not dominate is the only one worthy of the title dominus.
When the
kingdom of God comes, then we are set free. Only a free person can worship and
obey God. This leads us to the very last part of the story, when Jesus agrees
to the townspeople’s request to leave
the town and go back across the lake.
The man who
had been freed from demons begged to be with him. Again, we might reasonably
discern some possible reasons for that desire. Perhaps it was his gratefulness
at Jesus having saved him. Perhaps he felt the call to discipleship. Or perhaps
he was still fearful in his turn; if Jesus left, if he was not with Jesus,
would the demons not return and enslave him again? Would he not be worse off
than he was before?
We may find
it strange that Jesus does not allow the man to follow him. After all, this is
the call to discipleship – to follow Jesus. But the call to follow Jesus looks
very different in this case.
Jesus tells
the man to return to his home and declare how much God has done for him. This
is the scary part of faith – obeying the call of Jesus, not knowing what will
be the outcome. And yet, he obeyed, returned home, and remained free to praise
God. This served as the guarantee, not only to him, but to the people of the
town, that Jesus, the man of power was not a demon, but he was of God, and that
the kingdom of God had come among them.
Jesus sets a man free from the forces that would conquer and control him
- so that he might praise and obey God. By the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ power is in
the world still today to liberate us from sin, death and evil and give us
peace. Thanks be to God!
