Luke 8:26-39
It is all to easy to dismiss, with our scientific knowledge of today, that this man who approached Jesus in Gerasen as being just mentally ill. We can so easily justify that the lack of knowledge of the people of Jesus’s time, just did not understand mental illness and that this was a healing and not an exorcism of the daemons. What we cannot deny is something was going on in the man, something recognized Jesus as the Son of God, the God Most High. We also cannot deny the change in the man after the encounter with Jesus.
Let me take a step back for a moment and look at this story through a historical perspective. The area that Jesus goes is not filled with Jews but gentiles. We know this by the location given. Now even the location is a little sketchy in the translations, some of the manuscripts show the location as Gadarenes; vs. Gerasen but either way, it is across from Galilee, across the sea of Galilee or at least across the river Jordan. We know that in this land, there were pigs being raised. This therefore was a land of gentiles, not followers of the one God of the Jews. The gentiles would be considered pagans, and having all sorts of different beliefs in gods.
Okay, moving back to the text. The man Jesus encounters was most likely not a Jew, living in this foreign land. Jesus would be be the foreigner in this land. The man sees Jesus, this foreigner, and recognizes Jesus as the Son of God. The stage has been set, Jesus is addressed as the “…Son of the Most High God…” v. 28, the one God of the Jews and this man with demons, a gentile, cries out with great concern “…What have you to do with me….I beg you, do not torment me…” v. 28
Do we not all have demons? These are demons that we dare not let out of the closet. Sometimes it is better to “deal with” our demons on our own, deal with the known then deal with the unknown. At least that is what we often convince ourselves. We keep things status quo chugging alone like there is nothing wrong. All along we know in our heart in the back of our brain buried, there is something eating away and the chugging becomes more and more difficult over time but we become use to it.
In this story that the author of Luke tells us, there is an individual that is dealing with their demons and then there is a community that is dealing with demons. In comes Jesus, the living embodiment of the gospel for all people.
The gospel of Christ is what God in the Spirit and Jesus can and does for people, the lost, the disadvantaged, the sick, the poor, the poor in spirit, the poor in body, the poor in mind the poor period! The gospel makes no distinction between Jew or gentile, man or woman, the rich or poor. As we saw in last weeks reading, who appreciates and responds the most to the gospel? The ones that receive the most, because they have the least, the widow, the orphans and the poor.
This man that approaches Jesus, has nothing, he is unclean and is not living, not living in community with others. He has no home but the tombs, wears no clothes and has even been chained up away from others. He needs desperately Jesus, Son of the Most High God, but there is fear, fear of what Jesus will do. If look at this with the lenses of science, the man might be afraid of what will become of him when the demons are cast out. What becomes of him and all that he knew and lived with, his identity that he has come to be know by, his identity that he knows himself in? I believe that the demons wanted to fight to stay, however the demons acknowledged the power of God even over evil and relented to be cast out. The demons were fearful of going into the depths of the abyss. Choosing the un-clean pigs as a haven they leave the man and go into the heard of pigs still they head to the abyss as the pigs run into the sea and die. Jesus has healed, Jesus has cured the man. In Greek, the same word word is used for, “heal” and for “cure”. How do you see it? Has he been healed of the demons? Jesus at the end sends the man away to tell others how much God has done for him. Does God just heal or has God cured this man, cured him and made him whole, restored him from his uncleanliness, restored his mind and given him his dignity to be clothed and among his people again, restored is his life. Only God can do these things, take us from our deepest and darkest depths, exorcise our demons and restore us whole. God however will not impose God’s will upon the unwilling and change them without permission.
So what about the community of this man? Why do they fear what they have seen and heard of happening? Is this not glorious news and all should be seeking out Jesus for more of what He can offer? Jesus comes to them, has demonstrated His power and His willingness to be among the gentiles and perform a great miracle to one of their own, an outcast of the utmost. This is just to much for them and they are frightened of the prospects and the changes they have been made aware of.
It seems people, individuals and even more so groups of people, do not want to put trust in the unknown outcomes of God. Oh sure, we say we believe and trust in the Lord but we cling to the world of the known rather then step out of the boat to the unknown. We do not want to leave the safety of the boat and let the Lord guide us. If we do, IF WE DO, we have to confront the demons, the wrongs, take care of, in our response to what God does, the less fortunate, the lost people of society, the ones that God commands us to care for! That means when we see injustice we must stand against it. We cannot just observe any longer we must deal with it through the gifts that God has given each of us as individuals, as parts of the body of Christ.
The cured man’s own community is now forced to deal with a change when they see what has happened to him, the newness in life that the man has received, will change the entire makeup of the community. They had become accustomed to how things were, keeping status quo but now this man cannot be treated in the same way. They are forced with the prospect of acknowledging the God of the Jews and Jesus as God’s son, who has power to cast out demons. This radical change of world views is to much and they are filled with fear. It was better the way they had it. Better than what the prospects brought through Jesus, the Son of the God of the Most High.
We can get caught up in NOT following individually and as a group what God is calling us to do. We can often fail to stand up against the injustices of an individual or against an individual or group of people. It becomes easier to not deal with what we know we should be doing, what God is calling us to do. We turn a blind eye in fear of the unknown road and instead keep on the road of familiarity.
God however keeps coming at us to give us the opportunity for what God wants us to be part of and all the goodness that is associated with being in relationship with our creator.
The man that Jesus encounters wants to come along with Jesus and follow him. Instead, he is sent away, to stay in his land. He is to declare to those he encounters, the gentiles of the land, how much God has done for him. In this, this man formally filled with a legion of demons becomes an evangelist to the gentile world an evangelist of what God does and can offer and the marvelous wonders of God.
Go forth today, go forth and declare of how much God has done for you and all people.