"A Powerful Friend"
"A Powerful Friend“
Bothwell & Clachan
June 24, 2007
Luke 8:26-39
INTRODUCTION
This famous pig incident makes Jesus seem even harder to explain than usual! Really, however you look at this story, we can't help but classify it is 'weird' even for Jesus. So first let me begin with a different story, but one which contains many of the same themes.
"The Two Towers": Evil Cast Out
In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, J. R. R. Tolkien portrays the classic conflict between good and evil, set in a mythical land called Middle Earth. In the middle of the film, the evil wizard Saruman has spellbound Theoden, King of Rohan. He sits on his throne pale and decrepit as his kingdom falls apart around him.
Then Gandalf, a good wizard, arrives. Theoden's evil adviser whispers lies into the king's ear about Gandalf, but Gandalf rebukes him: "Be silent! Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth." Then Gandalf says, "Theoden, too long have you sat in the shadows. I release you from the spell."
Theoden shakes momentarily and then laughs mockingly, "You have no power here, Gandalf!"
But then Gandalf reveals his full power. He rises up and speaks directly to the evil wizard within Theoden: "I will draw you, Saruman, as poison is drawn from a wound."
Saruman cries out through Theoden, "If I go, Theoden dies. Rohan is mine!"
Gandalf replies, "You did not kill me, and you will not kill him. Be gone!"
At that, King Theoden is released. Suddenly his face regains its color and youth, and he is fully himself again .1
That is precisely what this story is all about. Christ walks into the tormented life of the Gerasene demoniac, this madman, whose life is coming apart at the seams and He turns it around for him. He gives him a new beginning, a new start, a new birth.
THE STORY UNFOLDS
1. The Geography – Luke 8:26
As this part of the story begins, Jesus has just arrived in Gentile territory. He pays a visit to the country of the Gerasenes, which is a Gentile region across the Sea of Galilee. Now although Jesus is not a 'missionary' he still ventures into non Jewish territory on occasion. And when he does, wherever he goes, He always brings God's power and compassion to bear on behalf of those in need. When Jesus is present, people and conditions are challenged, upset, transformed.
At the beginning of the narrative, it sounds like a horror-story. It is an eerie, grim, suspenseful, frightening situation. J esus and His disciples have just come through a storm on the Sea of Galilee. It is nighttime and having survived that frightening storm they are thrilled to now set foot on solid ground. But, like any good horror story, as they get out of the boat, assuming that they are now safe, after almost losing their lives in the terrifying storm, they encounter a different kind of storm… yet another scary experience. It seems that Jesus' presence alone is enough to stir up the evil forces.
The disciples hear strange sounds coming from the tombs… shrieks, growls, screams, moans, the rattling of chains. Then, suddenly, a horrifying sight. Possessed by several demons, a wild-eyed, adrenalin-filled, uncontrollable naked madman comes running and shrieking out of the tomb. The madman is bruised, dirty, bloody with battered with pieces of chains dangling from his arms and ankles. He comes running and screaming directly toward them, shouting at Jesus to leave him alone, not to torment him. He is so unbalanced, He is convinced that he is being held captive by a whole legion of demons, who are pulling and jerking him in every direction. As the story unfolds we learn that it is not really the man who speaks to Jesus, but the demons who are bargaining with Jesus. Now, let me ask you something: “What would you have done in that situation?” This was a perilous place, a bloodcurdling moment… a powerful, dangerous, berserk man, charging them. I think I would have run for my life... or jumped back in the boat. But not Jesus! Jesus stood His ground and faced the madman. Undaunted, unafraid... Jesus stood there and dealt with this wild man. Jesus healed him. He brought peace to his troubled soul. He changed him. He cleansed him. He turned his life around… and you know (don’t you?) that He can do that for you.
2. Is It A Devil or a Disease? - Luke 8:27
Now these references to demons in our Scripture reading may make some of us uncomfortable. We may be tempted to discount demons as an expression of a primitive belief system, rather like belief in a flat world. Yet missionaries continue to return and tell us of events that can only have been caused by the power associated with great evil. One writer reminds us that any reading of recent history will reveal such overwhelming evil that we would have to put on blinders to call it anything else. Was Hitler emotionally disturbed or evil? Would Stalin's problems have been better solved by therapy or exorcism? Could a competent psychiatrist or pharmacist have set Idi Amin straight? Would former Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot have been less murderous had he enjoyed a better education?
Morris Fetty believes that in today's so-called polite society we have not wanted to talk much of demons and the demonic. Instead In our modern culture, we have believed that sin was due mostly to ignorance and that evil could be eradicated by education. In our psychologically enlightened times we have avoided the more ancient religious language of devils and evil...Yet if in our time witch doctors have disappeared, strangely enough witches have reappeared by the thousands....Whether demons and the demonic are widely acknowledged in our time may be debated, but that they were common in Jesus' time we can have no doubt. the healer had to have power not only to name the demon, but power to cast him out, to throw him out of the person's life.2
3. Legion – Luke 8:30-31
When Jesus asked the man his name, he answered, "Legion." A Roman legion was a regiment of 6,000 soldiers. Doubtless this man had seen a Roman legion on the march, and his poor, afflicted mind felt that there was not one demon but a whole regiment inside him.3 The demoniac's response tells us the extent of the forces arrayed against Jesus –– they are many and powerful. It also tells us that the man has lost his identity to his demons. He bears their name and is controlled by their power.
4. What Have You to Do with Me? - Luke 8:28
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God?” the demented man cries out. Again we have a standard question in the demonology of the time. In the Gospels the demons are pictured as being scared stiff of the power of Jesus Christ. They try to get away from Him as fast as they can! Donald Strobe suggests that in a deeper sense it is a question that has been put to Jesus by individuals and societies again and again. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” “Leave us alone. Mind your own business. Keep your hands off my life.” “What have you to do with me?” the demented man asked. The answer is that Jesus has everything to do with him. Jesus had come to cure him and restore him to his right mind. He has authority over even the demonic: “Come out of him, you demonic or unclean spirit!” (Mark 5 v.8) He says. And it is done. Just so Jesus has cast unclean spirits out of men and women down through the ages - spirits of greed, lust, hypocrisy, aggression. That is not theory, it is history.4
5. The Chains That Bind – Luke 8:29
Although the demoniac's Gerasene neighbors had continually bound him with chains and shackles, the demons diabolical power had always had helped him to break free. But the seeming freedom that the demons give is a false freedom, however, because it only worsens the man's dehumanization and isolation. He runs naked and unrestrained, an uncontrollable and frightening presence, and lives among the dead rather than the living.
In the story told at the beginning, Theoden, King of Rohan should have been the most powerful man in the Kingdom, but he was trapped by evil. Today we see a similar phenomenon among people whose addictions destroy them physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Yes, they are free from nine-to-five jobs, time cards, and dress codes –– free from rent payments and car repairs –– free from obedience to cultural norms. But like the demoniac, they live in marginal surroundings –– on the streets or under bridges –– isolated from community. So in the ways that really count, they are the least free among us.
6. The Response by the Community – Luke 8:34-37
Back in our story it truly is a crazy weird scene! The people see the man healed, and the pigs dead, and it is too much for them. You might think that they would be happy that this man who has caused them so much trouble is now sane and whole. But because of Jesus' actions the swine-herders have been bankrupted, and the neighbors are not sure who might be next. Then there is the matter of altered routine. Like the demoniac, the Gerasenes are comfortable with demons that they have learned to accommodate. Yes, the man was crazy, but at least he had lived out of sight among the tombs. Now that he is "clothed and in his right mind" (v. 35), they will have to find room for him in the village. Will his family welcome him home? Has his wife remarried? Have his children made peace with his absence? How will he make a living? Will he become dangerous again? Will one of their daughters fall in love with him? Jesus solved one problem but created the potential for a thousand new ones!
Many today react similarly to Jesus. They do not mind Jesus as long as he does not interfere with their lives. They simply want to be left alone.
As a result of this dramatic story of transformation; the people are “seized with ... fear” (v. 37 ). The people cannot take it; they will not be throwing a party to celebrate this miracle of salvation. Instead they ask Jesus to go. The encounter with Jesus' power is just too threatening for them.
7. The Loosing of Legion – LUKE 8:38-39
But the Gospel writers, however, cared little about these issues. One commentator reminds us that for them "the spiritual issues involved in the story are far more important than financial considerations (cf. 12:31)....The Gospel writers saw the story as involving a man's deliverance from enslavement to the demonic. The demoniac's deliverance and the demon's judgment were their primary concern"5
Once delivered from his demons, we see the man back in his clothes, sitting with the other disciples, learning from Jesus. From destructive isolation, he has become part of a nurturing, human community. Although he was once he was in the grip of evil's power, now he is no longer afraid of Jesus. He begs to go with Jesus and be allowed to become one of the' disciples. Instead Jesus sends him home to preach to the people who know him best.
Jesus does call some of us to mission fields or some other special ministry, but for most of us he says: Stay where you are, use what you have, and be a witness to my life-changing power in your life. Grow and witness where you already know the culture and the people.
This man obeys and becomes an apostle to his hometown, bursting with the good news of what Jesus has done for him. He tells the whole city what Jesus had done for him, about the transformation that God has worked in him. Note too, that this man, now of sound mind, makes no distinction between Jesus' actions and the workings of God's power.
CONCLUSION
Speaking To Our Day
The community's response seems odd to those of us who don't think of Jesus as fearful. Why were they scared? Is it possible that in our day that the way we try to get Jesus to leave is by taming him, by turning him into someone who is only kind and gentle, one who will never get too upset, and who is not a threat to anyone?
Dorothy Sayers has written this domestication of Jesus. She writes: The people who hanged Christ...never accused him of being a bore. On the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up the shadowing personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the lion of Judea, certified him "meek and mild," and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. Such a Jesus may protect us from the fearsome power of God, but he will also leave us unhealed. But one of the natural outcomes of experiencing his life-changing power, is that we discover we are truly set free to follow Jesus. He will make a difference in our lives, both in the present and the future.
“There is hope in Jesus..”
So can the story of the Gerasene demoniac speak to OUR day as it did its own? David E. Leininger puts it like this: Absolutely! To the church which battles the demons of social evil, the message is “There is hope in Jesus..” To individuals for whom there is an everyday battle ongoing with the demon of depression, the message is there is hope in Jesus. To those who battle the demon of fear, the message is there is hope in Jesus. Those who fight the demon of addiction, the message is there is hope in Jesus. And to those who have so many battles going on against so many demons that their name is LEGION, the message is there is hope in Jesus.6
If this man were here today I can imagine him saying to us, "I understand your fears, but don't be too quick to send Jesus away. I wouldn't go back to who I was before Jesus came for anything. Trust Jesus to make the best of your life.” You never know when or where Jesus is going to turn up. He just might come to visit me or you with an offer of healing and new life with the power to make it happen. May we be open to what Jesus might do in us.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Lord, you come to us with love and with power offering us new life. Help us to trust you with our lives. In the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
1 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (New Line Cinemas, 2002), rated PG-13, written by J. R. R. Tolkien, adapted by Frances Walsh, and directed by Peter Jackson; submitted by Bill White, Paramount, California.
2 Maurice A. Fetty, The Divine Advocacy, CSS Publishing Company.
3 William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975, p. 108.
4 Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words, Dynamic Preaching.
5 Stein, Robert H., The New American Commentary: Luke (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992) p. 257.
6 David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, Christian Globe Networks, Inc.