Jesus: An encounter with the forces of evil
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
Intro
Evil
is it like this - Return of the Jedi (seducing Luke to the Dark Side)
Context
Context
Before we get to concerned about a demon or evil spirits, and jesus’ power over the supernatural, let’s just remind ourselves what Jesus has been up to.
Jesus has just calmed a storm. He has proved he has power over the natural world. In the midst of a raging storm which threatened the lives of his friends and apprentices, the diciples, he spoke to the storm and told it to calm, and it did. On that boat, the disciples must choose between fear and faith. Over the last few weeks we’ve explored how Jesus brought physical healing to both Jairus’ daughter (in fact he brought her back to life) and the bleeding woman who was healed after years of doctors being unable to help. Jairus and the woman had to choose between despair and faith. At New Year we explored Jesus’ preaching to his hometown, they had to choose between belief and disbelief, and sadly ended up trying to stone him. The people we meet in our passage today have a choice between accepting Jesus or rejecting him.
This is Jesus, the one who has power over the natural world, and today we are exploring the supernatural world. As we often say in the creed “the things unseen”, we’re talking about spiritual beings, ones which are not human. Angels and demons, good spirits and evil spirits.
Ok, so I’ve just lost a few of you there. But hang on in with us and see what Jesus is doing.
Just like with the calming of the storm, where we’re left with an awesome sense of this God man on earth having power over the natural, as we ask ourselves “what does knowing this man mean in my life”, we ask the same question as we see him still the raging storm of evil which has overcome this man. We ask ourselves “How much has the Lord done for me, and how has he had mercy on me?”
We know that many of the encounters we’ve seen with Jesus happened around the sea of Galilee. But what we won’t realise just from reading the text is that Jesus has now moved to the wrong side of the sea of Galilee. These towns don’t belong to jews, they belong to people who don’t worship the God of Israel. The tombs this man is living in are also unclean. Jewish law is clear that once a body has been placed in a tomb, people must present themselves for purification at the temple within 7 days or risk being cut off from Israel. But this man has been living here for a long time. Add to all of this, pigs are considered one of the most unclean animals by Jewish law, and the rearing of the pigs is prohibited. And even worse than that, if there are pig farmers, (particularly with thousands of pigs) they are most likely providing food for the Roman armies which are oppressing the Jewish people.
In every sense, Jesus should not be here doing anything, let alone looking to deliver a demon possessed man.
This man was a danger to himself and to others. This wasn’t a physical, nor a mental illness. No this man had a sickness of the soul. An evil which consumed him and gave him incredible strength. He was free from chains (v3), because chains wouldn’t hold him, but his soul wasn’t free, it was captive.
We don’t often talk about a sickness of our souls, but this is the power of evil to corrupt.
He was so dangerous that the Greek word used for taming animals, is used that he needed to be “subdued” like a dangerous beast.
From
Why do we learn to live with evil in our lives?
Why do we learn to live with evil in our lives?
10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
The Spirits knew they were going to be cast out
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.
12 The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’
This is more than just a first century understanding of epilepsy. I’ve got family who have had epileptic seisures. What we see described here is very different. And Jesus spoke to the Spirits and they left and entered the swine which then ran into the water.
/baptism image here? water washing away evil/sin/darkness?/
The swineherds ran off and told people who came and saw this man they knew as mad or dangerous now fully restored to usual mental capacity.
When the people saw what Jesus had done they couldn’t cope and asked him to leave
17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
The man was desperate to get in the boat with Jesus. He didn’t want to have to face his family and friends but wanted to remain close to the one who saved him.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.
19 Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’
20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
How often do we want to stay in a place of safety, whether it’s church, with Christian friends or in the place we know we find love and acceptance, and we avoid walking into the unknown or uncomfortable?
The man is commanded by Jesus to go home and tell his friends and family all that he had done for Him.