Legion

Common English Bible Chapter 8

Jesus frees a demon-possessed man

26 Jesus and his disciples sailed to the Gerasenes’ land, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, a certain man met him. The man was from the city and was possessed by demons. For a long time, he had lived among the tombs, naked and homeless. 28 When he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down before him. Then he shouted, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 He said this because Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken possession of him, so he would be bound with leg irons and chains and placed under guard. But he would break his restraints, and the demon would force him into the wilderness.

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had entered him. 31 They pleaded with him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, 33 and the demons left the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned.

34 When those who tended the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and told the story in the city and in the countryside. 35 People came to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully dressed and completely sane. They were filled with awe. 36 Those people who had actually seen what had happened told them how the demon-possessed man had been delivered. 37 Then everyone gathered from the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave their area because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and returned across the lake. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged to come along with Jesus as one of his disciples. Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell the story of what God has done for you.” So he went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

Introduction- The Five Monkeys

A long time ago, a few scientists did an experiment.

They had five monkeys, and in the middle of the monkeys they placed some bananas on the top of a ladder.

Any time one of the monkeys tried to climb up the ladder, the other four were sprayed with cold water.

Eventually they caught on, and so any time one monkey would try to climb the ladder, the other four would pull him off right away.

But then the scientists replaced one of the monkeys with one that hadn’t been in the experiment.

Naturally she tried to climb the ladder, but the other four monkeys pulled her off.

After a while they replaced a second monkey, then a third, and on down the line.

Eventually they had a group of five monkeys, where whenever one would climb up the ladder toward the bananas, the other four would pull them off, even though absolutely none of them have been sprayed with cold water.

It’s amazing what we will get used to.

Bible Breakdown

A Word about Demons

I’ve spoken about this before, but we need to say a word here about Demons.

Because for some folks, this is a dealbreaker before we even start this passage.

Actual Demons?

Some folks have a hard time believing in actual demons.

They look at some folks who are out there saying “the devil made me do it” and thinking that demons serve as a pretty handy cop out.

There are some folks out there who have a hard time with any of the supernatural, spiritual forces language that others will use, if only because they’ve never witnessed anything like that themselves.

And, they take a look at what is described here in this story and they see something other than demons:

Naked? Homeless? Shouting? Crazed?

This sounds like mental illness, doesn’t it?

I mean, isn’t it possible that the writers of this ancient text didn’t have a framework for things like depression, schizophrenia, or mania, and when they saw them just saw demons?

But some will have a hard time with that explanation too.

Mental illness?

For some, the idea of discounting demons is a dangerous path to walk down too.

First of all, the Bible gives them a lot of space and ink, so there must be something there.

Not to mention, Jesus sure seems to interact with these demons a lot, doesn’t he?

He wouldn’t lie to us, or at the very least we would assume that if someone knew about mental illness, it’d be him, right?

And so these folks are a bit wary of the mental illness discussion, afraid it’s leading us down a slippery slope.

I imagine we have folks from both camps here this morning.

Let me throw out something potentially even more offensive in to the mix:

Does it matter?

Whether you believe in literal demons or not, this story has relevance.

Whether you think this was mental illness or not, this story tells us about Jesus.

Whether you are in to taking this literally or not, this story has something to say.

Either way, I don’t think the demons are the point.

Legion- Whatever afflicts this guy, there’s a lot.

I think this is one of the creepiest passages in the bible.

Jesus asks the demon (or affliction) their name, and the name that comes back is “Legion, because we are many.”

(Shudder)

But even this I think is relatable to our lives today, isn’t it?

Whether it’s a demon or an affliction or a problem, I’m never actually dealing with one at a time, am I?

If the bills piling up were all there were, that would be one thing.

But it’s the bills

And the laundry

And the kid’s summer camps

And the PTA

And the gossiper in the cubicle next to us.

And the stock market

Our problems, they are Legion, because they are many.

Maybe I could ask it another way:

What is it that’s pressing in on us?

If I asked you right now to stop and consider what it is that’s pressing in on you, the stressors of every day life, could you name them?

I have a pretty sunny disposition most of the time, so I always kind of bristle at this thinking.

I tend to imagine everything is ok, until all of a sudden I find myself stressed enough to scream at the little old lady driving in front of me on 88.

I think there’s a reason Jesus starts this miracle by asking the demon his name.

There’s a lot of power in naming our demons, isn’t there?

Demons know exactly who Jesus is.

There are a lot of folks who don’t know who Jesus is.

Politicians

Herod is so confused on who Jesus is that he thinks He’s John the Baptist back from the dead.

Pharisees

The Pharisees think that Jesus is doing everything wrong, yet they seem awfully compelled by him, don’t they?

His own disciples

I was going to try to be charitable about this, but let’s be honest the disciples never have a clue what’s going on.

The demons always seem to be crystal clear.

This one sure is!

What have you to do with me, Jesus Son of the Most High God?

Not even Peter gets it that clear on the first try!

Our demons sure know our savior when they see him, don’t they?

They may not have the reaction we want them to.

They may try to run and hide.

But we know Jesus when we see him.

And that’s because Luke has been setting us up here to notice that Jesus is powerful.

The power of Jesus

All Jesus has to do is say the word...

…and the wind dies down

…and the blind can see

…and the demons are gone.

We are left with a question: Do we trust the power of Jesus?

It is one thing to recognize Jesus.

The demons seem pretty capable of that.

It’s one thing to acknowledge the power of Jesus

Again, the demons have us there.

It’s yet another thing to trust Jesus with that power, and to trust him to use it for our good and healing.

I have heard it said that faith is not believing Jesus existed.

That’s actually pretty easy to do and be an athiest.

Faith is believing that Jesus has the power to heal you, and then trusting him to do it.

There go the pigs!

The demons ask for mercy at the hands of Jesus, and he gives it to them.

And this next scene always struck me as funny...

Imagine the look on the faces of the swine herds.

I like to picture two swineherds sitting watching their big herd of pigs.

They see the crazy guy off in the distance, talking to some other crazy looking guy.

And then they hear a rumble...

The pigs rush right past them, and without hesitation dive off the cliff and to their doom.

Did you see that?

Jesus has been here exactly 10 minutes and he’s already ruined the local economy.

I don’t know how big this particular herd of swine was, but I can assume that

There were a lot of them, because more than one guy had to serve as a swineherd.

And because of that, this must have been particularly lucrative to the town, right?

Pigs are good for a lot of stuff, and most of it is bacon.

Jesus has totally and completely upended this local economy.

Grace is free, but it isn’t cheap

This too reminds me of something that Martin Luther the great reformer said.

Grace is free, but it isn’t cheap.

I get the sense that there are a lot of people that would love to be healed by Jesus.

They want to see their demons disappear.

They want to see their addictions removed.

They want to speak more kindly to their neighbors.

They want to put more positivity into the world.

They just don’t want it to cost them anything.

Place in this category: The townsfolk

The townsfolk- What is there to be afraid of?

They are ticked.

Our translation today says that they were full of awe, and that’s a charitable translation.

The word here is fear.

But, we have to ask why?

Economic damage, sure.

Again, Jesus just sent a couple dozen costco orders of bacon the depths of the seas...

But that doesn’t seem to be what they’re upset about, is it?

Change

Jesus has disrupted the system, and in a big way.

They’ve actually gotten used to this crazy guy out in the cemetery.

They were used to him enough that it was someone’s job to every now and again go out there and chain him up so he didn’t hurt himself or others.

And now, Jesus has changed what they’re used to.

And I’m betting it led them to some questions:

If he could heal the demon guy, what could he do to me?

What part of my story is he going to judge?

What would legitimate healing cost me?

And so they have a predictable, but still kind of surprising response to Jesus in all of this:

Go Away, Jesus!

Why don’t you get on your boat and hit the seas again, and never come back thank you very much.

Essentially they were saying “We were perfectly happy here until you came along and started changing things on us!

To put this another way: the people in this town are more comfortable with a naked lunatic running around than they are with the change and healing that Jesus has to offer.

And I have heard that (at other churches) this still kind of rings true today, doesn’t it?

We’re more comfortable with declining numbers than we are with change in our worship space.

We’re more comfortable with shrinking budgets than we are in asking folks to be more generous and steward their resources.

We’re more comfortable with the reputation the world has put on us as judgemental and arrogant and rude and stingy than we are in leaving the comfort of our sanctuary and doing something about that reputation.

At other churches...

There’s one more twist to this story:

Jesus is about to get in the boat and head home, and not surprisingly the guy who was healed wants to get in the boat and be a disciple with him.

And Jesus says no.

Sometimes he does that.

But it’s not just a flat no.

Jesus gives him a message.

Tell the story of what God has done for you

It’s almost as if the story of what God’s up to in the world is a better witness than just tossing out scripture verses.

It’s almost as if the story of what God’s up to in the world is a better witness than bumper stickers.

It’s almost as if the story of what God’s up to in the world is a really precious and important thing, isn’t it?

Yes, Jesus has power.

But when we are recipients of that power, and then we turn around and tell our story?

That story has a lot of power too.

How can we do that?

Application

Name some demons

At a church I used to serve, one particular member said something that was funny, but that I think a lot of folks actually believe.

He came up to me after the service and said “This service is so uplifting and positive. We should really get rid of that confession business, because that’s such a downer!”

I was actually at a church that went the whole other way with it.

When we came to the time of confession, they didn’t read a prayer.

They approached it like we do our joys and concerns.

“Does anyone have anything they’d like to confess this week?”

Sure enough after a few seconds, someone raised his hand and said “I’ve been struggling with pride a lot this week. I’d like to pray for humility.”

And it went on and on like that!

Now, please stop sweating, we’re not going to try that here…yet.

But I wonder if there’s a middle ground, where instead of just reading what’s on the bulletin, we spent some time naming our demons.

Don’t worry, if they are legion, you’re not alone.

But what is it that’s getting between you and God?

Again, there is a reason Jesus starts with the name of this demon.

Naming our demons is incredibly valuable.

Instead of fighting a vague idea like “sin” or “problem” or “difficulty”, we do better when we can be specific.

And even better still, when we can be specific in what we’re asking Jesus to heal.

Trust in Jesus power

I have used the “climbing rope” analogy before-

Belief is knowing what the rope can do.

Faith is letting the rope hold you.

Some of us have become too comfortable with solving our own problems.

No thanks Jesus, we’re good here!

No thanks Jesus, I can get out of my own problems.

No thanks Jesus, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m weak.

I think some of us need to find our way to trusting Jesus’ power.

And the only way to do that is to give things over to him that only he can solve.

That requires a healthy amount of letting go, which isn’t easy for anyone is it?

And it also might cost us a whole lot of bacon…or social status…or money…or having to admit we’re wrong…or…it could cost us a lot of things.

But while we might chaff at change, the healing that’s on the other side of it can be so so good.

Tell what Jesus has done

Look, if I bring up evangelism, Presbyterians will throw me out of the pulpit faster than monkey’s pulling each other off a ladder.

But if we’ve learned anything, it’s that the story of what Jesus has done in our lives will be powerful.

So rather than make it big and scary, talking to strangers and what not, let’s start small and challenge ourselves this week.

Call someone up, invite them to lunch, send them an e-mail, and just tell them what Jesus has done in your life.

Bonus points: Even though he’s on vacation this week, send an e-mail to your pastor and let him know what Jesus has done in your life.

Because the story has power.

And I think you’d be amazed what that story can open us up to.