Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.17UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.13UNLIKELY
Fear
0.58LIKELY
Joy
0.58LIKELY
Sadness
0.49UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.44UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.76LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.86LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.6LIKELY
Extraversion
0.08UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.63LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.63LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
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!
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9