Luke 8:26-39
Today we meet the demon possessed man.
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He is naked: stripped of dignity, protection, socially excluded and living like a wild beast.
He lives among the tombs: he is living as a dead man among the dead.
He has lost his name. When Jesus asks him what his name is, he defines himself by the demons
He cannot be tamed. Others cannot control him. He cannot control himself.
And when they enter into the pigs, the demons go into self destruct mode. They serve ‘Apollyon’ (Revelation 9:11), which means ‘the destroyer’. The demons can destroy the pigs. They would have destroyed this man, but for the tiny fragment of God residue that remains in him.
But what we also see is that the demons recognise the person of Jesus; they recognise his authority. And they fear him and they hate him. He causes them pain, in the same way that when we lift a rock the critters hate the light and scurry away into darkness.
Of course what we have here is an extreme case.
It is unusual even by New Testament standards.
But there are extreme cases
I think of Dunblane in 1996. Thomas Hamilton massacred 16 children and 1 teacher and then shot himself.
And it is possible to see how it began. An accusation, a resentment against the community, that grew into bitterness. He isolated himself and allowed that bitterness, resentment, sense of grievance to grow, to fester in him, so that it became a hatred and it exploded in an appalling act of destruction.
That is one of the reasons why the bible warns us about keeping grudges, of ‘not letting the sun go down on your anger’. At weddings I like quoting the person who said, ‘In our marriage we do not have rows, we collect grudges. We remember them, file them, and stock them up, like nuclear weapons in a deep underground bunker, waiting for the domestic Armageddon'.
Interestingly the spiritual fathers suggest another route. They say, ‘Welcome accusations, even false accusations, and humiliations. Treat them as God’s discipline, God’s tools for making us holy. Because God empties us so that he might then fill us’.
And when we find that sin is lurking at the door, when the passions threaten to overwhelm us, whether it is the passion of bitterness, anger, consumerism, lust, greed, envy – and it does not need to be like Hamilton or this man, there is much hope that we can take from this passage.
1. Jesus comes even to this man, who is totally lost, completely overwhelmed.
Indeed, it seems that he has crossed the Sea of Galilee, endured a storm, simply to meet this man.
And if Jesus comes to this man, he can come to us.
Of course, we need to welcome him – as this man did when he was in his right mind. Because it is possible to ask him to leave – as the villagers did when they see what Jesus has done. He may have done an astonishing wonder with the demon possessed man, but he was too much of a disrupter – and they were not prepared to be disrupted.
2. Jesus has power, even over demons.
I am aware that people struggle with this language.
There are dangers of it.
I remember in Holloway, walking along the road and overhearing a nan, obviously completely at her wits end with her grandson, said to him, ‘Stop doing that. The devil’s got you’. That is not helpful.
Today we meet the demon possessed man.
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| Mosaic of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, C6th |
Click here for the audio of this talk
We meet a person who has almost been consumed by forces of evil.
He is naked: stripped of dignity, protection, socially excluded and living like a wild beast.
He lives among the tombs: he is living as a dead man among the dead.
He has lost his name. When Jesus asks him what his name is, he defines himself by the demons
He cannot be tamed. Others cannot control him. He cannot control himself.
And when they enter into the pigs, the demons go into self destruct mode. They serve ‘Apollyon’ (Revelation 9:11), which means ‘the destroyer’. The demons can destroy the pigs. They would have destroyed this man, but for the tiny fragment of God residue that remains in him.
But what we also see is that the demons recognise the person of Jesus; they recognise his authority. And they fear him and they hate him. He causes them pain, in the same way that when we lift a rock the critters hate the light and scurry away into darkness.
Of course what we have here is an extreme case.
It is unusual even by New Testament standards.
But there are extreme cases
I think of Dunblane in 1996. Thomas Hamilton massacred 16 children and 1 teacher and then shot himself.
And it is possible to see how it began. An accusation, a resentment against the community, that grew into bitterness. He isolated himself and allowed that bitterness, resentment, sense of grievance to grow, to fester in him, so that it became a hatred and it exploded in an appalling act of destruction.
That is one of the reasons why the bible warns us about keeping grudges, of ‘not letting the sun go down on your anger’. At weddings I like quoting the person who said, ‘In our marriage we do not have rows, we collect grudges. We remember them, file them, and stock them up, like nuclear weapons in a deep underground bunker, waiting for the domestic Armageddon'.
Interestingly the spiritual fathers suggest another route. They say, ‘Welcome accusations, even false accusations, and humiliations. Treat them as God’s discipline, God’s tools for making us holy. Because God empties us so that he might then fill us’.
And when we find that sin is lurking at the door, when the passions threaten to overwhelm us, whether it is the passion of bitterness, anger, consumerism, lust, greed, envy – and it does not need to be like Hamilton or this man, there is much hope that we can take from this passage.
1. Jesus comes even to this man, who is totally lost, completely overwhelmed.
Indeed, it seems that he has crossed the Sea of Galilee, endured a storm, simply to meet this man.
And if Jesus comes to this man, he can come to us.
Of course, we need to welcome him – as this man did when he was in his right mind. Because it is possible to ask him to leave – as the villagers did when they see what Jesus has done. He may have done an astonishing wonder with the demon possessed man, but he was too much of a disrupter – and they were not prepared to be disrupted.
2. Jesus has power, even over demons.
I am aware that people struggle with this language.
There are dangers of it.
I remember in Holloway, walking along the road and overhearing a nan, obviously completely at her wits end with her grandson, said to him, ‘Stop doing that. The devil’s got you’. That is not helpful.
And of course, we are acutely aware of issues of mental illness and the habits that it can create.
But it is important that we continue to use this language.
But it is important that we continue to use this language.
There are some things that we simply cannot explain in other terms: psychological, medical or intellectual. There are some things that are not going to be sorted by all the psychotherapy in the world, all the medical expertise, all the learning or education. There are some things from which only Jesus, the eternal Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, can set us free.
And Jesus can set us free.
We see this man: wild, naked, isolated, uncontrollable, living as a dead man among dead people.
And then we see him, and I quote, ‘sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind’.
If we want a picture of utter sanity, then this is it.
He is the right place, sitting at the feet of the Lord of Creation and of the one who loves him. He is learning from him. We remember that it was Mary who sat at Jesus feet, listening to him, while Martha does the work and then complains about her sister’s idleness. And Jesus tells her that at this point, while he is there with them, Mary has got her priorities right.
And this man is clothed – he has a dignity; and is in his right mind, thinking clearly and rightly.
I do not know what mini-demons you are struggling with.
They are the things that enslave us, shame us, isolate us from others and that will ultimately destroy others and ourselves.
But I do know that there is one who comes to us who can set us free.
There is that great line that Zechariah speaks of how God’s Saviour, Messiah, will ‘set us free to worship God without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life’.
It will probably not be as obvious or dramatic as it was with this man, but it will be just as real.
He can speak the word which saves us. It is the word of forgiveness, transformation and the word which gives us a new name: the name he created us to be and to become.
And as the demons run, he then fills us with God: with his word, with his self and his Holy Spirit. And what better picture than the eucharist, as we receive bread and wine into our bodies and welcome Jesus to come and live in our lives.
And Jesus can set us free.
We see this man: wild, naked, isolated, uncontrollable, living as a dead man among dead people.
And then we see him, and I quote, ‘sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind’.
If we want a picture of utter sanity, then this is it.
He is the right place, sitting at the feet of the Lord of Creation and of the one who loves him. He is learning from him. We remember that it was Mary who sat at Jesus feet, listening to him, while Martha does the work and then complains about her sister’s idleness. And Jesus tells her that at this point, while he is there with them, Mary has got her priorities right.
And this man is clothed – he has a dignity; and is in his right mind, thinking clearly and rightly.
I do not know what mini-demons you are struggling with.
They are the things that enslave us, shame us, isolate us from others and that will ultimately destroy others and ourselves.
But I do know that there is one who comes to us who can set us free.
There is that great line that Zechariah speaks of how God’s Saviour, Messiah, will ‘set us free to worship God without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life’.
It will probably not be as obvious or dramatic as it was with this man, but it will be just as real.
He can speak the word which saves us. It is the word of forgiveness, transformation and the word which gives us a new name: the name he created us to be and to become.
And as the demons run, he then fills us with God: with his word, with his self and his Holy Spirit. And what better picture than the eucharist, as we receive bread and wine into our bodies and welcome Jesus to come and live in our lives.
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