Luke 8: 26 – 39 NLT
“Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
26 So they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. 27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in the tombs outside the town.
28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.
30 Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons.”
Here is a man completely dominated by Satan. He is demon-possessed – not by one demon, but by a legion. (In Roman times, legion referred to groups of thousands.) This man is a mess, naked and living in a graveyard. Mark also records this event and mentions that the man “day and night wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones”. (Mark 5: 5) No wonder the townspeople had tried to control this man, but they had absolutely no success. When evil overtakes a person, things only go from bad to worse. We’ve seen that in history, and even in the present, as we hear about horrendous massacres and genocide. Evil gone unchecked.
“The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit.
32 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs.
So Jesus gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. 35 People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 36 Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.
So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. 38 The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, 39 “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.”
Demon possession is a frightening concept. Charles Swindoll in his commentary, Living Insights: Luke says: “The Bible doesn’t give us much information about Satan and demons. Nevertheless, what we have is sufficient. Scripture tells us they are real, they are evil, they traffic in fear and deception, and they are relentlessly opposed to everything God desires. We have no reason to fear; we can overcome them with confidence in God’s power and with truth. … We shouldn’t look for demonic activity going o around us. We don’t need to wonder if the invisible presence of demons is behind any particular problem. Rather than obsessing over the problem of evil, we are encouraged to fix our gaze on the unequalled power of Jesus Christ.” (page 229)
He goes on to tell us we should expect Satan to come up with destructive schemes until Christ returns, but that as Christians we have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. Concentrate on our relationship with God and avoid anything that has to do with the occult.
Jesus totally breaks the power of evil in Gerasenes, and the people in the town are stunned. You’d think that seeing a man who had caused them so much trouble sitting fully clothed and perfectly sane would have excited them – made them grateful. But no. They asked Jesus to leave the area. Why? Perhaps they were upset about the financial loss of the herd of pigs. Perhaps they were frightened from seeing the power that Jesus had. They just wanted to keep the status quo.
We see that today as well. Many when they come across “religious” people, avoid them. They find this notion of a God who has power and control unpalatable. They prefer to control their own lives. They might agree that they have met some nice Christian people who are kind and generous, but that’s because they are just “nice”. This idea of an almighty God? No!
The healed man wants to follow Jesus. It would be so fantastic to stay right with that man who completely transformed his life. But Jesus asks him to stay and keep on talking about what God has done for him. And that’s exactly what the man did. The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened after this event, but I suspect that some people began to think about Jesus as they watched this man living a healed life in their town.
In our everyday lives, we meet people at work and in our neighbourhoods who reject this “faith stuff”. I think that Jesus would say to us, don’t just stick with your church friends who make life more pleasant. Stay with all those people you know who have turned from God – continue to talk about what God has done for you.
Our song for today is Not Today by Hillsong