Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Luke 8:26-39
Unleashing the Unnerving Power of God
So you believe in God right? Most of us do. And many of us pray to God, occasionally asking God to do stuff for us or others. But most of us would also prefer that God keep things neat. As good mainline protestant Christians, we like God to work within the bounds of good taste and the laws of physics. But what are we to do with this story?
This is a great story. We have a graveyard, a possessed guy, talking demons, a herd of pigs. This is a story that you wouldn’t want to take place in your neighborhood. This is a great story when it happens to someone else, somewhere else. It is a great story to keep safely tucked away in the Bible.
26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
Ok, there is a little confusion about where they were. The Gospel of Luke along with the Gospel of Mark say “the country of the Gerasenes.” Matthew’s gospel says the country of the Gadarenes and both are footnoted with the possibility that it was actually the land of the Gergasenes. Exactly where they stopped off is a little muddy, but we can assume that it was east of Galilee across the Sea of Galilee putting Jesus and the disciples somewhere in what we now know as the disputed area of the Golan Heights. The point is that the land they step off into isn’t the kind of place the disciples would have chosen to spend an evening. That phrase “which is opposite Galilee” may be kind of telling. It is not just geographically opposite, but spiritually opposite. Galilee is the land of the Jews, this place is the land of the outsiders.
We also need to put this passage in context. The disciples are getting off a boat that nearly just sank. In the passage right before this, Jesus asked the disciples to take a little boat ride. During the trip, he fell asleep and a big storm came up threatening the sink the boat. They woke Jesus up and he stilled the storm. Now let’s consider that having a guy in your boat who can control the weather is nearly as frightening as being in a sinking boat.
27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.
Now that’s the kind of greeting you are looking for. So the man is naked, he has demons and he lives in the tombs. That reference to tombs is worth noting. Tombs were the place of the dead and Jewish Law frowned on being around anything associated with the dead. There is a whole unclean thing going on here. They are in the land of the outsiders, and now a man who lives in the tombs is involved. And it is only going to get worse.
28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.)
Just put yourself in the place of the disciples for a moment. You are tired, probably hungry after following Jesus around all day fighting off crowds and trying like heck to understand the meaning of all these parables. At the end of the day, Jesus makes you get on a boat. A storm comes up that nearly swamps the boat. You wake Jesus up and he stills the storm, which is cool because you didn’t die, but it is a little freaky that your new friend Jesus can tell the weather what to do. Now he has taken you to a place where good Jewish fishermen shouldn’t go and now you are in this place and this guy comes toward you. Forget the possession issue for a moment, here is a guy who has been chained up in a graveyard under guard but kept breaking free. I would be a little shaken up.
28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”—
One thing the gospels are consistent about is that the only ones who ever seem to really understand who Jesus is are the evil spirits. The disciples are surprised every time Jesus does something that reflects his nature as the son of God. Everyone around constantly seems to be oblivious to his identity, except these unclean spirits.
They can see him coming from a mile away. They can see him coming and they know what he is going to do. Let’s go back to the fourth chapter of Luke:
31He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34“Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
The unclean or evil spirits are quite content with the status quo and don’t want Jesus to come along and cast them out.
30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him.
“My name is Legion; for we are many.” Legion is a technical term for a military unit of about 6000 soldiers. So when he says, we are many, he doesn’t mean many like 10. This is a pretty serious demon issue.
31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
This is a perplexing line. Did the demons really like it there, or were they afraid they would end up somewhere like New Jersey. I had to read up on some Jewish thinking regarding demons. There seems to be some suggestion that spirits were assigned to certain geographical territories.[1] And so if they were made to leave their place, they wouldn’t really get to do their thing anymore.
32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.
Obviously the unclean spirits really didn’t want to leave the country because they chose another option, entering into some pigs. Just think of the context here for a moment. These nice Jewish fishermen who are having a really bad day to start with, now suddenly there are pigs. Pigs for these Jews are just the picture of unclean.
Leviticus 11:7:
7The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.
Remember where they are:
26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
Back in Galilee, there would not have even been any pigs.
Demons, graveyards, now pigs, this is just going from bad to worse.
And into these pigs, this is where the demons want to go. I didn’t even know that animal possession was a possibility though it does explain some cats I have known.
32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
I just love that this is in the Bible. Now such a bazaar series of events would certainly make the evening news if it happened today and there would be a number of questions. The EPA would want to know who was going to clean up the pollution the rotting pigs have caused that is wrecking the water quality in the Sea of Galilee. The SPCA would be quite interested in how
these animals could be treated so poorly. There would be lawsuits raising questions over who was going to pay for the pigs and if they should have been running loose in the first place. Not to mention problems in the market where those who invested in pork futures are making a killing due to the rising cost pork products.[2]
Anyway, I digress.
34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.
As one should expect. We might want to stand up and applaud Jesus for this miraculous act of healing this man from what ailed him, but this is some spooky stuff. The guys herding the pigs are freaked out enough that all their pigs are gone. Now they bring back some witnesses and they see all the dead pigs and this guy, the one that had been chained up in the graveyard all these years, sitting calmly. And now it’s decision time. This Jesus fellow, the one who just showed up in the boat with his friends is obviously quite powerful in one way or another. And now it’s decision time. Do you really want someone like this hanging around?
Do we really want someone with this kind of power hanging around? I mean in theory, of course, but really? What kind of orderly, uplifting church services could we have with a character like this around? The gospels show us that every person with an unclean spirit is going to run up to him and say they know him. Our neighbors would hate us if large herds of animals got involved. A guy like this could really mess with the peaceful thing we have going on here. And a guy with this sort of power would constantly make us rethink what we are doing. We would have to constantly look at our priorities we would be challenged in our every attempt to be
comfortable and forced to consider possibilities that aren’t very pretty.
“Jesus, would you mind terribly just getting back in the boat and going home?”
37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.
And Jesus agrees. I sure the disciples helped. “Yeah, Jesus could we please go home?”
38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him;
Once again, the only one in the story with a clear picture of what is going on, the once possessed man wants to go with Jesus. Which kind of makes sense. We know how people are right. This is the naked guy who was living in the tombs and had to be chained up. “I am much better now.” Of course he wants to go to Jesus. Who do you want to hang out with, the people who think you are a nut or the guy who just saved your life?
38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Jesus has a bigger challenge for the man. No one wants Jesus to stay in this area. They want nothing to do with this guy who casts out demons and allows them to enter into pigs that go running into the water. And this guy gets to stay and witness to them. I mean think about it, if you were the one guy there in this strange land that did believe, wouldn’t you have wanted to get into the boat. Isn’t it more fun to hang out with people who already believe?
Really, isn’t it more fun to hang out with people who already believe?
So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Alright to sum up: Jesus and the disciples go to this creepy place and are approached by this creepy guy, the guy knows who Jesus is and Jesus wants to help out by casting out his demons, the demons don’t want to leave the country so they go into some pigs instead, the pigs run into the water and die, everyone gets freaked out and asks Jesus to leave, except the guy he healed who wants to go with him, but Jesus makes him stay and preach at home.
So, who are you in the story? Are you one of the faithful disciples, who probably were kind of wishing they had never gotten on the boat and come to this weird place in the first place? Are you Legion? Maybe its not demons, maybe its something else in your life that is quite content with the status quo Do you need to believe in who Jesus is in order to start believing Jesus can help you? Are you one of the people who really wished Jesus would just go home and stop creating havoc and causing them to reconsider everything they know and believe? Are you the healed one, wishing you could just stay with your master, but instead are being called to a much more difficult task, sharing what you have learned with everyone you can? Are you ready to unleash the unnerving power of God? Is there something in your life that you need God to help you with but you are too afraid to let go. Are you unwilling to accept the possibility that God can truly help you because you are afraid of what that might look like or you are afraid it might be kind of messy or force you to face the limitations that you have places on the power of God? What might you ask God to do if you were really ready to unleash the unnerving power of God?
Should we ask Jesus to get back in the boat? Or do you want to stick around and see what might happen?
[1] R. C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1949), p. 101
[2] Bob Deffinbaugh, “The Gerasene Demoniac” in Highlights in the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ, on Bible.org,
