Jesus: The Tomb Raider
A sermon based on Luke 8:26-39 preached at Queen Street Baptist Church.
Introduction
There are plenty of events in the life and ministry of Jesus that it would be neat to be at. Imagine what it would be like to be there for the feeding of the five thousand. Or what it would be like to watch Jesus raise a little girl from the dead. Those are the kind of miracles that it would be great be there at.
I’m not sure that I would have wanted to be at the meeting of Jesus and the man possessed by a legion of demons. I have never been around anyone possessed by just one demon, so I can’t imagine what this would be like. The man was running around naked, breaking chains that people tried to bind him with, yelling and screaming. It sounds like a very stressful event. The stampede of demon possessed pigs probably didn’t do much to calm things down. We can see how the previous miracle of Jesus calming the storm helped to prepare the disciples for this very dramatic miracle.
But what do we do with this? I’m assuming that demon possession is not a part of your daily experience. I’m not saying that demons don’t exist, but our experience seems far removed from this man. Is there anything that we can learn from his deliverance? I believe that there is.
The Demoniac
Most often in the Gospels we are not given much information about the person needing help. They might say what their illness is and in rare cases, we are told how long they suffered. In the case of the demoniac, we are given much more information than we normally get. And it is a heartbreaking story.
The description drives home the fact that this man had been forcibly removed from human society. Even something as basic as wearing clothes was taken from him. He had become like an animal. We are told that he could not live in a house and so he lived among the tombs. His situation was so bad that he had more in common with the dead than the living. People had tried to help, whether out of compassion or out of fear. In an attempt to bring some control, they bound him with chains, only to have him break the chains. There is tremendous irony here. He had the strength to break metal chains on the outside but not the strength to break spiritual chains on the inside.
Did Jesus just happen to bump into him or was this planned? The area that this took place in was very gentile, as we can see by the presence of pigs. This is not the kind of place that Jesus normally travelled to, as his focus was on the Jews.
It looks as if the man was waiting for Jesus, meeting him as soon as he left the boat. I don’t think it was a conscious seeking of help but the man and Jesus were both at the right place at the right time. The demons were quite agitated at the presence of Jesus, something we find throughout the Gospels. The darkness hates the light.
Jesus asked for the name of the demon. The response was Legion, as there were many more than just one demon. A Roman legion had around 5000 soldiers in it. That is not to say that there was exactly a Roman legion’s amount of demons in him, but he was in pretty rough shape.
The demons recognized Jesus and begged him not to send them to the abyss, which is likely hell. We often think of demons as living in hell, but that is not what the Bible teaches. Satan and his demons will be cast into hell on judgment day. The demons likely thought that the appearance of the messiah meant that judgment day was at hand and their end was near. Whatever they thought, Jesus took the demons out of the man and into a heard of pigs, who proceeded to rush to their deaths.
Imagine what this must have been like for the man. To finally be free, not just from physical chains but from spiritual chains. When the people of the community came to see what all the commotion was about, they were amazed to see the man in his right mind and fully clothed. He was no longer an animal. The tombs would become a much quieter place now that the man was ready to rejoin society.
However, the man was changed much more than just becoming normal. He was so thankful that he wanted to become a follower of Jesus. He didn’t just request, he begged Jesus to take him with him. Jesus’ instructions to the man was to stay in his newly rejoined community and tell his story there. Instead of becoming a travelling missionary, he was to be a home missionary.
What Are Our Demons?
In many ways, this is a difficult passage for us to apply to our everyday life. Most of us do not encounter people possessed by legions of demons. What do we do with this passage? Do we simply observe it as an amazing example of Jesus’ power? I think if we look carefully, we can see that this passage is actually rich in application.
Let’s start with the idea of Legion. I have always been intrigued by these demons calling themselves Legion. There is something about this that rings true to our darkest experiences. When I think about the most difficult times in my life, it was rarely because of one problem. There were numerous things happening at once. It felt like I was getting pummelled by life. Health issues. Financial problems. Relationship stress. Just when you think you are dealing with life, another crisis comes up. One at a time might be liveable but when everything happens at once, it is too much.
Are you experiencing an attack by Legion? Are you overwhelmed by a daily crisis?
Very often the things that happen to us affect not just us personally, but also isolate us from our community. While we may not live among the tombs like this man, we can be separated by community.
When we were at the height of our stress with our autistic children, we needed community. But what we found was that friends inside and outside the church assumed that we were so busy with our children that we would not be interested in connecting. The opposite was true.
What about issues of addiction, mental illness or serious physical issues? These can all lead to isolation. Community is what is needed most in these times and yet it is often easier to stay separated. It may be that the one suffering wants to be alone or the community is uncomfortable with the suffering. But just like the man in our passage, the renewal of community should be a top priority.
The final thing that I want to say is that we should be encouraged by Jesus’ intervention. Jesus went to a place that he would not normally go, so that he could meet with this man that needed him. Jesus continues to bring healing and deliverance.
Most often it is not quite as dramatic as in this story, but Jesus is active in our lives. It is not always so instantaneous either. But Jesus has transformed countless lives.
I do not say that just as a student of the Bible, even though the Bible does teach this. I have seen Jesus do amazing things in my life, much more than I could ever have imagined. Twenty-five years ago, I was an atheist who saw life as completely meaningless and who attempted to drown the despair by getting drunk every night. If you had told me back then, what my life would be like now, I would have laughed in your face. I can take no credit for where I am, as I can look back at how Jesus intervened in certain events to change me. I don’t want to suggest that I have it all together. It was just a couple of years ago that we were once more in a very dark place. Some of those things are still affecting us. But Jesus is real and we are seeing little miracles every day.
This is not about me or my experiences. It is about Jesus who travels by boat or otherwise to get to where we are at. The man in our story didn’t have the strength to ask for help and yet Jesus freed him. We might not know how to pray or what steps to take, but Jesus is faithful to be there for us.
Conclusion
I want to conclude by asking you where you are at in this story. Are you overcome by a legion of problems and you are just starting to meet Jesus on the shore? Is Jesus working on your life and right now it is pretty messy? Have you just been freed, ready to reconnect with community? Are you overcome with joy over what Jesus has already done in your life that you need to tell everyone about it? All of these places are good. The only place we don’t want to be is comfortable with our legion. We need to be free and only Jesus can give us our freedom.
