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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, the text this morning comes from that gospel reading, the very interesting story about the demonic healed on the shores of Galilee. Be seated.
So now, every Sunday, you confess these words: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” A Lutheran Christian sermon. When you confess that, you and I and all Christians on this earth confess the reality of another realm that’s beyond our comprehension, beyond our ability to see or measure or quantify: demons. Now, that’s based upon what God already revealed in the Scriptures, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament and in the Gospels themselves. Jesus wrestles in the wilderness with Satan. Amen. And in the healings that he does of demonics. Not only this morning in Luke chapter 8, which is where the gospel reading comes from, but in Luke chapter 4, Jesus healed the demonic.
And this is kind of an interesting thing. In Luke chapter 4, the demonic that Jesus heals was healed in the synagogue at Capernaum. That’s on one side of the Sea of Galilee. And immediately across the Sea of Galilee is the Gerasenes, where he’s at today, where he also heals a demonic. The demonic that he heals in Capernaum of Galilee was a Jew. It was in the Jewish synagogue. The Jews lived there in that part of the lake or the Sea of Galilee. Where he goes today in the Gerasenes is among pagan Gentiles.
I mean, the first clue should have been that there were herders of pigs—probably not Jews. Gentiles. But this concept that we believe and confess in this realm where there are demons, Jesus has shown us to be very, very true over and again, and especially in this morning’s text.
Now, this reality scares us. Let’s be honest. This reality causes us a little bit of uncomfortability. In fact, most people, unbelievers, will look at this and say, “Oh, it’s a bunch of malarkey. That’s just old wives’ tale. You know, those people back then were so unenlightened, not like we are today where we know that doesn’t exist.” Hmm, would you like to know that most cultures that are considering themselves to be first-world cultures like us don’t have a lot of thought to demons? Most third-world nations understand it and believe it quite clearly.
Who’s the more enlightened? Hmm, yeah. Part of the fear is that we can’t measure or quantify this thing. It’s out there, we know it’s real, but we don’t know much about it. And Scriptures don’t present a lot about it. In fact, look at the results. When these people from that country see what happens, the herdsmen first and foremost, they’re out there minding their own business with their pigs. They’re out there with their pigs, and this demonic, whom everybody in that region knew about… You know how there’s always one person in every town that everybody knows about? Here in Austin, it was Leslie, remember? In my hometown, it was this older guy that rode his bike everywhere and was pretty simple-minded.
In that region and in that area, it was this demonic. He had been demon-possessed not just for a few days or weeks, but for a long time. Everybody knew about him, and they dealt with him like the world deals with things like that today, at arm’s length. “I’m not going to get around him. I’m not going to encounter him. Therefore, whatever he is or whatever is about him is not real because it doesn’t come into my world. I’m not going to let it.” Kind of like how it is today.
So these herdsmen, when they see this, they see Jesus talking to this demonic, and they must be thinking to themselves, “What? Boy, is this guy a new guy in town. He doesn’t realize this is the demonic guy.” He sees Jesus talk to this man, and this man comes into his right mind. The next thing he knows, he sees his pigs take off and head down the way and drown themselves in the Sea of Galilee. They don’t consider that, you know, if we go back and tell people back in town, they’re going to call us crazy. They don’t think that. They go back to town and tell people.
They don’t want to get pinged with having lost the whole herd of swine into the sea, so they go and tell the owners of the swine. And they probably tell other people in that town. In fact, the text talks about them not only sharing it with the people in that town, but the region, the country. They go and tell people. Jesus patiently awaits their arrival.
While he’s awaiting, the man who sits at Jesus’ feet, peaceful, in his right mind, sits at Jesus’ feet not because he’s tired, but because he is learning. He’s being catechized. He’s being taught by Jesus. When the crowd finally arrives, they see this Jesus. They don’t ask questions. They don’t go, “Wow, is this not a most merciful thing? What this man named Jesus did to this demonic?” Not at all. You know what they do? This is too weird for us. “Get out of here,” is what they do. They beseeched Jesus to leave them.
You would think, having seen this man who has been known for a while to be demon-possessed, and now to see him in his right mind, peaceful, and sitting at the feet of Jesus, he’s clothed now where before he was naked. Having seen this change, you would think they would go, “Wow, we want to know more about it.” And instead, “Get out of here.” That is one result of the proclamation of Jesus, isn’t it? How do you think the rest of the world looks at us and what goes on in this building?
Oh, there might have been a time when you were little or for sure when your parents were little that everybody kind of knew. It’s not that way now, guys. They look at what we’re doing in this place as being antiquated, unenlightened, backward, and downright close-minded and ignorant. And yet you and I know here is where mercy is given out. You and I know here we find peace that passes all understanding, which keeps our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. We know that here is where we are knit up, bound up, strengthened, clothed, and sent back in amongst the people with whom we live, move, and work.
Now the text says that these people who bid Jesus to get out of there, it says they were all held tight by their fear. The text translates it, they were seized with fear. The better way to say it—and the more picture way of saying it—is they were all held tight by their fear. Held tight by their fear. You and I know what that’s like, don’t we? And Satan knows how to make that fear glow from an ember to a burning fire. And he knows we give in to that fear quite often.
Isn’t it interesting that also in our scripture, in our text, or not our text, but our worship service, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” Must be a different kind of fear, isn’t it? And you better believe it is. The rest of the world is bound up by their own earthly fear, and there is no release unless Jesus releases them. You and I are bound up with fear, and we’re released. And yet we still have that fear. What a paradox.
Our fear is different, though. I’ll tell you more about that at the end. These people who should have been drawn to the mercy are pushed away by their own fear. Now, even though Jesus may leave them, and they think, “Whew, okay, we can get back to normal. He’s stirring things up over here.” Who did Jesus leave to proclaim and narrate the good news about what Jesus had done? The man who was formerly demonic.
But he didn’t just leave the man who was formerly demonic. Do you know what other witness he left them? He left them a visual, olfactory experience of great proportion. For on that shore of the Sea of Galilee, when the heat of that Mediterranean sun did its work, those pigs’ bodies bloated and floated to the top, washed to the shore, and rotted. Then God would allow carrion and other vermin to gather around. So for several weeks was the witness of what Jesus had done in front of them, not just visually, but auditorially, olfactorily, and otherwise. They saw, smelled, heard that. As well as the man who proclaimed to them all that Jesus had done. Interesting.
Now we fear these things because it’s a hidden reality. And matters like that cause us to be fearful. We don’t know a lot about it. We don’t understand a lot about it. But let’s get something straight to begin this. Demonic possession is real. Demonic possession is real. Granted, you and I, in fact, none of you all have told me, so I’m assuming that none of you all have encountered a demon possession like Jesus encountered on the shore.
That kind of demonic possession exists, but do you know what kind of demonic possession you run into every day and you don’t see it? Do you know what kind of demonic possession of people that you communicate regularly and you don’t even hear it? And that kind of demonic possession is unbelief. Unbelief. And Satan loves that kind of demonic possession. It’s far less Hollywood-like and far more deadly because you don’t see it.
In fact, those people seem better than Christians are. More kind and loving, more giving and benevolent than even some of our own. And yet, look at them as how God looks at them. When God looks at the world, there are either unbelievers or believers. There are either those who are possessed by God and the Holy Spirit or those possessed by Satan and the demons. There is no other alternative. There is no other third choice. There is no other ulterior ground. There’s just those two realities.
So when God looks at this demon-possessed man on the shores of Galilee, he sees him in the same way as he saw you before you were baptized. And he sees that demon-possessed man on the shore of Galilee the same way as he sees the people that you interact with who are not believers. Not as dramatic, not as the show “Exorcist” where the girl’s head turned around 360 that everybody saw back in the 70s if you were alive back then. And if not, you’ve seen it on “Late Night Show” or whatever, the classic show. Nothing dramatic in Hollywood like that. However, just as damnable and just as much of Satan’s work as this example here.
It doesn’t look that bad, does it? And Satan loves it. You see, from the moment of our baptism, God painted a huge target on our chest, center of mass. And Satan is gunning for you every single day. So from God’s eyes, we look far different from those who do not have that target on their chest. And those that don’t, Satan doesn’t worry about because they’re already his. And they don’t even look like it, do they? And they don’t even talk like it, do they? And they don’t even seem to act like it, do they? And yet they are as much possessed by Satan as this man here.
Now this is interesting. When Jesus walks up—actually, it doesn’t even say he walks up. He steps out and steps on the land. Does the man who’s possessed by the demon, do the demons run away from Jesus? That would be the obvious thing for me. No, they run to Jesus. Why? He’s God in the flesh. He is the creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. This demon submits to the very God who created him. He did not create him to be a demon. The demon, of course, chose that existence.
But he bows and calls Jesus who he really is, God in the flesh. Very interesting indeed. But more interesting is that if Jesus can make this demon-possessed man, like Hollywood would show—and which does still happen—if he can make him a hearer and a doer of the word, and he’s already made you a hearer and doer of the word as well, who seem to have come from the right family and who seem to have no prior background of demonic possession, he can make those people in your lives that you are to communicate with hearers and doers of the word as well. It’s still being done.
You have seen it done here at this font when you’ve seen adults baptized and children baptized, infants baptized. That’s an exorcism right before your very eyes. You’ve seen it when these same people confess the faith and join us to eat the very flesh and blood of the one who has created everything visible and invisible and has redeemed it all. And yet, like the people here, most of them hold him at arm’s length, don’t want anything to do with him, don’t want him ruining my life and my existence as I have deemed it to be.
The very thing, when you tell others and you tell yourself and read and hear something about what God has done for you, you usher in his kingdom, and you set at naught the things of this world and Satan. God has given you that gift to do and to do regularly.
Now, this is interesting. We have this fear, so how do we have courage to go then proclaim this among those who are possessed by Satan? Because, as I said, the people that you run into on a daily basis who are not believers… are demon-possessed. The courage to do that comes from that fear that you have within you being baptized, being set right, being forgiven. That’s what gives you confidence.
Think about this: When Jesus said, “Has this man, beg him, please Jesus, let me go with you back to Capernaum of Galilee. Let me leave this God-forsaken place of where I’ve been labeled as the wild man, the demon-possessed man, as the one who lived among the tombs,” Jesus says, “No, stay here. Narrate or tell what God has done for you. Tell what God has done for you.” And so he does.
Do you think he had a little fear proclaiming God to those people? No. Yes, but his fear had been baptized in Christ’s forgiveness of him, which enabled him to proclaim to those far more demon-possessed than even he because they don’t even recognize it. He could recognize it, but he couldn’t do anything about it. They don’t recognize it, but they can’t do anything about it either. They need to hear what God has done.
Your fear has been baptized. You have been forgiven. You have that which to speak to those who are around you who do not believe and are as demon-possessed as this man here. And God has placed you in the place he wants you. You and I may not think that. You and I may think the pasture’s greener on the other side. I want to go over there and start anew. I want to fix what I have broken. No, no, no. You stay in the place that he has planted you until he uproots you and moves you somewhere else with a brand new group of people.
And he’s given you those people to share that information, which isn’t just information. It is the power of God that strikes fear in the hearts of demons and of Satan himself. Keep narrating what God has done for you and know that greater is he who is within you than he who is of this world.
In the name of Jesus, who has given you that narration to speak, Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus, a life everlasting. Amen.
