What a strange Gospel – it can
hardly be passed over by the preacher!
I invite you to revisit it with
me now, which is why the verse numbers are
provided. As we search through it
we’ll be picking up on the qualities of divinity and humanity that are in Jesus
and, through him, in us, as we live through the circumstances of our lives with
many joys and sorrows.
Let’s start by reading together
verses 26 and 27:
26 Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the
Gerasenes, which is
opposite Galilee. 27 As 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.
I wonder if you’ve already spotted
the overlap with our first reading?
It was set because this story
from the life of Jesus fulfils Isaiah’s prophecy speaking of God’s holding out hands all day
long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not
good, following their own devices; a people who …sit inside
tombs, and … eat swine’s flesh. (Isaiah 65) The Gerasene –
Gadarene in another translation – are non-Jews resident opposite Galilee and
Jesus takes a boat to visit them. The consequences entered history – few
imagine this story to be invented – why invent such a story? Truth is much
stranger than fiction! The moment Jesus steps onto Gerasene land is historic as
it shows God first as no longer God of one group but as God of all. The devil
doesn’t like it! Hence the commotion! As
I sat watching Muhammed Ali’s funeral oration I realised he had a Jesus-like
knack of crossing the devil. One of his Jewish friends declined to play golf
with him at a Club that banned Jews from membership. Ali resigned his
membership. His God wasn’t sectarian – he acted to contradict this error not
least in planning his funeral! God’s not sectarian for us and that because he is revealed as the God and Father of
Jesus. God is Christlike!
Let’s read on:
28 When 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’- 29 for
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.)
In verse 29 we see the compassion
of Jesus for this outcast. At first sight of him Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
God in Jesus Christ sees our
demons – the barriers to humanity that war against divinity – and wants rid of
them. He wants us out of the tombs we inhabit. I wonder this morning if you
feel trapped into some situation that’s relentless, diminishing and makes you
feel alien as much as our demoniac? World views change, demonology and the
like, but the frustrations of human beings don’t and nor does the joyful
goodness of Jesus our Saviour. His invitation stands before us, leaping out of
the gospel into the drama of our own lives. Many times it had seized him – we think of relentless pressures upon us. Also of those driven by the demon into the wilds. I
think of people and families among us driven into the wilds by the 21st century demon of alcohol or
drug addiction. Their circumstances are no less unsettling than those described
in today’s Gospel from Luke 8. We think too of the demonic event on Thursday,
of Jo Cox and her family.
Let’s read verses 30 to 33:
30 Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for
many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not
to order them to
go back into the abyss. 32 Now 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. 33 Then 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 mentioned addictions which dehumanise. The alcohol,
drug, food, internet and sex addictions of our day bind people as firmly as the
Gerasene demoniac was bound by his demons. Once people know, as he came to know, that evil’s power is an
illusion, there’s a break out from captivity. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free Jesus says
in John 8.32.
Jesus - with us, alongside us, in us - is more powerful
than the devil (1 John 4:4). Our thoughts determine our lives so we need the
word of God in our thinking. That first letter of St John is one of many
scripture passages that arms us against the deceit of our spiritual adversary
the devil. His only power is that of the lie. Lies like ‘you’re nobody… you’re
on your own… no one loves you’. At Muhammed Ali’s funeral someone said he
undeceived black people thinking they’re nobodies into believing they’re
somebodies. This is, exactly, the work of Jesus Christ in lives so vividly
illustrated in today’s Gospel. 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. Evil - the evil in this man and in us –
can’t exist of itself but only in so far as it can gain a foothold in the good.
What gripped the demoniac went on – with divine permission – to grip the swine.
What grips us – and the beasts bless them had no choice – what grips humans
beings needs our permission. It’s a foothold we grant as anyone happily rescued from addiction can tell you.
Let’s read on following through from v34 to the end of
v37:
34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran
off and
told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then
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. 36 Those who had
seen it told them how
the one who had been possessed by demons had been
healed. 37 Then
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.
We wouldn’t be reading this
passage today unless something very like this had happened on the non-Jewish
side of Lake Galilee in the early first century. Luke with his historical sense
sees in this an anticipation of the church’s mission to the Gentiles or
non-Jews. This started just a year or two after this incident when Jesus suffered,
died, rose and opened up heaven for the sending down of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. That Holy Spirit is given to cloth us and put us in (our) right mind.
In this story we see the
awe-inspiring divinity and humane nature of Jesus. To live close to Jesus is to
see humanity divinised by him and put into its right mind. The devil will tell
you religion’s the opposite, a dehumanisation that puts people out of their
minds. He would do though – he is just
what John 8:44 says the devil is - the
father of lies! Former President
Bill Clinton speaking at Ali’s memorial reflected on his humanity being linked
to the freedom possessed by people of faith. Even his Parkinson’s disease couldn’t
undo such freedom because he saw his life under God, and actually a very
Christian sort of merciful, loving God which continued to energise his
precarious existence. This week’s events in Yorkshire remind us that we all live somewhat precariously, and to
know that’s part of the gift of faith. When we know our ultimate Saviour it’s
easier to live on the knife edges life supplies. Humanity is made bearable by
divinity – this is the kernel of our good news. It makes good news people set free as Paul says in Romans 8:21 from bondage to decay … obtain(ing) the
freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Let’s finish
reading verses 38 and 39 of this transformative Gospel:
38 The 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.
I think the most wonderful thing
about God in Jesus Christ is how he respects our freedom. Christians aren’t
puppets, we’re co-workers with God, in genuine partnership with him. Having put
the demoniac in his right mind Our Lord loosens the natural bond he feels
towards his Saviour. Though the man begged
that he might be with him… Jesus sent him away. Last week we thought how
the Queen has spoken gently yet persistently of Jesus Christ as an inspiration and an anchor in (her) life.
As we read the conclusion of today’s Gospel, how can it gain a hearing and an
acting out in our own lives? Return to your home, and
declare how much God has done for you Jesus says
to us this morning. I won’t give you a job to do without the wherewithal – here
is my word to you this morning and stand by as entering my self-offering in
this eucharist the Holy Spirit changes bread and wine and changes you in the
process. Be open to my surprises!
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