"A Naked Man And A Bunch Of Crazy Pigs”

In Jesus Holy Name June 22, 2025

Text; Luke 8:27,32 Redeemer

“A Naked Man and a Bunch of Crazy Pigs”

Our Gospel lesson today is a powerful story of Jesus confronting evil. It is an event in the ongoing education of the disciples. It’s a great story full of surprises and a dramatic ending. There are several truths: The first truth is that evil is real. The second truth: When Jesus changes your life…. You will not be able to keep Him a secret.

Years ago growing up in Missouri my father as did many other farmers raise pigs. One day a neighbor called and asked for help because his pigs got out on the road. We ent to help but when we arrived they were already running in the ditch along the side of the road. It was my job to run ahead and cut them off. As I was running I heard a car coming. You could heard the tires on the road. I tried to run faster, my heart was pounding but I could not run faster. That’s when panic set in. you begin to shake but can not stop the panic.. Have you ever had a similar experience?

Well this is what is happening to the man in front of Jesus. His body is shaking. The demons inside the man are in a panic. The man is shaking uncontrollably. They know who Jesus is.

Luke tells us that Jesus and his disciples have just survived a terrible storm in a small fishing boat. The boat was being swamped. They could not bail water fast enough. They were about to drown. Jesus speaks to the raging wind and waves… “Be still.” And the sea became smooth as glass.

Luke records the response of the disciples. “In awe and amazement they asked: “Who is this? Even the wind and water obey him?” It’s a fair question…and demands that those in the boat….reassess their opinion of who they think Jesus really is. It’s one thing to heal a few people, quite another to control nature….with a few words.

The day would not end without another miracle taking place. As soon as the boat touches the shore, and Jesus steps out of the boat, he is met by a demon possessed man. Luke writes: “for a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice…’what do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High!’?” This is not an act of falling to his knees as act of worship. The demon acknowledges that Jesus is God in flesh…They are in a panic They think the end of the world has arrived along with final judgment.

Luke tells us this man was demon possessed. Merrill Unger in his book “Demons in the World Today” writes: Demon possession is a condition in which one or more evil spirits or demons inhabit the body of a human being and can take complete control of their victim at will. By temporarily blotting out consciousness, they can speak and act through the person as their slave or tool. The inhibiting demon can come and go as he pleases.”

This man was under the influence, under the control of evil spirits. This man had been this way a long time. The villagers had tried to control him with chains. They placed him under guard… all to no avail.

The temptation for us who live in a modern world is that our educated culture provides ways to explain away evil. “Oh, obviously this man was psychotic.” They just didn’t know about things like dissociative identity disorders, or bipolar conditions and anti social behavior. We live in a world where we have been conditioned to have scientific or psychological theory’s to explain evil behavior and dismiss the possibility of a real Satan.

Immediately after the Columbine school shootings our culture was trying to analyze Eric Harris and Dylan Kleboil, Even though their tee shirts proclaimed “survival of the fittest.

“If Satan and demons are merely the creation of superstition and imagination, the whole field of demonism belongs to the world of fairy tale and folklore. Jesus was not confronting imaginary evil, it was real. When evil is dismissed as unreal, good becomes irrelevant. Good is only understood in relation to evil. If nothing is evil, then nothing is good.

The Word of God tells us that Satan reigns over a kingdom of darkness that is organized in opposition to God and His creation. (Matt. 12:26) Ever since the fall of Adam the human race has been subject to the oppression, and temptations of Satan and his demons who oppose the work of Jesus. Jesus has come to earth to set humanity free from the curse of sin and the enslavement of mind and body, and the fear of death. (Heb. 2:14)