Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 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. 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”—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.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
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. 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.
When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 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. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 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. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “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.
Luke 8:26-39 (NRSVA)
What do you do with a crazy man? (My wife maintains she married one!). In a very real sense the disciples were confronted with their boss, Jesus, whom they couldn’t understand. He did things…very strange and wonderful things. They had just docked at Gadera after a really weird and frightening experience on the Galilean Sea. It was weird in that they went through a storm that was so violent the boat was sinking; but they had to go down in the ship’s hold to wake Jesus up! He almost slept through all the excitement, but got up to tell the waves and the winds to “hush”…and they did! Weird!
Docking at the Gerasene side they no sooner got the boat tied up than they were confronted by a wild, shrieking madman. His hair was matted; he was naked, except for clinging parts of broken chains that couldn’t hold him down. He was not in his right mind…to say the least.
His “home” was living in the tombs that dotted the hillside. The man was like a wild animal, growling and threatening. Had I been one of the disciples it would’ve been a hard call to decide which craziness I wanted…the almost certain death of drowning back on the Sea of Galilee, or this mess.
When the man saw Jesus the fear started pouring out of him. In a spiritual “tug-of-war” the demons surrender to Jesus and beg him not to send them to confinement in the abyss…the place Revelation calls the final prison for Satan and all his demons. They chose to enter the pig herd, and that drove the pigs mad…they went over the cliff.
The man was healed, and when the townspeople got wind of how this had played out they came and begged Jesus to leave town. This is a story of destruction, deliverance and decision.
DESTRUCTION
Sin is destructive; what an understatement! We all have pictures in our minds of the kinds of madmen that scare us…Sadaam Hussein, Charles Manson, and Adolph Hitler. They even look wild and unhinged! One that really gave me a case of uneasiness was Jeffrey Dahmer. If you recall back in the early 90’s Dahmer admitted to killing and cannibalizing nearly two dozen people. His dark side didn’t just show up one day. He had been killing all his life. He is the poster-boy for the doctrine of total depravity; that doctrine, by the way, says that you and I are no better than Jeffrey Dahmer. Given equal circumstances, total depravity says that any one of us could have done what he did…and worse! It says we’re capable of the vilest sin.
In America today we are seeing a quickening pace of total depravity’s toll as we tear God out of public life. The more proficient we get at removing prayer, Godliness and holy living from this generation, the more certainly we will see more and more Columbines, Darfurs and personal slides down the dark slope of the ride to the abyss. It is not a pretty picture of a bright tomorrow for the land of the free!
The destructiveness of sin running unchecked in the tombs of American media and behind the closed doors of our communities will bring us down! We, as a nation, are as naked and unhinged as the Gaderene madman! Destruction!
DELIVERANCE
Jesus dealt with the man’s fear by confronting him with who he really was; he asked him to disclose his name. Whether you view this as entirely a spiritual issue, or a psychological one, it was a masterful way to begin the counseling session. Can you possibly NOT think of all your life and the kind of person you are when someone asks you that personal question?
Jesus does that kind of thing. His presence creates a moral crisis. For the demoniac, being required to announce his character, disclose who he really is…there was only one outcome, submission to Jesus. The demons knew his strength…it was only a matter of how – they were going to do this easy, or they were going to have it hard.
In the curing of this poor tortured soul we see the principle once again in Scripture that when you meet Jesus you are never the same again. And that sword cuts both ways; some people are left for the better, and some decidedly for the worse. Whoa, preacher! You’d better explain that one. Glad you asked, there was destruction…sin’s slippery slope – and there was deliverance…Jesus’ healing the man – it creates the need for a…
DECISION
The townspeople were left for the worse; why? They decided against the Savior, just like America is doing today. It couldn’t have been just the loss of a few pigs…it was more, much more.
Seeing the crazy man sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and sane, was scary. They preferred the wild screams of the man rather than entertaining this kind of radical transformation. They wanted normal, even if it was painfully gross; Jesus doesn’t do “normal”.
We do the same thing when we start to hear about becoming a radical Christian, sold-out for Jesus. You know, if you really start to believe in who Jesus really said He was, then you’ve got to entertain the notion that he could radically change YOU too! That is scary!
Of course it’s scary! A little boy asked his Mom where she and he came from. She gave him the old “stork story”…the great feathered bird dropped Mom and her little guy in a white napkin from the sky. Skeptical, the little guy called Grandma, “Where did you come from?” he asked. “Oh, I was found under a rock, darlin’”, she replied. Later that day the little boy was walking with his best friend from the neighborhood. His friend asked him, “What you thinkin’ ‘bout? You look so sad.” The little boy said, “It’s disturbing…there hasn’t been a normal birth in our family in three generations!”
It’s hard to entertain radical stuff! The townspeople chose fear over faith. They opted to live in the tombs. The demoniac came out of his fear and began operating in faith. It changed his life! Where once he roamed the tombs, fear driving his wildness, robbing his life – now, his one desire was to follow Jesus and return to the sanity of loving his creator and Lord. This was a man who moved from fear to faith!
This is what we do today…we come to the table and sit down with the One who is able to radically-transform our lives. Come, eat – let the chains fall away…be found sitting at the feet of your Savior, in your right mind and clothed with his righteousness!
