Can we be free from all the insanity and self-destruction in today’s world? Salvation is for every day and eternity. Let’s examine Jesus’ saving a gentile from his insanity in Luke 8:26-39.
Captive to Insanity
Luke 8:26 So they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee.
They “arrived” is literally “they sailed down” to the region. In a multilingual society this area had various names, the region of the Gergesenes, Gadarenes, and Gerasenes depending on whether a village or the whole region was being referenced. This was on the opposite side of the lake from Galilee.
From the Old Testament Girgashites, Gerasa is modern Jerash in Jordan, southeast of Galilee, where Jesus found a man who had allowed evil to possess him. All experience fleeting bad thoughts. When they fester, they can turn into evil actions. Who will bring us back from the brink of destruction?
Evil is a dangerous downhill path towards insanity. Murderous nationalism, terrorism and greed enthusiastically destroys the world, worshiping power and money. Not every insane act is found in a drooling wreck living in a graveyard. The insanity around us is ubiquitous, but there is someone who can save us, Jesus.
Luke 8:27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in the tombs outside the town.
Jesus was coming and the devil was probably not very happy. After calming a storm on the lake, a different challenge awaited the Lord on land. A man was there, possessed by many demons. The Greek more accurately says the man wore no outer garment. He only wore his underclothes.
Luke 8:28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!”
Recognizing Jesus as the Son of God from afar, the demons made the man run towards Him. Demons recognize Jesus, but some people do not. They know their future is a place of torment. It is also the place where unrepentant sinners are headed.
Luke 8:29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power.
Most of us want the world to get better, but don’t want to change. We want evils like addiction, crime, corruption, dishonesty and homelessness to end, but like the townsfolk, we seek to control evil because we don’t know how to overcome it. Jesus came to overcome and conquer evil.
Luke 8:30 Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons.
Are Bible demon stories just ancient ignorance? Carlton Cornett writes that ‘For a professional pursuit that prides itself on its uncompromising search for “the truth” of psychological functioning, psychotherapy has often gone to seemingly absurd lengths to avoid considering the possibility that the spiritual dimension deeply affects human life.’ [1]
[1] Cornett, Carlton. The Soul of Psychotherapy: Recapturing the Spiritual Dimension in the Therapeutic Encounter. Simon and Schuster. 1998. vii.
Jesus made no apologies for dealing with a man with obvious mental problems. We would perhaps diagnose it today as dissociative identity disorder (multiple or split personality). Some experts are open to the idea of demon possession even arguing for “possession syndrome” as a separate category of mental illness. [2]
[2] Spiegel, David. Dissociation: Culture, Mind, and Body. 1994. American Psychiatric Press, Inc. 131.
Luke 8:31-32 The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission.
We don’t often experience demons in public. We isolate the mentally ill in institutions. Some professionals admit there is a mysterious and little-understood spiritual dimension to psychopathology, such as schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. Jesus commanded the impure spirits to leave and gave them permission to enter a herd of pigs.
Freedom from Insanity
Luke 8:33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.
Along Lake Galilee there is only one spot where this could have occurred. Sometimes in solving a problem, destruction occurs. Why did Jesus give permission for this destruction? It rebuked those who disregarded Israel’s food laws for the sake of money.
Luke 8:34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran.
The Lunatic and the Pigs is a struggle, freedom and announcement. [3] A biblical theme is liberation. Elijah gained victory over 450 prophets of Baal. God delivered Israel many times. Jesus is the Deliverer from all human bondage. Deliverance brings freedom, and the free tell others how to be free.
[3] Brueggemann, Walter. Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three-Storied Universe. Abingdon Press. 1993.
Luke 8:35 People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.
From craziness to discipleship is a picture of repentance, sitting at Jesus’ feet daily in personal Bible study or with other disciples on a weeknight or during a Sunday sermon. If you have been involved in public misbehavior but changed, expect that people will be afraid at first. Be patient!
Luke 8:36 Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed.
A good reputation takes time to build, sometimes decades. People will speak of your positive change and pay you respect in due time. You won’t hear most of the conversations, but be sure they will occur. Most importantly, people will speak of how you were saved from evil, by Jesus.
Luke 8:37 And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake.
Don’t expect the positive message of freedom from evils to be immediately popular. The living Head of the Church will free people from evils but it will remain an unpopular message where fear reigns and other evils are challenged, such as making money with things forbidden by Old Testament law.
Announcing our Freedom
Luke 8:38-39 The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.
Today’s generation may be insulted that not everyone is included in leadership opportunities in the church. But, Jesus excluded the former insane man from joining the disciples. Sometimes the master’s assignment for our lives is to go all through our town proclaiming the great things Jesus has done for us.
The story of the Crazy Man and the Swineherd is in some ways everyone’s story of struggles against wicked forces. In our struggle we have tried to do it alone and failed. When we ask for God’s help we begin a story of victory to tell to the whole world.
It’s a crazy world. To some extent the insanity of our generation has affected all of us. Jesus offers us healing and freedom from all the madness. All we need to do is ask.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Readings for this day: 1 Kings 19:1–4 (5–7) 8–15a, Psalm 42 and 43 or Isaiah 65:1–9, Psalm 22:19–28; Galatians 3:23–29; Luke 8:26–39
