On February 18, 1546, at the age of 62, the noted German church reformer, Martin Luther, died. They discovered a piece of paper in his pocket which recorded Luther’s last written words. The final sentence read: “Wir sind Bettler. Das ist wahr.” (“We are beggars. This is true.”) Do you know what Luther was getting at—the biblical truth he was expressing? Today we’ll meet three groups of beggars: demons, a stunned crowd, and one believer. They each begged Jesus for different reasons. As Luther correctly stated, we all are beggars. The question is, what kind of beggar are you?
A little over a year into his three-year ministry, Jesus left his base on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee where he had exhausted himself from constant teaching and healing. He urged his disciples into a boat and sailed across the Sea of Galilee. It’s not clear how far they got before the storm hit—the one that was so furious that even the experienced fishermen among the disciples thought they would drown. Jesus calmed the storm with a simple rebuke—as if the wind and the waves were nothing more than a blaring car stereo that even a child can silence with the push of a button. The disciples were amazed…and afraid of Jesus. “Who is this?” they asked.
Well, it wasn’t just natural storms that Jesus could calm with a rebuke. He could and would quiet supernatural storms as well. One such un-holy kamikaze lashed out at Jesus when he arrived on the southeast coast of the Sea of Galilee. Racing down from the nearby cave-like tombs and shrieking at the top of their voices were two men—both demon-possessed (Matthew 8:28). They wore no clothing and their bodies were covered with scars where they had cut themselves with rocks. Their ankles and wrists were rubbed raw from where the local townsfolk had chained the men, hoping to control them. But the demons gave the men the strength to break those chains. Luke, the author of our text, focuses only on one of the men—the spokesman, and so we’ll direct out attention to that one man as well.
After falling at the feet of Jesus, the man, or actually the demons inside of him, screamed: “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” (Luke 8:28) And so we meet the first group of beggars: the demons. I say demons, plural, because when Jesus asked for a name, the head demon replied: “Legion,” for many demons had taken up residence in the poor man. Now a legion of soldiers in the Roman army could number anywhere between three to six thousand soldiers. Were there really thousands of demons in this one man? It would seem so because later when Jesus allowed the demons to go into a herd of pigs nearby, the gospel of Mark tells us that there were about 2,000 pigs that were affected.
Wow. A legion of demons—thousands of evil angels bent on destruction! Jesus was clearly outnumbered, but he was not outmatched (Joshua Bernau). Even the demons admitted this as they threw themselves before Jesus and begged that he would not throw them into the Abyss, that is into hell before the appointed time.
I wonder if we acknowledge what these demons acknowledged—that hell and God’s judgment is no trifling matter like being sent to your room without supper? The demons dreaded being sent to hell. They knew it was a terrifying place of torture. Yet when we willingly engage in sinful behavior like when we let our eyes roam where they shouldn’t; when we hold on to our money as if it was ours to keep; when we even so much as grumble, do we catch ourselves, repent of those sins or just shrug them off? Have we become so calloused to our pet sins that we don’t even have the sense of a demon to shudder when we think about God’s judgment that ought to crash down on us like a snapped ponderosa pine smashing into a car parked beneath it? Friends, like the demons in our text, we have a need to throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus every day, and in our humility beg that he doesn’t send us to hell.
As the demons continued to beg, they implored Jesus to be allowed to go into a herd of pigs that were feeding nearby instead of to hell. Jesus consented and gave a simple command, “Go!” and the demons went. Jesus controlled these demons as he had controlled the storm on the Sea of Galilee: with his powerful Word.
As soon as these servants of Satan slipped into the swine, they went psycho. The pigs rushed down the slope and plunged headfirst into the lake where they drowned. The demons had not wanted to be sent to hell, and yet quite puzzlingly, they performed a dry run of what will happen to Satan and all his followers on Judgment Day. The Apostle John writes in the book of Revelation: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
“But those poor piggies!” we cry. And that’s exactly what the pig herders thought as they rushed into town to tell everyone what had happened. Of course, the herders must have been thinking of the economic loss. According to one source, a 250 lb. pig is worth $250 today. So if you lost 2,000 pigs, it would mean losing the equivalent of half a million dollars! But let’s take a moment and look at this event through the eyes of the man who had just been freed from thousands of demons. Can we not rejoice with him that his tormentors were gone? No more running around naked. No more living with the dead in tombs. No more being chained by the townsfolk and screaming back at them uncontrollably day and night. He had his life back. Even more, he had been rescued for eternity. Was that not much more valuable than 2,000 pigs, or half a million dollars?
The townsfolk didn’t think so. When they came out to see for themselves what had happened, it didn’t seem to matter to them that the streaker who had once lived with the skeletons (Bernau) was now dressed, in his right mind, and quietly sitting at the feet of Jesus as if he was one of the disciples. The crowd wasn’t happy about any of this. Instead they were afraid—afraid of this Jesus who had such power. But perhaps more to the point, afraid of how Jesus had upset the status quo. What was he going to destroy next? Their farms? Their homes? Their comic book collections?
Here now is the second group that begs Jesus: the stunned crowd begs him to leave. What? You’re going to ask this miracle worker, this man who has power over demons and who cares about the lives of the downtrodden, to leave? Perhaps their reaction isn’t so foreign to us. What kind of things do we prize so much that if Jesus took them away, we would ask him to leave? Our health? Our retirement funds? Our job? Our loved ones? Why, Jesus doesn’t even have to take anything away for us to react as the crowd did. Like the demons who screamed: “What do you want with us, Jesus!” we think the same thing when God “intrudes” with his commands. “Honor my parents? Sure, when they let me do what I want from time to time.” “Control my drinking, my spending, my screen time, my love for work? Why should I? No one else does!” We are all beggars—this is true. But don’t beg Jesus to go away from you because you think his commands are burdensome and pointless. For without Jesus there is no life, and no hope. As Jesus himself said: “What good is it if you gain the whole world, but lose your soul?” (Mark 8:36)
As the loss of a home in a fire can make us think about what really matters (souls not stuff), so the destruction of the pigs highlighted what is truly important. But there’s another reason Jesus allowed the mad porcine plunge into the pond—he was underscoring the true nature of demonic power. From this text, we see clearly that Satan and his demons have no constructive plan or agenda. Their sole goal is to destroy. Demons are like the bully in art class who is no good at painting, so he goes around and destroys everyone else’s canvasses. He’s the bully on the playground who can’t make a basket or shoot a goal, so he pops the ball so that no one else can play. No one likes to hang out with bullies like that. So why do we so willingly give in to Satan’s temptations? He doesn’t care about us. Look at the demons in our text. They caused a man to run around naked and shriek at the top of his lungs so that no one wanted to be around him. They then destroy a whole herd of pigs for no other reason than they could. Satan promises fun and freedom, but he’s one big fat liar. Our text today proves it.
There’s one more important truth I see illustrated by the pigs’ death. We could say that the pigs were sacrificed for the sake of the demon-possessed man. Doesn’t that remind you of another time when all the evil of this world was expelled from people once under the control of Satan and driven into the Lamb of God, Jesus our Savior? Our “demons” that is our wickedness sent Jesus over the edge into hell where he drowned in God’s anger. Your heart may bleed for the pigs, but does it also marvel at the price Jesus paid to clothe us in his righteousness and give us a right mind? Let us rejoice as did the prophet Micah who wrote: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives…transgression? … you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19) The dead pigs may have bobbed on the water’s surface, but our sins do not. They have sunk from God’s sight forever thanks to Jesus.
What should our response be to such grace and mercy? Well, look at the once-demon-possessed man in our text—our last example of a beggar. As Jesus got into the boat to leave as the crowd had asked him to do, the now-healed-man begged to be allowed to go with Jesus. Oh that I would beg like that! “Jesus, let me go with you! Let me make time to read your Word, to praise you in worship, to serve you in your kingdom!”
But how did Jesus’ respond? He said no. “Return home and tell how much God has done for you” (Luke 8:39). The man may have been disappointed, but he obeyed. You see, through this man, God was showing mercy to the crowd. They had begged Jesus to leave and he agreed, but he would not leave them without a witness of his grace.
Do you realize that God has done the same for your co-workers and your family? They may have told Jesus to leave from their lives, but he hasn’t. He’s left you as a witness—to tell them how much God has done for you...and for them. And don’t say you’re not equipped for this task. Look at the man in our text. His encounter with Jesus lasted what, a day at most? He wasn’t trained for his task like the disciples were. But that didn’t matter. What’s important is that he (and we) simply share what God has done for us through Jesus. It’s through that witness that God changes hearts. And God must have done just that through the witness of the once-demon-possessed man, for when Jesus returned to that region about a year later, the crowds welcomed him. They brought their sick and Jesus healed them prompting the crowds to exclaim: “He has done everything well!” (Mark 7:37)
Martin Luther got it right when he wrote: “We are beggars.” Indeed, like the demon-possessed man, we were once under the sway of our sins and Satan (Ephesians 2:1-5). What did we have to offer Jesus? Nothing. Instead, Jesus gave himself to us. We are now clothed in his righteousness. We are now in our right minds under the guidance of God’s Word and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So keep begging: “Lord Jesus, let me go with you—that I may bask in your love and forgiveness, and that I may be empowered to be a faithful witness to others until you bring me home to heaven.” Amen.
SERMON NOTES
In 1546, at the age of 62, the noted German church reformer, Martin Luther, died. Luther’s last written words were “Wir sind Bettler. Das ist wahr.” (“We are ____________. This is _________.”) What biblical truth was Luther expressing? (You may need to return to this question at the end of the sermon.)
(2 questions) The demons are the first group of beggars we meet in today’s text. What was their request? What does their request tell you about Jesus?
In what way are demons often actually (and sadly) “smarter” than us?
Many who hear this text get caught up on how Jesus allowed a herd of pigs to drown. How might you respond from the healed-man’s perspective to explain Jesus’ actions?
The stunned crowd begged Jesus to leave. What kind of things might you prize so much that if Jesus took them away, you would ask him to leave?
What’s another reason Jesus allowed the mad porcine plunge into the lake?
How does the porcine plunge remind us of God’s grace?
(2 questions) The last beggar in our text was the man now freed from demons. He begged to be allowed to go with Jesus. Why was Jesus’ response a response of grace? In what way(s) are we like this man?
NOTES FOR NEXT TIME
For that matter, did you notice how much we have in common with the demon possessed man? Oh, you may not be a streaker, but you were at one time living among the dead and under the control of Satan. The Apostle Paul once wrote: “… you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:1-5)
Where did demons end up after the pigs? Does it matter? They are bound for the Abyss. There’s no hope for them. But what about you? What about your family? What about that co-worker who drives you nuts? Don’t give up on them as the people had seemingly given up on the demon-possessed man.
Until then they will continue to roam. But we don’t need to fear them. Jesus has control over them and has given us the power to send them running as well (James ??).
How much did Jesus really do for this man? It’s not like he gave him a new car. He didn’t visit his home and fix it up after a period of neglect. He didn’t even give him to Walmart so he could pick up some groceries. He just freed him from Satan…and that’s what was the most important thing for that man…and for us. But perhaps we’ve forgotten that, and that’s why we need a text like this to unveil the mask of demonic powers.
