Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 22, 2025
Luke 8:26-39
Possession, Oppression, and Grace
The Rev. M. Anthony Seel
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Best known for his best seller, The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck also wrote People of the Lie. In this second book, Peck wrote about patients he had worked with who exhibited demonic possession. Before his conversion to Christ, he not believe in demonic possession.
About his best seller, The Road Less Traveled, Peck said, it was “a nice book.” About People of the Lie, he said, “This is not a nice book.” In the Introduction of People of the Lie, Peck says unapologetically that Jesus Christ is his Lord, and mentions his baptism on March 9, 1980, when he was 43.
Through his psychiatric practice and his experiences with exorcisms, Peck came to believe that there is a devil and demonic possession. In another book, Glimpses of the Devil, Peck offers “personal accounts” of his experiences with patients and how he added exorcism to his psychiatric work. In our secular age, M. Scott Peck, and a few others, not many, are willing to say that there is more in life than science alone can explain.
Of course, our Lord Jesus Christ was unencumbered by a purely scientific mindset. The Creator of all that is was not held captive to any human theory of life and the world. After sailing through a storm at sea, Jesus and His disciples land at a place south and east of the Sea of Galilee.
v. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.
Many Bible maps identify Gadara as the place where Jesus and His disciples came ashore. On the beach by Gadara, Jesus is met by a demon-possessed man who is naked and homeless. This man lived in a graveyard.
vv. 28-29 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time 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 desert.)
At the sight of Jesus, the demon-possessed man cries out. The demons recognize that Jesus is the “Son of the Most High God.” The demons confess Christ’s divinity.
Jesus had already commanded one demon to leave the man. However, the demonic spirits in this man gave him power to break out of anything that was intended to bind him.
v. 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.
There were more demons in this man than the one Jesus had already cast out.
v. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
Demons don’t want to go to hell anymore than people do.
vv. 32-33 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
The destructive power of demons is seen in the pigs plunging into the lake and drowning.
vv. 34-35 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and 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.
The herdsmen saw it all and fled in fear. They went to town and told the people what happened and the townspeople went to see for themselves. They saw the man whom Jesus healed sitting at Jesus’ feet. The man was “clothed and in his right mind.”
Luk 8:36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.
The herdsmen filled out their story to the townspeople to include the healing of the demon-possessed man.
At our District Convention Banquet on Friday night, I met a pastor from the Niagara Falls area who is also an Air Force Reserve chaplain. He’s working on a Doctor of Ministry degree at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. His project for his D.Min. is on ministry to airmen and women who suffer from what he describes as spiritual damage.
The military psychiatrists and psychologists can’t understand why these damaged men and women don’t respond to treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Our chaplain friend says that the reason they don’t respond to treatment is that they don’t have ptsd. Their issue is spiritual. This would not have surprised our Lord who regularly dealt with physical, psychological, and spiritual issues.
v. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.
Gripped by fear, the people ask Jesus to leave. Why were they afraid? Was it because of potential property loss like the pigs drowning? Was it fear of something they didn’t understand? Was it fear of the supernatural? We’re not told. We are told that Jesus left when he was asked to do so. Jesus doesn’t force Himself on anyone.
vv. 38-39 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.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
The healed man wanted to join Jesus and the disciples, but Jesus had other plans for him. The healed man became a preacher, an evangelist, a witness to God’s mercy and grace. He told everyone in his town “how much Jesus had done for him.” In this, he is a great example for us.
For Jesus, His work is done, the townspeople have asked Him to leave, and He moves on.
There are always others who need His healing power. There are always others who need His healing power.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health counselors all serve a useful function. However, the church has recognized since the ministry of Jesus that some mental issues are demonic in nature. Some mental issues require the direct intervention of God.
In the Lutheran Reporter newspaper, Pastor Geoff Boyle wrote about a mercy mission to Madagascar by LCMS World Relief and Human Care. He reports that exorcism “is a part of the Malagasy Lutheran Church’s regular expression of Christ’s mercy.” He notes, “Casting out demons is simply the natural response of Christianity in a pagan context.” [“Exorcism as Mercy,” Reporter, 8/2/2011]
Perhaps the experiences of M. Scott Peck suggest that exorcism should be a more regular response to the pagan context that we find in the U.S. today. However, there are some cautions that we need to recognize. First, every expression of human evil that we encounter is not attributable to demonic possession.
One summer when I was in seminary, I was in a training program sponsored by a church in the Birmingham, Alabama area. The pastor spoke about members of his congregation who had been delivered from all kinds of conditions that he named demonic. One was delivered from the demon of one condition and another member was delivered from the demon of another condition. The way he labeled different afflictions or conditions as demonic bothered me. I spent some time in Bible study and concluded that Christians cannot be possessed by demons. I told him that and his response was “I know what I’ve seen.”
The problem with his response is that we have to interpret what we’ve seen. If our interpretation is at odds with Scripture, we need to adjust our interpretation. He wasn’t willing to do that.
While the New Testament shows that Christians cannot be possessed by demons, we can certainly by oppressed by them.
What’s the difference? Possession is inside you, like the man in our gospel reading this morning. Oppression is outside of you, and it comes in a variety of forms. It could be pressure from people you know and care about to conform to something they believe is right that Scripture tells you is not right. This could be on any number of issues, your personal conduct, abortion, human sexuality, and other moral and ethical concerns.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines oppression as “to crush or burden by abuse of power or authority” or “to burden spiritually or mentally: weigh heavily upon.”
You may feel weighed down, burdened by the cares of this world, or cares in your personal life. Oppression can come from “abuse of power or authority.” Some argue that our governments abused their power by shutting down churches during the Covid pandemic. You may have not felt comfortable going to church in that period, but the federal government acted unconstitutionally when it banned our freedom of assembly.
Two chapters later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says to His followers, “I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” [Luke 10:19]
Based on those words of our Lord, what authority has Jesus Christ given you over the power of the enemy? The answer is all authority. Jesus says “nothing will hurt you.”
Always remember from 1 John 4:4 these words: “he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” He who is in you died on a cross to forgive you all your sins. He rose victorious from the grave. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He prays for you. He lives within all His true followers by the Holy Spirit.
“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Let us pray.
Almighty God, we give you thanks for delivering us from evil and sin by the death of your Son. Surround us with your shield of faith. Protect us from the fiery darts of the enemy. Strenthen our spirits to stand firm against all forms of demonic oppression. Guard our hearts and minds from all attacks. Let your presence within us be a constant reminder of your power and love. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
