Jesus heals a man ‘possessed’ by a ‘legion’ of demons (Luke 8.26-39)
Introduction
Jesus encounters a man described as possessed by demons. Repeatedly put under guard with chains and shackles for his own and other’s safety, he had escaped into the wilds, living naked among the tombs outside the town. Jesus has a conversation with the demons and ‘allows’ them to enter a herd of pigs that then run into the Sea of Galilee and drown. The swineherds tell the townsfolk and they come out to find Jesus and the man, now fully clothed and in his right mind. This terrifies them and they ask Jesus to leave.
Context
The coming week brings the EU Referendum, the run up to which has produced a lot of confusion, contention and especially fear-mongering, be it of uncontrolled immigration on the one hand or potential economic disaster on the other.
The coming week is also the final round of group games in football’s Euro16 finals in France. The run up to the finals was marked by hope and fear. Hopes of each nation that their teams will do well, but also fear that they won’t. But also, more seriously, fear of another terror attack, like the one during the France v Germany friendly in Paris last November. Or increasingly the fear of an outbreak of hooliganism by certain groups of supporters.
And last Sunday clubbers at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub in Orlando Florida, were gunned down in the largest mass shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently Muslim. Homo-phobia clearly played a part in the cause. Islamophobia has been reinforced in some of the responses.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel reading is not a straightforward passage to preach from in the contemporary world, unless you do so with unquestioning literalism. Today most would suspect that the man who ‘has demons’ was mentally ill in some way, while the idea that Jesus would allow such ‘demons’ to flee into a heard of pigs causing their ‘suicide’ is disturbing to many. Our tendency is to avoid such stories altogether, or to ‘spiritualise’ them. However, the evasion of such difficulties in scripture mirrors our tendency to evade discussion of difficult situations in the everyday world. The current culture of fear and the causes of such fear is one such difficult situation.
In the Gospel story the people are ironically more unsettled by Jesus’ confrontation of the ‘demonic’ in this man than his ‘possession’ in the first place. They seem to be more upset at the economic loss of the herd of pigs than they were pleased to find the man in his right mind. They who had once bound him in chains are now bound by fear of Jesus.
In a monologue in his book The Greatest Burger Ever Sold*, Nick McIvor has an insurance loss adjustor for ‘Decapolis General Insurance’ querying a claim for the loss of a herd of pigs. The culmination of the sketch is that the loss adjustor does not allow the claim because it is ‘an act of God.’ Such an act of God would be frightening.
Jesus inducing fear in others is not unusual. The Gospel writers describe others, including the disciples, as having the same reaction at times (see Matthew 17.7-8; Luke 5.8-10; Luke 7.16; Luke 8.25). And we are famously told that ‘fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ (Psalm 111.10). But having power over people through fear is not Jesus’ aim. He repeatedly tells people not to fear, and echoes repeated commands throughout Scripture that we should not fear because God is with us (although it should be noted that the popular myth that there are 365 such commands, one for each day of the year, is wrong).
Fear is a powerful motivating force. Lenin famously taught that ‘The purpose of terrorism is to terrorise’ thus disempowering your enemy. And sadly many political campaigns, including both sides of the current European Referendum use fear as a key weapon in their armouries.
Fear, including the fear of the demonic, has long been a staple of fiction and film, but it is also a powerful draw to news media, both on screen and in print.
In the wake of the Orlando shootings however, many responses online used the hashtag #LoveWins, and in the Christian faith we should be more certain of that than anyone, first in the light of the death and resurrection of Christ, but also in the light of the assertion that ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them… There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…’ (1 John 4.16b,18a).
Whatever lies ahead in the wake of the referendum result, God and his love remains the same. While Jesus granted the Gerasenes’ request that he leave them, and we may leave the EU, Christ has promised that he will never leave us (Matthew 28.20).
* N. McIvor, The Greatest Burger Ever Sold, Kingsway Publications, 1989, ISBN: 978-1854240378
Prayer
God of love,
we thank you for your presence with us,
wherever we are, and whatever we face, now and in the future.
Where we find ourselves living under the shadow of fear,
may we ground ourselves in the life-giving strength
of your everlasting, unconquerable love in Christ,
enabling us to live and love courageously, loving even our enemies,
as you loved us even when we were your enemies,
forgiving us from the fearful cross.
We pray for those who find themselves in a place of fear, distress and confusion
because of the evil actions and words of others.
Confound the spirits of violence, hatred and destruction,
and may we, your people be channels of your Spirit;
your Spirit of peace and love, wisdom and mercy, healing and hope.
Help us to recognise and release the chains that bind, in body, mind and spirit.
Help us to acknowledge our open wounds, heal our hurts,
and clothe us in Christ,
bringing the wholeness that you want for all people.
Amen.
Questions
- This passage (and others like it) finds Jesus encountering someone who is said to have ‘demons’. How do you understand this in the modern, rationalist, world, with a more developed understanding of mental illness? What does this passage have to say to people experiencing mental illness?
- Have you recently found yourself responding to a situation out of fear? What was it and what do today's readings speak into that experience?
Action
In the story the ‘demons’ enter the pigs, which then rush into the lake and are drowned. Supply members of your group with a cardboard ‘pig’ cut from a piece of light pink A4 card – or supply the card on which they can draw their own pig(s). Invite everyone to write their fears, hurts, sorrows, etc. on the drawing of the pig. Then, all together, let them drop their ‘herd of pigs’ into a large bin or trough filled with water.
Young people
The man in this story had fled outside the town. Encourage your young people to look out for, and seek to befriend, someone who seems to be on the ‘outside’ of their classmates or group of friends for whatever reason.
David Campton is a Methodist Minister, based in Northern Ireland, with a background in theatre, community/political engagement and biology/psychology.