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Atlantis ‹the domain of the Stingray›
'Peace Activists' always seem to demonstrate where it's safe and ineffective to do so: in America. Why don't we see peace activists demonstrating in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and North Korea; in the places in the world that really need peace activism the most?
‹Raymond Kraft›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
20Jun
2010
Sun
16:31
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
comments: 0
trackbacks: 0

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 8:26-39

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What a strange little event we just heard about. It's so unlike anything else we read and hear about from the Scripture. It is terrifying, not comforting or giving hope (at least, on the outset). It was also weird and terrifying to the people on Genneseret's shore—the Gerasenes.

Jesus and His disciples set sail across the Sea of Galilee; they're going into Gentile territory. Along the way, Jesus calms a storm. When they land on the other side, opposite Galilee, a demon-possessed man approaches Jesus and rebukes Him. Jesus casts out the demons, after which He is confronted by the people from the city. They urged Him to leave, so He did. The man formerly demon-possessed wants to return with Jesus, but Jesus tells him to stay in his own country and tell about the great things God has done for him.

Sail across the sea, cast out demons, and sail back all in the same day. That's not the usual mode of ministry for Jesus. Usually, He sticks around in the same town or the same region for a little longer. He'll go from house to house and town to town in a region and heal all manner of diseases and forgiving sins—proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has come near to that place.

Here, in the region of the Gerasenes, though, He only casts out a legion of demons, allows them to enter a herd of pigs, and leaves. In doing so, however, He once again demonstrates that He is the fulfillment of all that was written of Him in the Torah, Psalms, and Prophets. Psalm 65:7 states, "O God of our salvation...You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples." (Psalm 65:5b, 7) And, there is also what we heard in today's Old Testament lesson from Isaiah:

I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, "Here I am, here I am,"
To a nation that was not called by My name.
Who sit among the graves,
And spend the night in the tombs;
Who eat swine's flesh,
And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels...
(Isaiah 65:1, 4)

This man that Jesus sets free went to Jesus as soon as He landed on the shore. From first sight, it was obvious that he was no ordinary man, and not like any demoniac they had encountered before on the "right" side of the Sea of Galilee. He didn't wear any clothes. He lived among the tombs—a dead man walking, you might say, but not in a Green Mile sort of way. The people of the city, not knowing what else to do about him, bound him in chains and shackles and kept him under guard—perhaps for their own safety and peace of mind; perhaps for his own safety.

The demons speak to Jesus: "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" This is very similar to what the demon-possessed man in Nazareth said: "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!" (Luke 4:34) Both times, the demons question what Jesus has to do with them, if He will destroy or torment them. Both times the demons make a remarkable confession of who Jesus is: "the Holy One of God" and "Son of the Most High God."

Both times, the demons tremble in the presence of God. It goes to illustrate an important point made by St. James: "Even the demons believe—and tremble!" (James 2:19b) Even demons believe; that is to say that they know who Jesus is. And they tremble; that is to say they know that He holds all power and authority over them. He is their Lord. It was Luther, after all, who once said of Satan that he is God's devil—God has authority even over him—so it must also be with the demons.

Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out of the man. And, as if to demonstrate his command over the demons, Jesus demands to know the demons' name. The demons answer: "Legion" because many demons had entered him. One or many, it doesn't matter. Jesus is Lord of them all, and they all know it! So, they beg and plead with Him not to send them into the abyss, but send them into the herd of pigs feeding nearby. Jesus mercifully allows it, rather than tormenting them right away; so, the "unclean spirit" enters the unclean animals, and they go rushing off, violently, over the hill and into the lake and drown.

The herdsmen, amazed at what had just happened, run back into the city, frightened by it all, and report to the townsfolk everything they just saw. They returned with a crowd and found the man formerly demon-possessed now seated at Jesus feet, clothed, and in his right mind. He is being instructed by Jesus. Afraid, they all ask Him to leave, which He does.

Now, the man who was just exorcised, seeing that Jesus was about to leave asks if he could go with Him. Jesus doesn't allow it, but tells him to return home and tell about the great things God has done for him. So, he goes his way and proclaims the great things Jesus had done for him throughout the city. Jesus may not be able to stay in the region and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near, but He will have His way, sending this new convert about the task.

Jesus is not only Lord over unclean spirits and demons, but also over unclean Gentiles. He is Lord over life and death. Dr. Arthur Just writes:

No chain or human guard was as strong as Satan's grasp. The demon forced him into "deserted places", which were considered the haunts of evil spirits, and into the tombs...This man therefore is the epitome of Gentiles doomed to death, caught in the futility of their pagan worship, which really is the worship of demons.

therwise "doomed to death" and "caught in the futility of...pagan worship" and makes him a disciples, and sends him out among the people to tell about the great things God has done. God is raising up from stones children to Abraham (cf. Luke 3:8), as Dr. Just insinuates.

Jesus has come to break the chains the bind people (cf. Psalm 107:14), to loose those held hostage to demons, to bring light to those who sit in darkness (cf. Isaiah 9:2), and to bring life to those who are in the valley of the shadow of death (cf. Isaiah 9:2). What we see with the Gerasene demoniac is a picture of what Jesus does for us. I think it's safe to say that none of us are demon-possessed, such as the man opposite Galilee was. However, like that man, we do find ourselves struggling with bindings from which we cannot free ourselves—sin and death. We need Jesus to break those chains continually, as He did when we were Baptized, and there rid of unclean spirits to make room for the Holy Spirit. And in so doing, we are continually brought back into the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Oh yes, we were all at one time possessed by unclean spirits. You see, there is much more to life in this world than we are aware of or choose to be aware of. There is a war going on between light and darkness. Today's Gospel lesson illustrates for us only one battle in this war. St. Paul tells us, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)

These principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness like to work with that sinful flesh in us. All too often, they exert enough power over us to bring us into sin. Pick a commandment, any of them, then look at the temptations you face each and every day. How often we like to justify those temptations, to overlook the commandment against them, or to find an explanation that says, "God doesn't mean it that way." That is our struggle with sin, and it's a daily struggle. Each sin is a demonstration that we are bound in chains to sin and cannot free ourselves. The Law shows this to us and shows us our need, daily, for Jesus to break those chains and free us, to cause the devils to flee, and give us that peace which we cannot get for ourselves and which the world cannot give.

Yes, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness are present and are always at work against Jesus and His elect. And sometimes they inhabit people—take possession of them.

Demon-possession is simply a fact of fallen life, and that is probably hard to hear for our modern ears...hard to comprehend to our modern minds. We like to explain such things away with scientific terms. We dip into the realm of psychology and psychiatry. We invent new treatments, therapies, and drugs to deal with all sorts of maladies because there can be no such thing as demon-possession—it's a scientific impossibility. These treatments, therapies, and drugs amount to little more than the chains and shackles used to bind the demoniac who lived among the Gerasenes, who today would be called insane.

Now, I'm not saying that there aren't maladies which can be correctly identified by our modern scientific labels. Insanity truly exists. Treatments, therapies, and drugs are all beneficial gifts given by God to combat psychological and psychiatric conditions. But, perhaps too often, demon-possession is incorrectly diagnosed as one of these conditions, because, for the most part, demon-possession is too far outside of the considerable realm of possibilities.

We cannot overlook the fact of demon-possession. Scripture plainly says that demons exist and that they can and have taken possession of people. We do sing about such things on Reformation Sunday—and will also next week—singing about devils filling the world and about the foe who madly seeks our overthrow. But we are told little about it, and what little we have is mysterious and confounding. Perhaps we are told so little about it because it's best not to know too much—because such things lead to death and destruction.

It's mysterious and frightening. However, dear little flock, fear not the foe. There is no need to fear the "darkness in the closet or under the bed."

Though devils all the world should fill
All eager to devour us,
We tremble not, we fear no ill,
They shall not overpower us.
This world's prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none,
He's judged; the deed is done;
One little word can fell him.
(A Mighty Fortress is Our God, stanza 3)

That little word, dear little flock, is Jesus. He is the one greater than the demons. He is the Valiant One who fights for us. He is Lord over the demons, they tremble in His presence, even at the very mention of His name. Today's Gospel lesson shows this to us.

Furthermore, the devil and all his demons are judged, "the deed is done." Jesus has conquered the demonic by His death on the cross. No more can they overpower us because Jesus gave His life for us and has placed His name on us. He descended into hell and there proclaimed His victory over death and the devil and his demons.

Oh, to be sure, the devil still prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (cf. 1 Peter 5:8) "Resist him, steadfast in the faith...." (1 Peter 5:9a) The Word of God declares it and gives us the power to resist in His name. He has rescued from us from the power of darkness and washed us clean from our sins—we are Baptized into Christ—we have been brought out from death into life. (cf. 1 John 3:14a) Or, as St. Paul put it in today's Epistle:

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
(Galatians 4:3-7)

You are no longer a slave, bound and shackled, but a son, because you are forgiven, just as the man in the region of the Geresenes.

That man wanted to go where Jesus went, to sail to the other side of the lake with Jesus. Jesus wouldn't let him, though. "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you." Let us, likewise, hear Jesus. We, like that man, have been freed from the chains of sin and death, how can we not go and tell what great things Jesus has done for us? Why wouldn't we? So, dear hearers, let us go and do as the man did knowing this and keeping it always in mind: Jesus has conquered the devils that fill the world for you, Jesus has died for you, Jesus has placed His name on you...in Jesus name you have nothing to fear because you are forgiven for all of your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


audio recorded on my digital recorder and converted to mp3
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