Jesu Juva
Luke 8:26-39
June 22, 2025
Proper 7C
Dear saints of our Savior~
There’s no place Jesus won’t go to save.
No cross He will not bear. No hell into
which He won’t descend. There’s no
situation so messy, so dark, or so frightening that Jesus won’t go there to rescue
and deliver and save.
Today Jesus sets sail from the
safe confines of Galilee into the Gentile country of the Gerasenes. There He’s
met by a man who was plagued by demons—multiple demons. So many demons they
simply are named “Legion.” This man
spent his days naked, shackled and under guard, away from the city and its
people and children. He lived among the tombs among the dead, being dead to the
world. This man inspires both terror and
sympathy. We feel for his plight and his condition, and yet we’re terrified of
him. We’ll avert our eyes and avoid contact. He’s like the mentally ill homeless
we meet on the street corners and under the freeway viaducts—only far worse.
How did this happen? Why did this happen? We’ve lost our sense of the demonic today. We take devils and demons far too lightly. The devil’s been reduced to a Halloween costume. We tend to think in terms of mental illness nowadays. Instead of the tombs, this man would likely be institutionalized. He’d be sedated and medicated, mostly forgotten by society and perhaps his own family. We’d be relieved to have him off the streets and safely away from our homes and schools and parks.
There was no help for this man. The local exorcists had likely done their best. But no one could help him. The best and brightest are no match for this roaring lion and his demon minions. Chains and shackles were all that could be done for this man, leaving him to roam and rot among the dead—until Jesus came to town.
What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? The demons always know who Jesus is. He’s their Lord too; and they tremble in fear at the sight of Him. They know the power of Jesus’ word, and they know their time is short. The demons are eager to announce Jesus’ identity to anyone who will listen. Anything to deter or derail Jesus from death on a cross.
I beg you, do not torment me. The demons plead for mercy, but Jesus hasn’t come to show mercy to the devil and his demons. He’s come to judge them and to undo their work. They negotiate because they know their fate and destination: eternal torment and imprisonment. They bargain for a herd of pigs instead. This is, after all, Gentile country. You’d never see a herd of pigs in Israel. But here in the Gerasenes, there’s pork aplenty. And with the permission of Jesus, they become demon-possessed pigs that rush headlong down a steep bank and into the lake and are drowned. All this, right in front of the herdsmen who see their pork profits plunging into the sea.
It’s no wonder they ask Jesus to leave! This was just over the top weird. Frightening. Jesus is just too much trouble to have around. The situation was being managed until Jesus showed up, and then all hell literally broke loose, and now there are dozens of pricey pigs floating dead in the sea.
This entire scene is a preview of the judgment of the devil and his demons, when they will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever. The unclean spirits are cast into the unclean pigs and thrown into the depths. Look what Jesus can do. He’s the exorcist extraordinaire.
Meanwhile, the man is now clothed and in his right mind. Just like that. No rehab. No psych meds. Nothing. Just a word from Jesus, the demons depart, and the man’s mind is disordered no longer. Everything that had plagued him had gone into the pigs and was drowned in the water—all with nothing more than a word from Jesus.
He wanted to follow Jesus. He wanted to join the disciples, and go back to Galilee. Who could blame him? He wanted to go to work for the Man who had literally saved his life from a legion of demons. But Jesus had other plans for him. He sent him back to his home. He would be the Lord’s “man on the ground” in the Gerasenes, among the Gentiles, outside the borders of Israel. Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. He’s of much more use to Jesus where he is—at home among his family, friends, and neighbors. And that’s what he did. He told everyone in the whole city what Jesus had done for him. And you can be sure the people listened.
Our curiosity is piqued by accounts like this. We want to know more about the dark and horrible realm of the demonic. Skeptics scoff at the whole thing; but lots of money has been made by movies about demons and exorcists. The devil exists. Jesus called him the father of lies and a murderer. He prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking the stray and the weak, looking for someone to devour.
The one thing the devil and his demons did not want is for Jesus to go to His cross. That’s why they always shout out and acknowledge who Jesus is: The Son of the Most High God. They knew why Jesus had come. They knew Jesus’ death would be their exorcism from this world. Humanity was captive to darkness and demons; and Jesus came in human flesh to set us free. Immediately after His baptism in the Jordan, Jesus was driven into the wilderness, not by a legion of unclean spirits, but by the Holy Spirit. There He wrestled with the devil and was tempted in every way as we are. He conquered the devil’s temptations with nothing more than the power of the Word.
We are not as bad off as that poor man in the Gerasenes. We have homes and clothing. We have our sanity, mostly. But the darkness of our Sin runs just as deep. The bonds that hold us captive to Sin and Death are just as strong as the chains that bound that man. We walk in the valley of the shadow of death every day of our lives, blissfully unaware of the forces of evil that target us. Evil increasingly rears its ugly head in the world—unleashing mass shootings, murder, and mayhem. But behind all that horror is a demonic darkness which our culture refuses to acknowledge.
We are powerless against it. But Jesus is not. He entered this present darkness to bring the light of His life. The darkness trembled when Jesus prayed, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” The darkness trembled at the sound of His “It is finished.” He was stripped naked on the cross, as naked as that poor man in the Gerasenes. Adam’s shame was exposed to the world, so that we children of Adam might be clothed and in our right minds. The Law that condemns, Sin that kills, the devil who accuses and lies and murders—all those enemies are defeated in this one death on a dark Friday afternoon. There is no darkness Jesus hasn’t entered. No death He hasn’t died. No sin He hasn’t born. No hell into which He hasn’t descended. There is no place—no situation—where Jesus is not Lord and God.
You are baptized into Christ. You are clothed with the robe of Jesus’ righteousness. Jesus is the healing of your mind as well as your body and soul. He sets our minds right again through repentance and forgiveness. Whatever plagues you, whatever troubles you, whatever darkness isolates you from others and drives you into your own personal hell, Jesus has dealt with it in His death. You are a child of Light, a child of the Day, a child of God. Jesus’ death and life are yours. His body and blood are yours. His words of life ring in your ears. He is your shield, your strength against the terrible forces of darkness and death.
What should you do now? Return to your home, your life, your vocation, your family and friends and neighbors. But don’t you dare forget to declare how much God has done for you. He has called you out of darkness to live in His marvelous light. He has forgiven you, raised you, clothed you, and set you free. You are a baptized child of God, an heir of eternal life. You have His Holy Spirit to ward off each and every unclean spirit. See how much God has done for you—and, see how much more you have yet to receive.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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