Words about the Word - Tom Chandler - Trinity Lutheran Church

“When Jesus stepped out of the boat onto the land, he was met by a man from the city who had demons…when he saw Jesus, he screamed, 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.’” (From Luke 8:27-28)

Reading this passage from Luke, you might wonder what this first-century talk about demons has to do with us in the twenty-first century? After all, we’ve progressed far beyond the superstitious thinking of these ancient people. If you put this man under a modern x-ray or MRI machine, you would not find the presence of demons. If you can’t see it or measure it - it doesn’t really exist. That’s the way modern people think.

Let me suggest this way of thinking is not only a bit arrogant, but also more than a little dangerous. The Bible tells us about the presence of demons because we can’t see them or measure them, so that we would be aware of the hidden danger and know what we are fighting against. “Be sober-minded; be alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) “We do not fight against flesh and blood…but against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.” (Ephesians 6:12)

The movies often depict demons as hideous, frightening creatures. But demons don’t work by force or fear, they woo us and tempt us. They convince us that doing bad things is actually good. Then when we realize doing those things makes us and the people around us miserable, when we despise ourselves for doing them and want to stop, the demons convince us that we can’t live without doing them. Tighter and tighter we are bound until the demons become like malignant tumors, and we believe that to kill the demons, you would have to kill me.

The man in this text from Luke had become a menace to society. He refused to wear clothes, lived by himself among decaying bodies in the tomb, and terrified anyone who came near. He contributed not one single positive thing to make life better for anyone. When he saw Jesus, he was terrified of what Jesus might do to him.

The demons in this world know the power and the purpose of Jesus. The Son of the Most High God has the authority to throw them and every evil thing into the abyss of a place called hell that God created for that purpose. Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man, and he allowed them to enter into a herd of pigs who rushed headlong into the sea and drowned.

But that is not the great miracle in this text. The greater miracle is that the demons were gone but the man remained, now wearing clothes, in his right mind, at the feet of his Lord and Savior. Jesus cut the cords that bound him to sin and death and established the cord that bound him to eternal life. No longer a menace to society, he became a shining example of hope for all people.

I remember one time inviting a man to come to church. He said, “Oh pastor, God doesn’t want an old sinner like me there.” It sounds funny and I know it was a polite way of brushing me off, but it is a deadly serious lie from the devil’s own lips. “I am so tightly bound to my sin that it defines who I am, God doesn’t want me.” Don’t believe the lie. Jesus can change things for the better.