Luke 8:26-39 Sermon - Not one of us

Time was when I would look at this passage and in preaching it, talk about mental illness and suffering and interpret this passage in that way because that was the way people with or without a faith would look to understand the Gerassene Demoniac and perhaps, probably even, that is right but just turn on your TV and with the multiplicity of channels you now have then every day there will be a programme about evil spirits poltergeists, help my house haunted. I could go one. The fact is more people believe in these evil spirits than believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. So, explaining these texts by reference to mental health or arrival of beings from other planets as some writers suggested is no longer needed and perhaps frowned on in some circles.

So, we should revisit this miracle of Jesus to discover why it is important. The first thing to understand is the location. Jesus grew up in a place like this – border territory and by crossing the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias you crossed borders. The difference was however that unlike Huntingdonshire or Northamptonshire, the people over the border were not so friendly. Jesus and his disciples had crossed into Gentile territory and had climbed up on to Gaulanitis as it was called then. You may recognise part of that name. Today it is called the Golan Heights and the territory is just as disputed now as it was then. We do not know precisely which part of the Ten Town or Decapolis they arrived at but it was definitely on the Golan Heights. Nor do we know why they went there although there is some political imagery that might explain some of it. They may have been trying to escape or avoid Herod Antipas, the Jewish king at the time, known for his violence.

Whatever the reason, Jesus encounters Legion prowling among the graves in the cemetery just like many of the haunted tv shows today. He is called Legion because of the vast number of evil spirits he has. A legion could well have been camped around the Sea of Galilee even in nearby Tiberias and would consist of 3-6000 soldiers + 200 cavalry. A huge number and of course that is why this name Legion is taken because there were so any spirits and just like the Roman invaders, they were evil and needed to be removed. And they were by Jesus into a herd of pigs confirming that this was gentile territory. Jews neither eat pork no raise pigs as they are unclean. From the start of this encounter with Legion, the evil spirits recognise the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Even though most people then as now fail to recognise God in Christ at this time, these spirits know immediately.

Now you may think the healing is the key part of this account. It really is not and Luke skips over much of it as matter of fact. For Luke and I believe for us that should be the reaction to all this. Because a recurring theme in this passage is that the players, although all humans are “not one of us.” Clearly this possessed man is not one of us. He is a demoniac, cast out of the ten towns to fend for himself among the graves. They have even tried chaining him up there but he breaks the chains. He is not one of us and even after he is healed and can be seen to be healed there is no real suggestion of restoration to the community. The people do not want to know. And then there is Jesus and the disciples. Jews would have lived up on Gaulanitis in the ten towns but even after Jesus has healed this man, exorcised him if you like, the local people are far from welcoming to their visitors. Perhaps they did not like what happened to those pigs but that is probably just an excuse. Jesus and his disciples, just like the Legion were not one of us and need to go. They, like so many fail to recognise God in Christ even though that legion of spirits all did and bizarrely after what has happened the locals are even more afraid and throw Jesus and his disciples out of town or ten towns to be precise.

Unsurprisingly, the healed man wants to go with Jesus. He wants to be a disciple and yet Jesus says no and commands him to go home and tell people what God has done for you. He is not given a tract or a theological treatise about how God is in Christ reconciling people to himself and in a sense, there is no need. All he needs to do is tell people about what God has done for him which he does. But the question remains for them as it does for us today in our churches, are we ready to accept such a testimony or reject it out of hand because this person is simply not one of us? I cannot answer that for you. Only you can answer that question. Amen.