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S. Pentecost 2.25 Luke 8:26-39

‘Now a herd of swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged him that he would permit them to enter them. And he permitted them…’

And you know what happens next… The Legion of Demons (great name for a rock band. Lotta great names for rock bands in holy scriptures—Fear and Trembling. Formless and Void. Herd of Swine 😉 but anyway, the Legion of Demons “left the man and entered the swine and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.”

This… disturbed the swineherds, on many levels. They went and told the news to the city and rural areas. And a great multitude of the Gadarenes gathered and said, “Go away, Jesus!” (Another good name for a rock band: ‘Go Away, Jesus!” 😉 And he went away…

The front man for The Legion of Demons (who sounds like an excellent Marvel villain: no clothes, living among the tombs, super strong, bat guano crazy, with an appetite for mayhem 😉 was sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed, and in his right mind—which disturbed the townsfolk the most!, truth be told. But he asks Jesus to let him join the team, maybe get a cool nickname?

And Jesus says [Christian Bale Batman voice] “NO! Return to your own house; tell what great things God has done for you!”

But does he do this? Hmm… Jesus said: “Tell what great things God has done for you” but Luke says he went and told what Jesus had done for him. I’m not at all sure that’s the same thing; and, in the difference between those two things, I suspect we glimpse the abyss that lies between faith and unbelief…

I think I can sum up the difference like this: the faithful ask that GOD’S will be done!—even if it lands them in prison, tombs, death, or hell. If it’s what God wants, they are happy. Kierkegaard actually gets this right: ‘purity of heart is to will one thing’—whatever God wills! The faithful have passed (in those fleeting moments when faith is steering our course) beyond self-interest, into the “quite disinterested adoration of Christ” that comes by faith—‘idolizing Jesus’ if you will, eyes only for him…

The faithful would like to be with Jesus, for sure. But they also find his presence a bit… daunting. Being sinful and all, God can be… intimidating! Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Peter, James, and John with Moses and Elijah on the Mt. of Transfiguration learned to be careful what you ask for, because seeing God’s glory is… a lot!

The unbelievers, on the other hand, ask always, only that: THEIR will be done!

Now, unlike the Jews who “believed Jesus” last week but refused to believe he is God, Yahweh, the I AM WHO I AM!, the demons know exactly who he is—and tremble! But this knowledge doesn’t stop them from trying to boss Jesus around, make him their servant, their genie in a bottle to do their bidding.

It starts the moment Jesus sets foot in the country of the Gadarenes, pagan land. The man fronting ‘The Legion of Demons’ comes out shouting, falling down before him, demanding “What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?! I beg you, do not torment me!” Because, Jesus had, right away, before the man speaks, commanded The Legion of Demons to come out of him. Because when they seized him, he had to be kept in a super-max, chained in solitary, but he broke the bonds, escaped from the super-max, went roaming wild and free in the wilderness.

Don’t you think this is a great set up for a Marvel villain movie? I mean, I’d go see it… 😉

Anyway, the point is: the demons, even though they know Jesus is God!, still try to boss him and have their own way with him. They beg him not to send them into the abyss. Even when his will is done, they want to twist it toward their own preferences…

And if there is a moral in this story, I think it might be this: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR! YOU JUST MIGHT GET IT!

I know you have questions here about demonology. I have them too!

“Why do demons not want to be cast into the abyss? Why do they want some kind of living host? Are all demons like that? Or, are The Legion a special kind of parasite demon? Does Jesus trick them? They know how to drive this man well enough; are pigs steered differently? Can they not steer them? Are they like “Whoa, piggies, whoa!” And what happens to the demons when their hosts die, suddenly?”

All great questions. And the answer is: I don’t know! Because the bible doesn’t tell me!

All I can say is that it does seem like Jesus tricked them; because we don’t hear about these demons entering other Gadarenes. The death of their swine hosts seems to have banished them from the area, at least temporarily. Good trick, Jesus!

Which underlines the point that you should BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR! The faithful ask of Jesus only always, “Thy will be done!”. Even if his will is that you get beheaded by a Roman tribunal, falsely accused of sedition like St. Paul; or crucified upside down like St. Peter, you’ll be happy, going:

“The only thing that would make my joy complete is that there be a large crowd at my execution and they greet me with cries of hate”. A strange sort of ‘happiness’!—a peace the world cannot give, that the world doesn’t want; but, more on that next week… 😉

Seeing how sin and the knowledge of good and evil that came from eating the forbidden fruit always leads us… astray, my takeaway from the demons’ demise is that maybe it’s best not to make demands of God?—even for things that look fun? Those things can end rather badly!

And the Gadarenes don’t learn this lesson any better than the Legion of Demons! They come all shouty: “Go away, Jesus!” That’s the characteristic move of unbelief—tell Jesus to go away, leave you alone, or give you swine or wealth or power to posses and wield your way!

See; Jesus will do your bidding: he’ll go away! But… is that what you really want? (Gadara is pretty… hoody 😉 And yes, Jesus’ll let you drive the herd of swine. But look how that ends! “Not so great, Bob!” 😉

Even after dispossession, The Legion of Demons front-man still shows signs of unbelief. He doesn’t sit with Jesus awaiting orders—like a good soldier of the cross. He demands to join the team! And Jesus says: NO!

Why? Well… it could be the guy thinks Jesus is Lord of the Flies—Beelzebub! “Demon” is actually Lewis’ 3rd choice in the “Lunatic or Lord” dilemma most forget about, but which many of Christ’s contemporaries went with…

The point is: Jesus calls you to follow him! You don’t… volunteer! Because faith seeks not our own happiness, but GOD’S, desiring only his will be done—even if it hurts and smarts and leaves a mark. And in this… is Peace, surpassing all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.