Second Sunday after Pentecost

Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7C)

June 22, 2025

Text: Luke 8:26-39

            Look what havoc the demons can wreak in a human life.  We see this in the extreme in the case of Gerasene demoniac.  Naked… like Adam in the Garden, shamefully exposed.  Driven from his home… like Adam from the Garden.  Like Cain, who had to flee after murdering his brother, Abel.  Obsessed with death and unclean things… like the forbidden fruit, not unclean in itself, but in the eating of which Adam would know evil (uncleanness), and surely die.  Like the men of Sodom.  Like Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  Like King Saul, consulting the witch of Endor.  Like so many of the wicked kings of Israel and Judah, and those who followed them into demonic idolatry.  Alone.  That’s where it all leaves a person.  Isolated.  Relationships broken with everyone around you.  Relationship broken with God. 

            Now, this man, the Gerasene demoniac, was physically possessed, and by a whole lot of demons.  “Legion,” they called themselves collectively, and who knows how many actually possessed him, but a Roman Legion is between four and five thousand soldiers, so… many!  Physical possession seems to be rare, although, who knows?  Nevertheless, what our Lord is teaching us in this Gospel is the kind of damage demons do in your life, in whatever way they interact with you.  Think of this, first, on a grand cultural scale.  I contend you can actually see this with your own two eyes. 

            Naked.  The shameful mistreatment and misuse of the body… one’s own and one’s neighbor’s… and sexuality.  Pornography.  Sexual perversions.  Chemical and physical mutilations, just to name a few.  It all flies under the banner, “The Sexual Revolution,” the breaking of bonds placed on us for our own good.  Throwing all restraint to the wind.

            Driven from home.  Rejection of God’s design for domestic stability.  Rejection of marriage: one man, one woman, living together in love and fidelity, for life.  Rejection of children.  Rebellion against parents.  All in the name of living for self.  Self-fulfillment.  Self-actualization.  Selfishness is what it really is.  Self-idolatry. 

            Obsessed with death and unclean things.  The elimination of the helpless and vulnerable on both ends of life.  The illusion of control over death.  “Death with dignity,” we call it, though it is anything but.  Meanwhile, suicide is at epidemic levels, as is self-harm.  And, if you’re blessed to be insulated from this, you may not know it, but obsession with occultic things is very popular, and becoming more and more common place.

            And so… Alone.  Isolated.  Broken. 

            Now, I’m not just railing on the evil things other people are doing, out there.  “Those people,” you know.  This battle is raging in your own heart.  You know it.  Examine yourself.  Be honest.  You are a son of Adam, a daughter of Eve, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Where are you naked?  Driven from home?  Obsessed with death and unclean things?  Alone… isolated by your own sin?  See, you don’t have to be possessed to be harassed by the demonic.  The devil is one of your three main enemies, and he works through the other two, the world and your own sinful nature, to cut you off from God, and from other people.  The goal, really, is your damnation.  Hell.  Billy Joel famously sang (I’m paraphrasing, here), that hell is better than heaven, because the sinners are much more fun than the saints, so he’d rather hang out with the sinners for all eternity.  But in the Bible, hell is not described as hanging out with the rebels.  It is described as isolation.  The outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12).  What did Jesus say when He suffered hell for us on the cross?  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).

            What havoc can the demons wreak in a human life?  Your life?  That.  Okay.  Jesus wants us to know just where we stand if He doesn’t step in.  Death and destruction.  That’s all demons can do.  The pigs, by the way, are an illustration of what the demons, finally, intend to do to human beings… to you.  Unclean beasts, under demonic control, driven to the slaughter, driven into the abyss. 

            But now, look what Jesus does when He steps into the chaos and destruction wrought by the demons.  He has power over them.  Let it not be lost on you that they are answerable to Him.  When He asks a question, they must respond.  “What is your name?” (Luke 8:36; ESV).  “‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him.”  And they’re afraid of Him.  And for good reason.  They know who He is, and they know what He will do to them in the end.  “I beg you, do not torment me” (v. 28).  He is their judge.  He is the One come to conquer them, and punish them.  And it is He who drives them out.  Remember this, no pastor or priest is an exorcist, properly speaking.  Jesus is the Exorcist.  Jesus alone has power over the demons.  He often uses clergy and other Christians to do His work, but He is the One who does it, and we ought never be under any illusions about that.  The minute we think we have any power over the devil, the old snake has us where he wants us.  Pride, right?  We fall for it all the time. 

            Now, look what happens to the Gerasene man when Jesus steps into the chaos and destruction surrounding him.  How do we find the man?  The demons gone.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus… like Mary, who has chosen the good portion, the one thing necessary, which will not be taken away from her (10:42), the Lord’s Word of Life.  Like Adam, who heard and believed the Word of Promise, the Seed of the Woman, who would crush the serpent’s head.  Like you, sitting here, today, at the feet of Jesus, believing His forgiving, redeeming, life-giving Word.

            Clothed…  No longer naked.  Covered, like Adam and Eve, with animal skins in the Garden.  Like the holy priests of ancient Israel in their splendid robes of holiness.  Like the Bride of Christ.  Like you, baptized into Christ, clothed with Christ, covered in His Sacrifice, and His righteousness.  Shame removed.

            In his right mind… No longer obsessed with death and uncleanness.  No, he’s clean, now.  With the cleanness of Jesus!  And alive!  More alive than he’s ever been.  He’s been given Jesus’ own life.  Like Jairus’ daughter.  Like the son of the widow in Nain.  Like Lazarus, called out of the grave, unbound, and free.  No longer conformed to this world and its demonic influencers, but transformed by the renewal of his mind, in the image of Christ.  Like you, here, now, renewed, enlightened, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit in the holy Word of Christ, and the Sacrament of His body and blood. 

            And so, no longer alone.  No longer isolated.  Restoration.  Healing for the brokenness.  Like you.  Christ is with you.  You are immersed in Him.  He’s in you… in your ears and in your mouth, invading your heart and soul.  God’s own child, beloved of the Father.  Possessed, now, by the Holy Spirit.  Surrounded by a loving Family, the Church, those who hear the Word of God, and do it (Luke 8:21).

            That is the answer, then, to all the havoc the demons can wreak, and have wrought, in your life.  Jesus Christ.  Present for you, in the very midst of the demonic chaos and destruction.  Taking charge.  Casting out, and driving away.  Restoring you.  Forgiving your sins.  Enlivening you.  Surrounding you with His love and care.

            Beloved, don’t give yourself to the things of the demons.  The nakedness of sexual sin and the shameful mistreatment of your body, and the bodies of others.  Rebellion against God’s order in marriage, family, and government.  Obsession with uncleanness and death, which are the things of Satan.  What is your guilt with regard to these things?  Where have the demons gained a foothold?  Don’t hide it any longer.  Come to your pastor for Confession and Absolution, so that Jesus can deal with these things.  Be, instead, in the things of Jesus.  Use the gifts He gives you.  His Word.  Prayer.  Supportive brothers and sisters in the Church.  The Office of the Holy Ministry.  The Supper.

            What will be the result?  You’ll be right where you belong… at the beautiful feet of Jesus, hearing and believing the Good News.  Clothed with Him.  In your right mind, which is the mind of Christ.  Loved.  A place in a New Community… Christ’s Community.  A family… Christ’s Family.  Full of joy and free.

            And then, for as many days as God gives you, you can go and tell, like the Gerasene man.  Go and tell how much God has done for you.  Go and tell how much Jesus has done for you.  That others may be likewise freed.  That is exactly what is needed in this dark and dreary world.  The Word of Christ, that casts out Satan.  The Word of Jesus, the Exorcist.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.