Amy C Walters

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon | Luke 8:26-39

After the Parable of the Sower, Jesus leads his disciples through some scary situations. Their boat is almost swamped in a storm crossing the Sea of Galilee, the land in a Gentile area, and a demon-possessed man meets them. But through it all, Jesus demonstrates that he is in control.

Some interesting things have happened in between the Parable of the Sower and this story. One day, Jesus tells his disciples that they would go to the other side of the lake from where they were in Galilee. As they’re sailing to the other side, a horrible storm comes up and threatens to swamp the boat. The disciples are terrified, but Jesus, who was sleeping, wakes up, rebukes the wind and waves, and the storm dies down. The disciples are still filled with fear, this time directed at Jesus, saying “Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?” 

So after that whole incident, they land in the region of the Gerasenes. They seem to arrive at a location that’s not necessarily close to town, because we’re told that a demon-possessed man, who lived in the tombs, met them there. 

What do we know about this man? We’re told that for a long time, he didn’t wear clothes or live in a house, but lived in the tombs. So this man is naked, and he is living outside of society, living among the dead. He probably stinks, he’s probably filthy, he’s probably very wild looking. 

We know too that at times when the demons would seize him, he would be chained hand and foot and kept under guard. But he would break the chains, and the demons would drive him to isolated places. So he’s got incredible strength, and is impossible to control. 

Imagine you are one of the disciples stepping out of the boat and encountering this person. How would that feel? I expect it would be scary. I would not want to go near this person who looks wild and capable of who knows what, who’s filthy, who’s smelly, who’s naked. I don’t want anything to do with that person. I might be tempted to get back into the boat and row hard toward Galilee! But Jesus does not respond that way. Instead, he engages with the man. 

When the man sees Jesus, he cries out and then falls at Jesus’ feet. And he’s shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with us, Jesus, Son of Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me.” 

Luke then describes more of what that man’s life had been like.  He’s been under the control of these demons for a very long time. He did not have control over his own situation, his life, his impulses, where he lived, what he did. He was a slave to those demons. And yet when the man encounters Jesus, he comes and falls at his feet. 

Notice some of the things that the demons, through this man, say to Jesus. They call him “Son of Most High God.” We’ve seen in previous stories how, as Jesus was commanding demons to leave people, they would often call him God, Son of God, or God Most High. They recognized who he was. And in those previous instances, Jesus silenced them. He didn’t need their endorsement.

Notice something else, too. Through this man, these demons continue to beg Jesus and ask Jesus’ permission for things. They beg Jesus not to torture them, and then they repeatedly beg him not to order them to go into the abyss. They beg him to let them go into the pigs, and Jesus gives them permission. So even though these demons had complete control over this man, here in the presence of Jesus, they recognize they have no control anymore. Jesus has it all. 

He is the one that gives them permission. He is the one that commands them to leave the man, and they cannot do anything else but obey the voice of Jesus. When the demons come out of the man and go into the pigs because Jesus has given them permission to do so, that entire herd rushes down the steep bank and into the lake and drowns. 

This shows us a couple of things. First of all, this really is demonic activity that this man was experiencing and not just a mental disorder. This shows us too, just the force of what that man was under, that these demons could send a whole herd of pigs to their death. This was the weight of the oppression the man was experiencing.

And Jesus, with just his word, is able to free him from it all. 

So, what do we think God is trying to teach us through this story? What about the disciples who are with Jesus witnessing this interaction with a wild man in a Gentile area after a crazy storm?

I believe he is showing them our key truth for today, that Jesus is in control.

He was in control during that storm when he rebuked the wind and the waves. He was in control when they met this wild man who was himself controlled by evil spirits. He was in control when, with just his words, he sent the demons away. 

Jesus demonstrates his complete control, even in the face of these powerful spiritual forces that nobody else had any control over. Chains didn’t work, guards didn’t work, only Jesus had the power and the control to set that man free.

And this lesson of Jesus’ control is going to be so important for the disciples, because things are just going to get harder and harder for them, as the Pharisees continue to harass them to the point where Jesus is arrested, tried, and killed. And it’s going to be vitally important for those disciples to remember, even in the midst of all of that, Jesus is in control.