Amy C Walters

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

When the townspeople from the region of the Gerasenes see the man who had been demon-possessed sitting clothed and in his right mind, they are filled with fear and ask Jesus to leave. The man asks to go with Jesus, but Jesus tells him to stay and tell everyone how much God had done for him. His messy history was part of his redemption story.

One of the things that surprises me in this story is the response from the people in the town. They’ve made attempts in the past to restrain this man. They’ve put him in chains, they’ve kept him under guard, and even that was unsuccessful, that this man was out of control. 

So when they see this man sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind, what response would you expect them to have? I would expect them to be amazed at the transformation that has taken place! Maybe they’d be excited thinking about other ways Jesus could help them. 

Instead, how do they respond? They were afraid. In fact, all the people of the region of the Gerasenes ask Jesus to leave. Luke notes this state of fear twice. 

When I’ve studied this story before, I had thought the people were just mad about the financial loss of the pigs and that’s why they kicked Jesus out. There may have been an element of that. But Luke emphasizes that fear is the root of their response, although he doesn’t tell us why they were afraid. 

I know from things that I’ve experienced that spiritually dark places and people are full of fear. I have been to Buddhist temples in different parts of Asia. And in every single one of them, there’s just this weight and a heaviness and a darkness in those places. People light incense to different idols and pray and seek favor from those spirits. They spend money on all kinds of offerings.  They pay workers at the temple  to predict their future because they are afraid of what might happen if they don’t. And it’s heartbreaking to see people in that kind of bondage and fear.

Fear in fact permeates this whole story. The demons fear Jesus, that he’ll torture them, that he’ll send them to the abyss. The people fear Jesus. And really, if you don’t know that power is on your side, it would be a scary thing. If you don’t know that that power is the light of God coming to rescue you, that would be a scary thing. Thankfully, we know that Jesus’ power is for us, is to rescue us, is to transform us and save us, just like it did for this man. 

Think about what comes before this story. Just a few verses earlier in Luke 8 is the Parable of the Sower that tells us that people are going to respond to God’s Word in different ways. Some will reject him because their hearts are hard. 

We’re seeing that demonstrated here with these people. They see what God has done, they hear the message, and they ask Jesus to go away. They are hard soil that the Word of God bounces off of. It’s not just the Pharisees, rejecting Jesus from a place of legalism. Some reject him out of fear. 

But not everyone wants Jesus to leave. As Jesus is getting into the boat, the man from whom the demons came out begs Jesus to let him go with him. This response makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Of course he would want to follow Jesus. He has just been rescued by him. Jesus gave him his life back. And he wants to go and still be with Jesus to keep learning from him.

This seems like it would be a good thing. This seems like the kind of offer that Jesus would accept. But he doesn’t.

He sends the man away and says, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” You see, the people of this town were kicking Jesus out. So who would be his representative there now?

This man now had the responsibility to represent Jesus to his fellow townspeople. He would be a light when they were sending the light of Jesus away. 

This would not be an easy task for the man. What would it feel like to have to go back to people who know of your ugly history, who know all of the baggage that you have? It would be difficult to be among people who know all of that, who have seen your mess. There are many times where it feels like it would be so much easier just to run away from our problems than to face them. 

But Jesus says, no, you need to stay, because you can tell how much God has done for you. Because that ugly, messy history is part of your redemption story. It illustrates how stark the transformation is from darkness to light. It demonstrates Jesus’ power. 

For you too, your ugly past is part of your story, because Jesus didn’t leave you in it. He gave you a bright and hopeful future. He can redeem what you experienced and make that part of your transformation. 

So this man obeys Jesus. He goes back and tells all over town how much Jesus has done for him. And what an incredible opportunity for those people to realize the change that has happened. They cannot ignore it. They would have to wrestle with what they know and what they’ve seen.

Our key truth for today is that, just like this man, we need to tell how much God has done for us. Because he has done so much. And our testimony is the story of God’s work in our hearts.

We might, like this man, want to escape where we are. We might want to start over someplace else. Sometimes God will call you to leave where you are and go to a new place. But sometimes he will tell you to stay there so that you can be his representative in a place that has rejected him. You can shine the light and hope of Jesus when others embrace darkness, when they are stuck in fear. You can be the one to show them that there is hope.