Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our
Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It
doesn’t seem like a plausible story to our modern ears, does it? A man possessed by demons, he’s naked and
living among the tombs. An
exorcism. Pigs taking the plunge off a
cliff. It seems a bit surreal, doesn’t
it? It hits our modern ears a bit
strange. It’s not our experience in 21st
century America that people are possessed by demons. Today, people would blame such behavior, as
the man in the text exhibits, on a psychological illness. Let’s just say it, today’s Gospel text sounds
weird.
We’ve
come to God’s house, today, and we hear a story like this and it doesn’t seem
to sit very well. “Come on. We’re much too sophisticated to be thinking
about demons and those supernatural spooky things.” The text fits in quite well with today’s fictional
vampire craze. But, we have to be
clear. God’s Word is true. All of it.
It’s been written for our edification, for the Holy Spirit to use to
create and sustain faith, and ultimately for our salvation. This text may seem a bit odd to our modern
ears, but it reminds us that demons are real.
Pure evil does exist and seeks to destroy, murder, and steal faith.
In
our text for this morning, we learn several things. “The devil prowls around like
a roaring lion,” as Peter writes, seeking to devour. Evil is out there but the devil is God’s
devil. He can’t go any farther or do
anything unless God gives him permission.
And, evil is cast out at the Word of Jesus.
In
our text, Jesus goes to the other side of the sea, the opposite side form
Galilee to the country of the Gerasenes.
Gentile country. There’s no Jews
there, hence someone is raising unclean animals- pigs. He encounters a man who’s possessed by
demons- a legion of them. The man
doesn’t live in a house, but among the dead who are resting in the tombs. He doesn’t wear any clothes but wanders around
naked, and when he’s bound and chained, by apparent supernatural strength, he
breaks the bonds and frees himself.
Doesn’t get much creepier than that, it sounds like something out of
some horror movie. The devil has a hold
of him. And here’s where this text gets
practical for us: like the man in the
text, the devil had a hold of us too.
We
were all born into this world wearing nothing, exposed to the world. But we’re also born spiritually naked. Sinners.
Lost. Cutoff from God. Heirs of sin, death, and condemnation. We may not have been born with our heads
spinning around, or being able to break a chain by a mighty feat of strength,
but we’re born under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His
own. “You were dead in your trespasses and sins,” Paul writes in
Ephesians 2, “following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in
the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our
flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Doesn’t
that sound a bit like the man in the text?
He was dead, separated from God, at least; the devil had a hold of Him,
wandering amongst the dead. But then
comes Jesus. Legion begs Jesus not to
torture them by not allowing them to do their evil. They ask Jesus’ permission to take possession
of the pigs instead.
And
here lies a little jewel of comfort for us.
When things go bump in the night, when things seem really bad, when the
devil is whispering in your ear all the sins that you’ve done, the devil is
God’s devil. He’s on a leash, like a
dog. He can’t go any farther than God
will allow. Like a groveling pig, the
devil has to come to God, as the legion of demons ask Jesus, and ask permission
to do whatever it is they want to do.
The devil and God aren’t two equally opposed forces. They’re not like an old Japanese movie with
Godzilla fighting against an opponent who’s equal in size and strength. No, the devil is God’s devil, He’s been
defeated by He who also dwelt in the tomb for three days. Jesus was dead, but is alive again! And this victory over sin, death, and the
devil He gives to you.
Like
the man in the text, you were born under the Prince and Ruler of the Air- the
devil. But Christ has claimed you as His
own, drowning the sinful, unclean nature in the waters of baptism like a bunch
of unclean demons and pigs. The victory
that Jesus won on the cross, is given to you, is bequeathed to you, is for you
in baptism!
We
heard it in the epistle text, “For as
many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” The man in the text, who ran around without
clothes, at the Word of Jesus, having drown the unclean legion of demons that
clung to him, sits at the feet of Jesus clothed. We, who were born into this world spiritually
exposed and indecent, have put on Christ in baptism. You approach God, not with your own
righteousness, but decked, clothed, and covered in the righteousness of
Christ.
There’s
nothing to fear for those who are in Christ Jesus. The devil is God’s devil. God’s got you
covered. You’re baptized, covered with
Christ, filled with His Spirit, safe in His death and life. His wounds are your healing; His cross is
your victory; His righteousness is your clothing. Your sins are put far away from you, as far
as the east is from the west. As far as
that legion of demons from the poor man.
It’s yours! Believe it. Trust in it.
Your baptism clothes you in Christ’s holy righteousness, because we have
none of our own to bring before God.
Jesus,
by His death and resurrection, into which you’ve been buried and raised in
baptism, takes you out of the graveyard and gives to you the peace that
surpasses all understanding and eternal life.
Sometimes
our modern ears don’t like to think about supernatural things. It’s strange, especially the exorcism that
you heard of today. But it shows us what
Christ does for us. He has removed the
evilness of sin from our hearts and made them new, clothing us in His
holiness. He cleanses you in the waters
of His Holy Baptism, and will raise you up out of your tomb, to life
everlasting. Amen.
The
peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.
Amen.
