Word of Salvation – Vol.47 No.34 – September 2002

 

Madman Turned Missionary

 

Sermon by Rev A Quak

on Luke 8:26-39

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:26-39

Suggested Hymns: BoW: 190; 392; 447; Rej: 121; 458

 

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord.

In the culture of Jesus’ day, much power was attached to names.  Wars were fought in the name of particular “gods”.  Victory in war meant the name of your “god” was more powerful than the “god” of your defeated enemy.

Name-dropping was an art – people respected you if you knew important citizens.  Even Christians got caught up in the trend.  Remember that passage in 1 Corinthians 1:12?  One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ”.  Above everything else, it was a namedropping exercise that was causing division in the church.

An understanding of such a culture helps us see the true nature of this passage – which is about a confrontation of names.  There is Jesus, Son of the Most High God.  And He is against ‘Legion’, the multi-possessed prisoner of Satan.

In this passage we are witnessing a duel.  One contender is Legion.  Legion was a legend.  He emerged from the tombs and would terrorise anyone coming to or from the lake – a naked wild man coming out of the depths of the shadows.  His incredible strength made it pointless to tie him up or guard him.  He would just break the ropes and escape into the desert.  He was unstoppable.

Were he alive today, he would be a top member of the Hells-angels – or some other gang bent on violence, destruction and anti-authority behaviour.  Here was a man who captivated the imagination of a whole district – a man who was notoriously ferocious.

Opposing Legion stands Jesus.  It is still fairly early in His ministry, but He, too, is becoming well known.  He has healed paralytics, blind people, deaf people and people with leprosy.  He raised the widow’s son from the dead.  On the way across the lake He commanded the storm to stop – and it did.  And Jesus had already cast out an evil spirit from a man.

So, these are the contenders.  Jesus in one corner – Legion in the other.  It is a test of the power of Jesus, a test of His authority.  And in this confrontation the stakes are a pretty high.

Jesus had cast out demons.  But never had He cast out multiple demons from one man.  In Roman army terms, a “Legion” was 6000 men – that’s a fair bit of evil.  Jesus had already shown His power.  But this is the first time Jesus is outside the traditional boundaries of Israel.  Jesus can work great wonders in God’s territory, but can Jesus do the same in the territory of the pagans?

This is how the explosive encounter began.  The disciples beach their boat near a graveyard and there’s a herd of pigs nearby.  Just as Jesus steps out of the boat, a crazy man storms out of a cavern.  What a sight he would have been.  Wild hair.  Bloody wrists.  Scratched skin.  It’s fury in the flesh.  He’s a totally naked man running through the cemetery with arms flailing and voice screaming.

My guess is that the disciples just gulped and put one foot back into the boat.  They are horrified.  But Jesus isn’t.  From the beginning it is very clear that this contest is no contest at all.  It’s a one-sided affair.  His name is Legion, 1000, 2000 up to 6000 possessing demons.  It could have been 100,000 and the results would have been exactly the same.  His name is Legion but he is no match for the Lord Jesus.  Like the raging seas which He has just calmed, Jesus calms this raging soul.

Have a look at verse 28.  It says, “When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at His feet.”  Legion had completely dominated this poor man – now Legion cowers before Jesus.

Have a look at verse 31.  It says, “They begged Him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.”  The Abyss was the place of eternal torment; once there the demons would not be able to escape.  Legion had laced the whole region with fear – now Legion is begging for his freedom.

At every point the Lord Jesus is in total control.  The demons can do nothing without His permission.  “Please don’t torture us.  Please don’t order us into the Abyss.  Please let us go into the pigs.”  Legion has been reduced to a snivelling, grovelling weakling.

If this man were alive today, the only answer modern medicine would have for such a person would be to give him a heavy dose of sedatives.  At best it would take years for someone to be freed from such a condition – if freedom came at all.  Jesus has no medicine of that kind.  He just takes control of this madman.  In the blink of an eye, Jesus delivers this lunatic – and a disciple is made in the cemetery.

It’s tempting to become obsessed with the striking impact of Jesus and the miraculous cure that took place in the madman.  One thing, however, must never be forgotten.  There is essentially no difference between this situation and the wonder that should be attached to every true conversion to Christ.  Everyone who is born again, goes through this same process.  Once they were partners with Satan, until Jesus steps in and brings them into the comforting arms of God.

We are never in our right mind until we are converted.  We are never in the right place until we are sitting at the feet of Jesus.  We are never rightly clothed until we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

This applies no matter how your conversion took place.  Maybe you can remember a specific time when God became real to you.  Perhaps you were a nice person who realised niceness doesn’t get you to heaven.  You could have been rebellious until Jesus took you by the collar.

More than likely you can’t give a specific time.  It doesn’t matter.  A real conversion does not mean we have to be able to pinpoint the day, the hour and the moment.  A real conversion is nothing else than a miraculous release of a captive, and a miraculous restoring to our right minds, and a miraculous deliverance of our soul from Satan.  It’s all grace, and nothing but grace – and that means we all have a story to tell.

As we keep this truth in mind, let’s direct our attention back to the passage.  The man is in his right mind and wants to thank Jesus by becoming one of His followers.  Our natural instinct would be to say, “Isn’t that great!”  Considering the calibre of His disciples, Jesus could use all the help He can get.  Instead, Jesus tells Him to do exactly the opposite – “return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

It’s an amazing conclusion, but it gives us a simple message.  All it takes to be an evangelist is to tell how much God has done for you.  It may surprise you to know that this man is the first missionary – he is a prototype.

But he’s not much of a prototype is he.  He really doesn’t have much training.  Certainly, he has no real social standing.  All he could offer was the message that Jesus had changed his life.  He just had to be himself and give God the glory.  But that was enough for this man – and it should be enough for us as well.  That is why I stressed earlier, that we all have a story to tell – a story about the way God has worked in our lives.  A story that we can re-tell in a way that brings God to the forefront.

But if it is so simple, than why do so many of us find it so hard to be witnesses for Jesus?  Essentially, there is nothing that distinguishes us from this ex-demonic.  We, too, are objects of God’s grace.  We, too, can be used by God to bring people to Himself.

And this passage spurs us on.  Jesus has proven once and for all that He has the power to change people.  A Legion of demons are no match for Him.  The fact that He is outside the traditional borders of Israel doesn’t matter.  As Jesus changes this man we are being given a preview of the change Jesus will bring about in the lives of many Gentiles.

People who were once feared criminals are now working for Jesus.  People who could give testimonies that make your hair stand on end are now among the faithful: sportsmen who are changed as the Gospel goes out; high-powered executives who bow their knee to Jesus; the people we meet from day to day.  Jesus can change them all, and that spurs us on.

But if that is not enough to spur us on to be witnesses for the Lord, let us be encouraged by the determination Jesus has for the lost.  Think about the reaction of the crowd for a moment.  They have just witnessed a powerful transformation in the life of this man.  They could have brought their own sick to Jesus to have them healed.  They should have realised that the loss of the herd of pigs is a small price to pay for the freedom of a man from the prison of Satan.  But the opposite is the case.  They are so fearful of Jesus’ power and their economic loss that they tell Jesus to leave the area.

If we want to really see the force with which the people wanted Jesus to leave, then all we need to do is compare verses 31 and 37.  In verse 31 we see Jesus exercising His authority and power to order the demons into the Abyss.  In verse 37 the people ask Jesus to leave.  To ‘order’ and to ‘ask’ come from the same Greek word.  The people actually ordered Jesus to leave the district.  “You’re too bizarre for our liking”.  “You’re a threat to our economy”.  “You’re too hard to pin down”.  “The sooner you leave the better”.

What a strange bunch of people.  They were willing to tolerate the bizarre presence of a demonic who made their lives miserable.  But they had no plans to tolerate the healing presence of Jesus, Son of the Most High God.  In such a situation we would be tempted to say, “What’s the point.  Let them suffer the consequences of their rejection”.  But with determination Jesus says, “No.  I’m going to give it another go”.  He Himself left the region but He sent the madman whom He healed as a missionary to the very people that asked Jesus to leave.

That’s what Jesus did.  That’s what we should be doing as well.  Are we willing to be those sorts of people?  People who will be the witnesses of Jesus?  People who will speak about the way God has been working in our lives as we give God the glory?  People who don’t give up after the first rejection?  It’s a big question with serious implications.

Anyone can acknowledge who Jesus is.  Legion did.  At first he acknowledged that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.  Legion knew exactly who he was facing.  But he was still going to oppose Jesus.  And at that stage he was not willing to go around and evangelise for Jesus.

On the other hand the crowds acknowledge Jesus.  They knew He was responsible for the change in the life of this madman.  But they wanted nothing to do with Him so they ordered Him out of the area.

What about us?  Are we just acknowledging Jesus as well?  “Jesus, you are Lord – but don’t ask me to tell anyone else about you.”  “Jesus, you can change all sorts of people – but I don’t want you to change me.”  “Jesus, I acknowledge you – but the following-of-you part needs a little bit of work.”

If we claim to be followers, then we have a responsibility.  When Jesus left this earth, He said, “You will be my witnesses.”  Not, “You might be”.  Not, “If it is convenient”.  Not, “If you can get enough training”.  But, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

Because Jesus hasn’t come to take us home, there is still a lot to be done.  If we are inclined to sit back and keep silent, than aren’t we really saying, “God, if you want people to be saved, than you need to bring them through the doors of our church”.

That’s not the way it works, is it?  If Jesus intended people to be saved that way He wouldn’t have bothered training a group of disciples to be His followers.  He would have spent His time building churches for people to walk into.  Jesus made followers so that they could be witnesses.

Congregation, let us go home today spurred on to be witnesses for Jesus.  The harvest is still great.  The workers are still few.  And the power of the Name of Jesus is just as powerful as it was on that day in the Gerasenes when Jesus scared the life out of a Legion of hell’s finest.

We can be witnesses.  We just need the conviction that the Name of Jesus is the name that can change people.  We can be witness who affect those around us.  All it takes is telling people how much Jesus has done for us and trusting that Jesus will make the necessary changes.

Let’s tell.

Let’s watch.

Let’s be convinced that we will see Jesus change lives.

Amen.