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June 20, 2004
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Longest Exorcism
in the Bible
Luke 8:26-39
The story we have just read is the longest account of an exorcism in the scriptures. An exorcism — as you probably know — is the driving out of an evil spirit from a human being the spirit has invaded and possesses.
The short version of this long exorcism is this:
A man possessed by an evil spirit approaches Jesus.
By means of his voice, Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the man.
The spirit recognizes Jesus as the Son of God, bows before Jesus, cries out in a loud voice: "I beg you — do not torment me."
Jesus then asks the spirit to reveal his name.
In a moment of defeat, the spirit reluctantly says, "My name is Legion — for we are many."
The spirit or spirits then beg Jesus not to order them back into the abyss — the watery netherworld from which all evil spirits come.
Instead, they beg Jesus to send them into a herd of swine grazing on a nearby hill.
Jesus obliges, sends the spirits into the swine; and the entire herd goes stark-raving mad, tumbles down the hillside into the lake and drowns, the spirits drowning as well.
The short version of a long exorcism. Welcome to worship at First Presbyterian. [1]
I.
I must say that most of us don't come to church to hear stories of evil spirits, exorcisms, swine hurling down hillsides to their death.
- If such is our desire, current movies offer plenty of offerings of such story lines, with greater special effects than the church can offer through a measly little sermon.
- Besides, at eight bucks at pop, they are considerably less than the average weekly contribution in a Presbyterian Church.
In fact, many of us come to church, and are drawn to Jesus Christ, because of reasons far removed from evil spirits and exorcisms.
- Some of us are drawn by the ethical content of Jesus' teachings:
- Others are drawn to Jesus Christ because of the strength of his self-denial: "Greater love has no person than this, that one lay down one's life for one's friends."[5]
- Still others are drawn to Christ because of his tremendous capacity to reach out to the outcast, the foreigner, the sinner:
While there are many stories and teachings that attract us to Christ and lead us to want to know more, I dare few of us in this room today came to worship because we want to hear about the longest exorcism in the Bible.
II.
We are not alone in our mystification at this story. Generations of scholars have wrestled with its meaning.
- Some try to make this incident comfortable for us by saying, in effect, "It is just a primitive story; don't worry about it."[9]
- Some try to make it a literary event, pointing out that that in the context of Luke's Gospel, it is the third of four successive incident that together make a theological claim about Jesus' power:[10]
- In the first incident, Jesus forgives a sinful woman, showing his power over sin.[11]
- In the second, Jesus calms a storm, showing his power over nature.[12]
- In the incident before us, Jesus exorcises demons, showing his power over evil.[13]
- And in the fourth incident, he restores a child to life, showing his power even over death.[14]
- In the first incident, Jesus forgives a sinful woman, showing his power over sin.[11]
- Still other scholars point out that what Biblical people labeled "demon possession" we label "mental illness." "The story of the…demoniac," one commentator writes, "speaks a word of assurance and hope to those for whom every day is a battle with depression, fear, anxiety, or compulsive behavior." [15]
Interpreting the story as primitive, reading it in literary context, receiving it as a story about hope in the face of mental illness — each of these ways can lead the story to be slightly more palatable to our taste buds.
IV.
However we interpret this story, I invite us to freeze one moment near the end of the story.
- The moment occurs between the "before" and "after" of this man's exorcism, this man's being freed from the power of evil, this man's healing.
- By paying attention to his condition "before" and to his reaction "after," we can learn something. [16]
Listen to how Luke describes the man "before" his exorcism:
- A man of the city
- Possessed by demons
- Possessed for a long time
- Wearing no clothes
- Living not in a house, but in tombs
- Seized by demons
- Seized many times
- Kept under guard
- Occasionally breaking free from chains and shackles, only to be driven into the wilds again by demons.
That is "before." Now hear Luke describe the "after":
- People flocking to see what has happened to the man
- People now referring to him as "the man from whom the demons have gone"
- People finding him sitting at the feet of Jesus — assuming the position of those who want to learn and follow — pupil to teacher, disciple to rabbi
- People finding him clothed
- People finding him in his right mind.
This contrast between "before" and "after" is almost poetic.
IV.
Many of us have had experiences of "before" and "after" that are as intense and dramatic as this man's experience.
- The before: A terrible childhood
- The before: An abusive parent
- The before: a violence-laden upbringing
**
- The after: A healed adulthood
- The after: A relationship with another human being marked by unconditional love
- The after: A life with peace, a life with conversation, a life with listening, a life with being listened to.
**
- The before: A job that demands that we violate our own sense of ethics, that we live around the edges of the law, that we treat people in ways that lead us to sullenness, Mylanta, alcohol each evening
- The "after": A new company, a new set of expectations, disagreements based on differences of substance, not differences of pathology among personalities
**
- The "before": A strict, confining church, a demanding, authoritarian minister, a being told what to think, what to believe, what to do
- The "after": A church that appreciates our questions, scolds us not for our doubts, encourages us both to think and to feel in worship and in our relationship to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Shackled and living in tombs versus sitting, clothed, in our right mind. "Before" and "after." Fill in the blanks from your life.
IV.
This incident not only paints a vivid contrast between "before" and "after." It also paints a response to the movement from "before" to "after."
- Once the man is exorcised, his first instinct is to "be with" Jesus.[17]
- "Be with" is a technical term for being a disciple of Jesus.[18]
- The intensity of the man's exorcism is understandably such that he wants to remain with the source of his healing for the rest of his life.
But Jesus challenges the man to do more than simply "be with" the source of his healing.
- Jesus says to the man: "Return home."[19]
- And then he says: "Declare" — tell, narrate — how much God has done for you." [20]
In other words, Jesus says:
- It is not appropriate for you to stay here with me forever.
- Go home, back to your own people, to your own situation, to people who knew you "before," and in your state of "after" tell your story — tell what God has done for you.
The man obeys. He goes away from the sight and source of his healing and proclaims — "throughout the city" —"how much Jesus has done for him."
V.
My friends,
- Even though we are Presbyterians deeply respectful of the privacy of our own relationship with Jesus Christ and the privacy of the relationship others have with Jesus Christ…
- Even though we are Presbyterians who prefer evangelism of deeds rather than evangelism of words…
- Even though we are Presbyterians who affirm "God alone is Lord of the conscience"[21] and who believe that God often speaks to the conscience of different people in different ways…
It doesn't hurt for us to use
- Our own personalities
- Our own ways of communicating
- Our own words
To tell how much God has done for us.
- We can do so in a way that is humble and does not invade the personal space of the one to whom we are speaking.
- Without violating our hearer, we can tell, narrate, declare
- How much God has done for us
- How much Christ has done for us
- How much the Holy Spirit has done for us.
It just may be the case
That someone will benefit from hearing
Our "before" and "after,"
Our story of what God has done for us.
As one called to speak the Word of Christ,
In that role
I ask you:
"Return home,
And declare how much
God has done for you."
Amen.
1 Luke 8:26-33. go back
2 Matthew 5:39. go back
3 Matthew 5:41. go back
4 Matthew 18:22. go back
5 John 15:13. go back
6 John 7:53-8:11. go back
7 Luke 19:1-10. go back
8 Luke 17:11-19. go back
9 The Interpreter's Bible, Volume III, George Arthur Buttrick, Commentary Editor (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1952), 155-160. go back
10 Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), 116-118. go back
11 Luke 7:36-50. go back
12 Luke 8:22-25. go back
13 Luke 8:26-29. go back
14 Luke 8:40-56. go back
15 R. Alan Culpepper, "The Gospel of Luke: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections," in The New Interpreter's Bible, Volume IX, Leander Keck, General Editor (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 185-188. go back
16 The "before" occurs in Luke 8:26-24; the "after" begins at verse 35. go back
17 Luke 8:38. go back
18 Culpepper 185-188. go back
19 Luke 8:39. go back
20 Luke 8:39. go back
21 "The Historic Principles of Church Order," Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), The Book of Order, 2002-2003, G-1.0301. "The Historic Principles" were written in 1788 and adopted in 1789. go back
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Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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