What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

 

 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.  And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.  And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.  When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg You, do not torment me!"  For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.  For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?"  And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him.  And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.  

 

Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain.  So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them.  And He permitted them.  Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.  When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.  Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.  And they were afraid.  They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.  Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

 

Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him.  But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you."  And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. 

 

- Luke 8:26-39 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him." Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."  Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."  And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"

 

Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.  And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.  And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.  When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg You, do not torment me!"  For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.  For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?"  And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him.  And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.  If we take this story part-by-part, we must look at what it presents us with as it unfolds.  We first might observe that the disciples have just rowed across the Sea of Galilee.  Many of them, we know, are seasoned fishermen whose trade depended upon fishing the waters of Galilee; but the windstorm, we know, also terrified them to the point where they feared they were perishing, even with Jesus onboard (see yesterday's reading, above).  Now they have come to this "strange" place, across the Sea, where a man from the city met them, who had demons for a long time.  Now this region would have been one of mixed Gentiles and Jews, and the man is apparently from the city called Gadara (about six miles from the shore of the Sea of Galilee).  But here in this area, the man lives in the wilderness, wearing no clothes, and living in the tombs.  So tormented by the demons is the man that he apparently was often seized apparently with fits of violence, and so kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.  Thus, this is a man drive further away from society in every sense, and into complete disorder.  Jesus' first act was apparently to command the unclean spirits to come out of the man, and so the demons respond through him, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg You, do not torment me!"  In Matthew's Gospel, the demons not only recognize Jesus, but ask, "Have you come here to torment us before the time?" indicating the time of the final judgment.  They do not wish to go into the abyss, indicating a bottomless place of darkness, an image of being buried alive in a place where one would be completely forgotten.  

Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain.  So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them.  And He permitted them.  Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.  When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.  Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.  And they were afraid.  They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.  Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.  My study Bible comments that some teach that the presence of the swine indicates a Gentile population.   But, since Christ forbade His disciples to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5) and was Himself also reluctant to seek out Gentiles (Matthew 15:24), these are likely to be Jews engaged in a sinful occupation, raising swine for a Gentile market.  It notes that the destruction of the entire herd reveals several things.  First, while animals are a venerable part of creation, human beings are of far greater value.  Second, Christ removes a source of sin, as for Jews swine herding was an abomination (Deuteronomy 14:8).  Moreover, demons have no power over creation, but rather are subject to the will of God.  Clearly here, they could only enter the swine at the command of Christ.   It also shows that people are protected under God's providence; otherwise, the demon-possessed man himself would have come to the same end as the swine.  Finally, the magnitude of the economic loss would remain as a sign for the hardhearted people who fled that region and rejected Christ, asking Him to leave them.

Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him.  But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you."  And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.  This interesting final note on this passage has Jesus commanding this man to return to His home (presumably in the city of Gadara), and testify to the great things God has done for him.  It sets an example for all of us.

In a modern world, in what we might call one of the developed countries, there are many people who discount the idea of spiritual beings, such as demons or even angels.  Many would deny the existence of a spiritual evil, such as the devil, and clearly all the tenets of early Christianity are no longer held by many people.  But one thing that we might see as a very common sight in a city in such a "developed" country is a man (or even a woman) who looks like this man in today's reading, who is occupied by a legion of demons.  The effects of the demons are things that we could see on the streets of any one of our large cities today, and maybe even in smaller cities and towns as well.  Whether it is the result of mental illness or of addiction, the crisis of what many would lump under "homelessness" looks so often like this man -- uncontrollable, disordered, even without clothing, ranting, and unable to live in community in the day-to-day sense in which we think of what community means.  In my city, and in my neighborhood, people who bear close resemblance to the demon-possessed man in today's reading are every day sights.  There is no getting around this reality and this presence, especially when violent acts in public places -- such as on a subway, for example -- have become common occurrences filling the daily news.  So what should we make of this coincidental observation?  (Is it even so coincidental?)  Frequently such appearances go hand in hand with addiction crises, as well as mental illness.  Often, those two modern plagues go hand in hand.  It might even be difficult to discern which came first, or which one might be the cause of the other.  In today's story, Jesus directly challenges the demons who are responsible for this man's condition.  Once upon a time, many of our cities had programs that also confronted or challenged such conditions, such as offering a choice of going to jail for vagrancy or to go to a treatment program.  I have anecdotal evidence of such a program working to help people be rehabilitated and to stabilize their lives.  For whatever reason, coincidental or not, commensurate with popular dismissal of once-common spiritual understanding, such sights on our streets have grown.  More often than not, supposed solutions to this problem do not address true causes.  There is little doubt of the overwhelming problem of addiction among the homeless population, and despite protestation among professional healthcare workers, many government bodies are loathe to directly and forcefully target that problem in an effective way.  Perhaps it is coincidental, or perhaps not so coincidental, that our tolerance for such disorder seems to grow with a systematic abandoning of social standards often linked to faith.  Because, after all, aren't our lives essentially going to be ruled and constructed out of whatever it is that we put our faith into?  How else is a social order formed and maintained?  Of what is society, or what we might call civilization, made?  Moreover, how does that process work?  The ancient world into which Christ was born was full of monarchs, kings, emperors and other rulers with absolute power, even those who were revered as gods, and the Gospels contain the stories of saints and martyrs who came into disagreement with such power and its abuses.  How have social systems evolved standards of justice, or lists of human rights, even international courts to guard them?  Does our faith have something to do with that?  Does our Lord's sacrifice on the Cross as the true Innocent have something to do with that?  And how does our definition of what the demonic is and does -- the destructiveness to human life on display in today's reading in this pathetically demon-afflicted man -- affect our own sense of what is ordered and what is disordered in our cities and towns and neighborhoods?  What does it mean that this man was afflicted by a legion of demons?  In the period of time in which this story took place, a Roman legion consisted of approximately 5,800 men, and it was the largest military unit in the Roman army.  So this number of demons is meant to suggest to us an overwhelming force of the toughest, strongest, most disciplined, and well-equipped infantry in existence.  That is an incredible power to think about opposing and afflicting one sole human being.  Consider what he endured, borne out in the sight of the swine who were driven over a cliff by this demonic influence.  When the things we see and experience seem to be crowding our conditions of life, why don't we consider the force capable of disarming such a legion of demonic adversaries and influences?  Why do we not think more readily of Christ who protects and saves this man, and God whose protection afforded this human being a kind of survival that the swine cannot experience?  When we reach a state where we can recognize influences -- or at least effects -- that appear in spiritual stories, why do we not consider what we seem to be losing when we lose tenets of faith as part of our understanding of how our society needs to function in order to be healthy, and to protect the common good?  The tolerance for destruction of human life is evident.  What about our capacity to build our societies and life-giving standards?  Sometimes problems overwhelm a person to the point where they need another level of help and protection, like a legion of troubles and bad influences.  Let us consider the kind of help we need today.