Luke 8:26-39 "Demons of Our Fathers"
Last week we met Jesus the Storm God. This week it’s Jesus the Demon King. It’s a fascinating story with all kinds of interesting details and applications. Maybe it’s just because it’s Father’s Day, but I also see a bunch of specific things for us dads.
Jesus: King of Demons. Demon Slayer. Demons of Our Fathers. So many good titles.
Maybe I should just call it “Legion” for it has many names. Ha. Some of you will get that later.
Prayer: Father in heaven, as we turn to Your Word today, help us to see ourselves in the story. Not as the hero, but as the sinner, the one who needs to be rescued. AMEN
Luke chapter 8, starting at verse 26, here’s the whole story:
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:26-39
The disciples are still shook up from the storm and Jesus’s God-like power to silence it just by speaking, then they get to the other side of the lake and this happens. A naked dude comes running out of a cemetery screaming at them, begging Jesus not to torture him. They were already intimidated by Jesus, now this monster of a man is cowering before him like a little girl.
This is like a horror movie.
The naked man was possessed by demons. Linda Blair level spooky.
Let’s talk about demon possession for a minute, since most of us have never seen it and we probably hear a story like this with some skepticism.
Possession What does it mean to be possessed by a demon? Well, what does it mean to possess something? What are your possessions? They’re things you own. Your possessions. To be possessed by a demon means a person is owned by the demon—a slave to the demon.
We all belong to someone. You have either been purchased by the blood of Jesus—that’s what redemption means—or you are still a slave of the world, the flesh, and the devil. You are either a possession of God, or you are still possessed by someone or something else. There are no neutral, free-range people. That’s why every baptism is an exorcism, an adoption, and newfound freedom in the kingdom of God.
But some possessions are darker than others. Deeper. This guy had it bad. He had surrendered all control to his demon masters.
Most of us haven’t seen a lot of obvious supernatural demonic things. There’s a good reason for that but it seems to me that things are changing.
Jesus came into the world and went around casting out demons. He taught His followers to do the same. Demons are smart. They’re much older than us, they’ve seen it all. They don’t want to be cast out. So after Jesus showed up they started hiding. They still do all the things demons do, they’re just sneaky about it anywhere the Gospel is preached and believed. Anywhere the faith of a child can send them running.
But things are changing. Our culture is turning away from Jesus. Our culture is forgetting the Gospel. We are surrendering control to our demons. You can see it everywhere. The way we’re so confused about everything, the way we hate anyone who disagrees with us, our obsession with death, self-mutilation, nakedness, sex, isolation—the way we run away from the church and other believers so we can surrender more and more to our demons and secret sins.
It’s a lot like the parable of the sower and the seed. So many people are letting the cares of the world, distractions, and pleasures—choke their faith to death like a garden overrun with weeds.
And even if we did start seeing more obvious demonic activity, most of us would dismiss it as mental illness, drug addiction, or whatever. I’m not saying those things aren’t real—of course they are. But so are demons. Anyone who doesn’t think demons are real, to me, they sound like Medieval scientists who didn’t believe in germs.
We would have just given the naked homeless man in this story a bath and some powerful antipsychotic drugs and he probably would’ve kept his pants on and mellowed out a bit—but the only real cure was for Jesus to cast the demons out.
Medicine I probably need to say this, too: We are not opposed to medical treatment and medicine to help people with chemical imbalances in their brains. I’m not casting any weirdness on people with mental health problems or anyone who takes meds. God gave us doctors and medicine to treat people and help people—hospitals and modern medicine are a direct result of the Gospel going into the world and creating an environment where people actually want to help and serve each other. I’m all for helping people with science and medicine.
At the same time—there is spiritual sickness that medicine will never be able to cure. It’s a sickness we are all born with, we’re all going to die of it, but for all of us who are set free—like the man in this story—we have hope that transcends this world. Life beyond the tombs.
Verse 28:
When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” Luke 8:28
The poor guy ran up screaming, Jesus commanded the demon to leave the man. The demon knows who Jesus is—Son of the Most High God. The demon knows Jesus is God. I said Jesus is the Demon King because the demons instantly recognize His authority and do what He says. The devil and demons always do what Jesus says, they are far more obedient than we are. Remember that the next time you’re tempted to think keeping God’s commandments can save you.
This whole section of Luke is all about Jesus’ identity as the divine Son of God. If Jesus would have been anyone else this guy would have attacked and ripped them apart. Also, the demon isn’t resisting the exorcism, he just wants Jesus to show him mercy.
Isn’t that strange? They’ve been torturing this man for years, and now when Jesus is kicking them out, they want mercy.
He asks the demon, “What’s your name?”
The demon says his name is “Legion” because there was a bunch of them in there. A “legion” is a Roman military battalion with between 3 and 6 thousand soldiers. This guy was chock full of nuts.
Maybe that’s why his situation was so extreme. He lived in the tombs, he had supernatural strength, broke iron chains, beat the snot out of anyone who got near him, he cut himself—basically, he was miserable and made everyone else miserable, too.
It seems to me that we might want to do whatever we can do to keep from inviting demons to attach themselves to us—I’ll get to how we can do that in a minute.
The demons don’t want Jesus to send them to the abyss. Revelation tells us the abyss is the final destination for the devil and his demons. It’s a place created specifically for them where they will be tortured forever when Christ returns on the last day. They know that’s their destiny and they don’t want Jesus to send them there early. They begged Jesus to send them into a domestic herd of pigs instead.
The most amazing thing is that Jesus is kind to them—He grants their request.
Now, this was Gentile country. The demonized man might have been a pagan. He was definitely unclean. Demons are unclean. Tombs are unclean. Pigs are also unclean.
It’s also possible that the man and the owners of the pigs might have been really bad Jews. If that’s the case, then we have a whole other level of rebellion and disobedience going on here. Jews were not allowed to raise pigs or eat pork—this is like black market bacon.
Funny that today we have a bacon bar for Father’s Day. Just another reason to be thankful for New Testament and the end of the dietary laws. Can I get an AMEN?
Jesus does what the demons requested, He sends them into the herd of pigs.
Immediately the pigs ran over a cliff and drowned in the water.
So, what's the deal? Is this a case of “Be careful what you pray for?” Did Jesus get revenge on the demons and send them to the abyss anyway? I don’t know, that doesn’t sound like Jesus to me. Were the demons released on earth to go mess with other people? Doesn’t say. We’re not told why Jesus did it that way, just that He did.
But, remember this story the next time you wonder if your cat is possessed. It’s not out of the question. Ha
We do know that the owners of the pigs were not pleased. They called the cops. Then a bunch of people came out to see for themselves…
Verse 35:
and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Luke 8:35-36
The demoniac who had been a terror to this community for years was healed. He was just sitting there, all calm, listening to Jesus talk about the kingdom of God. In his right mind and dressed for church.
People from the village were so impressed, so thankful that Jesus healed a man who had been tortured for so long, that they threw a big party and celebrated and gave Jesus the key to the city—named a street after Him.
No. Not quite. They were polite about it but they asked Him to leave. They were more freaked out by a guy that could cast out demons than they were with the demons themselves. They didn’t want Jesus to do anything else to mess up business as usual—didn’t want any more herds of pigs to go swimming.
It’s interesting that the owners of the pigs don’t come forward and accuse Him of destruction of property—that’s what makes me think they might have been Jews with bootleg bacon.
So Jesus gets back in the boat with His disciples to leave. The man Jesus had set free begs to go with Him but Jesus doesn’t let him.
Verse 39:
“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:39
Notice Jesus says “tell everyone what God has done for you,” then Luke says, “the man told everyone what Jesus had done for him.” God. Jesus. Same person.
And apparently, that’s exactly what he did—like big time.
This area is called the Decapolis, an area of ten cities in ancient Rome. Archeologists have uncovered more Christian churches in this area than pretty much anywhere else from that time. It seems this formerly demonized man was really faithful at doing what Jesus told him to do.
Also, notice what Jesus told him to do: tell people what God did for you. Tell your story. That’s where the power is—not arguing about theology or trying to prove demons are real or whatever. Just tell people what God has done for you. What Jesus has done for you.
Demons of Our Fathers Okay, let’s apply this to Father’s Day. I couldn’t help but see some things when I was reading through the text this week.
What did the demons drive the man to do? Because it sounds a whole lot like the most common sins of fathers.
These are the demonic things he did:
He isolated himself. From his family, from his friends. He ended up living like a homeless beast in the tombs but it probably didn’t start like that. It probably started with smaller isolations. Like staying late at work, avoiding worship, avoiding family—letting his wife do all the parenting. Like when we spend all our time and energy on our hobbies, our distractions, playing games, watching games. Or less innocent things like hanging out in our man-cave or garage, smoking weed, watching porn—the man in the story couldn’t keep his pants on either.
In Genesis we’re told that it’s not good for man to be alone—that’s where demons do their best work.
The demon-possessed man was also angry all the time. Raging. Fighting with anyone who got near him. Not too different from road rage, yelling at our wife and kids, fighting with people at work. Being annoyed all the time. Everything makes us mad. Throwing tantrums like demon babies.
No surprise, eventually, the man got in trouble with the law. They chained him up. He thought by getting mad and furiously breaking his chains he would be free—but it just made it worse. Our anger never goes anything good. The anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
So, He followed the lead of the demons all the way down. Self-destructive. Isolated. Wandering around lost. Ends up homeless waiting to die.
So, Jesus heals the man, casts out the demons, sets him free. The man is very thankful and wants to go with Jesus—follow Him wherever—do whatever He tells him to do.
I love what Jesus commands him to do. It’s the opposite of what the demons had him doing. He tells him to go home. Go back to your family. Go be the father and husband and son you should have been all along.
This time make it about loving them instead of being a selfish jerk. And don’t fall into the same old traps.
Here’s a very important warning for all of us, not just dads, habitual sins are invitations. I told you I would give you some ways to keep demons from attaching themselves to you. Doing the same sins over and over is like setting out rotten fruit, dirty dishes, and piles of trash in the kitchen—you’re going to attract pests. There’s a reason the devil is called the lord of the flies. When we ignore God’s good plan for the way He wants us to live our life—when we do all the things we know He doesn’t want us to do, when we blow off all the things we know we ought to be doing—it’s like inviting demonic activity into our life with open arms.
If you believe your sins are forgiven because of Jesus, then they are, it’s that simple. Your sins are forgiven and they’re not going to drag you to hell.
But when you keep doing them—you invite hell into your life NOW.
Ah, but “I’m a Christian” you say. Demonic things can’t happen to me! I’ve been set free!
The Cage Look at it this way: You were born in captivity. You were born in a cage, and all you ever knew was a cage. One day Jesus came into your cage, into your life, opened the door, and set you free.
Your captors, the demons, they were not pleased. They’re going to try every trick they know to lure you back into that cage. That’s what sin is. When you take the bait and crawl back into your old cage—the demons might not possess you anymore, they might not own you anymore, but they have you again, they got you where they want you. Jesus makes sure the door stays open, you’re free to go. Repent and believe. Stop crawling back inside.
I don’t know what your habitual sins are, and you don’t know mine, but I know every time we give in to them it’s a little easier the next time—and before long we’ll find ourselves back in the cage—back at the tombs—isolated, hurting ourselves and hurting others.
Go back home. Remember what Jesus did for you.
We should always identify with the sinners in the stories of the Bible. You were once like the man of the tombs. Now you have a life beyond the grave. This is a beautiful picture of the Gospel. What Jesus has done for you because you couldn’t do it for yourself. Telling people about what He’s done for you is how we set other people free—it’s how the demons are conquered. You have been set free. Go home and tell people what God has done for you. AMEN