Luke 8:26–39

²⁶Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me." ²⁹For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) ³⁰Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," for many demons had entered him. ³¹And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. ³²Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. ³⁴When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ³⁶And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. ³⁷Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. ³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹"Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

This is a filthy, disgusting text. It is offensive. First we have a man, running around naked, shouting, unbathed, filthy, cutting himself, hiding in dark places and living amidst the tombs. Then we have a herd of 2000 pigs. These smelly, dirty, noisy animals were so filthy and unclean that God prohibited his people from eating them. They were offensive and disgusting to the Jews. This was the most polluted of unclean places. It was the filthiest of the filthy.

And right into the middle of it stepped Jesus. To the observer it looked like he had taken a wrong turn. A lost traveler who accidentally wound up in the roughest and most dangerous neighborhood in town. A tough, inner city, neighborhood run by gangs and drug dealers; sidewalks littered with drunks and addicts. But no, Jesus knew exactly what was there and that's why he came.

You see, Jesus comes to meet us in the deepest, darkest and most disgusting places of our lives. He comes into our filthy hearts, tombs filled with the stench of death. Here the most corrupt, secret places of your heart that hold you in bondage is where Jesus wants to penetrate. For here are the things that make you slaves. And yes, you are slaves to the evil in your hearts just as much as this man was in bondage to demons. You are in bondage to your sin. And that bondage to sin shows up in your lives and in your attitudes and thoughts.

Your bondage is seen in addictions, whether it be too alcohol, drugs, or TV or video games. It is seen by self-destructive behavior, fears and phobias. You are in bondage to worry, to anxiety attacks, to depression. You are in bondage to bitterness and anger. You are in bondage to an unforgiving heart that bears resentment toward other people and eats away at you inside and rots your soul. You are in bondage to prejudice, resentment toward people of a different social class, racial or ethnic background. You are in bondage to your past, the memories of things done long ago, to feelings of guilt for things you have done. You are in bondage to memories of the hurts that others have inflicted on you in years gone by, but they still haunt you and eat away at you and rot your thoughts and minds. If not literal demons, they are metaphorical demons. Legions of demons that hold you down and keep you from living free, that keep you from loving our neighbor, from achieving our full potential, from happiness and from joy. But most of all, this bondage to sin robs you of salvation and eternal life. It is bondage to darkness and death.

The demon possessed man could not be constrained by chains or shackles. Guards could not keep hold him or prevent him from running away. These demons that hold you in bondage are stronger than steel and more powerful than the might of men. Your addictions, your attitudes, your anxiety, your depressions, your prejudice, your bitterness, your memories of the past are more powerful than any army and you are helpless in their grip. And so your hearts become tombs of death, an untamed wilderness.

And into the dark abyss of your sinful hearts walks Jesus. Not by accident. He isn't lost. He would go into hell itself to rescue you from there. And that is exactly where he did go on the cross. He suffered the torments of hell on the cross to pay for your sins; yes, he volunteered to suffer the torments that even the demons fear, he himself went to the abyss that not even demons can endure in order to rescue you from the bondage of your sin.

And so, He comes into the tombs of your hearts in love and mercy. He comes to you by his word. By that very word with which he commanded the demons to come out of the man. Those demons shrieked in terror and cried out to Jesus, "Don't send us to the abyss." They were terrified of hell, the place of eternal punishment. Even the demons fear hell. It is for them a place of torment and pain. Sometimes we might get the impression that hell is their home, where they sit around laughing and giggling as they contrive fiendish schemes against us. But no, it's not like that at all. They hate it, they fear it, they know its torments and suffering and they flee from it. They do not want to be there.

But at his command the demons must go. His word is powerful. His word is absolute. His word is authority. His word is power. They didn't just pack up their things and casually go out, turning off the lights and locking the doors behind them. Our text says that they went rushing out violently. It was a stampede. The swine stampeded down the cliff. In uncontrolled frenzy and fear the demons fled at the strong word of Jesus. Yes, those demons who were stronger than steel and mightier than an army, they fled at the Word of Jesus.

And in the same way, the strong word of Jesus releases us from our bondage; bondage to sin and death. Bondage to both the real and metaphorical demons. Bondage of anxiety, worry, depression, memories and guilt. "Thy strong word did cleave the darkness. At thy speaking it was done. Thy strong word bespeaks us righteous." The word of Christ fees us. As Jesus preached in Nazareth: "I have been sent to proclaim liberty to the captives." The proclamation of his word frees us from captivity to all that holds us in bondage.

So in the liturgy of our worship, the first main part of the Divine Service is the service of the word. Here we hear the Word read to us, we hear it preached to us. Here we sing the word in liturgy and hymn. It is that word that is stronger than steel and more powerful than the might of men. It is strong to release us from bondage to sin and death, worry and anxiety, fear and guilt, addiction and self-destruction, hatred and resentment. Just before the Gospel reading we sing: "Alleluia, you have the words of eternal life." The strong word of Jesus gives us eternal life. The Gospel is the power that saves us. The absolution is the word that forgives us.

We don't read and preach the word to learn something new. Although sometimes we do learn something, that's not the main point. The point is that Christ comes to us by his word. The point of hearing and singing and praying the word is that by the word that Christ is delivered to us, it is the word that forgives our sins, it is the word that frees us from bondage, it is the word that saves us and it is the word that gives us eternal life. We come here to receive these gifts from God and they are given to us only in His word. We come to be freed from bondage to sin and death by his word.

Not hearing, not studying, not being in Bible study, not learning and meditating on the word is cutting yourself off from forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. It is not for mere knowledge that we study the Word, it is because these are the words of eternal life.

Notice what happened to the pigs with the demons in them. They stampeded down the cliff and drowned in the sea. Martin Luther in his rite of baptism includes his Flood Prayer. Here Luther ties baptism to the drowning of the wicked people in the flood at the time of Noah. Here Luther connects baptism to the Egyptians being drowned in the Red Sea. Here in this miracle, we see the filth, the uncleanness, the demons and the swine drowned in water. In baptism the strong word of Jesus is joined to water and the filth and rubbish of our sinful nature is drowned. In baptism your sins are drowned and you are set free from the bondage that grips your life. In baptism you receive the word of God that frees you.

Having been baptized though, sometimes we turn from our baptism and return to our bondage because of our sinful flesh. Here God gives us the gift of confession and absolution to return daily to our baptism to be released from bondage over and over. Daily your sin is drowned in baptism with confession of your sins. We live in our baptism being freed again over and over by confession and absolution in the liturgy, or in private confession.

Then the people who had seen the demons cast out, went and told spread the news. Crowds of people came out to see what had happened and to see who this Jesus was.

And when they arrived they found the man set free from demons sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing and learning his word. This man who was so disgusting that we couldn't bear to be near him or even look at him, is now clothed, bathed, in his right mind, and is now a disciple of Jesus.

Then Jesus sent him back to town to tell the others what happened to him. He sent a gentile to a gentile city, to the nations, to the lost, in order to free them from bondage by the strong word of Jesus, the same gospel that had freed him. Jesus sends us with his strong word of the Gospel to make disciples of the nations by baptizing them in Jesus name. He sends us to continue his work of freeing men from bondage. Like the people who spread the news, and said, "Come, see this man who casts out demons," we invite friends and neighbors to come, see Jesus, hear his word proclaimed. We continue his mission of freeing men from sin by the preaching of his word attached to water in baptism and attached to bread and wine in communion. Jesus living in you, sends you to all people. They may be disgusting, unclean, slaves to demons, but our mission is to release them by telling them about Jesus. By inviting them to come to see Jesus and what he has done. By his strong word Jesus continues to cast out the demons that lurk in the hearts of men, the sins that hold men in shackles stronger than steel, through you and me as we bring people to hear His word and proclaim the forgiveness of sins and freedom from slavery and death through word and sacrament.

Amen.

With a firm faith hold fast to the riches of God's grace and joyfully give thanks for his mercy forever and ever. Amen.