Luke 8:26-39
June 22, 2025
I’m sure all of us have heard of Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” I don’t know exactly how that phrase came about as I discovered that there are several different opinions about the origin of that phrase. In the church we have a version of Murphy’s Law that goes like this: “No good deed goes unpunished.” An example of this took place many years ago in Baltimore, Maryland where a lady would gather up trash left by drug dealers outside her beauty shop and place it into city trash containers. This lady was trying to keep her neighborhood safe and clean. And what was her reward? The city tried to fine her for using the city trash containers for what they claimed was her own private purposes.
So in the spirit of “No good deed goes unpunished,” our Gospel lesson for today contains a story about a man who was possessed by a demon, but was healed by Jesus. And as we heard the story being read this morning, it’s very easy to think: “We don’t see anything like that today in our community – someone being possessed by a demon – maybe not even in our country.” So I wondered this week, “What does demon possession look like in our community today?” And the one thought that came to my mind was materialism, our desire to constantly have more. We are told over and over again in our society that we are what we own. We are defined by what we wear, the car we drive, the electronic gadgets we possess, the activities our children are involved in, and the house or neighborhood we live in. As a result sometimes families struggle or are even destroyed in their desire to accumulate things. For many, the thought of living differently or living with less is not even considered. When the idea is brought up or when people are confronted with their spending habits, they become angry and they point to others who have more to somehow justify their purchases. If we take this scenario then to its logical conclusion, what we wind up with is people believing that “He/she who dies with the most toys wins,” and families end up alienating themselves from God as they fight over what is left.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus confronts this problem of demonism, and what we see is some helpful insight for living in our world today. As Jesus appears on the scene, a man possessed with a demon falls on his knees in front of Jesus. This is a man who had been forced out of his community, he was living among the tombs, naked, and doomed to live the rest of his life almost like an animal. But notice what happens, as soon as Jesus arrives, the demon immediately recognizes Jesus as God and cries out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” Demons always recognize Jesus as God, with all of His power and authority. And yet, some of the smartest people on this planet don’t have a clue as to who Jesus is; but no demon on this planet is in the dark on this subject. Whenever they appear in the Bible, they always address Jesus in terms of His deity – that He is God in the flesh.
Notice, also, that they are afraid of Jesus. They know their final destination is the Abyss, as we heard in verse 31, a place that is mentioned several times in the book of Revelation as a place of confinement for Satan and all evil spirits. They know where they are headed, so they beg Jesus to send them into a herd of pigs nearby.
Another interesting point is that when Jesus asks the demon’s name, he says, “Legion.” Now a legion in the Roman Army consisted of around 6000 soldiers and in our text the plural words “they/them” are used in verses 31-32, as it says, “And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now 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.”
We don’t know how many demons were living in this man, but it must have been a huge number, and now they are before Jesus and they are scared as Jesus is in control. This is very important for us to remember, because no matter what we are facing in our lives, Jesus is always in control. As there is power simply in His presence, He gives the demons permission to come out of the man and in fear they rushed into the herd of pigs (the Gospel of Mark tells us that there were 2000 pigs in this herd). So thousands of demons go into 2000 pigs and they rushed down a steep bank into the lake and they drowned.
Wow! You would think that if people in any community saw something like this happen, they would go to Jesus and say, “Thank you, Jesus, we are so blessed to have you here. We had that man in our community who was possessed by demons and we couldn’t do anything to control him. But when you simply showed up, the demons recognized you and your power. They fled into a herd of pigs, and now the man is cured. That was amazing.” But they didn’t say anything like that at all.
Instead, when the people came to investigate what had happened and saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting there, dressed, and in his right mind, and when they heard about the pigs, they asked Jesus to leave. No “Thank you?” Weren’t these people happy about this man who had been healed? Well, I’m sure they were to a certain degree, but what is truly amazing is that they were more concerned about the pigs. Why? Because the pigs were their livelihood. In today’s money, the people had probably just lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in income when the pigs drowned. Was the soul of this one man worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to them? In their minds, the answer was “no.” Here was one of Jesus’ great miracles. He had liberated a member of the community and the community itself from a legion of demons. The havoc that they had brought on this man and on the community was now over. And what does Jesus get for His good deed? He is asked to leave. Verse 37 says, “Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them.” No good deed goes unpunished.
As Jesus was getting into the boat to leave, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with Him. But Jesus told him to return to his home and tell people how much God has done for you. And that’s exactly what the man did.
Now, what’s the significance of this story for us? There are 2 things I want us to remember. First, Satan is powerful. We must never underestimate him; but he is not all-powerful. He does have limitations. In the opening chapters of the Old Testament book of Job, the only time that Satan was allowed and able to touch Job was when God gave him permission; and even when God did allow Satan to touch Job, He put limitations on Satan.
Yes, Satan is powerful, but God is all powerful. Just notice the “before and after” with this man. Before, the man was out of control with this demon; but afterwards, he’s sitting quietly and in his right mind. Before, he’s naked and living among the tombs; after he’s clothed and allowed to go back home. This transformation is truly impossible apart from the power of God. And so, if you are facing an impossible situation today or this week, remember the power of God.
The second thing I want us to remember is the power of witnessing. Jesus tells the healed man to go home and tell others what God has done for him. And what a story this man had to tell. But we all have stories to tell, and our stories are not any less important than the story this man told his family. As a witness, we are to tell others what God has done in our lives, and the best place to begin is with your family. Now this is not always easy, in fact, it is one of the hardest places to begin. Many times people find it easier to talk to strangers about God than their own families. Why? Because there are times when our loving efforts and good deeds are misunderstood by our family and they get used against us. In other words, no good deed goes unpunished. But that does not mean we should stop doing them. This man was told by God to start with his family, and that’s where we should begin and should continue to witness. Love didn’t come without pain or misery for Jesus; and love won’t come without pain and misery for us either. But with Jesus there is power – power to heal and power to change hearts. May God empower all of us to share His Word and live His love, regardless of the outcome.
