Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Gospel reading for today is probably one of Christ’s most famous exorcisms. Of all the people Jesus freed from unclean spirits, we remember this one the most because of all the shocking details. There’s a naked man who lives among the tombs and is strong enough to break chains. There’s not just one unclean spirit, but a legion of demons; and when Christ calls them out, they enter into a herd of pigs that then rush down a steep hill and drown in a lake. This is something out of a modern day horror movie that we watch for fearful enjoyment. But the people who witnessed it all happening, they didn’t get enjoyment from it. They were afraid, truly afraid.
If I were a citizen of that town and I saw that man running around the tombs naked, I’d be afraid. If I saw that herd of pigs out of nowhere all run to a watery death, you’d bet I’d be afraid; and you’d be too. But that wasn’t what the townspeople were afraid of. They were afraid of Jesus! Luke tells us that when the townspeople heard and saw what happened, when they “found that man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, they were afraid” (Lk 8:35). They were so afraid that they asked Jesus to leave. Does that mean they weren’t afraid before when the man was possessed by demons, running around naked, breaking chains? Apparently not. They must’ve gotten comfortable with that sight. And seeing this, the townspeople’s comfort with the demons, we need to ask ourselves, “Do we get so comfortable with the demonic and ungodly that the holy things of God frighten us?”
When we think of the demonic, we picture the things of horror movies. Scenes from The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, and all the Saw films come to our minds. Even if we haven’t seen these movies personally, we all still know about them. And since that is what we associate with the demonic, we limit the demonic to these things: gratuitous and senseless violence, things of the occult and black magic, Satan worship.
These are certainly demonic and should be avoided. But the demonic isn’t just limited to these kinds of things. In fact, the demonic can appear quite harmless, even praised in our culture and society. For example, in the hymn we just sang (LSB 541:4), pride and greed are called demonic; but our world praises them as good. We think greed is a motivating thing that drives us to succeed. But greed comes from covetous desires, and covetousness is idolatry, it’s false worship (Col 3:5). It leads us away from God, and therefore it’s demonic. For something to be demonic then, that means it’s from Satan and it’s goal is to lead us away from the Lord and His life.
Our world, it is so filled with sin and the demonic, that we get used to it; we get comfortable with it. And at times, we even desire it. And because we get used to it, comfortable with our sin, we fear the holy things of God.
We fear repentance. We fear coming before our Lord to confess our sins. But why? Why are we afraid of God’s forgiveness and the freedom He gives? … We’re afraid because if we need God’s forgiveness, that means we’re not sufficient in ourselves. We’re afraid because we know we deserve the judgment of death. We’re afraid because if the pastor or anyone else finds out about our sin, what we do when no one is looking, what we think quietly in our heads, well then, people will look at us differently. We’re afraid because we doubt God’s promised forgiveness. And so, instead of confessing our sin, we choose to ignore it. We self-justify. We convince ourselves that our sin isn’t all that bad, especially when we compare it to others. But this is demonic. This is from Satan. This is what He wants. He wants you to be afraid of repentance. He wants you to fear confessing your sins. He wants you to feel unworthy. And he wants you to self-justify, because when you do that, you stay away from God. But God wants you to come to Him with repentance. He wants you to confess your sins, so that you’ll receive His forgiveness and be set free.
With faith, there’s no terror to stand before God and say “I am a poor miserable sinner.” With faith, there’s no terror to confess your sins comitted in thought, word, and deed, because you have God’s promised love and forgiveness, sealed in the blood of Chrsit, shed on the cross.
Christ’s crucifixion, that’s something from a horror movie. Our Lord was sadistically beaten, nailed to the cross, and tortured for hours. That isn’t something that’s easy to think about. I’ve only seen The Passion of Christ movie once because of how hard it is to watch those scenes. But Christ willingly suffered all of that for you. He willingly endured all of that for you to set you free from your demonic sin that possesses you. Just as He freed that Gerasene man, He’s freed you. He’s freed you for a life that isn’t controlled by sin and death. He’s freed you for a life that isn’t controlled by terror and fear. He’s freed you for a life that is everlasting, a life that is lived in His righteousness.
Before Jesus left that town, the man whom He freed of that legion of demons, he came to Jesus and begged to follow Him. Freed of the demonic, He wanted the godly. He wanted to go with the Lord. But Jesus sent him back to the town instead. He said, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you” (Lk 8:39). Jesus sent that man back home so that he could live the free and godly life that Christ gave to him. And he did. He went throughout the city telling everyone what Jesus had done. And the Lord calls us to do the same.
In our following of the Lord, He tells us to go and declare how much God has done for us. He tells us to live the free godly life that He’s given to us, to live out His righteousness that you’re clothed in. But there are times we’re afraid to do this. We fear living the godly lives He’s called us to live. We fear sharing all that Jesus has done for us.
We’re afraid to do this because that means we’ll be out of step with the world around us. We’re afraid to do this because of what people might say and think about us. Satan and our world don’t want you to live a godly life. Satan and our world don’t want you to live in Christ’s righteousness. Satan and our world don’t want you to proclaim everything God has done. And so they’ll oppress God’s people in any way they can. They’ll continue to declare sin good and righteousness evil. They’ll continue to label God’s people with hateful names. They’ll continue to celebrate sin and vice, pride and greed and even death, until we get so comfortable with it that we don’t think about it anymore. But we must think about it. We need to see it for what it really is: demonic oppression that leads away from the life of our Lord.
We let our sinful nature control us. We may not be possessed by a legion of demons like the Gerasene man, but we let the demonic forces in the world tempt and influence us so much that we get used to it. We get comfortable with sin, and like the townspeople in the Gospel, we fear the godly and holy things of God. But there’s no fear and terror in Christ. He didn’t come to condemn you, but to save you. He came to set you free from the demonic and sin. He came so that you’d have life. Don’t get comfortable with sin. Don’t get comfortable with the unholy that Christ’s holiness frightens you. Repent of your sin. Live in the righteousness of Christ. Praise His saving name. Tell how much Jesus has done for you and for your everlasting life. In His name…Amen.
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