Luke 8:26-39 on June 22nd, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
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All right, so let's set the scene. Jesus is crossing the sea of Galilee to the land of the garrisines, which means he's not just crossing a sea, but he's crossing boundaries. The land of the garrisines is the land of Gentiles, and no self-respecting Jewish prophet would dare take his band of followers there. But Jesus does. And when he gets there, he is immediately confronted by a man who is possessed. And actually, he's a bit more than possessed. He's occupied, because that is what a legion did. A legion was a unit by which the Roman military organized itself. And this guy isn't possessed by just one unclean spirit, but rather he's occupied by a whole host of them. Dozens, hundreds, maybe more. Though for the record in the Roman army, a legion designated 6,000 soldiers. So we can be pretty sure that Luke was using this term to let us know that it was a lot.
This guy's story is tragic. He's lost everything. No home. Instead, he's living in the cemetery. No family or friends. He's alone. No clothes. He's running around naked. But also, this guy has lost who he is. Notice how he answers when Jesus asks him his name. He's not Bill or George or Joe, but legion. He identifies himself as his possession, as his illness, as that very thing that keeps him from being part of community and life as God intends.
So Jesus does what Jesus does. He heals him, sending that a whole lot of demons into a herd of pigs that stampede over a cliff and drown in a lake. And keep in mind that while we might be sad for the pigs or the loss of all that bacon, this would not have been that big of a deal for first century Jewish audience for whom this story was told. And in response to this healing, the people are a bit uncomfortable. It's not that they saw the pigs floating in the lake and they got angry or they presented Jesus with an invoice for lost swine. Now, it's nothing like that. The people come and they find the man closed and in his right mind and they become fearful.
And let's pause right there for a moment, because one might ask the question of why these people were fearful of a newly healed man. And the answer I think can help us get to the heart of the story. So why the fear? Why aren't they happy, joyful, celebrating? I think it comes down to identity. The people knew who this guy was. It was something they set their watch to, you know? Well, I don't know much, but at least I know the guy in the graveyard is going to be crazy today. The Jesus comes along and starts freeing people. Jesus didn't just cross a sea. He crossed a boundary that they thought was secure. And when boundaries move, people get nervous. Because if Jesus can free him, what else might Jesus undo? What else would Jesus restore? Maybe change is scarier than chaos. After all, we may not like the reality that we know, but at least we know it. It's familiar.
And when Jesus starts casting things out to fear addiction, bitterness, shame, hate, it sounds like good news. But it also leaves us wondering, who am I now? Our identity shifts. What wants to find us no longer holds. And honestly, that change feels more like lost than freedom. Sometimes we'd claim to our broken identity. Not because they're good, but because they're known. Healing might be liberating, but it's also a disorder. If we're not defined by our past, our pain, our labels, then who are we?
And that is where Grace steps in. Because Jesus doesn't just strip away what possesses us. He restores us to something deeper, true, or holier. Our identity isn't lost in healing. It's found. Which is good news for us because Jesus can see beyond those things that possess us. And he sees, makes, restores us to who God created us to be. So often we lose sight of that. We get trapped by things in our lives and in our world and we feel cast out, cast out chained, naked, vulnerable. But out of love, Jesus crosses all the boundaries possible to transform us into who God made us to be. He is coming into our world, into our lives, to cast out demons. Which can be scary for us as much as it was for those people. Those things that we think define us, they don't. The disease and the illness that chronically lingers. It doesn't define you. That the people who want to sell you all that stuff, they don't define you either. We are not our wounds or our demons or our misnames. We are God's beloved. And that is who we have been all along. When Jesus helps us remember.
Jesus comes to show us that we are more than the labels that others give us, or the ones that we give ourselves. We are God's beloved children. Forgiven of our sins, healed of our disappointments and blessed with an open future. Jesus comes to tell us that no matter how many people, things or social media posts we see telling us the contrary, we are not insufficient or undeserving of love. And actually I'd argue that the whole point of Jesus' mission and ministry is to tell us and to show us just how much God loves us. And in baptism, we can see and we can touch that promise. Baptism is more than just casting out our sins for giving us for what separates us from God. That's part of it, but it's also about restoring us to our true identity. We are children of God. And we are restored to God's community, joy with Christ. Baptism is a way that we feel God's love washing all over us.
You are love. And sometimes I don't think we hear that enough. You are loved. Love so much that God will pass the way all that separates and God will store you to who God made you to be. Because that is what matters to God. And we, we as a community of faith, we as people here, we get a chance to share that love that changes things. We get to tell about and show a love that can heal and save and restore. We get to proclaim and live out in here again that our identity is as a child of God. Again, that is something that you not hear enough. So in the craziness of our world and in our lives and all that tries to lay claim on us here now, your identity belongs in God. You are restored. You are forgiven. You are welcomed. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. Amen.