Luke 8 recalls Jesus and the disciples going to the Decapolis side of the Sea of Galilee, which was a predominantly Gentile area. [1] There Jesus encountered a man with a legion of demons.[2]
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” said the demon though its host (Lk. 8:29a).[3] A theologically correct attribution to Jesus of Nazareth, the man is, after all, truly the Son of the Most High God, but there is more to the picture. Users of ancient magic would attempt to “control a spirit by naming it,” but the demoniac’s “attempt at magical self-protection is powerless against Jesus.”[4] Dark power failed to influence Jesus. Realizing their defeat, the demons say, “I beg you, do not torment me” (Lk. 8:29b).
Jesus commands the demon to come out of its host and to discloses its name. The demon possessed man answers, “Legion” (Lk. 8:30).
The man apparently had been infested by a host of demons. The demons left the man naked and alone in dreadful places: “For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs” (Lk. 8:27). The spirits animated their human with unnatural power: The demoniac hand to be “kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert” (Lk. 8:29).
What happened to this man was something other than a socio-psycho-biological cause. Not a “demonized” outcasts or social pariah. Not mental delirium from a trauma. Not psychosis brought upon by a bodily condition (e.g., bacterium, virus, cancer, genetics, chemical imbalance). Such things happen, they can affect behavior, and they ought to be treated appropriately, but Luke describes something altogether different. Jesus encountered a man was under the influence of an evil spirit, a noncorporeal malevolent conscious being, a supernatural agent. Enticed at the bait of having extraordinary powers, and the man gave himself over to the demon. The spirits gave superstrength, but the price was his sanity and well-being. Whereas the Devil and demons are never at the root of every problem, we are mistaken to suppose they are non-existent.[5]
Legion “begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss” (Lk. 8:31). This, of course, takes place at the eschaton. They will be cast into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 19:20; 20:7-10; 14-15). Here is the situation: “The demoniac world realizes that on the day of the final judgment its relative freedom to roam about on earth and in the sky must cease forever, and that its final and most terrible punishment is destined to begin at that time. They know that right now they are face to face with the One to whom the final judgment has been committed. They are afraid that even now, before the appointed time, Jesus might hurl them into ‘the abyss’ or ‘dungeon,’ that is, into hell, the place where Satan is kept”[6] But noticing a herd of pigs feeding on a hillside, “they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned” (Lk. 8:32-33).[7] The demons were never really set free to dwell with the pigs; instead, they ended up perishing in a watery grave.
The herdsmen became afraid after seeing the pigs drown and the man healed from his demons and clothed in a right state of mind but witnesses informed them how the Jesus healed the demoniac (Lk. 8:34-36). Mark lets us know that about 2000 pigs perished (Mk. 5:13) and that the local witnesses also mentioned what happened to the pigs (Mk. 5:16). But, the folks of Gerasenes despised the miracle, and they “asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear” (Lk. 8:37). Whereas Jewish folks considered some miracle workers to be prophets, like Elijah and Elisha, “Greeks usually categorized miracle workers as magicians or sorcerers. Because magicians and sorcerers were usually malevolent and Jesus’ coming had already cost these Gentiles from the Decapolis economically (he sank a lot of pork), they were naturally terrified of him.”[8] The Gerasenes witnessed the display of Christ power, but they mistook the true divine identity of the miracle worker, and took the whole ordeal as a bad thing.
Just as the demonic Legion were afraid of Christ and begged to be sent into the pigs, the Gerasenes feared Christ and begged the Christ to go away.
What the Gerasenes failed to realized was that Christ being with them was a good thing, and they were better off receiving Him. Jesus brought to wellness and sanity a man tormented by many demons to the extent that he could only be kept in chains and under guard inside the city or roaming about the desert as an insane recluse. How could that be bad for the community? Certainly, the salvation of the sinner far outweighed the destruction of the herd. Fear led the folks in the region of Gerasenes to reject the Christ. They had a debilitating fear, which moved them to repel what was truly good.
Now, the folks at Gerasenes were never beyond hope. The man who had been healed of the demons wanted to sail away with Jesus, but the Lord had different plans, and instructed the man: “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you” (Lk. 8:39). Saved from the demons, the man went back to his hometown and share with them the good news.
Instead of a debilitating fear that repulses good, there is a reverential fear that attracts us to the Light. This reverential fear of God is foundational to true wisdom in thought and deed: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; | fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). We ought to have reverential fear of God.
There is also a deep sense of awe and wonder connected to reverential fear. The disciples were afraid after witnessing Jesus calm the storm (Lk. 8:22-25). Who can command the winds and waves to be still? God almighty can do that! So, who is this fella in the boat with us? Mystery enshrouds the one true God of the universe, and when we have an encounter with the divine, the experience is simultaneously frightening and attractive — mysterium tremendum et fascinans. Whereas the disciples were afraid, they remained with Christ.
In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Susan finds out Aslan, the King of Narnia, is a lion, she asks, “Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” So too is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Is He good? Yes! Is He safe? Not so much.
It is reverential fear which draws us to fall prostrate and to offer holy worship to one true Triune God of the universe.
—WGN
[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993): Lk 8:26.
[2] Luke indicates they were in Gerasa “the country of the Gerasenes” (v. 28), whereas Matthew says they were in Gadara “the country of the Gadarenes” (Matt. 8:28). Craig Keener indicates “Matthew’s ‘Gadara’ (Mt 8:28), [is] eight miles from the lake, and Gerasa, about thirty miles from the lake” and both being “in the same general region, the area of the Decapolis” (Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Lk 8:26). Thus, both places are in the general vicinity of each other, i.e., on the Decapolis side of the Sea of Galilee. Luke mentions one man being infested by demons, but Matthew tells of two demoniacs present on that occasion (Matt. 8:28). There is nary a contradiction. Two were present as Matthew points out but one became the focus of attention, but Luke focuses attention upon the “outspoken of the two, the one whose demoniac occupants called themselves ‘Legion’” (Gleason L. Archer, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Zondervan’s Understand the Bible Reference Series [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982], 325). Luke never says, “There was only demoniac and no more.” Such differences between the telling of an event between the Gospels is a testament to the reliability of sources as independent witnesses to the event. In The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel observes, “Ironically…if the gospels had been identical to each other, word for word, this would have raised charges that the authors had conspired among themselves to coordinate their stories in advance, and that would have cast doubt on them,” to which New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg replies, “That’s right…if the gospels were too consistent, that in itself would invalidate them as independent witnesses. People would then say we really only have one testimony that everybody else is just parroting” (Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidences for Jesus [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998], 45).
[3] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[4] Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Lk 8:28.
[5] Can a Christian be demon possessed? To be “demon possessed” (daimonizomai [δαιμονίζομαι]) involves being under the influence or indwelt with a demon (fallen angel; evil spirit; malevolent noncorporeal conscious being).Christians are indwelt with the Holy Spirit (Rm. 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 6:19; Gal. 4:6; Ezek. 36:27-28). Christians are never said to be indwelt by the Devil and demons. They cannot be “demon possessed” in the sense of being under their control. However, Christians will face off against attacks from external demonic forces, and this calls for wearing the armor of God and receiving prayer from the community of Christ (Eph. 6:10-19). Christians submit to God and resist the Devil, and the Devil flees (Jas. 4:7). Christians are to care for the temple of the Holy Spirit through separating themselves from the corrupt things of this world (2 Cor. 6:16-7:1). The Christian renounces Satan, opposes the god of this world, and belongs to Christ. The man in Luke 8:26-39 was demon possessed (daimonizomai), and Jesus delivered him from the demonic influences. For further related reading, see “Can a Christian Be Demonized?” by Brent Grimsley and Elliot Miller and “Does Satan Have Access to Our Minds?” Hank Hanegraaff.
[6] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke, vol. 11, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 447.
[7] Pigs were unclean animals according to Mosaic Law (Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8). Observant Jews would neither eat nor touch them. Yet, Decapolis was a predominantly gentile area of Palestine (Keener, Lk. 8:26). Gentiles were unlikely to have followed Old Testament laws on maintaining ceremonial cleanliness.
[7] Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary:Mt 8:33–34.
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