Luke 8:26-39

The disciples asked “Who is this that the wind and waves obey?” They get their answer in this section. 

The state of the man- possessed by a legion of demons. 6,000 were in a military legion. He is living in a tomb. He is cut off from people and perpetually unclean. He lived adjacent to a pig farm which was unclean and gross. 

“Jesus remains calm before this human storm, as he had before the wind and the waves on the lake. The same quiet authority will deal with the one as with the other.” N.T. Wright

Why does Jesus encounter so many demons and we don’t? 

-Strategy- being off the radar and convincing everyone that none of them really exist is proving a great strategy in the US. 

-Significance- I’m not Jesus and you aren’t Jesus and all of evil isn’t fighting against us like it was Jesus. All of hell was aimed at Jesus trying to stop him. 

The fear of the Demons-they understand the authority of Jesus and all he has to do is speak. They scream, “What is it with us?” They have encountered each other before. Their vocabulary is beautiful. They repeat Jesus’ identity over and over trying to gain power over him as was local magician lore. They try to intimidate any way they can. When it doesn’t work they switch to begging. 

The allowance of Jesus- Why did he collapse the pig farmer’s livelihood? Why would Jesus acquiesce to the desires of the demons? Jesus allows it to happen to show that the possessed is worth so much more than anything else. 

The response of the town- at the bogging of the story fear is the center and ends with adoration aimed at Jesus. 

The town’s people missed an opportunity. They could have brought their sick. They could have listened and learned. Instead they were terrified and asked Jesus to leave. Sometimes we get so used to something horrible and terrifying that we choose that over the unknown power of Jesus. 

The request of the man- the man asks to follow Jesus and Jesus says, “no.”

Jesus recognizes that the man and his family needs to be reunited. Jesus loves you more than what you can do for him. Also, Jesus wants the Gentiles to know about the Kingdom of God. Who better to share that than a set free Gentile?

The answer to last night’s question-

Jesus tells the man to go and tell all that GOD has done for you and he went and told all the JESUS did.