What God Has Done For You

Scripture — Luke 8:26-39 (NRSV)

Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”—for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Devotion

During Ordinary Time, the lectionary readings go in two possible directions. In one approach, the Old Testament readings are chosen to correspond with the Gospel readings; while in the other approach (which I am currently using) the Old Testament readings are chosen to highlight a portion of the Scriptures and read it straight through, so there’s no guarantee that the Gospel will have any particular relation to the Old Testament readings. Nevertheless, since all Scripture tells the story of salvation, there are some connections in this Gospel passage with yesterday’s devotion.

The first major similarity is that, as in Elijah’s story, there is an initial confrontation between good and evil, and good wins. Jesus meets up with a man who has an evil spirit—in fact, he has a legion of evil spirits or demons. The evil spirits recognize the power of God (which is something that demons in the New Testament generally do; recognizing the True God is not their problem.) Jesus sends the evil spirits out of him (in a passage which raises all sorts of fascinating questions about where the abyss is they don’t want to go back to, and where they go after being sent into the swine. But I digress.) The man is saved, Jesus is triumphant. End of story, right? Wrong.

Here’s the next similarity with the Elijah narrative. Solving the initial problem turns out to be only the beginning of the story. For the man, things do get better. He is clothed and in his right mind the next time we meet him. But the swineherds are upset—their livelihood has just run over the cliff, full of demons—and they go tell the neighbors. And the neighbors are also upset. They are upset because they are afraid. They do not want that kind of power in their neighborhood. Who knows what Jesus might do next? So they tell Jesus to go away.

And here is yet one more correspondence with Elijah’s story. Here at the end of the passage, the man pleads to go with Jesus, and Jesus tells him no; the healed man’s mission is to go back into his resistant neighborhood and tell the story of his healing. Really, Jesus? Right back into the thick of things? 

We do know the rest of what happened to Elijah, but we don’t know the rest of what happened to this man. We never even find out his name. But we do know that, like Elijah, whatever his personal misgivings, he obeyed (without even giving an elevator pitch first) and began to preach the Gospel.

So much fought and vanquished; so much left to fight. How—whatever our particular trouble may be—can we take the next step? Remember who it is that comes in power and comes in silence, who walks beside us and goes ahead of us. Be quietly faithful. Tell the story of what Jesus Christ has done for you.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Jesus, Go Away!.