“Set Free to Serve”

Luke 8:26-39

 When you read today’s Gospel reading you experience the truth of the saying, “There is more here than meets the eye.”  Wow!  Jesus and His disciples sail on the sea of Galilee to a territory that is unfamiliar, a place where there aren’t many of their own people.  They are immediately met by a very troubled man.  At first sight he seems crazed, stark naked, his head and face probably covered in matted, long hair, his body dirty and stinking.  But this man is more than just mentally ill.  He rushes straight up to Jesus.  Will he attack Him?  Jesus commands an unclean spirit to come out of the tormented man.  He lets out a horrible cry and falls at Jesus’ feet, wailing, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg you, don’t torture me.” 

 What on earth is going on here?  Jesus is at work bringing help and salvation to a lost and condemned sinner.  The demon that dwells in this man is terrible.  At Jesus’ command, he identifies himself by the name Legion.  A legion was a term used for a group of three to six thousand Roman foot soldiers.  This was not just one unclean spirit tormenting this fellow, it was some sort of demonic network cooperating to destroy the man.  He was out of his mind with suffering.  He couldn’t live in a house or among other people anymore.  His outbursts so terrified his neighbors that they seemed to have tried to have him locked up in jail, but the demons within him were so strong that they enabled him to break through chains and perhaps even jail cell bars.  The spirits drove him away from human society to the wilderness, to a graveyard.  There among the dead he lived, if you can call that living.  Alone, unclothed, bedeviled, and in despair, this man was really only living to die. 

 That is when Jesus arrives at the shore of his wilderness haunt.  Listen to the way the demon speaks to Jesus.  He knows who Jesus is!  Did the disciples travelling with Jesus even know who He was?  They had seen His miracles, heard His teachings, but they had a long way to go in really knowing their Master, for they still had a lot of misconceptions about Him.  But the demon knows who Jesus is: He’s the Son of the Most High God!  The demon also knows who is in charge.  He knows that Jesus has the power to torture him, to condemn him to the abyss, the place of eternal judgment for Satan and his demonic angels.  He begs Jesus instead to allow him to enter a nearby herd of pigs. 

 When Jesus consents to the demon’s request, the man is free!  What no human could do for him, Jesus has done.  Imagine this man’s relief.  Heaven came down and glory filled his soul!  Or more to the point, Jesus comes to this man and releases him from the darkness, the guilt, the sorrow, the fear, the hatred, and despair that have been his daily lot while the demons called his heart their home.  Jesus fills his heart and mind with real life and peace.  Jesus re-clothes him and gives him back his mind.  Then Jesus gives the man a new purpose for his life: “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” 

 Deanna, Adrianne, and Jonathan, there’s more to this day for you than meets the eye too.  With Jesus, we’ve been on a two year journey that took us three to complete.  When it started out, confirmation classes might not have meant much more to you than an extra hour of school-like activity, studying the Bible and Luther’s Small Catechism with me.  For me, there were times when I too came to our classes to go through the motions of teaching as I have done since I became a pastor in 1994.  But Jesus was with us in our lives and in our classes.  He taught us to trust in His loving power to forgive our sins.  He taught us to believe that He was with us in our baptism, that He is with us in His Word we read and hear preached, and He is with us when come to receive the Lord’s Supper.  He is in charge of our lives.  He loves us, and He has given each of us a new purpose for our lives.  Together with other Christians, including the ones who are here with us in worship today, we are to live in ways that show people how much God has done for us.

 Maybe you caught the little reference I just made to Jesus and the man He saved from the demons.  Maybe you wonder what we could have in common with that poor man.  After all, we aren’t possessed by such evil beings.  No we are not, thank the Lord, but that doesn’t mean that those wicked creatures play no part in our lives.  Have you ever had the feeling when you’ve done something wrong that there was more going on in that than meets the eye?  More to it than you just making a bad choice?  Why do nations turn on each other and kill each other in wars?  Why do some people become so obsessed with having wealth, or being liked, or being successful that they sacrifice family, friends and even their health to get it?  Because of human sin right?  Right, but where did sin come from?  An evil angel or demon named Satan infected Adam and Eve with it when he convinced them to disobey God.  Today, in our part of the world, demons don’t seem to possess people the way they did in Jesus’ time, but they are just as busy behind the scenes in less obvious ways. 

 That’s why this story is such good news for us too.  We still face the dangers people have always faced because of sin.  Sin makes us into people who do and say things we shouldn’t.  Sin makes us guilty before God, and those who tempt us try to drive us away from God and the church to live our lives for ourselves.  Demons promise us that money, entertainment, work, play, friends, and all kinds of other good things made by God are more important than God in our lives.  If we believe them, we may feel fine for awhile, but not forever.  Demons offer us idols.  Idols can keep us busy, distracting us from feeling the emptiness in our lives, but they can fill the void.  But Jesus can.

 Jesus came to set us free from the power that sin, Satan, his demons and idols hold over our lives.  He did that for us by offering His life on the cross to break the hold sin holds over us by condemning us for our failures.  Jesus was condemned, and now God forgives us.  Jesus made that forgiveness and freedom yours when you were baptized; there He said, “From now on, you belong to Me.” 

The freedom Jesus gives us is different from what most people call being free.  In the old Walt Disney movie, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, there is a wretched old man who is suddenly let out of the stocks.  He jumps up and down saying, “I’m free, I’m free!”  Before he can get a few steps away though he is trapped again, and he mutters, “Dang it!”  Most people think that being free means being able to do whatever you want to do.  The trouble is that sin has twisted our minds into wanting to do things that make us slaves of guilt again.  People who use God’s name as a dirty word aren’t free.  People who spend all kinds of time and money because they are obsessed with the latest music star, computer, or style of clothes aren’t free.  Only Jesus can free us to live a life that doesn’t chain us to guilt, fear and death.  He had freed us to live our lives with Him in charge.  Most people think that’s no fun, but really it’s true fun and joy. 

We know that God loves us; isn’t that a blessing?  We can trust that God will help us through every problem we ever face in life because He promised that He would never leave us or forsake us.  When we come to church we are with people who will be part of our Christian family forever; we never have to go it alone in our lives because we have each other for help, wisdom, encouragement and love.  This is what Jesus has done for us.  So today as Jonathan, Adrianne and Deanna make their confirmation vows, let’s all remember ours.  Let’s kneel down at Jesus’ feet to thank Him for saving us from sin, Satan and death and to promise that we will follow Him all the days of our lives.  Amen.