Rev. Enzo Pellini
Luke 8:26-39
 
26 Jesus and his disciples sailed to the area of the Gerasenes across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped on shore, he was met by a man from the town. The man was controlled by demons. For a long time he had not worn clothes or lived in a house. He lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet. He shouted at the top of his voice, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God, what do you want with me? I beg you, don’t hurt me!” 29 This was because Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times the spirit had taken hold of him. The man’s hands and feet were chained, and he was kept under guard. But he had broken his chains. And then the demon had forced him to go out into lonely places in the countryside.
 
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
 
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus again and again not to order them to go into the Abyss.
 
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. And he allowed it. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep bank. They ran into the lake and drowned.
 
34 Those who were tending the pigs saw what had happened. They ran off and reported it in the town and countryside. 35 The people went out to see what had happened. Then they came to Jesus. They found the man who was now free of the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was dressed and thinking clearly. All this made the people afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the others how the man who had been controlled by demons was now healed. 37 Then all the people who lived in the area of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them. They were filled with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
 
38 The man who was now free of the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away. He said to him, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away. He told people all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
 
***
Today we are once again touching on a topic that has to do with the spiritual aspect or the spiritual dimension. Last Sunday we talked about the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, as the invisible reality of God. Today we talk about invisible and spiritual things as well, but in this case, they do not have to do with the things of God, but rather with Satan.
 
It is a little bit complicated nowadays to talk about Satan, or the devil, or the demon, in our highly materialistic and scientificist society that wants nothing to do with the spiritual or non-visible dimensions. And at the same time with a society so proud of the technological and scientific achievements of the human being, where many believe that this already surpasses everything that has to do with what is not measurable or not scientifically verifiable, call it faith and all spiritual things.
 
For me as a pastor, it is difficult many times to have to preach these topics, because we are dealing, as I said, with this situation. And even sometimes it is also difficult and sad to have to see how there are even preachers who do not believe in this biblical reality at all and seem to stand on the same ideas as non-believing society, even sometimes ridiculing or belittling the aspect of faith and spirituality in other ministers.
I have even known preachers who deny this aspect, emphasizing that the essence of Christians should only be to help socially as an exercise of neighbourly love, (which is very good, that is the second part of the Greatest Commandment; Mt 22:37-40) but they forget the first part, that is worshiping God in spirit and in obedience to his Word. And so many churches even come to not distinguish at all from a social assistance work, for example.
But as on every Sunday I will try to preach the message that has been entrusted to me.
 
Today’s story leads us to a wild and indomitable man who was possessed by a legion of demons. And what we will notice is that the Lord Jesus Christ has full dominion over this issue. Not only at that time, but he has it now in our days as well.
Of course, this demoniac was an extreme case, but nonetheless, it is a warning of what it would mean for human beings to perish under the power of sin and Satan. And this will be so, unless they are delivered by Christ (Eph 2:2) (Col 1:13).
 
Once the demons left the man, the change was radical. Now he was with Jesus “He was sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was dressed and thinking clearly.” No one had dreamed of getting anything like this from this man. And it is that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ reaches where neither the government, nor social workers, nor psychiatrists, nor family, nor friends can reach. Nobody before had managed to make this man at peace with himself and with his fellow people.
 
The same thing happens today. There are people who, like the possessed person in the story, end up in that state, and there are others who, to a lesser degree, also have similar problems.
 
The gospel inform us of the fact that a person can be enslaved by more than one demon at the same time (Mt 12:45) (Mk 16:9), but this case is unique. What is it trying to teach us?
In the same way that the Roman Empire had managed to conquer Israel through its legions, (each legion comprised of an absolute total of 10,000 soldiers) this miserable man was totally occupied and dominated by the demonic forces that kept him in a situation of oppression and death. We note then that the purpose of the devil towards the human being is of a military type: ‘to conquer and dominate’. That is, getting away from fellowship with God, getting away from church, getting away from Sunday worship, getting away from the sacrament with brothers and sisters, getting away from daily personal devotion, through our prayer, our reading of the Bible, our praise, everything that truly builds and strengthens our own spirit. In this way the devil manages to have a spiritual control over our being that makes us unable to feed our spirit through the means of grace. This, over time, makes us weaken spiritually and completely and also physically, because the spirit has control over our entire being.
 
How do we feel when we hear this words? Do we accept it or do we reject it? This is part of our spirituality. In the same way that we preach and confess the Holy Spirit, and say “I believe in the Holy Spirit” as the invisible presence of God, in the same way we have to be aware that the Bible teaches us too: Put on all of God’s armor. Then you can remain strong against the devil’s evil plans.  Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world. (Eph 6:11-12)
 
What does this mean? What does it mean to put on the armor of God? You see that here again, now the apostle in the New Testament, uses military language, he says armour. An armour was used in ancient times to protect oneself, in a hand-to-hand fight.
Why Satan wants to fight? Because he wants to destroy us. He wants to destroy the fellowship we have with God. And our question this morning: How can we best resist the devil in this 21st century world? Resisting the devil in the best way is as Martin Luther also tells us in still updated words: “The word of God and prayer are the best weapons. Whoever serves these, the angels will be by their side.
 
At Christmas, every year, we like to represent the Christmas scene and include angels in it. The children dress as angels. The angels existed and exist, they are a reality. Angels behave mostly as messengers of God, sometimes as protection, spiritual beings of God. If angels exist, they can help us because they are sent by God, we know that they are spiritual beings who, as they please, can make themselves visible as well.
In the same way there are spiritual beings that are not of God that we call evil spirits or demons. Those are the ones who desperately asked to get out of the body of the demon-possessed when Jesus stood in front of them. Those also exist.
How significant it is that when many times in our society there are many who deny or ridicule the belief in God, in Jesus, in the spiritual, in the Bible, according to the story, the same demons, instead, did recognize Jesus as the Son of God. That is one more proof of the existence of God and Christ and of the spiritual world.
 
“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away. He told people all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
This is what Jesus said to the exorcised, to the restored, to the healed.
We are healthy, restored by Christ, badly or well we want to take care of our fellowship with God, because it is the only thing that will fully hold us.
We strive, with our strengths and with our weaknesses, we do our best. Jesus calls us to take care of that fellowship with him. And tell others about our struggles, but also about our new life in Christ and the protection we make of our faith in Him before an indifferent or unbelieving world.
 
Amen.