This week’s reading from Luke speaks about Demons, but what are they? I don’t think I have ever heard anyone tell me that they are full of demons, so is this just something that happened so many years ago?
The thing that popped out of this story, for me, was that this man had faith. Faith enough that he knew it was Jesus standing with him.
I had to do a bit of research on ‘demons in the Bible’ and found that they have three things in common; they cause self-destructive acts in the person, the person feels trapped by the demon and being consumed by demons keeps them separate from normal living with family and friends. Well, okay, so with that definition then I guess we still have ‘demons’, but we don’t necessarily use that term any more. Alcoholism, drug addiction, mental health issues and even eating disorders can be termed as demons. It can be even a demon with me and my love for chocolate. I have a bad day and I eat chocolate, then I feel worse, but think I may as well finish the whole bag since I ate a lot anyway. In this way I have been trapped by the chocolate demon and then my clothes begin to not fit and I don’t really want to go anywhere. I know this is a bit funny and a lot less of a demon then what must have been inflicted on this man, however I think it is important to note that no matter how large another’s issue or demon is, yours can be just as important or debilitating for you.
If we look at the three things a person who is consumed by demons has and compare it to our reading, we can see that “Legion” feels trapped and is living in a tomb/cave that keeps him away from his loved ones, and if you read Mark’s gospel it states that he also bruises himself. By the way, Legion, was not really this man’s name. The word Legion was actually a term for a demon or group of demons.
The thing that popped out of this story, for me, was that this man had faith. Faith enough that he knew it was Jesus standing with him. I am always amazed with some people’s level of faith, particularly without the knowledge that we have now.
Just having faith didn’t free him from the demons…he had to ask for help from Jesus, he had to act on this faith. The demons we all face from time to time, can allow our faith to falter and sometimes we think we are alone in our healing. I know that for me, I tend to think I can do things on my own, that I don’t need anyone’s help. Recently I was faced with a ‘demon’ of my own and I lost focus on Jesus/God for a bit. He was there for me, but I failed to notice! It took others, who I know now were sent from God, to help me regain my faith and to encourage me to ask for His guidance throughout the issue I was facing. Let me tell you… it helped and made life much easier when I gave my demon to God. Giving the demon away or to the pigs is something that I question with this story from Luke. The demons requested that they be given to the swine (pigs) and Jesus does what they ask. Pigs at that time were unclean animals and I am not sure why they were even there if Jewish law believed them to be unclean. But what I am getting at here is whey would Jesus inflict any issue on someone/something else. We are continually reminded that God created everything and everyone, so why would Jesus do this to another of God’s creatures?
It does show Jesus’s authority and power over everything, including demons, but why didn’t he just kill off the demons and be done with it? One commentary that I read said that it could have been done because of the Jewish law that they were not even to have pigs and therefore Jesus was punishing the owner of the herd, who all ended up killing themselves when the demons entered them. Another mentioned that the demons may have thought they had beaten Jesus by getting what they wanted, only to find out differently when the pigs ran off the cliff. The story doesn’t tell us if the demons life ended with the death of the pigs, so this may mean that the demons were in limbo without a body to torment.
We can all struggle with issues or demons throughout our lives that cause us to possibly do more harm to ourselves, feel trapped or even isolate ourselves from others, but this also keeps us from living the life that God intended us to have; the one that we were truly put on this earth to live. If we let the demons take over, we will have difficulty ministering to others. But when we understand what are demons are, and look to overcome them, we can help others who may struggle with the same issue. This might be the true ministry to others; your call from Jesus. We learn from experiences, sometimes our own and other times, from other people’s struggles, failures and victories.
So, what is your demon and how can you lessen its control? And then what will you do with this new freedom?