Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Luke 8:26–30 NIV
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.
CONSIDER
I noticed something today as I Gospelled my way through Luke 8. It's in the first paragraph. It's a society of women coming together around Jesus to support his mission. It references Mary, Joanna, Susanna, and "many others," noting, "They were helping to support them [Jesus and his disciples] out of their own means." It gave me an idea. Why don't we launch a fellowship of women sowers for awakening? Something tells me there are "many" of you who would be interested. So if you would be interested, take thirty seconds and let me know here. I'll report back soon with the results.
As we are now into our third Gospel I'm on my way to another BFO—a blinding flash of the obvious. Let me state it with a flourish of hyperbole. Jesus doesn't love people. He doesn't love persons. Jesus always loves a person. It's a woman by a well, a man in a tree, a blind beggar by the side of the road, a Roman centurion, a leper, a paralytic, and I could go on. Jesus shows us that love is the movement of God from one person to another person.
Notice today how Jesus got into a boat and sailed across the Sea of Galilee to meet one person, after which he returned home. And it wasn't just one man. It was a man who was possessed and infested by six thousand demons. Jesus got into a boat and sailed all the way across the Sea of Galilee to take on an impossible case: to rescue a person who was beyond helping. We are told he lived in a cemetery. Not only was he homeless, he wore no clothes. He was so strong he could not even be incarcerated, breaking shackles and chains. He was beyond help. And Jesus went straight to him. He shouts at the top of his lungs (and something tells me with a demonic voice):
WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME, JESUS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD?
Did we miss an introduction? No, demonic beings recognize Jesus without introduction. Demonic beings know they have power and authority over human beings. They also know they have no authority or power over Almighty God. Notice what else the demon said to Jesus
"I BEG YOU, DON'T TORTURE ME!"
We see these men and women all the time these days. They suffer from a toxic amalgamation of mental illness and demonic oppression. They are mostly homeless or incarcerated or somewhere in between. They are impossible cases—for us. They are short putts for Jesus.
Jesus delivers the man from several thousand demons, at the expense of a couple thousand hogs. Now, take in the after picture:
When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. (8:35)
Here's what I'd like to say and I'll extend my comments in the after party on the podcast today. Somewhere along the way, the psychiatric and therapeutic world got a divorce from the disciplines of cosmology and theology. Maybe they assumed the biblical authors were children of their age and bound by an unscientific worldview, or worse, ignorance and superstition.
I want to be careful here and yet bold. Perhaps every age of history has considered itself superior to the prior ages, none more so than the modern age. The scientific revolution has produced extraordinary gains and made exceptional contributions to the human race and yet with it has come unparalleled arrogance in its disregard and even disdain for pre-scientific discoveries and wisdom. This is particularly so with respect to a biblical worldview. We need not eschew science or the scientific method. What is needed is a restored appreciation and exploration of cosmology and theology, which live in the realm of divine revelation. Bringing it together—mental illness is powerfully and painfully real—so are demonic beings and the realities of their attachment, oppression, and possession of human beings. It is a mistake to attribute all mental illness to demonic powers. It is a worse mistake to completely disconnect mental illness from the field of demonology. Somehow, and in some way, these fields need to be reintroduced to each other in a respectful, collaborative, and productive fashion for the glory of God and the good of the human race. I'll share about some resources we are working to release in partnership with a leading practitioner of deliverance ministry in my extra comments today.
PRAY
Lord Jesus, you have defeated sin, death, the grave, evil, and the Evil One. You are the victor, and the victory is ours in you. Awaken us to the reality of the war we have won so we can fight the rest of the battles with your full arsenal against evil. We are weary of treating the symptoms of these wicked problems. We want your complete cure. Come, Holy Spirit, and show us the way. Praying in Jesus's name, amen.
