Broken Chains
Lk 8:26-39[1]
We live in the “land of the free and the home of the
brave.” Or so the song goes. The annual
celebration of our “freedom” is just around the corner. But the people I meet don’t seem to be
free. They’re bound by all kinds of
things. Some are bound by fear--fear of
dying, fear of illness, fear of becoming financially destitute, fear of being
alone. Some are bound by pain--the pain
of some disease. Or the pain of some trauma that was inflicted on them. Some are bound by addictions--to alcohol,
drugs, food, and gambling, among many others.
I find that many who are addicted to something are usually trying to
cover over the pain of whatever trauma they may have suffered. Then there are those who are bound by
economic issues. Perhaps they simply
cannot make enough money to support their family. Or perhaps they’ve made some bad choices and
have gotten themselves into more debt than they can handle. Or perhaps they simply live in a place where
a decent house costs more than a family can afford, and are strapped with a
huge mortgage that they can barely pay.
When you look more closely, it doesn’t seem like many
people in our society are truly free.
And if you asked them were freedom is to be found, I’m afraid not many
people have a very good answer. These
days, it seems that we as a people believe--I mean really believe--that all our
problems would be solved if we had enough money. And so we have a fascination with playing the
lottery--which most people have about as good a chance of winning as I have of
walking on the moon! Others believe that
if they just meet the right person then all their problems will go away. And so we’re just as fascinated with finding
“the right one” with whom we’re “meant to be.”
I’m afraid we’re looking for freedom in all the wrong places.
Though it might not
be apparent on the surface of things, our Gospel lesson for today has something
to say about true freedom and where it is to be found. It’s the story of a very strange encounter
between Jesus and a man who’s soul was incredibly tormented. Apparently the man was “possessed” by
demons--not just one but many.[2] This brings us into a realm that isn’t
something we run into everyday. And yet,
like Jesus’ healing miracles, his exorcisms seem to be an important part of his
ministry. Unlike other exorcists of his
day, Jesus didn’t have to use elaborate means to “cast out” the demons that
tormented people. All he had to do was
say the word. In fact, in every instance
when Jesus encountered someone who was “possessed” by a demon, the spirit cries
out in fear at the very sight of Jesus.
In this story, they begged him not to banish them to the “abyss.”[3] They seem to know that he has a power they
cannot possibly withstand.
Ironically, although people generally responded favorably
to Jesus’ healing miracles, they didn’t do so in response to his
exorcisms. When Jesus released a people
from whatever was tormenting them, those who witnessed it were afraid. In this case, in fact, they begged him to
leave them. You would think that they
would welcome one who could set them free from the powers of evil that
oppressed them. But this was Gentile
territory, and perhaps they simply valued their pigs more than they valued the
freedom Jesus offered. Or perhaps it was
because they were afraid of Jesus because he had the power to say the word and
free a man who had been horribly tormented for years?[4] It’s hard to say exactly why the locals asked
him to leave.
One thing we can say, however, is that when Jesus worked
exorcisms, there was a purpose to them.
We said last week that the healing miracles were intended to demonstrate
that through Jesus God was present among them and at work carrying out the
compassion and mercy of his kingdom. In
the same way, I think that the exorcisms were intended to demonstrate that
through Jesus God was setting people free from all that kept them bound.[5] And in the face of the freedom of God’s
kingdom, the powers of evil have no defense.
As I mentioned, whenever Jesus encountered someone who was “possessed”
by a demon, the spirit of evil was instantly terrified. Not only did they know who he was, they also
knew what he could do--he could banish them with just a word![6] And though Jesus couldn’t stay to help the
people of this place because they were so afraid of him, he left the man who
had been set free as a living testimony to the truth that evil cannot prevail
over God’s freedom.
The real source of freedom from all the evil and pain and
trauma and injustice that binds people in our world today is the power of God’s
kingdom at work among us and through us.
I wish it could be as simple as “saying the word” and granting freedom
to those who are suffering from the powers of evil in our world. Unfortunately, true freedom may only come for
some people after years of work--whether it’s overcoming trauma or digging out
of debt. But I think the journey for
those who are bound begins by those of us who have experienced God’s freedom
carrying out our calling to live as
witnesses to that amazing good news. We
can show them our broken chains as a testimony that God can give them the
freedom they’ve always longed for.
[1] ©
2013 Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by
Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 6/23/2013 at First Presbyterian Church of Dickinson, TX.
[2]
Possession by “demons” poses more difficulties even than healing miracles for
the contemporary mind. Most either
attribute them to mental illness or to the destructive forces of oppressive
social institutions. Among others,
Walter Wink attempts to unite the two in Unmasking
the Powers, 41-68, where he specifically deals with this passage as a case
in point. Cf. similarly, Paul W. Hollenbach, “Jesus, Demoniacs, and Public Authorities: A
Socio-Historical Study,” Journal of
Biblical Literature 49 (Dec 1981): 567-588.
Perhaps Joseph A. Fitzmyer, in The Gospel According to Luke I-IX, 733 puts it best when he
describes this simply as “evil afflicting the psychic being of a mortal man.” Cf. similarly, Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 106: “These
demons are apparently forces, conceived of in personal terms, which are
destructive of life and annihilate being itself.” See also Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.2:230, where he says that Jesus “saw and
experienced what there was actually to be seen and experienced: an abyss of
darkness which was not merely supposed or imagined or invented or projected
into the sphere of being but was actual and concrete.”
[3]
Cf. Fitzmyer, Luke I-IX, 739: where
he says that the “abyss” can refer to “the abode of the dead” or “the final
prison of Satan and the demons (Rev. 20:3).” Cf. also F. Bovon, Luke 1:
A commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1–9:50, 329.
[4]
This is the view of Fred Craddock, Luke,
117. He says, “the fear is evoked by the
recognition of a power present which was greater than the power of evil
spirits.” Presumably the evil spirits were the greatest power they could
comprehend.
[5]
Cf. Fitzmyer, Luke I-IX, 543, where
he says that Jesus' exorcisms are “the powerful manifestations and means whereby the
dominion of God is established over human beings in the place of the ‘dominion
of Belial,’ freeing them from the evil to which they have been subjected.” cf. also Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 104: “The lordship of God drives out of
creation the powers of destruction, which are demons and idols, and heals the
created beings who have been damaged by them. If the kingdom of God is coming
as Jesus proclaimed, then salvation is coming as well.” Cf. similarly, Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.2:230, where he says that Jesus’ exorcisms “reveal
the total and absolutely victorious clash of the kingdom of God with
nothingness, with the whole world of the chaos negated by God, with the
opposing realm of darkness.”
[6]
cf. Bovon, Luke 1, 327.
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