Disruptions

Luke 8: 26-39

Key Verse
Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. (Luke 8: 36-37, CEB)

I have made two cross-country moves in my life, and I would be okay never doing it again. (But you never know what the Holy Spirit has in store for you.) I moved from Baton Rouge to Seattle in 2001 and then from Seattle to Atlanta in 2008. If you’ve ever made a move – cross-country or just down the street – you will agree that it can be stressful. It’s overwhelming and disruptive. I guess I picked the exact wrong career for someone who hates moving. It’s not the actual physical moving that I hate. It’s the sense of disruption and chaos that packing up and moving all the stuff creates. Everything feels up in the air. No matter how well I think I label boxes, I always lose something. I always need something I already packed up. I always struggle to remember how to reassemble things that I had to disassemble for the move. Moving turns lives upside down. It’s disruptive. It’s chaos.

Today’s key verse comes from the story of Jesus casting out the demons possessing a man on the other side of the Galilee in gentile territory. The man had suffered for many years and lived in tombs among the dead and wore no clothes. He often had to be chained up, but would break free and be driven into the wilds by the demons. (see vv. 27, 29b) After Jesus cast the demons out, the man was clothed and in his “right mind” (v. 35).

I can imagine a myriad of reactions by the townspeople to this miracle of God. I imagine there was disbelief. I imagine there was joy. I imagine there was relief. I’ve experienced all those things when someone has been healed. However, our key verse (and verse 35b) tells us that the people reacted with fear; they were “seized with great fear.” Out of this fear they told Jesus to leave. So, he did. They reacted with fear to a miracle that gave abundant life.

Why on earth did they react that way? I have a few ideas. Just like moving creates disruptions and chaos, the presence of Jesus in their town did the same thing. He did things that they thought impossible. If Jesus could change the Gerasene man who lived like an animal into a calm, respectable man who now returned to community, what could he do for or to them? I’m sure that a lot of people were ticked off by the fact that he cast the demons into the swine who then ran the pigs off a cliff into the Galilee, where they drowned. As an animal lover, that upset me (even though I love bacon). It upset the people because that was their livelihoods. They were pig farmers, and their herd was now gone. That’s certainly disruptive. But I think it’s more.

The power that Jesus demonstrated disrupted their normal. Even if it brought wholeness to one member of the community, it also challenged the way things were and the way they thought things always would be. That kind of power can scare anybody, especially when it directly challenges our comfort and control. And make no mistake: Jesus’ power, even when it brings healing and wholeness, still disrupts our way of doing things today. As it should. Once we encounter Jesus, our lives should look different. We may be required to do things that shake us up and makes us uncomfortable. Jesus always challenges the way we think things have to be to show us the way that things can be when we turn towards God and live in His light. Their fear wasn’t just about the miracle—it was about what His presence meant. Jesus brings change. He confronts darkness. And sometimes, that feels threatening before it feels hopeful.

Prayer
Holy Jesus, your presence disrupts our lives. While it brings healing, wholeness, peace, and abundant life, it changes things and us. And we are often resistant to the disruptions that change brings to our lives. Remove the fear from our hearts that change causes, for, Lord, we need to be changed. Disrupt our sinful ways. Disrupt our selfishness. Disrupt our complacency. In your name we pray, amen.

Rev. Dana Ezell