WEEKEND WITH THE MAN FROM GERASENES

Luke 8:26-37 (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 evil 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. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 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. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left."

In the past several years, this passage has taken on special meaning for me. Earlier, I had wondered how the people of Gerasenes could be so afraid of Jesus -- "overcome with fear" -- because of the great miracle that they had seen in their midst. But now, I understand.

A few years ago I was at a spiritual retreat when I was confronted with a demoniac, a man possessed by a demon. Now I know that there are a couple of camps on this issue. First, there are those who say that the Bible is really referring to the mentally insane when it refers to the demon-possessed and that there is no such thing as demon possession. Then, there is the camp that sees a demon behind every tree and a demon in every person who disagrees with them. These are the ones who join in with Flip Wilson and say, "The Devil made me do it," when things go wrong in their life. The rest of us are somewhere in the middle in the gradient between "no demons" and "demons everywhere." I was definitely middle-of-the-road, believing in demon possession in biblical times but not seriously considering it in our modern times. But then I went on this spiritual retreat.

I had hung out with this guy over the course of the weekend. Nice guy. Good, faithful church-goer. Real friendly. Nothing out of the ordinary with him at all. But then, in the middle of one service, as we were encouraged to go to the altar and make a public confession of a sin or habit that we were going to give to the Lord, something happened as he started to move. From the first step he took, the thought popped in my head, "There's a demon controlling him." It was like he could not move on his own accord. His movements were labored, jerky, and like he was picking up hundreds of pounds of weight with every movement of his legs and arms. A grimace crossed his face. And as he knelt at the altar, the most unearthly scream was released as he jumped up, whirled around, and strode defiantly out of the sanctuary. I found myself standing and moving towards him, not really knowing what I was doing or why I was doing it. Then he looked at me, and in his eyes I saw such a malevolent expression of evil and hatred that I was stopped cold. He left the sanctuary and outside, he was stopped and the men there laid hands on him and prayed for him and the demon left him. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior at that moment and has been living a transformed life ever since.

Two things happened on that weekend. First, I became a believer in the unseen spiritual world. I now knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that demons were real, and that scared me more than it should have. But, it also affirmed that the other side was real too, and that angels were in our world serving and ministering to us as described in Hebrews.

Secondly, I became a Gerasene. Rather than rejoicing over the fact that a tormented life has been set free, I became afraid of being around this man. I avoided him the rest of the weekend, and hoped that things would get back to normal. But, every now and then, I would run into him in our area and we would smile and nod at each other and I'd make a direct beeline away from him. It unnerved me being in his presence. It shouldn't, but like I said, I became a Gerasene. I witnessed something extremely frightening and became very fearful.

Well, to end a long story, just a couple of weeks ago I had the occasion to spend the weekend with this guy at another spiritual retreat. I was very apprehensive, to say the least, but through the weekend I witnessed the power of God working in his life as he ministered to the other men in that place. It was humbling to see a life so sold out and transformed for Christ. But, I still found myself feeling rather nervous in his presence, which is not what I should be doing. I should be rejoicing that his life was changed through the power of God.

So, since this last weekend, I am trying to change my interpretation of the events of that day in the sanctuary a few years ago. My focus has been on the presence of the demon in that place. It was scary. It was evil. It shook me and my beliefs to the core. But, I was wrong. My focus should have been on Christ. On the One who overpowered the demon in this man's life and who set him free. On the One who has all the authority on heaven and on earth and on Him who is greater than he who is in the world.

For the few who are still reading at this point, let me share with you this thought. Whether you believe in demon possession or not, let me ask you how you react to someone whose life has been drastically changed through the presence of God. Say a notorious sinner comes into your sanctuary, bound up in their sin. Someone you would not want to associate with or sit next to or even be seen in the company of. Someone that you might have been scared to be around if you had met them in any other place. Let's say they go to the altar and have a life-changing experience and are freed of their sins through the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you able to look at them with new eyes? Are you able to look at them with a fresh perspective? Or are you allowing their past to keep you from loving them as your new Christian brother or sister?

I have, for years, opined that the church is not doing a good job at making disciples. We do o.k. at getting people to the altar and getting them to the point of justification. But we don't do so good at picking them up from the altar and walking with them as they grow in maturity in Christ. Perhaps we are too much like the Gerasenes, letting the past keep us from helping our new brothers and sisters in Christ grow in grace. The first step, I think, is in recognizing and admitting our problem.

My name is Greg, and I'm a Gerasene....