"What Have You to Do with Me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?"
Luke 8: 26-39
Where are the Gerasenes?
How could several demons possess a man?
How could demons go into pigs?
The Bible tells us who God is and what He does. We need to be like children and we can better understand the Bible. The first thing we need to look for is our parents, God the Father.
We then need to look at the context. This doesn't always mean knowing the history or ancient language and customs. It is important to know the context from other scriptures.
In Luke 8:22-25, we see how the disciples did not know who Jesus was really at this time. After Jesus calmed the storm, they reacted like thus.
Luke 8:25 ESV
[25] He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Jesus and the disciples went to an area called the Gerasenes, across from Galilee. In the past, King Solomon gave the king of Tyre some cities in Galilee. The place where Jesus went was not all Jewish. There were many Gentiles living there. In Isaiah, we see that Galilee was not a great place.
Isaiah 9:1 ESV
[1] But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isaiah describes a scenes that seems it is about the man we read in Luke 8: 26-39
Isaiah 65:1-5 ESV
[1] I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. [2] I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; [3] a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; [4] who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; [5] who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.
Then we see Jesus cleans up the town and the man.
Jesus then commands the evil spirt to leave.
Luke 8:29 ESV
[29] For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
Jesus then commanded the man to tell everyone what God had done.
Luke 8:39 ESV
[39] “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
The man does this. He follows Jesus command perfectly when he tell everyone what Jesus had done. He understood who Jesus was.
What was the result? They told Jesus to go away.
Luke 8:37 ESV
[37] Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.
As Christians, we should expect to be persecuted. This is a reality of being a Christian in the world and openly speaking the gospel.
2 Timothy 3:12 ESV
[12] Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
We are to pray for strength and entrust justice to God:
Romans 12:19 ESV
[19] Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Isaiah 65:6-7 ESV
[6] Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap [7] both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together, says the Lord; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.”
Jesus will not judge us being a good or bad person. Jesus will judge on whether we believe in Him or not. We know what that day is. It is today.
Hebrews 4:7 ESV
[7] again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
We need to repent and ask God for forgiveness. We need to get baptized if we are not baptized. We need to preach the gospel and not be surprised when people reject us.
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