Luke 8:22-56 "How Much Has God Done for You?" In our passage today we see the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the power of the Kingdom of God. We saw in Hurricane Katrina the devastating power of the winds and waves. Can you control nature? Do the winds and waves obey you? Perhaps we think less today of the demonic, but do the hordes of Satan do his legions submit to your voice? And what about sickness and death? Many of you are facing this. Your daily life is marked by disease in your family. The shadow of death haunts you. And if we are honest, the shadow of death haunts every single one of us. Can you control death? Jesus commands the winds and waves and they obey him. Jesus commands the demons and they obey him. Jesus commands sickness and death and they obey him. It's tempting to think that these things happened long ago and they don't really happen anymore. But Luke wrote these things for Theophilus, not just as a history lesson, but so that Theophilus might believe in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Last time I asked you how do you hear the Word of God? Last time Jesus warned us, "take care then how you hear." What do you hear in these stories? 1. The Winds and Waves Obey Him (8:22-25) Luke 8:22-56 could be called "there and back again," as Jesus travels across the Sea of Galilee, and then returns. Why does Jesus want to go across to the other side of the lake? The text presents us with one, and only one, reason: to heal the Gerasene demoniac. That is the only thing that Jesus does on the other side of the lake. But once they are at sea, he promptly falls asleep, and as the storm arises, Jesus remains asleep. As the boat fills with water, Jesus remains asleep. I don't know about you, but I think I'd have a tough time sleeping in a small boat, as it is pitching and tossing in a storm! But Jesus is asleep. The Lord of creation has no fear. The prophets and the Psalms frequently spoke of the nations as a raging sea. And that the voice of the LORD would quiet the waters. Psalm 66 speaks of how God turned the sea into dry land the Exodus as a picture of God's deliverance from our enemies. 66:12 says that God has brought us through fire and water as a picture of how God has delivered us from our foes. Psalm 65:5-8 says that God is the hope of the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas meaning the farthest nations. And how God has stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, which is, verse 7 says, the tumult of the peoples. The voice of the LORD stilling the raging waters is a picture throughout the OT as the voice of the LORD stilling the raging of the peoples against him. So, as Jesus is going across the Sea of Galilee, towards the Gentile region of the Gerasenes, a storm comes up! Galilee of the Gentiles is living up to its name! And the voice of the LORD stills the waters. When his disciples finally woke him up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm Why did the wind and waves need to be rebuked? They were created by God! Why does Jesus rebuke the forces of nature? Since the fall, creation is not what it should be. God made all things good, but then he gave all things into the hand of man. And God called us to be his steward and to rule all things for God's glory and our good. But when Adam and Eve sinned, God's curse came upon the whole of creation. The world became a scary place! Things are not as they should be. Jesus came as the Son of God to exercise dominion over the earth the way Adam should have! And so Jesus rebukes the winds and waves and orders them to submit to the power of the Kingdom of God. And they obey! And then Jesus turns to his disciples and asks, "Where is your faith?" That is the question that Luke is asking you! Where is your faith? But Jesus says "peace, be still." And the winds and the waves obey him. 2. The Demons Obey Him (8:26-39) But if you want to understand the full importance of Jesus calming the storm, then keep reading. The voice of the LORD calming the winds and waves would have reminded the disciples and Theophilus about the Psalms that they regularly sang in the temple and the synagogue, and now in the church- and they would have been watching for what Jesus would now do as he has come to the Gentiles! How will the voice of the LORD subdue the Gentiles! Psalm 29 spoke of the voice of the LORD subduing the waters, and the voice of the LORD shaking the wilderness, and breaking the cedars of Lebanon. How will Jesus subdue the Gentiles? Let's think for a moment about whom Jesus has been helping: a Roman centurion's servant (7:1-10) though the centurion had been a great help to the Jews. a Jewish widow's son (7:11-17) a sinful woman (probably a prostitute) (7:36-50) and today a Gentile demoniac (8:26-39) a synagogue ruler's daughter (8:40, 49-56) an unclean woman with a flow of blood (8:43-48) It is worth noting that Luke arranges these two triads in the same order: he starts with a Gentile, then moves to someone Jesus was "supposed" to help (faithful Israel), and concludes with outcast Israel. And right at the center of these two triads, Luke places the parable of the seed and the soils: take care then how you hear! The Pharisees had expected the Kingdom to come for righteous Israel and a few righteous Gentiles who feared God could be included (like the centurion)-- but the unclean and the sinful would surely be excluded! But Jesus has already told us, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (5:32) And it doesn't get any worse than the Gerasene Demoniac. First he is a Gerasene (at least that is what we are led to believe by the text). That makes him a Gentile. The Roman centurion was a Gentile but he helped build the synagogue, so he was at least a "God-fearer." But this man "had demons." In other words, this man is clearly a part of the kingdom of Satan. Not only is he a Gentile, not only does he have demons, but he lives among the tombs. For a Jew, even to step over a tomb was to become unclean. So to live among the tombs means that he lives in a state of perpetual uncleanness. And to make matters worse, we hear that he is surrounded by pigs. the worst of the unclean animals. And when Jesus steps out of the boat, this naked demoniac meets him. And the first thing Jesus does is command the demon to come out. And when he saw Jesus he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me! Plainly the demon recognizes the Son of God when he sees him. He recognizes that the Son of God has the authority and the power to torment him to cast him into the abyss (verse 31). (read verses 30-33) What is going on here? To the modern ear, this sounds utterly bizarre. To understand this, start with the question, what is Jesus doing here? These are people, places, and influences that belong to the enemies of Yahweh. Jesus has come to the region of the Gerasenes to demonstrate the power of the kingdom over the legions of God's enemies. The name "Legion" is supposed to remind you of the Roman army the Roman army that the Jews believe will be overthrown by the Messiah. Indeed, the driving of the pigs into the sea is pretty much what the Jews desired to do with the unclean Romans. Jesus "is fighting a battle against the enemies of the people of Yahweh. But what Jesus is demonstrating is that Rome is not the enemy; It is Satan and his legions who are deceiving Israel into thinking that Rome is the real enemy, so that Israel will be blinded to their true enemy. (Wright 195-6) That's what Satan's legions are still doing. In the same way that the Pharisees fell prey to thinking that the Romans were the real enemy, so also Satan is working to convince us that Muslims are the real enemy, or that illegal immigrants are the enemy. A generation ago it was the Soviets, or the communists. But Jesus says to love your enemies to have mercy even on the one who symbolizes everything that is wrong with the world! The Gerasene demoniac in the modern world might be a drug-dealing transvestite Muslim illegal immigrant on steroids! But at the Word of Jesus even the demonic legions obey. There are some who argue that this work of casting out demons continues in the church today. David Powlison has a useful book entitled Power Encounters that I think deals effectively with the biblical material. I didn't always think so, During my freshman year of college I was something of a charismatic, and so when a friend of mine "manifested a demon" I tried to cast to him out. I'm not at all convinced that it really was a demon but that experience helped me to see that the demonic is very real. What is interesting about the casting-out of demons in the gospels, is that the OT never predicted this, and there was nothing in 1st century Judaism that expected this! Giving sight to the blind, healing the sick, raising the dead all these are understandable in the light of the OT and Jewish expectation; but casting out demons is something unique. Furthermore, while the apostles do cast out some demons, they never command anyone to do likewise; and in the early church this practice soon fades away. So why does Jesus cast out demons? The casting out of demons demonstrates that the real battle of Jesus' ministry is not debating with the Pharisees, but it is a head-on war with Satan. And this is a battle that Jesus alone will fight. Israel's quarrel is not with Rome it is with the power behind Rome. it is with the power that lies behind all nations! But this is an enemy that Israel cannot fight. Israel does not have the weapons to do warfare with the devil. Only Jesus does! Because Jesus is the one who speaks the very Word of God. The principalities and powers of this age are trying to destroy the church. Jesus says in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. But it is easy to forget! The demonic is not just revealed in the spooky and weird. The demonic is revealed in every power that sets itself up against Christ. Yes, there is something demonic about radical Islam, but there is also something demonic about Enron, about the steroid scandal in major league baseball. What twisted sense of pride and arrogance leads a man to pump his body full of drugs, in order to win acclaim and glory from man? What can overcome such pride? Only the Word of Jesus. And if you and I are honest with ourselves, we have the same tendencies. Every sin begins with a lie with that demonic whisper that if you do this, you will be happy! And before you know it, you are believing the lie. What can overcome the lies of the devil? Only the Word of Jesus! And as the word of Jesus sends the legion of demons hurtling over the cliff into the lake, so also the word of Jesus takes your sins and hurtles them into the depths of the sea. Notice what happens after this. The herdsmen fled and told the story in the city and in the country, and the people went out to see what had happened, and they found Jesus and the man, now in his right mind, clothed and they were afraid. And they heard the story of how the man who had a demon had been healed, and they were seized with great fear and asked Jesus to leave. The Gentiles heard of how this Jewish prophet had cast out the Legion from this man, and how the pigs had been drowned in the sea, and they were afraid. You need to understand that this is what the Word of Jesus does to many people. They hear the word, but it does not take root. They are afraid because this threatens everything they hold dear. They're afraid because they're rather fond of their pet demons! They see that this Jesus has power. And that power can root out and destroy all that they hold dear. That's the irony of our love affair with sin: it's destroying us, but we don't want to get rid of it! We would rather chase Jesus away than truly hear his voice. But the man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him. When Jesus casts out your demons, the response of faith is to want to be with Jesus. But Jesus says Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. Go back to the Gentiles and proclaim what the God of Israel has done. And so he goes back and proclaims all that Jesus has done. What has God done for you? He has cast out your demons! He has overthrown the power of the devil, and opened your eyes so that you might see Jesus. He has opened your ears so that you might hear his voice, and love him, and long to be with him always! 3. The Dead Obey Him (8:40-56) If you understand what Jesus has done for the Gerasene demoniac, it doesn't take long to see what he is doing for the women in verses 40-56. Jairus, the synagogue ruler comes to Jesus and asks him to heal his daughter. Luke then interrupts this narrative with the story of the woman with a discharge of blood, thereby connecting the two stories. The twelve year old girl who is dying and the woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years. For twelve years she has been unclean. For twelve years she has been excluded from the worship of the people of God. No one could heal her. But when she touched the fringe of his garment, the discharge of blood ceased. Once again, we have an unclean woman touching Jesus! But Jesus immediately felt the power go out from him. And so he asked, "who touched me?" A silly question the crowds were pressing against him and he asks "who touched me?"! But Jesus knew that someone had been cleansed, and he would not let her get away so easily! (Read v 47-50) Do you believe the voice the Jesus? He has calmed the storm, he has commanded the demons, and now he has healed the woman with a 12-year flow of blood. And so he goes up to the house, and brought Peter, James and John in, with the parents, and he said, Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping. They laughed. But he took her by the hand and said "Child, arise." And her spirit returned and she got up at once. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Conclusion: How Much Has Jesus Done for You? How much has Jesus done for you? You may be tempted to say not as much as he did for all those people in all those stories! Jesus healed them, but I'm still sick! Jesus cast the demons out of the Gerasene, but I'm still fighting with my demons! How long had the woman had that flow of blood? 12 years. How long had the Gerasene had the demons? For a long time. And for that matter, Jesus waited until the 12 year old girl died before he did anything about it! Even the people whom Jesus personally healed had to endure through a great deal of suffering. But Luke is calling you to see the big picture. You are not the center of the universe. Jesus is. Let's tell the story of the little girl without Jesus. Her father is a ruler of the synagogue an important man in the community. She gets sick. She dies. End of story. Let's tell the story of the woman with a discharge of blood without Jesus. She's had a flow of blood for 12 years. She spends all her money on doctors and none of them can heal her. She can never enter the worship of God. She is perpetually unclean. A few years later she dies. End of story. Now let's tell your story without Jesus. You were born. You had some good times. You had some bad times. You get sick. You die. End of story. In all the stories of all the people of the world, there is only one story with a happy ending. The story of Jesus is a story that calls you into the narrative. He was born. He suffered. He died. But in his death he destroyed the power of death, the power of sin, the power of the devil, so that we who were under the power of death might have life. And so Jesus was raised from the dead and in Jesus you have been raised from the dead as well. What has Jesus done for you? He has brought you into his story! He has brought you into the one story with a happy ending! Just like he brought the Gerasene demoniac and the little 12 year old girl. He doesn't always do it the way you want him to. Because it is his story that you are being brought into. If God did everything the way you wanted, then God would be saying that your story is the center of the universe. And how do you participate in that story? By faith. By believing the message that you have heard. Daughter, your faith has made you well. After twelve long years of suffering and being excluded your faith has made you well. Go in peace.