URC Daily Devotion 9 January 2025
St Luke 8: 26 – 39
Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As Jesus stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times 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 wilds.)
Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 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 Jesusto leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Reflection
I used to think images of a team of devils inside someone of little use to a modern congregation. Then I listened to someone who had suffered long periods of depression and she said the best way she could explain what it was like was that she felt she had been invaded by devils. She longed for them to be removed so she could be her real self again. We sense the same with physical illness. If only the cancer tumour could be removed, surely I could get back to being normal again. Our innate sense of who we were made to be has been invaded and insulted. We rejoice with those who are set free, while very aware that not everyone has that privilege.
The real punchline of the story is not, however, the healing. Now freed, Legion would love to join Jesus’ group and waft along with them. His joy would be complete. Jesus forbids it. Instead, Legion has to stay amidst his own people and work out appropriate ways of witnessing to them.
This is a wonderful passage for a chaplain to meditate on. Chaplaincy is too often an unsung and under-resourced ministry, as if we think ministries based in church buildings are always more important. But chaplains go where people in need are – which is everywhere people are – and have to find a way to witness to the love of God in Christ amongst them. Like Legion they have to surmount unhelpful assumptions about motive and method, they have to earn the chance to be taken seriously, they have to judge when it is right to mention the work of God.
And not just chaplains. Spare a prayer for those carrying heavy burdens in small churches because instead of going to worship somewhere else with more support, they feel profoundly called to witness where they are.
Prayer
Lord Jesus
Your commands are not always what we want to hear.
We think we could map an easier path through life.
But just as we gratefully receive your freedoms
and healings of body and soul,
make us willing to accept what you call us to do with our privileges.
We pray for those of the faithful who today will find their calling hard,
the people they encounter cold and their energy exhausted. Amen