Second Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Luke 8:26-39
Pastor Jean M. Hansen
The story in today’s Gospel reading is one of my favorites. That’s because it’s filled with vivid details, it has a happy ending for the main character and in it there is a BIG message. One of the details is that there’s a good deal of fear afoot in the account.
The people of the country of the Gerasenes were afraid of the unfortunate man who was living naked among the tombs; they tried to contain him by posting guards to watch him and keeping him bound with chains and shackles, but his torment was so great that he broke free and fled to the wilderness.
But that’s not the only incident of fear; the man and his demons feared Jesus, recognizing in him the power to subdue them. Also, presumably, the herd of swine feared the demons, although they did not have much time to process what happened to them. And, ironically, the same people who feared the possessed man were seized with great fear of Jesus, so much so that they asked him to leave. Why?
There could be a number of explanations. #1 – Bloated dead pigs are not a pleasant sight. #2 - They are afraid of losing their livestock in a similar manner. #3 - Acknowledging that demons had been living among them is disconcerting. #4 – Even more unnerving is the idea that Jesus was more powerful than the demons. #5 – The once demon-possessed man had been completely transformed, and they are afraid to interact with him on new terms.
Think of it this way; the power and presence of God are at work in Jesus; he could end up shaking up everything, and that’s not necessarily viewed a positive! As commentator Scott Hoezee points out, “For the people of the Gerasenes life with a demon-possessed crazy man in their midst was no picnic. He terrified neighborhoods, was a cause of fear for parents of young children, was a public nuisance and embarrassment when friends from out of town would come to visit. But, as they say, better the devil you know…better the devil you know than the God you don’t know but who looks to promise a whole lot more change that just maybe it’s easier not to do.” (1)
But the process of Jesus “shaking things up” began before culminating in this story. Let’s back up for a moment and look at the context for this text. In Luke 8:21, Jesus redefines family by stating that his family consists of those who “hear the word of God and do it.” Then, in Luke 8:25 the disciples are afraid in a raging storm and Jesus asks, “Where is your faith?” It’s interesting then, that in this story that immediately follows those two occurrences, the once Demon Possessed Man displayed faith in the midst of a whole lot of fear and he became a part of Jesus’ family. His life was reordered so that he could be in the presence of God and other people. As the text beautifully describes it, he was “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”
Remember, sitting at someone’s feet was an expression of discipleship. He desperately wanted to go where Jesus went, but instead Jesus sent him back to his home – which, no doubt, was difficult for him given his history with the people there. But that’s the point; he was to “declare how much God has done for you,” Jesus said.
Consider how much God had done for him. This man had been completely labeled by his condition, by what robbed him of joy and health, by those things that kept him from experiencing life in its abundance. His situation stripped him of sanity, dignity, self-worth and community. We all know that he was not alone in this … that what was described in Luke 8 is a condition of humanity that shows up in greater or lesser degrees due to mental illness, addiction, trauma and other challenges faced by imperfect people in this imperfect world.
But, as was true of the once Demon Possessed Man, lives can be healed and transformed by God’s loving power and presence. The BIG message of today’s Gospel is that no one is beyond the reach of Jesus’ redeeming, healing love. Often though, people find in difficult to believe that about themselves and others, and in some cases resent that it might be true for someone who seems beyond redemption.
The name Jeffrey Dahmer is familiar to most people here due to the shocking murders he committed, which included horrifying rituals. He was thought to be evil and beyond help. How could he do such things! When he was arrested in Wisconsin it caused a media stir in Northeast Ohio because Mr. Dahmer grew up in Akron and graduated from Revere High School. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to a total of sixteen consecutive life sentences in Wisconsin and Ohio. But two years later, on November 28, 1994, he was attacked and killed by a fellow inmate.
When Pastor Sandy Selby and I were discussing today’s Gospel she reminded me about Roy Ratcliff, a minister who befriended, baptized, and buried Dahmer, and published a book some 20 years ago about Dahmer’s journey to faith. In her sermon she wrote that “the road for Pastor Ratcliff was not an easy one. He was criticized in many quarters for his relationship with a man who had committed such heinous crimes. He was so vilified by his own congregation for baptizing Jeffrey Dahmer that he was forced to leave. People could not believe that anyone as sick as Dahmer could possibly be “born again.” His baptism, they said, was a fraud and an affront, and Ratcliff had demeaned the sacrament by offering it to someone so perverted as to be beyond redemption. They didn’t believe that Dahmer could be changed—and beyond that, they really didn’t want to allow him to change. They had already decided who Dahmer was, and apparently, not even God could change that.” (2)
That’s was also true for the Gerasenes, it seems. Consider today’s story again … if the once-Demon-Possessed-Man had left with Jesus, his neighbors could have pretended that Jesus had never been in their midst, that such transformation was impossible, and that there was no reason to extend mercy to those who seemed beyond redemption. But his living among them, healed and restored, meant they were constantly reminded of Jesus, of how he had been there and had transformed a life. The restored man was a living sign, as well as offering a verbal proclamation, of how much Jesus had done for him.
This was certainly good news, although some did not view it that way because it challenged their way of living in the world, with some people “in” – included, accepted - while others were definitely “out”, excluded, outcast.
This was the attitude Pastor Radcliff faced, so perhaps that’s why he said what he did at Jeffrey Dahmer’s funeral: “Jeff confessed to me his great remorse for his crimes. He wished he could do something for the families of his victims to make it right, but there was nothing he could do. He turned to God because there was no one else to turn to, but he showed great courage in his daring to ask the question, ‘Is heaven for me too?’ I think many people are resentful of him for asking that question. But he dared to ask, and he dared to believe the answer.” (3)
No one is beyond the reach of Jesus’ redeeming, healing love – that’s Good News
“Sermon Commentary on Luke 8:26-39”, Scott Hoezee, June 19, 2016, www.cepreaching.org
“Proper 7, Year C” by the Rev. Dr. Sandy Selby, June 22, 2025, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Akron, OH.
Roy Ratcliff with Lindy Adams, Dark Journey Deep Faith: Jeffrey Dahmer’s Story of Faith (Abilene, TX, Leafwood Publishers, 2006)