Putting On Christ
This sermon was preached for the Second Sunday after Pentecost by Pastor Ted Carnahan on June 22, 2024.
Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
This story marks a shift from the narratives of the past few weeks as we enter the great "green season" of the church. This is not just because we wear green and decorate the church in green; it is a time for us to engage in learning more about the practical matters of discipleship. We've passed the celebrations of Holy Pentecost, Holy Trinity Sunday, and the Ascension, and now we are here to learn what this means in everyday life.
Jesus embarks on a bit of a field trip in this account. He travels by boat to the country of the Gerasenes, located in the southeast corner. What's notable about this place is that it is not populated by Jewish people. Ordinarily, Jesus is clear that his primary mission in revealing himself to the world is first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, the rest of the people, including you and me. Yet, he takes this side excursion because he has something important to show us all.
Encounter with Evil in Gerasene Country
Upon arriving at the country of the Gerasenes, Jesus is immediately met by a man possessed by many demons. I wonder if some of you might have one of two reactions to this.
- The first reaction, especially for modern, scientifically minded people who have learned much about how the world works, might be skepticism. When faced with a story of Jesus confronting personified evil—demon possession—some may think, "Come on now, we know better than this. We can measure, see, taste, touch, and understand the universe we live in." This was my initial reaction when encountering this story.
- The second reaction, which I also felt while preparing this for you today, is one that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. We know the world is not merely physical or material. Materialism has influenced Western culture over the last couple of hundred years. We've become people of the rational Enlightenment, deciding that only things we can point to and measure are real. Those things we cannot measure are deemed unreal.
Spiritual Reality Beyond the Physical
The gospel stands starkly against that viewpoint because we know that the spiritual is just as real as the physical. There is something in this universe that goes beyond what we can measure, taste, touch, and see. This world has a spiritual reality undergirding, holding up, and supporting the material world we live in. If we only pay attention to the material things we see, we're missing half of it.
This truth becomes evident the moment Jesus steps off the boat. The possessed man cries out to him, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me." There’s tremendous irony in this confrontation. Here is a man afflicted not just with a demon, but many demons—so many that when Jesus asks his name, he responds, "Legion." They say, "We are Legion," indicating this man is infested with a legion of demons, a term referring to a large military formation of about 5,000 fighting men in the Roman Empire.
This man is thoroughly captured by evil. St. Luke provides further details about his condition:
- For a long time, he had worn no clothes, running around naked.
- He no longer lived in a house but dwelt among tombs.
- He was kept under guard and bound in shackles, yet even that didn’t work due to a supernatural manifestation of strength where he overcame his body’s limitations and destroyed the chains binding him.
This man had been reduced from being a human created in the image of God to something akin to an animal. He was dangerous, feared by all, living among the dead.
Recognition and Fear of Jesus’ Authority
Everyone is terrified, including the demons, because Jesus has landed on the shore. It’s striking that while the disciples constantly wrestle with the question of who Jesus really is—even after witnessing miracles—it’s the evil spirits who immediately recognize him without introduction. They know exactly who he is: "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" They know his name and identity as the incarnate Son of God. They recognize that a terrible foe has come to confront them and expect this Holy One to destroy their unholiness. They beg him, "Do not send me back into the abyss."
Something peculiar happens next. After Jesus asks the demons their name and they respond, "We are Legion," they plead not to be sent back into the abyss. Surprisingly, Jesus seems to grant their request—at least temporarily. Instead, they ask, "Send us into those swine over there." They appeal to Jesus’ nature as a Jewish man who traditionally would have nothing to do with pigs, considered unclean and not kosher to touch or eat.
The demons enter the herd of swine, and immediately, the swine go insane. These entities that turned a man into an animal are now sent into unclean animals. As soon as they enter, the swine take off running, find the nearest steep hill, tumble down it, and are crushed in the waters below. They die. So, Jesus did send them back into the abyss after all—but not before using them to prove a point: he is the one with power to overcome.
These forces clinging to this man’s body and soul do not define who he is. Jesus freed the man from this burden because he has the authority to command unclean spirits to leave—and they must obey.
Baptism and Renunciation of Evil
Today at Our Savior’s, as we’ve done many hundreds of times even before my time among you as your pastor, we will have a baptism. One aspect we sometimes overlook is the threefold renunciations during the baptismal rite. We ask parents and sponsors, "Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?" They respond, "I renounce them." We ask this question three times—a number symbolizing completeness in God.
This threefold renunciation of evil is technically called a minor exorcism. Through it, we renounce and rebuke the power of the devil over the life of our little baby Reed today so that we can fill him with heavenly blessing and grace through the gift of God in holy baptism.
It’s tempting to think that our purpose at church is to learn to be extremely good rule followers—to simply be good people, polish up our halos, get up on our high horses, and ride another week. But that’s not the purpose of church. The purpose is to remind us of who we are—that identity given to us first in holy baptism.
Clothed in Christ Through Baptism
The imagery used in today’s Galatians reading is fantastic. St. Paul writes that faith has come, and we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian. The law does not have power over us anymore. For in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. No longer are you simply a slave of a God who demands; you have been adopted by God in Jesus Christ.
One of the most beautiful passages in Galatians 3:27 states, "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself in Christ." Consider the man suffering from demons among the Gerasenes in our reading from Luke today. Here’s a man filled with evil so that he is overflowing, reduced from human status to a feared animal among the dead in the tombs. Yet Jesus reaches out his hand and gives him what he could never have done for himself or chosen of his own accord: life, light, and peace. He fills him with heavenly blessing and grace. He gives him his life back.
In the same way, in holy baptism, all who have been baptized into Christ have been brought back from the brink of sin and death, taken away from the kingdom of the tomb, and clothed—wrapped—in the righteousness of Jesus.
We gather every Sunday to celebrate a miracle: the miracle of the resurrection where Jesus defeats sin, death, and hell for us so that no foe can stand against us. Wrapped in the righteousness of Christ through holy baptism, our faith stands strong.
As we give a candle to the Christopher family today to remember Reed’s baptism, I encourage them—and all of you—to get that baptism candle out. Its purpose isn’t to be put in a box for 30 years only to be rediscovered later. Its purpose is to light it every year on the anniversary of your baptism and remember that it happened for you—that you are wrapped in Christ and given the righteousness of Jesus.
Do this regularly to remember that you belong to Christ in whom you have been baptized, that you are no longer a slave in the household of God but a child. And if a child, then also an heir—an inheritor of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
May you cling to this promise. May you hold fast to the grace of God offered to you and to all. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus our Lord to life everlasting. Amen.
