Good Shepherd sermon June 22, 2025 Luke 8. 26 – 39
“A New Identity”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God, the Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, thru the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Happy summer! In the course of a nano-second, at 10:42 PM Friday night, the Northern Hemisphere entered the season of summer! And has it ever arrived. From spring’s cooler weather and a boatload of rain, summer gives us a kind of new hope, dare I say, a new identity.
And, in our passage from today’s text from Luke’s gospel, identity is a rather key word. For instance, the identity of the area where Jesus is entering a Gentile region, indicative of how Jesus’ ministry is expanding in scope. To get there, Jesus had to cross a boundary between Jew and Gentile. Once again, our Lord shows all… that love wins. To look at this “boundary” probably didn’t appear much different than other areas of the land, except to those who lived there. And for Jesus, there were no boundaries – there are no boundaries. The identity is love.
More identity. There’s the identity of the man who is possessed by demons. He no longer lives in town. He is isolated from virtually everyone, no longer living in a house but in tombs. Plus, he is naked, bringing not only negative attention to him, but shame, as in an honor-and-shame society such as 1st Century Palestine, one could hardly be thought of in a lesser manner. Can you possibly imagine his own identity?
That leads us to the demon – even the demon has an identity! It has a name – “Legion,” which means many, and in the Roman world, legion referred to a company of thousands of soldiers. In other words, Jesus is engaging in a major battle here.
He is outnumbered…but hardly overmatched.
That leads me to the identity of Jesus. OK, you might be thinking, “Pastor, we already know Jesus’ identity!” My reply to you is, “Yes, we know who Jesus is, but let’s remember this story is being told to listeners who might not have a clue to who he was. Anyway, the man possessed emphatically states Jesus’ identity: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” Does that remind you of Peter’s affirmation of whom he believes Jesus is, in Matthew 16, when the disciples were in Caesarea Philippi?
“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”
That always gives me chills!
OK, there are two more groups with particular identities. The first is kind of obvious – the “swine herders,” more commonly known today as “pig farmers. They were aghast! I can’t imagine what they must have thought seeing their pigs run crazy into a lake and drowning. How much of an economic disaster was that? Yikes!
Finally, we have the community the possessed man belonged to at one time. And, for our purpose today, they play a large role in our understanding of the passage.
How???
Well, there are some who, when they see a “street person,” pushing a shopping cart around downtown with virtually all of his or her earthly belongings, they might shake their head, or, perhaps look down to the end of their pointing finger, not even considering – or, remembering – that this person is just like them….a child of God.
Others might even say, “There but by the grace of God, go I.”
Have you ever said that? Of course, most of us have. I certainly have. I remember a fellow, named Richard, who would use his cart to carry various forms of metal until the cart was filled almost beyond capacity. Richard was also one who…er…um…didn’t clean up as often as you or I do. Unfortunately, that’s where the judgment gavel comes down on folks who God loves as much as you and me. Human judgment can be so intensely hurtful and run so deep.
So, let me ask this question –
is God’s grace any less in Richard’s life than yours or mine? The “Richard’s” of our world aren’t cursed or abandoned. The God who breathed life into all human beings doesn’t pick and choose who will go without and those who will be showered with all they need and want. Hardly!
Then, there’s Tommy, a Sunday morning breakfast regular at First Lutheran Church, with long, thick blondish hair and a lengthy beard with a color to match his hair. Tommy was a tall fellow around my age but looked a bit older than his years.
What folks wouldn’t know about Tommy was he held a PhD in Econ and Political Science (I think) and taught at UD. Unfortunately when his wife died suddenly a number of years ago, apparently his zest for life also ceased. He just didn’t care. He lived in the woods and ate at the myriad of churches and shelters offering meals. Tommy had a sweet spirit but those of us who might be prone to be finger-pointers would never have the opportunity to get to know this child of God.
If we are living lives not remembering that all people are loved by God, or if we turn our heads to those who need a hand up, we will also forget there is nothing – I repeat, nothing impossible for Jesus Christ to heal or cure. And with cures and healings may come new identities that can transcend feelings of self-disregard, even self-loathing, with manifestations of self-peace and self-love.
That’s what I love about this story. Jesus not only exorcizes the demon from the man, but the man, now fully changed, becomes clothed, and, in his right mind for all to see…similar to those who once belittled or “shooed” him away because he was “not like them.” He was so miraculously healed, that Jesus sent him to tell what Jesus did for him – just as he does for us.
Every day we put our trust in Jesus, we become new creations, just like we read in 2 Corinthians 5: 17. Sure, I may look like the same Pastor Bob you saw yesterday or last week, but trust me, dear friends, I am not. And neither are you. Through the waters of baptism, and the eating and drinking we will do in a few minutes when we, as a community of believers, gather around the Communion Table to receive the body and blood of Jesus, our identity is renewed and reinforced that we are truly beloved children of God.
Thanks be to God.
AMEN.